Why do you farm? It’s a family tradition
Lamar Co. family recognized by Texas Department of Agriculture

By KARI KRAMER | East Texas Edition

The Pratt-Cagle Farm was honored for 100 years of continuous ag production.With the designation plaque are family members (from left) Edna Lee, Kathy Wood, Lori Wood Jones, Sue Farris, Norman Farris, Elma Chaloner, and J.C. Ford. --Staff photo by Kari Kramer

August 25, 2005 - The Pratt-Cagle Farm has joined an elite group in the state of Texas.

Family members recently accepted an induction into the Family Land Heritage program. The program, which started in 1974, honors farms that have been in operation more than 100 years. In May 2005, more than 4,020 farms and ranches across the state had been recognized for their many years of production.

The 186-acre farm, located in the small community of Post Oak (near Paris), has been called home by dozens of family members in the last 100 years. Sue Farris, 73, grew up on the farm. Her memories of the farm are detailed, but in reality, the legacy of the farm began years before her birth.

Sue’s grandfather purchased the first portion of the farm in 1901, and added on land over the next few years. After her grandmother, Sally Pratt, died after the birth of her 12th child, Sue’s mother, Louise, and her nine remaining brothers and sisters, were left to help their father on the farm.

The familiy noted the technology on the farm has changed over the years. At left, the current tractor (background) sits next to the first tractor used on the farm. --Staff photo by Kari Kramer

The family was committed to the survival of the farm.

“I think Mother had a dream of carrying on this place,” said Sue.

To help ends meet, the family became self-sufficient. Norman Farris, Sue’s husband, is impressed with what the family accomplished.

“They made it on their own with what they produced,” he said. “And that’s remarkable.”

In the last 100 years the family has grown their own fruits and vegetables, ground their own feed, raised their own cattle, had a blacksmith shop on location, and at one point even operated a dairy.

“Being self-sufficient, you made it or you didn’t,” said Norman.

And through the Depression, through wars, and through technology, the family and farm survived. Sue said there was never a doubt in her mind the farm would make it.

“I just felt like a lot of times we didn’t have as much,” she said. “But, I never felt like we were going to quit.”

And they still have not. Today, Kathy Wood, a granddaughter of the farms original proprietors, lives on the property. The original house was built around 1904, but was torn down, and the lumber was used to rebuild a new house in the 1950s.

The house is not the only aspect of the farm that has changed. “There’s been quite a change in equipment since they started,” said Norman, who runs most of the day-to-day farming operations.

Norman has kept the farm as modern as possible, while still preserving its heritage. A feed grinder, only a few years old, sits at the end of the long driveway. The first tractor used on the farm sits beside a newer, much larger, tractor that Norman uses.

“It’s not anything different that we do,” said Sue. “It’s just more modernized.”

There are more changes ahead for the family. They have started a purebred Hereford herd, which they plan on using to produce 4-H and FFA show cattle for students in the area.

Sue said they are excited about the new addition to the farm, but plan on taking one step at a time. “We’re just going to grow into it,” she said.

The family also plans to continue their hay and pasture improvement plans. Last year, after fertilizing twice, they baled 389 round bales and 2,000 square bales.

With the same ideals their grandparents had, Sue and her family hope to continue the farm for many years to come.

“For our forefathers, it was a struggle for them,” she said. “I think we need to continue it.”

She added that she does realize it takes proper management to see a farm through 100 years of production, and credits her mother and father’s management skills to the farm’s survival.

Norman noted the farm was never in debt and only affordable changes were made. Sue agreed that many other farms did not survive because the operators dove into the process.

“The families that started out small and grew into it made it,” she said.

She hopes future generations of her family will apply the same management techniques.

“I would hope it would be here in 50 years,” she said. The youngest members of the family, who live on the property, are already learning what it takes to survive in agriculture, and Sue hopes they learn to appreciate what will be handed down to them in the future.

“I would hope they’d remember the legacy of how it got started, and how people worked so hard, appreciate what it’s come to be, and the sacrifices people made to keep it going,” explained Sue.

The Family Land Heritage program also recognizes farms and ranches that have been in operation for more than 150 and 200 years, which gives the people of the Pratt-Cagle farm something new to dream about.