Building a Legacy

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Kittle Farms was built upon the dreams, aspirations, and hard work of my father, Johnny Kittle. While there have been cattlemen who managed larger herds and who operated farms for longer periods of time, nobody enjoyed the cattle business as much as Johnny Kittle.
 
Dad got his start in the cattle business as a kid working on his grandparents’ Sand Mountain farm. The cattle market, at that time, was considerably different than the robust market we face today. In fact, Dad often told of his grandparents slaughtering their cattle and selling the beef just to survive in the business.
 
In 1972, at just fourteen years of age, Dad used a government agricultural loan to purchase the first cows in his own operation. Eleven years later, in 1983, he along with my mother, Dana Kittle, purchased a small farm in Geraldine, Alabama where Kittle Farms is now located. My parents continued and built upon his cattle operation for more than 40 years.
 
Outside of his family, there was nothing in this world that gave Dad more enjoyment and that he took more pride in than his cattle. Following his untimely passing in 2014, our family made a commitment to build upon the legacy Dad created in the cattle business. Kittle Farms will continue to produce top quality Black and Red Gelbvieh cattle, Balancer (Gelbvieh – Angus cross) cattle, and hybrid commercial cattle. We look forward to seeing old friends in the cattle business and meeting new ones as we move forward in the coming years.
 
Dustin J. Kittle
 
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Memorial for Johnny Kittle, as printed in The Sand Mountain Reporter, The Times-Journal, and Gelbvieh World (November 2014 issue).
 
On September 9, 2014, Johnny Dewayne Kittle, a resident of Geraldine, Alabama, passed away at the age of 55.
 
While his time in this world was short for those he leaves behind, Johnny’s impact on his family, his friends, and the community will never be forgotten.
 
Johnny Kittle lived his life every day with passion. In his earlier years, Johnny could be found most any night in the woods, coon hunting. He served as President of the Sand Mountain Coon Hunters Association. His best times coon hunting were spent alongside his favorite Treeing Walker hound, Night Champion Kittle’s Alabama Pride.
 
Johnny was also an avid turkey hunter and deer hunter. He was co-founder of the Iron Gate Hunting Club and served as President. In his lifetime, Johnny took well over 50 gobblers. He harvested a 12 point and a 10 point buck, club records at the Iron Gate Hunting Club.
 
As a businessman, Johnny came from humble beginnings. To make ends meet as a young father and husband, he trapped muskrats and sold the furs for $5 each. After attending Coosa Valley Technical College to learn the trade of welding, Johnny turned Kittle Welding, a one man operation in a shop by his home, into Kittle Fabrication, LLC, a steel construction business that provided structural steel and handrails on projects across the Southeast, from the Guntersville State Park to Disney World and most everywhere in between.
 
Johnny’s true calling in business was farming. In 1972, at the age of fourteen, he obtained a government agricultural loan to purchase cattle. Johnny built that cattle operation over the next 42 years to approximately 150 head of cattle. In recent years, he formed Kittle Gelbvieh Farms, which focused on registered Gelbvieh cattle. Johnny took great pride in and great care of his cattle, always tending to their needs even before his own.
 
Aside from his many successes and accomplishments, Johnny’s greatest legacy is a family that loved him dearly. Those who will miss him most are his wife, Dana; his children, Dustin (Michelle) and Lauren and his granddaughter, Abigail. Johnny is also survived by his father, Wayne Kittle; his mother, Judy Long, his brothers, Mike Kittle, Joey Kittle, Troy Kittle, and Lance Kittle, and his sister, Vicki Oliver.
 
He is preceded in death by his grandparents, Raymon and Ruth Westbrook; his grandparents, Odis and Era Kittle, and his sister, Patricia.
 
Johnny Kittle was a man you would be proud to call your friend. He was honest. He was hard-working. He cared. He cared about people, and he cared about animals. He never liked to see either mistreated.
 
He spent a lifetime working to build a reputation that his family would be proud of – he did and we are.