Monticello Live

Courtesy of the Advance.

Five years ago, Rusty and Karla Mitchell decided it was time to retire, but instead of going home and living a life of leisure, the couple decided to go into the chicken farming business.
Rusty, who retired from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said they grow chickens for Tyson Foods.
“We get them when they are tiny babies and we keep them here for about seven weeks until they are ready to be picked up and taken to the plant in Pine Bluff,” he said.
Karla, who retired from the accounting department at UAM, is also instrumental in the operation. She handles the bookkeeping for the farm. She also helps when the baby chickens are delivered to the farm and helps after they are picked up by helping clean the houses in preparation for the next batch, which are delivered about three weeks later.
“We get a break between the pick up of our chickens and the delivery of our new babies so that’s when we get to travel,” she said.
The couple, who have been married for 40 years, said they enjoy their life on the farm and are grateful to be able to farm the land that has been in the Mitchell family for generations.
The Mitchells have been named the 2016 Drew County Farm Family. They will be considered for the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year, which is judged in June.

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