From clockwise starting top left, Brandon Tullis, Megan Tullis, Slade Tullis and Harlyn Tullis, the 2023 Nevada County Farm Family of the Year.

As the 2023 Nevada County Farm Family of the Year, the Tullises of Diamond T Farm, just north of where I-30 crosses Arkansas Highway 19, raise hay (about 6,000 square bales and 1,000 round bales a year), eggs and two kids, Slade (10) and Harlyn (6). Their farm’s win was announced by Farm Bureau of Arkansas early last month.

Slade and Harlyn both pitch in on gathering eggs. Megan jokingly said when Slade drops any, his sister is there to ask that his pay be docked. But Slade seems not to mind farm life. Lately he’s been getting up at 7:30 in the morning and fishing on the Tullises’ nine-acre pond.

The Tullises favor farm life for children. “It teaches them hard work,” Megan said. “It teaches them responsibility.” She explained that this year Slade has been doing a brisk business himself. The family’s seven pecan trees yielded ten bags which both Tullis kids market to their target customers. “They’ll sell to people at church and especially the ladies before Thanksgiving when they’re wanting to make pecan pies,” Megan said.

It was the idea of having a family that started the Tullises twelve years ago toward living in the country and operating a farm. Brandon’s grandfather had raised thoroughbred horses and Brandon has good memories from that farm while growing up. Both Brandon and Megan had demanding jobs that took them away from home a lot, him as an electrician and her as a salesperson. So before having children they wanted to find a way of making a living that allowed for staying home.  Brandon had seen that a farm based on growing hay seemed to allow for a decent living.

So they took the plunge in 2011, buying their house and 10 acres. A few months later they bought an additional 70. They began by raising eight cattle and by two years ago their herd reached 100 head. The Tullises made the hard decision to sell their cattle at that point and now concentrate on taking care of and gathering eggs from laying hens in four houses that were built in 2018 and 2019.  They get help for these responsibilities from family and employees.

They also raise hay on 465 acres, 420 of which is leased. The varieties include Tifton 44 Bermuda, Common Bermuda and Mixed Grass. The land is non-irrigated but Brandon said he is looking into installing an irrigation system to compensate for the drought months that are becoming the norm during Southwest Arkansas summers.

Brandon still has a full time job with the South Central Cooperative where he worked his way over several years to Supervisor of Substations and Special Equipment. Right now he is involved in availing broadband internet service to rural areas in South Central’s service area. The service isn’t yet available at his own home, but the Tullises are looking forward to it arriving.

Brandon’s electrical expertise has come in handy on the farm. He installed their current generator. And during outages it’s piece of mind for Megan to have him available. “Whenever we lose power,  he's able to work on those if they don't start up immediately, he can get them going pretty quick,” she said.

Brandon and Megan say they feel honored to have been chosen as their county’s Farm Family of the Year.  “It makes you feel like all the hard work you do behind the scenes, it’s noticed. That’s not why you do it. We have a passion for it,” Megan said.

One advantage, Megan said, is having a farm “allows us to do all these family events together.” The Tullises are both Sunday School teachers at Missionary Grove Church and were able to start the church’s Wednesday night youth group, having some of their meetings at their home. They still host Christmas events there.

The Tullises are also active with their county’s Cattlemen’s Association, with Brandon having served as president and vice-president over a four-year period and Megan currently the treasurer. They are also owners of Dancetastics in Hope, Arkansas, with Megan serving as Business Director. The Danctastics often perform at area festivals.

Photo by Megan Tullis.

Asked what it takes to keep going on a job that does not stop at 5:00 p.m. and which often calls for weekend duty, Megan Tullis said “We have a passion for it. We love it We both are eager to do as much as we can. And our goal is to eventually get to where Brandon can come home also, when we can both farm it together.”