McCants Farm: Home on the Range

by Stephen Faure

Weekend getaway properties are pretty popular on the northshore. Fishing and hunting camps are common; places on the lake or in the country offer families a chance to leave everyday stresses behind to enjoy the solitude of nature and partake of fun outdoor activities.

One local couple has built a unique country retreat. From the angels greeting you at the front gates to the flora and fauna within—both wild and domestic—Wayne and Laurie McCants have made their getaway a special place indeed. A post-Katrina project, the McCants have made substantial improvments to the property. “When we purchased the property two years ago, it was bare land and timber. There was no fencing, pastures, guest houses, lake or landscaping,” Laurie says.

Greeting visitors to McCants Farm are two life-size gilded angels atop the pillars of the front gate. “We wanted something to remind us of our trip to Paris, and the angels on many of the bridges there really impressed us. We thought they’d make great gatekeepers,” Wayne remembers.

Spanning about 120 acres in Mississippi near the Louisiana state line, McCants Farm has all the features of a great hunting and fishing camp. For the hunter, carefully managed land attracts numerous deer. Comfortable shooting blinds are strategically placed around the property where hunters have the best chance of spotting deer moving near the edge of the woods. Flocks of wild turkeys (the gobbling, not bottled, variety) also populate the area; they’ll be fair game during turkey season this spring.

McCants Farm also works as a fishing camp. Its pond is stocked with a good supply of trophy bass, offering an afternoon distraction for non-hunters, or, during the summer, when deer and turkey are out of season.

The property’s most fascinating aspect is not the hunting-and-fishing-camp quality the McCants have achieved, however—it’s the animals they’ve chosen to raise there. McCants Farm is home to some great beasts you would expect to see if you had a home on the range out west—buffalo and elk, which Wayne has decided to raise, along with a gentle European breed of cattle called the Fleckvieh Simmental.

Managing three distinct breeds of large animals is no small feat. The elk, buffalo and cattle herds each have their own fenced-in pasture area bordered by timberlands, which are also enclosed.

How do animals normally found on the Great Plains or in the Rocky Mountains fare in the Gulf South? Wayne McCants says of his elk, the only permitted and registered herd in the state of Mississippi, “Well, they do excellently. A lot of people don’t realize elk were indigenous to the South, and could be found as far south as Florida. As man moved in, the animals moved west and north to more mountainous areas, where they became comfortable and their lifestyles were not as interrupted.”

North American elk are the second-largest members of the deer family (moose are the largest). Unlike deer, male elk are referred to as “bulls,” not “bucks”; females are “cows,” not “does.” Wild bull elk can be over 5 feet tall at the shoulder, weigh over 700 pounds and have antlers that can weigh 40 pounds.

The McCants’ elk herd is led by a six-year old bull named King, and he is indeed a royal beast. Imagine the biggest buck deer you’ve ever seen, and then imagine that buck to be as big as the biggest horse you’ve ever seen. Add a rack of antlers that would make that big buck hang his head in shame, and you’ve got King.

“He’s about 9 feet tall from the ground to the top of his antlers, and right now weighs between 1200 and 1300 pounds. He’ll bulk up during the summer, though,” McCants says. “These are not wild animals. They are farm-raised animals.” That’s important. Unlike wild elk, King comes from a long line of carefully bred animals. Through the years, elk ranchers have selectively bred in certain traits, including larger size of both the elk and its antlers, which are shed and re-grown every year.

Although farm-raised, elk like King maintain many wild characteristics. He’s fiercely protective of his harem, as a bull elk’s collection of cows is known. If another mature bull were placed in the same area as King and his harem, fights over the cows would be inevitable. Even the scent of a strange male human visitor sends King into a frenzy of territorial activity. He circles his cows, grunting and plowing his antlers into the ground as he rounds them up. “He’s got to reassure the cows that he is the boss,” McCants says.

In late summer, elk-calving time at McCants Farm keeps everyone busy. (The McCants herd doubled in size in 2007, when six bull calves and four cow calves were born, all sired by King.) After a gestation period of around seven months, pregnant cows are led to a separate pen closer to the farmhouse. “We have to examine, tag and vaccinate the calves within 48 hours of birth. Otherwise, we’ll never catch them,” McCants explains. The calves’ ability to run full-speed soon after birth is a survival mechanism that evolved to elude predators in the wild.

Buffalo, properly referred to as the American Bison, also have been farm-raised for many years. After they were hunted to near extinction in the late 1800s, several programs were developed over the years in different areas to preserve the remaining herds. Captive breeding programs eventually succeeded to the point where buffalo herds have been re-established in the wild in Kansas and Colorado.

As a buffalo breeder, McCants is in good company. “One of the biggest buffalo producers in the country is Ted Turner,” McCants says. McCants is a member of the NBA (National Bison Association, not the pro basketball league), which keeps statistics on the domestic buffalo industry. The NBA states that bison are being raised in every state and Canadian province, as well as overseas, with approximately 232,000 head of bison in the United States.

McCants’ two buffalo are impressive creatures, even more massive than the elk. “Our bloodlines come from Kansas and can be traced back to the Crow Indian nation in Montana. Our bull is from the bloodline of the great bull 747, who weighed over 2400 pounds. His name is Black Jack Junior. He’s two years old and already weighs 2000 pounds.”

The buffalo are more wary than their domestic cousins kept in an adjacent pasture. While the Fleckvieh cattle seem to crave human attention and flock to visitors in their enclosure, the skittish buffalo head for the farthest corner, with Black Jack keeping close tabs on his cow at all times. While the cattle lumber around at a snail’s pace, the buffalo are surprisingly quick, given their huge bulk.

Safety is a big issue on any farm. “The truth of the matter is that you have to watch an animal no matter where they are, even if it’s just that it might step on you.” The buffalo bear watching. “Bison can run four times faster than a cow and can jump 4 feet into the air,” McCants notes.

Rounding out the McCants’ herds are the Fleckvieh Simmental cattle. McCants says they are an old breed, basically unchanged genetically from the German stock developed in the 1800s. Fleckviehs were bred to be multi-purpose cattle—engendered with characteristics that make them equally suited for beef and dairy production as for use as a draft animal.

Also, there’s the safety issue. “I chose Fleckviehs, number one, for their gentleness. They have a very calm disposition. That’s a 2500 pound bull in that pen, and you can see he is not aggressive at all.” Bull cattle are famous for their belligerence and usually must be kept separate from other cattle and be treated warily by their keepers. “You can walk right up to him and not be attacked. I’ve been in some pastures where you can’t even get out of your truck,” McCants explains.

Other factors besides their disposition attracted McCants to the Fleckvieh’s. “For their breed, these animals are at the upper end in genetic material. This pure breed goes back over 100 years and is a limited one in the United States. When I had the opportunity to purchase them, I did.”

His bull, Great Guns, is keeping house with eight cows. He has already sired two calves at the farm.

McCants says the farm is, in all phases, a start-up operation. He plans on expanding the cattle herd into a full-blown commercial operation with over 100 head this year. “The elk and the buffalo we’ll just harvest for friends and family,” he says. He adds, “These meats are very healthy, lean and delicious—and go great with a very dry Cabernet!”

Creature comforts on the farm aren’t just for the critters. A cozy main house flanked by two guest cabins makes for great getaway entertaining. Laurie, the busy owner of Honda of Covington, holds dear her weekend escapes. “We don’t get to enjoy weekends there very often, but when we can, we take a small group of friends with us and nothing compares to that kind of peace and relaxation. The farm has a calming effect on all of us. We usually cook out on the grill, hang out by the big fire pit and enjoy the weather with a nice bottle of wine. Our guests are able to sleep in since those cabins are so quiet and cozy.”

Reflecting on his newfound semi-retirement from the oil business, Wayne says, “The more you find yourself falling in love with the outdoors, and the good Lord gives you the opportunity to pursue your passions, living on a farm gives you the ability to see what life is really about.”