Katie Farms sits on an artesian well, which has allowed the couple to install sprinklers in the pasture. “We take care of them much better than that, but it’s a good trait to have.”Īlthough native to Scotland, the cattle adapt well to warm environments, as long as they have plenty of water and shady retreats to rest in during the heat of the day. “These animals, if they had to, could live in the wild,” Purcell said. Their disease-resistance and calving ease made the breed even more desirable. They can live off of something another cow couldn’t survive on.”įleenor said the cattle are docile and hardy. “We’ve gotten a lot of stares and people asking questions,” Fleenor said. When they decided to expand their operation to include cattle, the green-horn farmers turned to the long-horned Scottish Highland breed. The couple grows and sells seasonal vegetables and fruits including blueberries, blackberries, muscadines, squash, sweet potatoes, heirloom tomatoes and turnip greens. Today, the farm is home to turkeys, chickens and honeybees. So the next year we went to farmers markets and shortly after, the restaurants came to ask about our food. “The first year we grew way too much, and we started giving things away. “We started just growing food for us,” Purcell said. Margaret Purcell, a professor at the University of Alabama, bought Katie Farms six years ago and named it in honor of the previous owner. Jon Fleenor, owner of Main Street Development in Tuscaloosa, and his wife Dr. But that’s exactly what’s happening at Katie Farms in Coker, Ala. It may seem more unusual for that farmer to start breeding long-haired Scottish Highland cattle in the heart of Alabama. It may seem contradictory for a real estate developer to buy 640 acres of land to become a farmer.
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