2023 Autumn Leader

CATTLEMEN’S ASSOCIATION HONORS

GLENN AND DORIS HILL FOR LIFELONG COMMITMENT TO AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AMERICA

You may have heard the saying, “Couples who ___ together stay together.” Sometimes, the words grow, pray or exercise get inserted into the blank space. However, when it comes to Glenn and Doris Hill, the word most fitting for them is work. Their life experiences, farm success and community engagement were never in the spotlight for decades. That all changed this year when the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association named and the Hills the Region Four Hall of Fame inductees for 2023.

The Hall of Fame is designed to honor association members who has given their time, service and talent for the betterment of organization at the state or county level. Inductees are nominated by their peers, and five members are inducted each year.

A ninth-generation farmer, Glenn says some of his land has been in their family since Kentucky became a state. After helping his family on the farm through high school, he went on to attend the University of Kentucky and became an electrical engineer. He then traveled from place to place and began working for McDonnell Douglas. Through his work and travel, he met Doris.

Doris grew up in Arkansas. After serving in the Navy during World War II, her father found work in Detroit, Mich., and that’s where Doris graduated high school. She then went on to work for General Motors. Glenn returned to the family farm in 1969 and began farming independently in 1973. Doris had never lived on a farm before she married Glenn, but that would not stop her from helping and becoming actively involved with the community and the Cattlemen’s Association. When she wasn’t working on the farm with Glenn, Doris served as secretary for the Madison County Cattlemen’s Association. Many of the association’s members say that she was one of the most organized secretaries ever to serve. However, being a secretary was not the only thing Doris did; she was also one of the first to be a part of a Cattlewoman’s club.

Glenn has also been active in his community and the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association. He was one of the committee members who took part in rewriting and reorganizing the regions for the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Constitution. Besides staying active with

their community, Glenn and Doris also enjoy traveling together. The Madison County Cattlemen’s and Extension office planned trips every year to tour America. However, when the extension agent who planned the trips was ready to retire, the Hills stepped up to take his place. Since 1981, Glenn and Doris have scouted every stop

they make and ensured that every trip includes meeting livestock producers and seeing how agriculture changes from one state to another.

Sitting across from the table and listening to everything the Hills have experienced over the last 50 years can make you envious of their life. They’re a great team, but it hasn’t always been easy. They lived through the farm crisis of the ‘80s, the end of the tobacco industry and the inevitable economic ups and downs of the ag industry. Doris will be the first to tell you that when they both had full-time jobs and the farm to manage, life took work. “You would work all day and come home to the farm and work all night,” she said.

When asked what advice he’d give someone starting to farm, Glenn said, “Don’t live too high – live within your means. You’ll need to learn how to save, establish a good line of credit and work with a good financial and marketing adviser.”

Glenn and Doris are a good example of how, when two work together with the same goals and mindset, so much can be accomplished.