Todd Harp & Kendal Butler
We've been farming together since 1997. HB Stock Farm is our second location – and our first in Harrison County, Kentucky. We both have off-the-farm jobs. Todd is a middle school assistant principal and Kendal is a magazine editor for a trade association. Our farming practices involve trial and error and lots of love for our animals.
Todd grew up on his uncle's dairy farm milking Holstein and Brown Swiss cows. He always had a love for animal agriculture. He pursued his love for agriculture at Eastern Kentucky University, where he received an A.S. in Livestock Production, a B.S. in Animal Science, and a M.A. in Instructional Leadership. He also did graduate work at the University of Kentucky where he received his teaching certificate for Agriculture. He has worked in many facets of commercial agriculture. He worked on a commercial hog farm in North Carolina, raised tobacco, milked cows, started the first commercial goat dairy in the state, worked as a product manager for an international animal health company and worked for the state of Kentucky in the Governor's Office of Agriculture Policy distributing the master tobacco settlement funds to farmers for agriculture diversification.
Some of his most rewarding work was in the field of agriculture education. Todd was an FFA advisor and agriculture teacher in Grant, Harrison, Bourbon and Fayette Counties in Kentucky. His focus was generally on animal science and fostering a love of farming to the next generation. He now works as an assistant principal in his home county at Harrison County Middle School and enjoys his time on the farm.
Kendal was raised in the suburbs. In fact, when he visited his grandparents as a child he remembers being afraid of their chickens. His great-grandfather had a farm in Collinwood, Tennessee. Much of his heritage came from a farming lifestyle.
In 1997 he took a chance and moved to a Bourbon County, Kentucky farm so he could escape the commotion of more urban Lexington. Since then he's showed paint and pinto horses, foal watched in freezing temperatures, entered the crazy dairy goat world and tended his own flock of heritage breed laying hens. He's especially proud of the growing mid-sized Jersey herd at HB.
He enjoys having outside chores after a long day in the office.