Devon Anglin tending cattle on his farm in malvern, St. Elizabeth. - Photo by George Henry

George Henry, Gleaner Writer

Malvern, St. Elizabeth:

Despite his full schedule doing the Lord's work, Reverend Devon Anglin, minister at the Bethlehem Moravian Church in Malvern, St. Elizabeth, still finds time to be a successful farmer.

Rev. Anglin, who is in his early 40s, told Farmers Weekly that he has always loved farming. In fact, he did it to pay his tuition while attending the Bethlehem Moravian College in the 1980s.

Concentrated on cattle

He pointed out that while living on the Moravian property called Deep Dene, in Malvern, he planted crops such as corn, tomato, pumpkin, callaloo among other cash crops and sold it to the college.

Since leaving the institution, he has been concentrating on cattle farming for the past 10 years.

He explained that he started rearing cattle after a farmer decided that he was getting out of cattle farming because he was getting old.

"He sold out his stock to me and allowed me to use his property at Carisbrook to do the farming," Rev Anglin explained.

The St. Elizabeth farmernoted that he started out with one heifer before purchasing two more and a bull to move his stock to four. Shortly afterwards, he bought three other cows. From there, the herd grew to over a dozen animals at present.

But it has not been smooth sailing as Rev. Anglin recalled selling three of his largest cows for a mere $10,000 during the decline of the sector a few years ago. Those cows would have fetched $160,000 today, he said.

Nevertheless, he said the venture can be profitable: "Once you get the pastures up and going, over a period of time you will get back your money."

He also stated that the market for cattle was very good, as cattle farmers could hardly keep pace with demand in the beef industry.

Working with cattle is what he said keeps him going. It provides him with all the exercise he needs and he has no intention of retiring anytime soon.