High flying in Tennessee
Retired pilot and businessman Rick Mehrlich turns to rural life
Story and photos by Page Haynes
Combat tactics such as high- and low-G vertical turns, half-loops, and barrel rolls were important maneuvers when Rick Mehrlich of McEwen served as a Cold War fighter pilot. Now, he’s still relying on strategic tactics in his retirement as a successful, fulltime farm owner.
Life in the fast lane has indeed slowed down some for the Humphreys County cattleman, who at one time was climbing into a jet but now spends his days on a tractor. Tending the land and a herd suits him just fine, he says, since he grew up in the 1950s on a northern Illinois hog, chicken, and row-crop farm. He’s basically flown full circle.
After high school, Rick left the farm to study engineering. While he was in college, the United States reinstituted a peacetime draft in response to rising Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union and the war in Vietnam. To beef up their program, Air Force representatives visited his college to sign up future pilots.
With an engineering degree in hand, Rick joined the Air Force and went into pilot training in 1970. Upon graduation, the 23-year-old pilot was assigned a F-106 fighter aircraft. Luckily, instead of being sent to Vietnam, he was stationed in Rome, New York, and served three years as a Cold War air defense fighter trained to intercept bomber jets coming into the USA from Russia.
To complete his military duty, Rick served as a T-38 advanced pilot trainer in Selma, Alabama. When he finally decided to hang up his flight helmet in 1976, Rick decided to put his engineering degree to work in a different area. He opened his own medical software business in San Jose, CA, performing the duties of software publisher under the company, Medical Manager. His company did well, providing more installations for medical software than anyone in the business.
“I’ve always said that life gives you Ys in the road and you choose a path,” Rick says. “If you chose one direction, you could have done this, and if you chose the other direction, you could have done that. And I think my wife, Bev, and I were very lucky. We chose to retire and move to Tennessee in 2010. We love our retirement here. People are friendly, and their values are like ours. Granted, we are both working harder than we’ve ever worked, but we are enjoying it thoroughly.”
Various herds of cattle graze the rolling, picturesque hills of Heavenly Hollows Farm in Humphreys County. The 500 mixed-breed mama cows and numerous stocker calves are separated into smaller groups throughout the farm to be more manageable and utilize rotational grazing.
As a former fighter pilot, Rick is a little different from the average Tennessee farmer. Even his livestock fences are different — they are 10-feet tall. Rick says when he purchased Heavenly Hollows Farm, it contained a successful 2,500-acre private hunting preserve — home to numerous whitetail deer and turkey — that included 15-20 regular clients, numerous food plots, and rental cabins that are booked a year ahead.
“The deer and turkey run on the same land that our cattle use,” says Rick. “So, the deer are happily roaming around, and the turkeys are just all over the place. In various fields, you’ll see an inkling of the cattle, and we may go a couple of days before we see any deer or turkey. But they are all on the same property. The cattle are separated into smaller groups to be more manageable and utilize rotational grazing.”
The couple owns and oversees 500 mixed-breed mama cows and numerous stocker calves, along with hundreds of acres of corn and soybeans. They also grow their own hay and do silage. After their grain bins are full, they utilize 300-feet-long, 10-feet-tall plastic white tubes in the field and seal them to hold excess corn and soybeans. They feed dry hay and silage hay and work with United Co-op employees Jeff Roach in Waverly or David Daniel or Francis Sander in Dickson to obtain soil samples and purchase feed, minerals, chemicals, cattle-working equipment, fertilizer, fuel, corn, and beans.
“Those three guys are special to us,” says farm manager John Needham, who’s been working with the Mehrlichs for 10 years. “Jeff has been unbelievable — inviting us to corn and soybean seminars so we can hear people talk about their varieties and what has been successful on their farms. Also, David sets up our equipment for us and is a great asset, and Francis mixes our fertilizer. I just don’t know where we’d be without them.”
The diverse farming operation keeps Rick and Bev busy. Rick tends to the day-to-day procedures and Bev — who was raised in a farming area in Central Pennsylvania — helps with bushhogging and oversees all the office duties, including taxes, accounting, billing, and payroll. Three fulltime employees complete the team — John, along with Coley Wood, a five-year employee, and Jamey Curtis, who’s helped for two years.
“Today, John is shelling soybeans with the combine, Coley is shelling corn with another combine, Jamey is delivering soybeans to the grainery, and I’m going to be picking “cob” corn to grind for the calves at the farm,” says Rick. “Yesterday, we spent most of the day weighing 60 calves to ship tomorrow to a stockyard in Columbia. We also ship to a stockyard in Dickson, and both have video sales.”
The Columbia stockyard has a semi transporter that comes to the farm to pick up the cattle after they are sold. Rick says they typically sell their cattle when they reach around 800 pounds, but says prices are currently excellent on lighter-weight cattle in the 650- to 700-pound range.
“I don’t know how long the high cattle prices are going to last, but that is something that we’re happy about,” says Rick. “I’m sure some people are probably not satisfied because of the higher cost for a hamburger or steak.”
Upon the move to the Volunteer State, Bev says she and Rick fell in love with Tennessee.
“We came here in February and there wasn’t a leaf to be found, but it was so beautiful with rolling hills everywhere, Bev says. “And they told us that when spring came, it was going to be unreal, and it really was. It’s unique.”
“There’s no state personal income tax in Tennessee, the assistance that the state offers the farmers is wonderful, and it’s so nice to be around people who care and look out for you,” adds Rick. “That’s one of the first things we noticed. People wave at you on the road. It’s just a different way of looking at things.
“It’s beautiful, and we love the people. We are so happy to be here.”
Although many years have passed since Rick was a pilot in the Cold War, his love of planes has never wavered. Pictures of some of his favorites adorn the walls of his home in McEwen — on the top left is a USAF F106 Delta Dart, on the top right is a Cessna Citation Jet 501C, and in the bottom picture is a Piper Aerostar.
Rick and Bev retired and moved to Tennessee from California in 2010 and are now enjoying farm life.
Rick inspects one of the Hitec plastic grain bags he uses for overflow when his bins become full. Each tube is about 300-foot long and 10-feet tall and can be sealed to hold excess corn and soybeans.
Rick piloted an F-106 fighter plane like this one during his years in the military. The airman was stationed in Rome, New York, and served three years as an air defense fighter trained to intercept bomber jets coming into the USA from Russia.
By Page Haynes,
Contact phaynes@ourcoop.com