T
he Purvine family of Fay was recognized as Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s District 1 farm and ranch family of the year at the organizations 84th annual meeting Saturday, Nov. 8, in Oklahoma City.
As a fourth-generation farmer and rancher, Chet Purvine operates Purvine Farms and Purvine Cattle Company on 5,560 acres in southeastern Dewey County. While running the primarily commercial cow-calf operation, he also grows wheat along with the recent additions of rye, soybeans and sorghum.
After graduating college in 1991, Chet returned to the family farm where he grew up and began his main responsibility of starting stocker cattle along with the farming. By his second year out of college, the family took on more than 7,000-head of stockers, with more than half being their own.
“It’s just the ability to work, day in and day out, with my hands and with crops and livestock,” Chet said about farming and ranching. “To see your hard work eventually develop into something that’s beneficial to the rest of the world.”
By the early 2000s, Chet focused on expanding and developing his cow herd using good quality black Angus and black-baldy females. After seeking out and using high-quality cattle genetics and with the help of artificial insemination, he had his first cattle production sale in June of 2004. These sales featured either fall- or spring-calving bred heifers, bred cows, show cattle prospects and herd sire prospects.
Chet moved on from hosting production sales after eight sales within four years. By 2009, he finished with a dispersal sale to shift the family’s focus to developing a seedstock cattle herd with a focus on producing Simmental-Angus bulls and replacement females that help fellow cattle producers increase the quality of their own herds.
The Purvines’ crop production focuses mainly on wheat. However, over the past years, Chet has introduced rye under irrigation for grazing and silage, double-cropped soybeans behind wheat and hybrid sorghum for silage.
In addition to growing cattle and crops on his generational farm and ranch, Chet has also raised his two daughters, Ashlee and Rebecca, on the family’s land.
“It’s rewarding that they’ve taken an interest in the family farm and particularly on the cattle,” Chet said. “More importantly, they also have an understanding of it first-hand because they’ve been involved and the experiences and the knowledge that they’ve got, whether they decide to come back here or not, I feel will benefit them going down the road in life.”
The Purvine family continues to be heavily involved in their community. Chet has served as a board member for Dewey County Farm Bureau for more than 20 years, while also serving on the board of directors for the Oklahoma Simmental and Simbrah Association.
Ashlee is a sophomore at Northern Oklahoma College where she is a member of the livestock judging team and has started the collegiate Farm Bureau program on campus. Rebecca is a freshman at Connors State College where she is a member of the livestock judging team and serves on the Oklahoma Junior Cattleman’s Association board and Oklahoma Junior Simmental and Simbrah Association board.
“I’m proud of both of them and the things that they’ve accomplished thus far,” Chet said. “The fact that they show an interest out here and that they want to come back here, for me, it makes it to where I feel like that I need to work a little harder to provide them a place that they can come back to when that time does come around.”
OKFB’s Farm and Ranch Family Recognition program celebrates nine farm and ranch families from around the state who carry on the best traditions of Oklahoma agriculture and our rural communities.
“Our family farmers and ranchers across Oklahoma work each and every day to feed and clothe our state and country while caring for the land and natural resources that we all depend on,” said Mignon Bolay, OKFB WLC chair. “Our Women’s Leadership Committee is honored to recognize these nine farm and ranch families and share their stories of agricultural achievements and service to their local, rural communities.”
As part of their recognition, the family received a cash award and a custom sign to hang at their farm gate. The family was also recognized at the 2025 OKFB convention with a video sharing their agricultural operation and heritage.
