Farm Owned by UTM Graduates Keeps Pace with Established Farms

When you talk about farming communities like those in West Tennessee, you generally talk about family farms that have been around for generations. That is not the case with Dr. Emalee and Brad Buttrey.

The Humphreys County natives earned degrees from the University of Tennessee at Martin in animal science, and both taught animal science at UT Martin.

Emalee earned her bachelor’s degree in 2003 from UT Martin, her master’s degree in 2006 from Texas A&M University and her doctorate in 2011 from West Texas A&M, while Brad earned his bachelor’s degree in 2005 from UT Martin and his master’s degree in 2008 from Kansas State University.

Emalee was on faculty at UTM for eight years, while Brad taught at the university for 2½ years. They left the university, then Emalee came back last October as an instructional designer.

“We taught everybody else about raising livestock,” Emalee said. “So, we got a later start with our farm because of grad school and moving around early in our careers.”

The Buttreys started their farm in Weakley County in 2016. The name of the farm is BERG Livestock Farm. The acronym in the farm name stands for “Brad, Emalee, Rachel and Grady,” incorporating the names of their children into the farm’s name. Rachel will be in eighth grade this fall, while Grady will be in sixth grade.

Rachel and Grady are homeschooled and stay active with church and 4-H activities. Rachel is a competitive rodeo athlete, while Grady spends as much free time as possible fishing and learning about the professional fishing business.

The Buttreys started their farm with two registered Red Angus cows and leased the acreage to get started.

“It’s just grown from there,” Emalee said.

BERG Livestock is a regenerative pasture-based operation. The Buttreys raise cattle, sheep, goats and laying hens. They also custom-graze cattle for other producers and offer regenerative consultation services.

“It’s a challenge,” Brad said. “There’s always challenges.”

“But the good outweighs the challenges – most days,” Emalee added, saying the primary focus of farming has shifted a little, but remains a fulfilling occupation.

“We really look at it – not that we’re necessarily raising cattle or sheep or goats, but stewarding the land, making sure that it is healthy, producing lots of grass and other plants for the animals,” she said. “And not just our animals, but the wildlife, too. That has been the shift in the mentality of what we do.”

As the owners of a comparatively new farm, the former agriculture educators seek education and information about up-to-date farming methods.

“We try to get away to some educational events,” Brad said. “We try to always learn and try to teach the kids to enjoy learning and never stop.”

The Buttreys are seeing that the older, generational farms already have a land base and resources that can be passed from one generation to the next.

“We don’t have that, so, initially, finding some land – and we’re always looking for more land to lease – that’s been a challenge,” Emalee said. “But then, on the plus side of that, we don’t necessarily feel like we have to do things the same way, like some generational farm families may feel pressured to do.”

Brad said they are one of the few sheep producers in the area. The farm markets replacement ewes and rams as well as lamb meat.

“That’s kind of in our centerpiece enterprise,” he said. “There’s not a lot of competition in this area.

“We have been raising Katahdin sheep, and we kind of changed that up a little recently and added another breed to increase fertility and growth.”

BERG Livestock won the 2023 Tennessee Small Farmer of the Year for Best Management Practices award.

 “One of our Extension agents here in the county, Kari Beth Neville – who is a 2022 UTM grad – nominated us,” Emalee said.

“We weren’t the overall winner, but we were selected in the category that really means the most to us, Best Management Practices. Brad, especially, and the kids have done a great job of managing the land, making sure that we are adaptively grazing – we are moving the animals – to allow the soil and the plants to remain healthy. We try not to let the animals remain in one place for too long.”

Emalee said that although they have a relatively new farm, their methods involve the tried-and-true ways of farming that have endured over the years.

“We practice a lot of regenerative agriculture – that’s kind of a buzzword now,” she said. “It’s gaining popularity, but it’s nothing new. If we go back hundreds and thousands of years ago, this would have been the norm, when nomads moved with their flocks and herds.

“When you think about the plains of this country, where there were bison and deer and free-range cattle – all of these species co-existed and moved, and the humans adapted with that. Then, we moved to a model of putting one thing in one place and calling it good. That worked for a while, but I think we’re starting to see a shift back to where the more diversity there is, the healthier that entire system becomes.”

While the Buttrey family and BERG Livestock don't have a long history of livestock farming, they are playing the long game by stewarding all of the resources entrusted in their care to ensure generations to come may enjoy them.