Batesville Research Station’s New Director Eyes Innovation in Winter Grazing Cattle
Flint Harrelson takes reins of Livestock and Forestry Research Station
By John Lovett – Jan. 12, 2026
STATION DIRECTOR — As the new resident director of the Livestock and Forestry Research Station, Flint Harrelson brings two decades of experience in animal science. (Courtesy Flint Harrelson)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Growing up in eastern New Mexico near the Texas Panhandle, horses and cattle have always been a way of life for Flint Harrelson.
When not riding horses on the family farm near Clovis, Harrelson also showed dairy cattle as part of the Future Farmers of America. He went on to get his bachelor’s in animal science at West Texas A&M University, followed by a master’s at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a doctorate at New Mexico State University.
As the new resident director of the Livestock and Forestry Research Station near Batesville, Harrelson brings more than two decades of experience in animal science, with half of that as a professor at Morehead State University in Kentucky.
Having started his new job in late October, Harrelson is still getting settled in at the station, a unit of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
“We just recently got our animals here and are starting to settle into our new farm,” Harrelson said. “We have a flock of purebred Katahdin hair sheep, and the kids have started showing them over the last couple of years.”
Harrelson and his wife, Patricia, have three young children — Loralie, Henry and Nolan.
Shane Gadberry, the former Livestock and Forestry Research Station director, is now assistant vice president for Agriculture and Natural Resources with the Cooperative Extension Service, the outreach arm of the Division of Agriculture.
Research focus
Research conducted at the Livestock and Forestry Research Station focuses on beef cattle management and production, including large-scale replicated forage trials with a 350-head herd on 1,250 acres.
Three forages commonly grown in Arkansas — Kentucky 31 fescue, bermudagrass and winter annuals — grow at the station for the forage field trials, as well as endophyte-free tall fescue and some native warm-season forages. Endophytes are fungi that live in some fescue varieties. The endophytes help make the grass resistant to drought, insects and diseases, as well as heavy grazing. However, grazing on endophyte-infected fescue can lead to symptoms including fescue toxicosis, which squeezes off blood supply to the animal’s extremities.
Although much of Harrelson’s job is administrative, supervising a staff of nine at the research station, he also conducts research and has an extension role to provide recommendations for cattle management and nutrition. As station director, Harrelson also oversees the livestock and forage research program, focusing on developing and identifying fescue-tolerant cattle through DNA mapping and epigenetics, and using forages and growth-promoting technology for stocker calf production.
“We have faculty from across the state who do research up here, including those in Fayetteville. With the graduate students and faculty in Fayetteville, they can’t be here every day, so it’s our job to make sure the day-to-day activities happen,” Harrelson said.
Mike McGowan, a forester with the Division of Agriculture, also conducts research at the station. The forestry program has 1,750 acres of upland hardwood timber and shortleaf pine that are managed to enhance productivity, species composition, survivability and marketing options.
Harrelson also works closely with Ally Grote, Ph.D., the new beef extension specialist, and Jason Davis, an assistant professor in the department of crop, soil and environmental sciences and precision agriculture extension specialist based at the station.
Harrelson and Davis are preparing to do research on containing stocker cattle on winter wheat using virtual fencing, a technology similar to what many people use to keep their dogs in the yard without a physical fence. A collar is worn by the animal, and when it approaches the set boundary, they get an audible signal. If it gets to the boundary line, they get an electric stimulation.
“Whether we’re talking about soybean, cotton, or some other field, if we can do something like that, we can winter graze and maybe limit some of the commercial fertilizer used on the field,” Harrelson said. “We know that one of the challenges for grazing crop land is fencing.”
Harrelson also plans to run feed additive trials for weaned calves grazing on Kentucky 31 fescue.
To reach Harrelson for livestock questions or concerns, please write him at fharrelson@uada.edu.
To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website. Follow us on 𝕏 at @ArkAgResearch, subscribe to the Food, Farms and Forests podcast and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on 𝕏 at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
STATION DIRECTOR — As the new resident director of the Livestock and Forestry Research Station, Flint Harrelson brings two decades of experience in animal science. (Courtesy Flint Harrelson)
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