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True to his word
Many adults’ career choices differ greatly from their childhood aspirations, but cattleman Travis Tilley is an exception
| Story and photos by Chris Villines |
7/2/2012 |
The Tilley family — from left, Travis, son Silas, 6, wife Whitney, and daughters Stella, 8, and Charli, 14 — stands in front of their farm’s distinctive “See Rock City” barn that fronts Highway 58 in Midway. Not pictured is son Cole, 10. The Tilleys are members of Valley Farmers Cooperative, where Travis serves as a director. They purchase feed and other supplies for the farm at the Co-op’s Harriman location.
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“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question that Travis Tilley could always answer with certainty, even as a youngster in Miss Jones’ first-grade class at Midway Elementary School in Roane County.
One of his most vivid memories is the teacher asking her students that very question early in the school year, and he recalls that his classmates provided some lofty longings — fireman, race car driver, superhero, and astronaut to name a few. When it came Travis’ turn to share his dream career, he didn’t hesitate.
“I said I was going to have cattle and be a farmer like my dad,” he says. “I never even considered anything else. That’s what I always knew I wanted to do. And I think I’m about the only one in that class who went on to do what was said that day.”
Now 36, Travis is fulfilling his prophecy by practicing agriculture in the same community where his parents, Larry and Mary Ann, raised him. He’s still farming with his father on some 1,100 owned and leased acres where they raise hay and have one of the area’s top cow/calf operations with 210 head of Angus and Angus-Hereford cross cattle. The Valley Farmers Cooperative members instituted a rotational grazing program for their herd four years ago to complement a feeding regimen that includes a custom blend for their heifer calves and Co-op Supreme Cattle Mineral (#678).
“I expect a lot out of my cows, and I know they expect a lot out of me to keep them happy and healthy,” says Travis, a past Co-op Leadership Advance Tour participant who’s in his first year as a Valley director and serves on the local Soil Conservation and Farm Service Agency boards. “So I give them plenty of good mineral and hay. I try to meet them halfway because I don’t have a payday coming from anywhere else.”
For as far back as he can remember, Travis admits he’s been “fascinated” by cattle. As a curious youngster, he would seize every opportunity to be around them, even though he knew it could lead to trouble afterward.
“I always wanted to go where my dad was and where the cows were,” explains Travis, who began full-time farming immediately after graduating from Midway High School in 1995. “Well, I learned that Mama was sort of scared of cows, so when I was little I would sneak away from her and go under the fence because I knew if I got under there, she wouldn’t come and get me. I’d act like I was counting cows, knowing that sooner or later I’d have to go back to the other side of the fence. Needless to say, I got a few whippings out of that!”
Laughing at this snapshot of youthful mischief, Travis says that while he didn’t fully realize the amount of hard work and the sacrifices his parents made back then, he can certainly appreciate them more now as a young father. He and wife Whitney have four children — Charli, 14; Cole, 10; Stella, 8; and Silas, 6 — who are also learning the simple pleasures of farm life and chipping in during their time off from school.
“Mom and Dad made growing up on the farm enjoyable,” says Travis, the youngest of three children. “They had their struggles but did an excellent job of hiding them from us. We all helped each other to make things work, and that’s the way our family is today. Farm life teaches you to just settle down and take things as they come.”
As he grew, Travis adds, he learned a lot of life perspectives from his great-grandfather and “best friend,” Edgar “Spur” Collier, who passed away in 2000 at the age of 94. Even as Spur reached his 90s, Travis says his great-grandfather still helped out in the hay field and doled out daily bits of wit and wisdom.
“It was amazing to watch him at 92 years old out there throwing hay,” says Travis. “And everytime we would stop at a gate, he would get out and open it, and he wasn’t going to get back in the truck — he was going to walk to the barn or out to the field. Through his work ethic, how he carried himself, and how he was eager to help others … he taught me to take pride in everything you do and take what you have and make the best of it. Plus, he was always a big cutup and talker. You couldn’t help but like him.
“If everybody had an opportunity to spend time around their great-grandparents, then this world would be a whole lot better off in my opinion. I sure don’t take it for granted, and not a day goes by that I don’t think about him. I hope I’ve made him proud.”
These days, Travis hopes to make a similar impact and impart what he’s learned to his own children as they — when not in school — work alongside him and his father. The kids stay busy bottle-feeding calves or, as was the case last year, helping to put up the more than 17,000 square bales the Tilleys harvested. With Whitney working a part-time job off the farm, the youngsters, while on their summer break, get to see firsthand how their father approaches his profession.
“They’re learning about responsibility,” he says. “Each of them has their own chores, and even when they’re not helping me in the field they’re always close by where I can see them; they’ll be running around catching bugs or picking at each other. They love being around the farm. It’s where they’re content to be most of the time, just like I was. And Whitney is the same way.”
The love for farming is already evident in the Tilleys’ children. Case-in-point is soon-to-be first-grader Silas, who keeps up with Travis stride for stride as they feed calves on a summer afternoon. When asked the same question his father answered in first grade some 30 years ago, Silas responds immediately:
“I’m gonna be a farmer,” he says with wide-eyed exuberance. “I already am.”
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