“When we started having children, we decided we wanted them to have the same opportunities that we had growing up, so we moved back to the country, to our home, to the farm.”

Something Special

The country is the place to be, at least in the opinion of Richard and Whitney Holladay. While young people everywhere learn the skills they need to navigate the world around them, Richard and Whitney believe that there is something special about a childhood spent near livestock and gravel roads.

After graduating from college, they spent nine years living in Birmingham, Alabama. But, after nearly a decade of city living, they decided that it was time to make a change. “When we started having children, we decided we wanted them to have the same opportunities that we had growing up, so we moved back to the country, to our home, to the farm,” Richard said, “I think growing up in the country teaches you a lot. It has given our girls the opportunity to learn values and hard work and to learn basic life skills that growing up in the country makes you learn.”

Family Tradition

The Holladays are fourth-generation farmers, cultivating the same land that Richard’s father purchased in 1969 in Hayneville, Alabama. 

It’s been nearly a decade and a half since they moved back to the farm and the operation has changed a lot over that time. When they first started, Richard and Whitney primarily produced row crops. However, over the past 10 years they have transitioned to livestock. Now, they tend a commercial herd of cattle and produce boiler chickens. 

The Holladays have been customers of Alabama Ag Credit for over 14 years. The relationship started back in 2005, when Richard and his brother decided they wanted to purchase land. Alabama Ag Credit was there to support them as they expanded the family business.