Its easy to romanticize a farming lifestyle – all that time outdoors, away from traffic and congestion, in control of your own destiny, living a life of purpose feeding your family and community. While all of that may be true, one thing that isn’t widely understood is that it’s very difficult to make a living farming full-time. In reality, farming is often one of many side-hustles.

This is true for the two Person County farmers our team visited with in April 2025. While you’d think raising 100s of beef cattle and sheep and managing 300 acres of pastureland would be a full-time occupation, Johnny and Sharon Rogers do much more than that. In addition to selling cattle to Firsthand Foods, they sell their own meat at the Farmers Market and each have off-farm jobs in farming-related fields. 

Similarly, Ray Jeffers manages to raise vegetables, field grains and hogs while also serving in the state legistlature, running a dog training center and promoting the development of a Piedmont Progressive Farmers Group, a producer marketing cooperative.

We’re impressed with the drive and talent it takes to manage all these enterprises and, of course, grateful for Johnny, Sharon and Ray’s continued commitment to pasture-based livestock production.