Slade Priest, also known as the “Hunting Land Man,” is a hunting land specialist and licensed real estate agent. He’s the host of several hunting television shows and podcasts. Slade was born and raised in Centreville, Mississippi where he continues to live today along with his family—wife Lori, son Bentley, daughter Asa, and a baby boy due in May. “If I could live anywhere in the country, I’d pick right here,” said Slade.  

When he’s not selling hunting land, Slade is deer hunting, turkey hunting or spending time with family. He grew up in a family who hunted, so hunting and family go hand in hand. It’s just part of who they are. “I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I didn’t spend every waking hour in the woods growing up,” explained Slade.     

Slade believes buying land is a good investment, but there’s just something special about recreational land. 

“Recreational land is emotional,” he said. If your son or daughter kills their first deer or turkey on that land, then those are the memories that we will hold on to and that is what makes recreational land so special.” To Slade, there’s much more to it than just a rate of return on his investment. There’s a level of fun and excitement that you can’t find just anywhere.   

“Southern AgCredit understands land and land financing. They make the process easy, fun, and they just get it.”
— Slade Priest

“My whole life I’ve wanted to have my own tract of land with my house on it, which would also be a place where my family could go hunting or ride four-wheelers or things like that,” said Slade. “The week we moved in, I saw a doe and an eight-point buck walk through my front yard. I knew at that point, I’d made it. This was exactly what I had been looking for.”     

Slade attributes his strong work ethic to his parents. He’s never been one to shy away from working hard to get what he wanted. Slade doesn’t believe in idle time—there’s always something for him to do, whether it be filling up a feeder, making a food plot, working on hunting land maps or trying to figure out how to buy or lease more land. Now he and Lori feel that they are called to teach their children how to work hard on their land, and hopefully they will carry on the tradition. “It’s building a legacy,” said Slade. 

Slade comes from a long line of Southern AgCredit borrowers. He grew up hearing his grandparents and parents talk about owning land and knew when it became his turn, he would also contact Southern AgCredit for his own financing needs.

“Southern AgCredit understands land and land financing. They make the process easy, fun, and they just get it,” said Slade. 

Southern AgCredit is proud to help members just like the Priest family own land in the country. Learn more about recreational land loans, or contact Southern AgCredit to get started.

The Shoemake’s Journey to Life in the Country

The Shoemakes were tired of the big-city life and dreamed of living in the country. They decided to make their dream a reality and built a log home in the small community of Vancleave, Mississippi. 

Both Harry and Clarice were born and raised in the country but migrated to the city of Laurel. Then they moved to Biloxi area because of their business. Harry and his son, Sean, own Employee Benefit Specialists, PA. The company specializes in the design, communication and enrollment of voluntary benefits and group insurance. They started the company in 1967 and expanded in 2010 to include US Select Insurance, LLA, which writes P&C and Commercial Insurance. It’s still operating today. 

Finding the Right Tract

They began looking at land in rural areas that would be large enough for their whole family. The couple has four grandchildren, so it was very important to have lots of space. They found the perfect tract of land to build their log cabin on. Sean and his family built their home next door. Having their family as next-door neighbors is a blessing that they are thankful for. Their oldest son, Lee, and his family live in Atlanta, but Harry and Clarice are hopeful that they will relocate to Vancleave at retirement. 

The Shoemakes are excited about having the whole gang over to their new country home where they can ride four-wheelers, watch football, and enjoy being together as a family. On the farm, there’s always something to do. 

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” commented Harry. “Life makes a circle. I started out on the farm, then moved to the city but as I got older, I wanted to get away from the city and back to the farm. We wanted to get back to nature, a simpler time and a slower pace.” The Shoemakes found that slower paced life in Vancleave. 

Financing Rural Country Homes with Southern AgCredit

Several years ago, a banker friend told Harry about Southern AgCredit as he wasn’t familiar with Farm Credit, where farm and agricultural lending are the primary focus. When they decided to buy their tract of land, Harry and Sean knew just the right place to call for financing. They met Alex Riser, Southern AgCredit’s Gulfport branch manager who gave them the best deal on land financing. 

“The Shoemakes are great folks,” Alex said. “I loved being able to work with them and help them with the financing of their beautiful country home.”

The Shoemakes have been Southern AgCredit members since 2017.

“Southern AgCredit was a perfect fit for us,” agreed Harry and Clarice. 

Finance Your Country Home with a Loan from Southern AgCredit

Southern AgCredit is proud to help families live their dream of owning a home outside the city limits. Read more about our loans for country homes and homesites or get in touch with us today.

Walter Oliver was born and raised in Carroll County, Mississippi on a farm that he now owns and operates. He and his family run Oliver Farms—a 3,000-plus acre farm where they grow cotton, corn and peanuts. 

“My daddy taught me everything I know about farming. He retired in 2008, and I picked up from there.  2009 was a hard year without having him on the farm, but I managed to get by,” Walt said.

Southern AgCredit’s Relationship With Oliver Farms

Walt’s father began a relationship with Land Bank South (now Southern AgCredit) in 1976. Now, fast forward some 45 years later, and the relationship between the Oliver family and Southern AgCredit is still going strong. “They’re just good people, hard workers, and great farmers,” said Elliott Fancher, Southern AgCredit’s Greenwood branch manager and loan officer for Oliver Farms. “Not only are they our borrowers, but they’re also our friends. Our kids go to the same school. We talk about business, but we also talk football and hunting.”

Why Experienced Farming Lenders Matter

Walt acknowledges that although his father started the financial relationship with Southern AgCredit, he knew that he wouldn’t change it. “They understand farming and the demands that it has, the unpredictable weather and the volatile commodity prices. They know that every year won’t be a record year, and they can help us plan for that,” said Walt. 

Walt values the agricultural knowledge of Elliott and others at Southern AgCredit, where most of the staff grew up on farms and are even farming part-time today. “It’s important to us,” Walt explained.  “It makes the conversations easy because they truly get it.” 

Fulfill Your Rural Living Dreams

Southern AgCredit is proud to help fulfill the dreams of owning land, farming, or just living in the country.

Advanced Timber Services, Inc., (ATS) is a timber-buying and-selling company as well as a timber management company started by Jim Long in 1996. ATS is operated by Jim, his wife, Susan, and two adult sons, Jeremy and Jamie.

Jim started in the forest industry when he was 19 years old, working his way through college as a forestry technician for Crown Zellerbach, a national company that has since sold. Next, Jim took a job as a procurement forester for a timber company in Arkansas, a position he held for seven years. He then made the move to another timber company, where he worked another seven years.

When Jim was 40 years old, he decided to go out on his own and start his own timber company, ATS. An outgoing entrepreneur, Jim grew the operation into a thriving business and has never looked back. He’s now semi-retired and depends on his sons to handle the day-to-day operations in the field.

Susan began her career as a human resources professional and worked until her sons were in elementary school. The Longs decided that Susan would stay home with the two boys and assist Jim with ATS. Susan obtained her real estate license and began helping with the office duties of ATS, a role she still fills today. In total, the company has 19 employees, including loggers, drivers, foresters and an operations manager. Until 2018, the Longs would subcontract out their logging services. Now they own all their own logging equipment and run two logging crews, with the goal of adding another logging crew soon.

“In order to scale the company, if we must spend money, we have to spend it to make more money. In our case, that was spending money on our own logging equipment,” said Jeremy, the Long’s oldest son, who is a degreed forester.

Safety and technology go hand in hand for ATS, and purchasing their own logging equipment and trucks has paid dividends. All trucks have built-in GPS tracking and diagnostic information. The user can see idle time, fuel consumption, total miles driven, total number of stops, and have the capability to set the maximum speed of the trucks. Such technology helps increase safety, which in turn helps maximize profits.

“We have to be as safe as possible,” commented Jim. “In this industry, your reputation is all you have.”

Jeremy and Jamie have been in the woods with their father since they were in their early teens, whether tagging along while he was working or camping together as a family. It was during these times that they learned to love and respect nature. The Long sons grew up listening to their father talk on the phone to landowners and foresters. The boys quickly picked up on the lingo and learned the fundamentals of what it took to do field work without the use of modern technology. These days, they’re able to integrate the knowledge gleaned from their father with today’s technology, giving them a well-rounded perspective on how to meet and exceed the company’s goals.

After high school, Jeremy and Jamie pursued degrees in forestry and business, respectively. Upon graduating, the boys decided to come back to Shreveport and work in the family business, which thrilled Jim and Susan.
“I wanted to come back and help my parents retire and have the life that they want, because they provided for me and my brother and helped us have the life that we wanted,” said Jamie. “I wanted to return the favor and help the family do well and succeed.”

Susan, a 12-year cancer survivor, had an illness that at one point took her and Jim away from their day-to-day jobs with ATS. Jamie was in college during this time, which left Jeremy to fill in and run the company, giving him a jumpstart on his career. It was also during this time that Jamie realized just how much he wanted to come back and be part of the company his family built.

At ATS, they’ve made a commitment to surround themselves with hardworking, like-minded people, which they believe is the key to success. They are thankful that they have a wonderful group of employees to work with each day, and know that ATS is only as strong as its team.

“I feel like God prepared me for my position by working previous jobs as a receptionist, all the way from accounts payable to human resources management. I am still using all those skills for the job I have now. I can see my path very clearly was built up to help support my husband and family in this business,” said Susan. “Jim has a God-given ability to work with trees and he’s never strayed from his career choice. Even in times of very volatile markets, he never gave up.”

“When things got hard and times were tough, I never gave up. I learned from my mistakes and turned them into something positive and kept going,” Jim said. “In this industry, you must be dedicated and be willing to do whatever it takes.”

ATS chose Southern AgCredit as their lender for a variety of reasons.

“We liked the rates and terms, and we also quickly found Southern AgCredit could handle any of our financing needs,” explained Susan. “We also liked that Justin (Southern AgCredit’s Shreveport branch manager) helped us in planning our financing strategies for future needs of the business.”

The Longs have been Southern AgCredit members since July 2016.

Finance Your Timber Business with a Loan from Southern AgCredit

Southern AgCredit is proud to help timberland entrepreneurs like the Long family with financing for their operations. Learn more about our loans for timber, lumber, and forestry-based businesses or get in touch with us today.

Steve and Amanda Alexander
DeBerry, Texas / Frierson, Louisiana

Alexander Blueberry Farms encompasses farm land in Louisiana and Texas, where the Alexanders grow blueberries. Steve and Amanda Alexander own and operate the farm alongside their children, Caroline, Timothy, and Elizabeth. They also have a grown daughter, Kayla, who lives in Lubbock, Texas, with her 5-year-old daughter, baby and husband. Their blueberries are sold to grocery stores across the region.

Steve grew up on a dairy farm where he worked with his father and brother. After deciding in his mid-20s that he wanted to start his own farm, he purchased and raised heifers while still on his dad’s property. In 1991 he decided to go out on his own and leased a dairy farm in Louisiana where he started milking his own herd. After overcoming many obstacles with grit and determination, his dairy operation grew and thrived.

Blueberry Diversification

In 1995 Steve and Amanda purchased acreage in Louisiana and planted blueberries to diversify their income stream while continuing to operate the dairy farm. In 2004, a dairy farm came up for sale in East Texas, and the Alexander family purchased the property with plans to continue the dairy operation. Three years later, they decided to plant blueberries on the new farm in Texas, along with the farm in Louisiana, and built a packing facility on the Texas property. Up until this time, they had all their blueberries packed at an outside facility. The Alexanders packed their first blueberry crop on-site in their own packing facility in 2008. Tough times struck the dairy industry the following year, causing Steve to shutdown the dairy operation and focus entirely on berries.

“What many people do not realize is that it takes between six to seven years to get a good blueberry crop, and that’s a long time to wait, but we did it and are glad we did,” commented Amanda.

Amanda grew up in Kentucky until the eight grade, when her family moved to New Iberia, Louisiana. She worked as a schoolteacher until she and Steve married and had their first child, after which they decided she would stay at home with the baby and help Steve with the farm, which she still does today.

Machinery Investments

“We all help out with the blueberries,” said Amanda. “Our kids grew up helping on the farm and still do. It’s a family business.” In addition to the on-site packing facility, Steve and Amanda have made other improvements to their blueberry operation.

“You have to make changes and adapt to the demands of the market,” explained Amanda.

Take, for instance, the color and soft berry sorters that improve their operation. In total, they use three different sorting machines to enhance the quality of their crop. The machine used for color sorters has two cameras that detect the color of the fruit and software that allows the user to determine the colors of the berries that should be discarded.

The soft sorter machine detects how firm or soft every berry is. The user sets the sensitivity of the sensors to control the firmness of the fruit that is to be rejected. Those berries are then rerouted onto a discharge conveyor belt.

The third machine is a combination sorter of both color and over-ripe berries. This machine has two sets of optical cameras. There are two cameras for each sorting channel on the sorting conveyor belt. Upper and lower cameras allow for more surface area of every single berry to be inspected as they fall on the sorting conveyor belt. At the beginning of the season, the machine can be set to discard red and green berries. At the end of the season, or whenever needed, the machine can be set to discard overripe berries. Overripe berries are detected with infrared light wavelength built into the cameras. Each sorting channel is aligned with a corresponding reject air jet. Upon receiving a signal from the electronic/optics subsystem, the air valve opens and high-pressure air is released. The high-pressure air from the air jets deflect defective fruit onto another conveyor belt.

With all three machines combined, each berry is viewed three times for softness and three times for color in one pass. Such technology significantly increases the pack-out quality of the blueberries, maximizes efficiency, and improves their bottom line.

“A business in agriculture has many challenges such as adverse weather, labor shortages, markets and finances, just to name a few,” explained Steve. “You have to be a fighter to overcome the challenges of farming.”

Not only did the farm overcome—it thrived. In fact, this year the Alexanders are planning to plant more blueberry acreage than ever before.

“We want to run the farm to the best of our ability and one day be able to retire,” said Amanda.

Relationship with Southern AgCredit for Farm Financing

Steve came to Southern AgCredit many years ago when he was in the dairy business, and continued to keep his business with Southern AgCredit even when he diversified to blueberries. His father was also with Southern AgCredit while he was in the dairy industry.

“I use Southern AgCredit because they are honest and flexible. Farmers face challenges that other businesses do not, which sometimes requires unique financing strategies,” Steve explained. “Southern AgCredit works with you and gives you a chance to recover from the challenges that farmers are faced with.”

“It’s never crossed our mind to do business anywhere else because Southern AgCredit knows our business and understands our needs,” Amanda added.

The Alexanders have been Southern AgCredit stockholders since 1991.

Finance Your Row Crow Farm with a Loan from Southern AgCredit

Southern AgCredit provides loans for any crop operating expenses such as land, prep, planting, harvesting, and more. Learn more about our Row Crop Loans or contact us to learn more.

Arrowhead Lodge consists of 343 acres of high-fence property as well as a 6,000-square-foot lodge and bunkhouse in rural Mississippi. Chris and Christine Payton bought the property in September 2018 because they wanted to have a place where their family could enjoy wide-open spaces and be fully immersed in the outdoors. The Paytons also wanted their kids to experience a way of life where things are not as fast-paced as they are in their hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Chris, an entrepreneur at heart, is the founding partner of Assurance Financial, a successful mortgage company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with over200 employees. Originally from Jacksonville, Alabama, Chris grew up on a 120-acre family farm where his grandparents raised beef cattle, pigs, chickens, goats and horses.

“I grew up working alongside my family taking care of the farm’s daily needs,” said Chris. “My parents were hard workers and instilled that in me. I learned the value of hard work early, and that’s stuck with me.”

Chris’s mother was the more business-oriented of his two parents and was the executive director of the Girl Scouts in northern Alabama. Chris’s wife, Christine, is a non-practicing CPA and stays home with the couple’s two boys, Charlie, 15, and Jacob, 12. Christine grew up in the New Iberia, Louisiana, area.

The land surrounding the lodge has all sorts of wildlife, including white-tailed deer, wild turkey, bass, wood ducks and a family of fox squirrels that the Paytons have grown to love.

“While I wasn’t in the market to buy a high-fence property, I appreciate the additional control that you have,” said Chris. “It keeps the wild pigs and coyotes out as well as provides an added layer of security.”

Chris, an avid outdoorsman, commented that “this property checked all the boxes for us. It’s not too faraway, a little less than a three-hour drive from our home, and gives our family the opportunity to hunt and fish in a beautiful rural setting. This is the place that we’ve dreamed of owning.”

In an effort to improve the buck-to-doe ratio, the Paytons work with a wildlife biologist to manage the deer herd on their property.

“Currently, we have about two does to one buck, and we would like to get a one-doe-to-one-buck ratio. The plan is to have balance along with trophy bucks,” said Chris.

He is most excited about bow hunting, although he has not had much time to do it, and said that rifle hunting has been fun for his boys and their cousins and friends. They are also working with a lake biologist to manage the fish to maximize their health to attain more trophy bass.

Christine says her favorite aspect of the property is the time they get to spend together as a family.

We’re able to bring the entire family here without the distractions of the busy life that we have in Lafayette,” Christine said. “Life just moves a little slower at the lodge.”

The Payton family would be remiss if they did not mention their gratitude for the caretaker of the property, Keith Ladner, a local man who lives just a few miles from the lodge and allows them to enjoy the property to its fullest potential. They all agree that without Keith, Arrowhead Lodge could not operate.

Technology also plays a factor at Arrowhead Lodge. Their oldest son, Charlie, received a drone for his birthday. One of his favorite activities is flying the drone around the land to survey the property and check on the animals, lake and fencing. They also have game cameras set up to survey their deer population, which they’re able to do remotely from their iPhones.

As a young boy, Chris would search the family farm for Indian arrowheads. Then, as fate would have it, the Payton’s property in Poplarville turned out to be full of them — hence the name of the place — and the young Payton boys love searching for them just like Chris did in his youth.

My grandfather always told me, ‘Son, if you ever find land with arrowheads on it, buy it,’” said Chris. And that’s exactly what the Payton family did.

The Paytons have lots of contacts in the financial world because of Chris’s mortgage business. However, since Arrowhead Lodge included a lot of acreage, it didn’t fit the traditional mortgage guidelines his company operates under. They narrowed their search down to three lenders, and weighed the pros and cons.

“We wanted to find a lender that was motivated to do the best for us,” said Chris. “Not only did we find that in Alex Riser (Southern AgCredit’s Gulfport branch manager), but we also found that he was an avid outdoorsman and knew exactly what we were talking about in terms of recreational property.”

The Paytons also liked the fact Alex was able to provide them with the best interest rate and terms for their deal.

“We’ve always felt that Southern AgCredit was looking out for our best interest, and we are glad we chose them as our lender and partner,” said Chris.

The Paytons have been Southern AgCredit stockholders since September 2018.

Homewood Cattle Company was founded by two brothers, Sean and Ian Ferrell, originally from Union, Mississippi. Sean is the Scott County Manager for Farm Bureau and married to his wife, Heather, who handles the books for Homewood Cattle Company. Ian is a directional driller for Halliburton and is engaged to Jessica Holmes. The brothers are first-generation cattle farmers.

In 2011, Sean moved to Scott County to begin work with Farm Bureau. Sean and Ian purchased three Charolais heifers from Mr. Larry Addkison of Louisville, Mississippi. Sean knew there were not many other local breeders of this type of cattle in Scott County, so he quickly saw this as a great business opportunity, thus the beginning of Homewood Cattle Company.

“Mr. Larry made a huge impact on our lives, and he is our biggest mentor in the cattle business. We wouldn’t be where we are today without him,” said Sean. Since 2011, they have grown their herd size from three head to the current herd size of 60 brood cows.

Technological Innovation and Livestock

“We got into farming to get away from the fast-paced life,” said Sean. However, the deeper they got into farming and researching ways to directly impact their bottom line, the more they realized just how important technology is to profit margins.

“If you’re not using the latest and greatest technologies available,” Sean added, “you are going to leave profits on the table.”

Homewood Cattle Company uses various types of technologies to collect, manage and chart data on the herd. Data collected allows them to highlight projections on quality genetics and prove quality breeds. They also use herd management software to track measurements on each cow, which they can access from the touch of their iPhone.

“I can be sitting anywhere in the world and pull up a specific cow in our herd, and I can tell a potential buyer not only what the cow weighed at birth but also the characteristics about the cow’s parents’ EPDs (expected progeny differences) and even show them every time I gave that cow any type of medical treatments such as shots and vaccinations,” explained Sean.

The company has plans to add other types of technology to enhance their business operations which, they believe, will continue to set them apart from competition.

“If we are going to charge a premium price, we know we better have the data to back it up and justify the cost,” commented Ian.

The goal of Homewood Cattle Company is to sell quality purebred bulls to improve someone else’s herd. To accomplish this, data collection and information integrity are vital. According to Sean, their focus has always been on quality over quantity.

“We want to have a good product. When people see the Homewood Cattle Company, they will know they can trust it.”

The Ferrell brothers also attribute some of their successes to the persistence of maintaining personal contacts within the industry, such as sponsoring Cattlemen’s Association dinners and other events, as well as educating potential buyers on the advantages of using a Charolais herd sire. They are proud of the fact that up to 90% of their buyers are from word-of-mouth referrals, personal contacts and existing relationships from other cattlemen. According to Sean, “the most rewarding part of what we do is to see repeat customers who feel like Homewood Cattle Company has made a difference in their family’s bottom line.”

Their parents, Stephania and Neel Ferrell, managed Ferrell and Company, a local co-op in Union, from 1976 and worked there until their retirement in 2015. Watching their parents work tirelessly at the co-op inspired the brothers to dream of one day starting their own business. Now that the day is here, Sean and Ian hope Homewood Cattle Company continues growing into a thriving cattle business so that they can eventually pass the farm down to their children.

Southern AgCredit is the Easy Choice for Livestock Business Loans

Selecting a lender was an easy choice for the Ferrells. They chose Southern AgCredit because they believe it has the same goals as Homewood Cattle Company, which is supporting local communities in rural Mississippi.

“Southern AgCredit has great loan products to help us meet our needs, and those products were introduced to us by a great friend,” said Sean, referring to their Southern AgCredit loan officer, Kevin Brown, who grew up in the same community as Sean and Ian.

“Kevin is a local guy and he knows rural Mississippi. We found it was easy to work with him because he understands us and our business,” added Sean.

The Ferrell brothers both agree they view Southern AgCredit as a partner and are excited to see this partnership grow.

Homewood Cattle Company has been a Southern AgCredit member since August 2019.

Livestock Loans with Southern AgCredit

To learn more about our lending products, visit our livestock loans or contact Southern AgCredit directly.