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Bert Maddox loves his farm, and he loves his family. For him, farm means family. Although farming has become big business and the small farm is disappearing in the Fulton area and elsewhere, he longs to keep the homestead in his family for generations to come. He has held a job as resident engineer at MODOT for 27 years to fund his dream to live the same way he grew up.
The homestead that has been in his family since the 1850’s is occupied by his sister, so he started saving pennies to buy his own cattle farm next to his boyhood home, long before he met his wife Susan. Between the homestead and his own farm he manages 610 acres and 90 head of cattle. His goal is to make his living from cattle farming full-time while he is still young enough to enjoy it.
Bert and his wife, Susan, have three young girls and hope to pass the heritage on to them. Of his twins he says, “I’d like to think one of ‘em would like to end up living on the farm, Julie to me would be the one, she’s a little more of a tomboy than Jesi.”
For Bert, living on the farm is as important as earning money from it. “I don’t consider farming a job,” Bert says. “Farming just makes you more knowledgeable about everything.” Susan says of her husband, “Farming is in his blood, it is his life and breath.”

"Preserving Tradition"


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Bert Maddox loves his farm, and he loves his family. For him, farm means family. Although farming has become big business and the small farm is disappearing in the Fulton area and elsewhere, he longs to keep the homestead in his family for generations to come. He has held a job as resident engineer at MODOT for 27 years to fund his dream to live the same way he grew up. The homestead that has been in his family since the 1850’s is occupied by his sister, so he started saving pennies to buy his own cattle farm next to his boyhood home, long before he met his wife Susan. Between the homestead and his own farm he manages 610 acres and 90 head of cattle. His goal is to make his living from cattle farming full-time while he is still young enough to enjoy it. Bert and his wife, Susan, have three young girls and hope to pass the heritage on to them. Of his twins he says, “I’d like to think one of ‘em would like to end up living on the farm, Julie to me would be the one, she’s a little more of a tomboy than Jesi.” For Bert, living on the farm is as important as earning money from it. “I don’t consider farming a job,” Bert says. “Farming just makes you more knowledgeable about everything.” Susan says of her husband, “Farming is in his blood, it is his life and breath.”