Nicole Small farms with her husband Randy near Fredonia, KS.
Meet Nicole Small. As sixth-generation farmers and ranchers, Nicole and her husband Randy have taken over their families’ farming operations in southeast Kansas. They raise corn, soybeans and wheat. They also raise cows and calves on native grass.
With an animal science degree from Oklahoma State University, Nicole manages the cattle, drives farm equipment and handles record-keeping and finances for the entire farm. Nicole grew up showing cattle and was a past state beef ambassador.
She enjoys helping children, including her own, learn responsibility for caring for animals through their livestock 4-H projects, even letting children who live in town house their bucket calves in the Small’s barns. Nicole also helps youth in 4-H and FFA develop their public speaking skills.
When she’s not busy on the farm, she enjoys providing lessons about agriculture to local schools. She says the youngsters in pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten especially enjoy learning about the baby calves she sometimes brings into the classrooms. She also enjoys crafts, cooking and baking, as well as studying geology and creating things with stones with her son.
Nicole joined the CommonGround™ Kansas program in spring 2012 to share her knowledge of how food is grown with folks who are several generations removed from the farm. She says everything we do in life comes back to agriculture in one form or another.
- Expertise: Raising livestock and crops
- Ag Connections: Kansas Soybean Association Board of Directors, member of Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Livestock Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and American Soybean Association
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