Laura West has been a member of three Bradley County Farm Families of the Year.
Her grandparents, Mary and Eugene Hamilton, and her father, Terry Don Pritchard, were previous recipients of the title.
She is a current recipient, along with her husband, Jason West, and daughters Landen, 19, and Paisley, 13, who operate West Oak Farms.
Arkansas Farm Family of the Year is a recognition program with sponsors Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, Arkansas Farm Bureau and Farm Credit Associations of Arkansas. Program partners are Arkansas Agriculture Department, Arkansas FFA Association, Arkansas Press Association, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, USDA-Farm Service Agency, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service and USDA-Rural Development.
In 2018, the Wests broke ground for their first chicken houses. They now have four chicken houses with 44,000 breeder hens per year, 5,500 breeder roosters per year and over 550,000 dozen hatching eggs per year. IBP owns the chickens and contracts for the eggs.
In 2020, Jason left his 13 years of work as a service technician for AT&T and came to work at the farm full time, although he also works with Southeast Arkansas Water Association.
They also have one Brahma bull that is in the same bloodline as Laura’s grandfather’s cattle. They have three commercial Brahman heifers, plus one bottle calf. They also cultivate 80 acres of hay.
Among their farm management achievements have been addition of LED lights in all breeder houses, high-efficiency air conditioner units added to the egg coolers and monthly preventative maintenance to extend the life of all farm equipment.
Major problems recently include diesel price increases, expensive cost of breeder house parts, increasing cost of livestock feed, egg pay cuts due to COVID-19, cost of hay and farm equipment upkeep and expenses toward herbicides and pesticides.
“Life on a farm can be very consuming. Long days are a given, and there is always something that needs to be tended to. However, the tasks are very rewarding at the same time. We try to involve our children in all our duties around the farm. Whether it’s running belts and packing eggs, weighing up feed for the next day or just running to get diesel, because my wife and I are cutting and baling hay. They are always involved somewhere on the farm. Our family keeps God first. We are members of Calvary Baptist Church,” Jason said.
Laura worked in the Warren High School administrative offices for 10 years. She has served as chairwoman of the Calvary Baptist Church Food and Flower Committee since 2021.
Landen is enrolled in the University of Arkansas at Monticello nursing program. She was a cheerleader and valedictorian at WHS. She works at the Donald W. Reynolds YMCA.
Paisley is in the seventh grade at WHS. She enjoys 4-H and softball.
All family members are members of Calvary Baptist Church and the Bradley County Cattlemen’s Association. Future plans include adding more cattle and more land.
