Monroe County, Georgia, cattleman James Vaughn has been named the 2018 Georgia Farmer of the Year.

Under his leadership, Vaughn Farms has grown from a 500-acre cattle farm to a 5,590-acre diversified farm operation. Working as a team, Vaughn and his wife, sons and daughter grow Bermuda grass hay for the local and wholesale market, raise cattle for the specialized beef market, sell bred heifers and registered bulls, grow 4,000 acres of timber, and train cutting horses. Vaughn also provides legal assistance in farm-related areas as a partner in the law firm of Vaughn, Wright and Boyer LLP.  

After graduating from college, law school and practicing law in Savannah, Georgia, Vaughn returned to Monroe County to take over the farm his father established in the 1950s with a small herd of registered Angus cattle. Today, Vaughn Farms has 425 cow-calf pairs; 50 are registered and the others are purebred commercial Angus.

The farm is a large-scale operation focused on intensive management, sustainability and profitability.

“In the 35 years I have been active on the farm as an adult, I have achieved an important goal of maintaining a farm business where my family can work and maintain the lifestyle we enjoy,” said Vaughn, from his farm office, a white-framed farmhouse that was once his grandparents’ home. “Together, we are reaching another goal: producing high-quality beef, hay and horses along with commodity timber products. More importantly, we are producing these commodities in an efficient and sustainable manner in the hope and expectation that future generations of our family can live and work on the farm and meet the lifestyle and production goals they choose.”

Related:Meet the 2017 Southeastern Farmers of the Year

Recognizing the benefit of niche marketing, Vaughn direct markets feeder calves to southwest Iowa. Beef from the farm is sold into export following harvest through an integrated market for nonhormone-treated cattle. Vaughn is also a Global Animal Partnership (GAP) Level 4 producer of grass-finished cattle for White Oak Pastures, the state’s largest organic farm, operated by 2013 Georgia Farmer of the Year Will Harris.

Vaughn markets Vaughn Farms cattle through the Georgia/Iowa Family Farm to Family Fork program. The hormone-free marketing program seeks marketing premiums for cattlemen who produce safe, quality, consistent beef using humane and hormone-free procedures.

In turn, producers receive carcass data that’s used to analyze their cattle’s performance. Vaughn and Caitlin Bennett Jackson, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agent in Monroe County, are members of the program’s governing board. Vaughn helped to start the program, and Jackson analyzes the carcass data for local farmers and provides them with an easy-to-read summary.

Jackson nominated Vaughn for the Georgia Farmer of the Year award.

“Not only is Mr. Vaughn a great farmer, he is one of the greatest advocates for the agricultural industry,” Jackson said. “His ability to educate audiences about the importance of agriculture and the need for continued research from land-grant universities makes him a vital source of information for community members, stakeholders and legislators.”

Vaughn Farms is truly a family operation. Vaughn and his wife, Beth Vaughn, work on the farm every day and hold down full-time off-farm jobs. He is a local attorney and she chairs the board of a community bank. Two of their sons, Matthew and Jordan Vaughn, joined them in the farm business full time. Benjamin Vaughn, also an attorney, holds a forestry degree and assists them with timber management and production. Their daughter, Jennifer Vaughn Hickson, is an equine veterinarian assistant. She lives in South Carolina but shows cutting horses on the circuit with Jordan Vaughn.

From his desk, James Vaughn can see a herd of his cattle grazing on a wheat pasture.

“That’s a really pretty pasture, but the other farm is why we’ve gotten noticed,” James Vaughn said of the family’s 650-acre former pine plantation. “It was originally part of the Talmadge Place. In 2006, root rot fungus got in there and the trees began to die.”

To learn more about the Vaughn operation, go to the UGA CAES Newswire.