Testimonials Part-Time Farmers Summer 2015 | Page 3

Making Dreams Come True David Hardwick grew up around farming and knew that, some day, he wanted a place of his own where he could raise cattle and, more importantly, a family. He has a good job as a journeyman lineman for a major electrical company, but Hardwick and his wife, Alisha, seized the opportunity to buy a small farm near Brashear — and then the work began. “We found a place that wasn’t suited to crop production, which was fine because I didn’t want the equipment investment for that,” he says. “It had a lot of brush that needed cleaning up, it needed a pond and a lot of fence. “It’s been a lot of work but now we have something that can be productive, something we can get some income from.” The Hardwick’s bought a half-dozen bred heifers, kept some of their heifer David and Alisha Hardwick and son, Owen calves back and added some more heifers the following year. Today they have 35 primarily Black and Red Angus cows as well as some replacement heifers. “I enjoy the cattle,” Hardwick says. “With my job, it can get pretty busy some times but it’s working.” In addition to getting a start in the cattle business, the farm also provides family recreation. Both David and Alisha are avid hunters and they think it’s a great place for their 6-month old son, Owen, to grow up. Facilitating their future, FCS Financial has helped the Hardwicks by providing credit to help make their dreams come true. “They aren’t going to throw money at you but, if you have a plan that makes sense, they’ll work with you,” David says. “They’re going to help you do what’s best for you and they are flexible. You can change things to fit you when your financial situation changes.” And for David, the service FCS Financial provides is very important ingredient. “I don’t have to take off work to fit their time table,” he says. “They make doing business with them very handy for me and Debbie Ragsdale (assistant vice president in Macon) is very helpful.” David and Alisha would like to grow the operation but t hey’re taking a conservative approach to that process. “You can dump as many dollars as you want into a cattle operation,” David concludes. “We want to do it right. We want it to make financial sense and FCS Financial has been there to help.”