Released: March 01, 2002

Fort Scott Couple Named Master Farmer, Homemaker

FORT SCOTT, Kan. – Innovative livestock practices became commonplace through Larry and Kathleen Gilliland’s more than three decades of farming and ranching near Fort Scott, Kan.

"At first the average commercial guy didn’t fool with [innovations] much," Kathleen said. "However, we’ve always been interested."

On March 22, the Gillilands will be recognized as a Kansas Master Farmer and Master Farm Homemaker during ceremonies at the Holiday Inn in Manhattan. Kansas State University Research and Extension and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry co-sponsor the program through which several farm couples from around the state are honored each year. Friends can make reservations by calling 785-532-5820 by March 8. Tickets, including dinner, cost $20. The banquet begins at 6 p.m.

The Gillilands were nominated for membership in the Master Farmer-Homemaker Association by the Extension Council in Bourbon County. The association dates back to 1927.

Artificial insemination [AI] and expected prodigy differences [EPD] data have revolutionized the family’s operation, Larry said. Wrapped in the middle of the contemporary trends, the Gillilands have used new management practices to change the face of their livestock operation and keep a marketable, competitive edge. In 1982, the family implemented the practices to boost show performance.

"When the girls started in 4-H, we couldn’t afford high dollar bulls for breeding, so we started to [use] AI," he said. "EPDs started about the time we did. It’s a good tool, from buying to selling."

The family started out with a sheep herd, but later sold the sheep due to coyote problems and replaced them with cattle. In 1980, the couple began a registered Angus herd, starting with 20 head from Kathleen’s father. Returning heifers back to the herd, the operation has grown to 200 registered Angus and 25 cross breed, which were kept for 4-H steers.

"It was a family thing" Kathleen said. "The cattle end of the operation has been my main interest since I grew up with it. The girls were very active in local, state and national shows."

Artificial insemination continued to serve a vital role in the operation. Strategic planning, with bulls complimenting the genetics of their cows, allowed the Gillilands to control the desired features of low birth weights, as well as high weaning and yearling weights.

Sound management, coupled with a solid work ethic, paid off for their daughters who both earned recognition in 4-H, FFA, athletics, school clubs and the Kansas Junior Angus Association.

The Gilliland’s daughter Pam is married to Mike Hopkins. They and their children Zack and Morgan, live near St. Louis.

Janet, the couple’s younger daughter, is married to Mike Beene. They reside near Fort Scott.

Both girls learned life skills as a result of their experience in the cattle show ring, the couple said.

"Cattle shows were our vacations," Larry said. "We would be gone two or three days at a time for state or national shows. We took our chores with us. We met quite a few people and it was surprising to learn they had troubles just like us."

Consistently applying their past experience to the present curbed potential problems in the operation, Kathleen said. Although predictability can be rare, the Gillilands settled in a region they both knew by heart, as their Bourbon County ranch sits halfway between where they each were raised.

"We have been here our whole life," she said. "It’s all a challenge since no two days are the same. We never know what’s going to happen."

The family farms more than 400 acres of non-irrigated crop land and manages more than 2,200 acres of pasture with rented and owned land combined. They have sustained their cattle herd by converting more acres to grass hay and alfalfa over the years.

Larry has installed new fences in pastures to control rotations used to manage prescribed grazing. The Gillilands have also refurbished their corrals with a new chute, tub and alleyway to ease the additional handling of the cattle which proved necessary to gather EPD records.

Minimum tillage, terraces, waterways and prescribed burning support a series of conservation actions taken to ensure limited chemical applications and water purification, Larry said. Soil tests have also cut back the chemical rates used on the crop land.

"We used to hit with nitrogen every year," Larry said. "It made the crops dark green, but it wasn’t needed in some places, while other areas didn’t have enough. The tests helped to strike a balance."

The Gillilands both started school in a one-room schoolhouse and attended Fort Scott Community College, with Kathleen earning an education degree from Pittsburg State University. She currently teaches junior high English in Uniontown, Kan. The couple has served as Hiattville 4-H community and project leaders, and on the Bourbon County Extension Council, the Bourbon County Fair Board, and at the Mt. Orum Baptist Church and Kansas and American Angus associations.

Expressing their concern for other families in the industry, Larry said urban populations do not realize the stress and labor involved in production agriculture.

"There are simply not as many family farms, with many not being able to make it," Kathleen said. "This concerns me because we have gained so much as a family. Working with agriculture has brought our whole family together. You learn that you may not succeed on the first try, but you can try again and you learn to work together and achieve."

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Lucas Shivers, Communications Assistant
lshivers@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News