Stone County Farm Family of the Year

Late on a midsummer day, two riders and two horses get ready to round up cattle on the top of a ridge above the Middle Fork of the Little Red River.

Shane McElroy and his daughter, Melissa Howard, ride with the ease of those long accustomed to a task. They are assisted by Shane’s wife, Patsy, in a side-by-side.

Eventually, one cow is separated from the herd so she can get a shot. Throughout the process, the family members work together.
For the 2026 Stone County Farm Family of the Year, together is the best way to handle all the tasks of running a cattle operation.

The family includes Shane and his wife Patsy, as well as Shane’s brother Lacy and his wife Tammy.
Filling out the team are Shane’s children – Lance and his wife, Mandi, plus their sons Scout and Sanders; daughter Melissa and her husband Brent Howard, plus their children Kate McPherson and Kaylee Rudick, Kaylee’s husband Jacob, and the family’s newest addition, 6-week-old Bailey.

“We all work together,” Shane says. “We couldn’t do it if we didn’t all work together.”

“When we work big bunches of cattle, there’s a couple of young guys that we’ll hire for day work. But mainly, it’s just me, Melissa, Lance.”

It all started with Shane and Lacy’s parents, who in the 1960s bought the property above the Little Red River, what is now McElroy Ranch, at the end of McElroy Road near Fox. Currently, there are around 100 head of cattle at the ranch, a smaller herd of heifers at the McElroy’s home in Timbo, and others at a leased place at Richwoods.

Shane and Patsy started with about 10 head of cattle early in their marriage. Now, they have around 100 head at the ranch, as well as other smaller herds in other places. There are nine bulls, and Shane says they have about a 90 percent calving ratio.

Heifers and steers are sent to market separately, and Shane says he sends his cattle north to sell.
“We’ll sell our spring calves, and next, we’ll sell our fall calves. We calf two times a year. That way, we have two paydays.”

“We’ve been fortunate enough to sell four different times in this high market,” Shane says.

The entire farm operation consists of cattle, working horses, and hay to feed the animals. The McElroys produce their own hay, both on their property and on leased land throughout the county. Shane estimates they have around 300 or 400 acres of hay.

“We just added and added and added to where we’re at today. Land, cattle, equipment,” Shane says. “Kids,” he adds, laughing.
The horses are part of the team, too. Moose, a bay, and Moore, a buckskin, are practiced at working cattle. There are other horses, too: rodeo horses.

Lance and Mandi’s boys grew up around horses, and got interested in rodeo at an early age. Shane says they were 9 or 10 when they first started competing. They now both attend college on rodeo scholarships, and travel around the country for competitions.

Lance owns the Kubota dealership in Mountain View. Mandi “works at the Kubota dealership and chases the boys,” Shane jokes. “She’s fortunate enough to be able to go with them a lot.”

Melissa teaches at Mountain View, where Brent is the assistant superintendent. Patsy is a retired teacher, and Shane manages the Farm Bureau office in Searcy County. He has worked for Farm Bureau for 35 years, and had both the Marshall and Mountain View agencies for 24 years.

In spite of their busy lives, and the travel that the boys do for rodeo, McElroy Ranch is central to the family. They have built a cabin where the old house used to be, looking out over the valley. Patsy said the family loves to come and stay there, and the boys especially enjoy it.

Around the corner from McElroy Ranch, closer to Fox, the McElroys lease a property where they grow hay. Shane takes pride in his grass, and in the way he manages the property he leases. There are places in the county that he has leased for as much as 25 years.

“We try to be good stewards of the land,” he says. “That’s the key.”
Part of that stewardship is paying careful attention to the quality of the grass growing in their hay fields, which Shane regards as an investment in the future.

Lacy helps with the hay, and Shane said he hires local people, mostly young people, to help. These workers often return year after year, and Shane said that is because he maintains good relationships with them. He keeps an eye out for young people who are interested in the work, and he knows what they are interested in and what they are good at.

“You’ve got to develop an attitude towards your help that they are as good as you are,” he says. “You’re not above them. You’re beside them helping them, showing them.”
Patsy says, “I do a lot of bookkeeping and keep the records of cattle and stuff like that.”
“She takes care of about all of the home stuff,” Shane says. That includes feeding the cattle that the McElroys keep on their property in Timbo, where they live.

“I enjoy it,” Patsy says. “I love going over and feeding the heifers.”
The couple’s nearly 52 years of marriage has seen the farm grow to its current size, largely without going into debt. So what are the plans for the future?

“I just hope to leave what we’ve got in good enough financial condition, and our grass in good enough condition, that if somebody wanted to follow in and do what we do, they could,” Shane says. But, he has no plans to retire from farming anytime soon. “I’m 71 years old,” he says. “I’m going to do it as long as I can.”

The family will be honored at Farm Bureau’s annual banquet this fall. The 2025 Stone County Agricultural Appreciation Committee also awarded McElroy a Lifetime Agricultural Achievement Award.