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"It’s
amazing how fast these fish grow," Randy explains while casting his
line while wading at the edge of the water. "For every 1.1 pounds
of feed, they gain a pound."
One
expert later visited the area and noted, "I always said you’d
never be able to catch a trout in August in Alabama but you just might
be the one to do it."
The
brothers also worked carefully to make certain their dad didn’t see
the surprise until Christmas, always making sure any cattle/calf pairs
he went out to check were in a distant pasture! And yes, he caught a
trout on Christmas Eve!
While it’s
doubtful the trout will spawn in the Alabama waters, that is still to be
seen. "We’ll just keep restocking if they don’t," Randy
explains.
Shel-Clair
Farm (which got it’s unusual name for its 1,000 acres being located
partially in Shelby AND St. Clair Counties) has undergone many other
changes in the last couple of years.
Randy and
his brother are the fifth generation to farm there. They were dairy
farmers until just last year, running one of the last two dairies
located in Shelby County.
"It’s
sad," Randy says. "In 1955, there were 3,500 dairies in
Alabama and that has dwindled to way less than 100 now."
Randy
says their decision to close the dairy and switch to Black Angus beef
cattle in 2005 was not one made lightly, but one made after a lot of
soul-searching because of economics and the two brothers’ ages (in
their 50s).
Randy and
his wife Carol have four children—daughter Catlin, who’s attending
Auburn; son Aaron, who works in Birmingham; daughter Jessica, who
graduated Vanderbilt and works in the "political arena" and
son Daniel, who’ll be heading to Auburn this fall. (Randy’s wife,
Carol, recently graduated from UAB as a Registered Nurse!)
Likewise,
Wayne and his wife have four children. But none of the kids foresee a
future in agriculture.
"In
a way, it’s sad when you think back over five generations and no one
to carry on," Randy explains. "But they’re all having happy
productive lives."
"My
great-great-grandmother was the first with a dairy. She milked cows by
hand and sold the milk to her neighbors. Great-grandfather Joe continued
and expanded. My grandfather Ned Bearden carried on the tradition. When
our parents Ralph and Monta Faye Bearden bought a motor home to travel
and retired a few years ago, that left Wayne and me."
"To
stay in farming, I think there’s going to have to be a lot of
diversification," Randy explains. "We have 100 head of cattle
now and are working to grow that to 300."
In
addition to the Black Angus and the upcoming trout stream, Randy notes
Shel-Clair Farm also boards horses and the family raises "a few
hundred acres" of corn and soybeans in row-crop production.
"People
must recognize where their food comes from, what part agriculture truly
plays in their lives," he stresses, noting with sadness the fact
that too many children, even in rural Alabama, know only that food comes
from the "grocery store," and know little else about the
farmers who grow that produce, raise that beef or milk those cows.
Matthew
Kay, manager of St. Clair Farmers Cooperative in Pell City, says
everyone is watching to see how the "spring fed creek" works
as a trout habitat.
"I’ve
known Randy for years as he’s come in for things for the farm, when it
was a dairy and as he switched over to beef and now the trout."
Kay
continues, "Meeting and working with people like Randy is why I
enjoy this business. I enjoy being able to have a full time job related
to agriculture but it’s not just that; it’s the people like Randy I
associate and deal with here."
As for
the trout fishing, Randy sees "growing into" that business as
well.
There’s
a small cabin already located on the farm that Randy hopes to "fix
up" for fishermen who’d like to stay the night to enjoy the peak
early-morning fly fishing. And there’s a perfect spot on the hill
above the stream for additional rustic cabins to be built in the future.
"That
will probably come a little slower as the kids finish Auburn,"
Randy laughs.
Fly-fishing
will be limited to small numbers to maintain the integrity of the area.
For more information, call Randy Bearden at 205-965-0264.
Suzy
Lowry Geno is a freelance writer from Blount County. |
