A Family's Heritage

Todd Hardin looks out for his cows after calling them in in the evening. He drives his farm truck out to the far pastures after missing several cows at the head count he does at the afternoon feed.

Afternoon feeding - Todd Hardin brings in feed and hay for his beef cows. They are young cattle who he gets up to a certain weight and then sells to large farms out west to fatten and "finish up" for the stockyard.

Frankie Brown pours the "throw away" milk into bottles, which will be used to handfeed the young cows. Because of the antibiotics and steroids they give to cows that have recently given birth, this milk cannot be sold.

Frankie Brown, 40, noticed that this calf didn't come over while the others were fighting to get to their bottles, so he made sure to feed it by hand. Brown is a cousin of Todd's who is the main farmhand on the dairy farm. He rounds up the cows for milking, milks them twice a day, and then makes sure the calves are fed.

Paige Hardin, 10, and brother Zachary Hardin, 7, walk up to their grandmother MaryLou Hardin's house after school picture day. Zach was excited because he'd gotten all dressed up and worn a tie.

Zach Hardin, 7, climbs down from the hay loft after throwing down some hay bales for his dad.

At 8 p.m., the family is finally done with their farm work - the calves have been fed, the milking parlor hosed down. They settle in around the kitchen table at MaryLou "Nana" Hardin's house to eat and watch "Survivor."

In a rare moment of play, the two farm dogs, Katie and Rusty, wrestle for attention. They normally are completely quiet, walk through the entire herd of dairy cows without disturbing them, and never bark.