The Hilton family of Gate, Oklahoma, received the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee District One Farm and Ranch Family Recognition during the organization’s 76th annual meeting on Friday, Nov. 10 in Norman, Oklahoma.
Britt and K’Dawn Hilton and their young sons Jax, age 6, and Cal, age 4, raise cattle, wheat and milo on the family’s farm in the Oklahoma panhandle.
“We consider it a privilege to raise our kids in agriculture,” K’dawn Hilton said.
The couple each have family roots in agriculture in Beaver County as they farm and ranch alongside their families.
“My great-great granddad settled out here in the late 1800s and our family has been here ever since then,” Britt Hilton said. “We’ve been here a while, and we hope to continue on for years to come.”
The family was greatly impacted by the spring 2017 wildfires that swept across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and southwestern Kansas. While the fires were devastating, Britt Hilton said recovery efforts have been helped by ample summer rains.
“Our ground has been able to start recovering,” he said. “We’re getting fences built. We’re getting cattle put back in pastures that were burned.
“The fire itself was devastating, but everybody’s getting through it and we look forward to continuing on.”
With a long tradition of agriculture as their foundation and a passion for the future of agriculture, neither Britt Hilton nor K’Dawn Hilton would choose any other lifestyle.
“We love it out here and we wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” Britt Hilton said. “We were given the opportunity by our family before us to come out here and make a living off the land, and we’d like to continue that and give our boys a chance to do that in the future.”
“I think I’ll feel like it’s been a success if looking back years and years from now we’ve been able to stay in agriculture successfully and have this opportunity to pass this on to our children,” K’Dawn Hilton said.
The Hiltons are members of the Fairview United Methodist Church in Slapout, Oklahoma, and Britt Hilton serves on the Gate/Knowles volunteer fire department.
OKFB’s Farm and Ranch Family Recognition program honors a farm and ranch family in each of OKFB’s nine districts who uphold the best traditions of Oklahoma agriculture and rural Oklahoma as they raise food and fiber for our state and beyond.
“Our Women’s Leadership Committee is proud to honor these families who have dedicated themselves to growing food for our world,” said Kitty Beavers, OKFB WLC Chairman. “Farming and ranching is an important way of life for our state, and these families deserve recognition for contributing to rural Oklahoma as they instill in their children the values of hard work and dedication that is needed throughout our state.”
As part of their recognition, the family received a cash award along with a custom sign to hang at their farm gate.
The Oklahoma Farm Bureau Annual Meeting is the organization’s largest gathering of farmers and ranchers every year. At the event, members vote on grassroots policy, elect leaders and award outstanding individuals. OKFB has a presence in all 77 Oklahoma counties and serves as the voice of agriculture and the rural way of life. To learn more, visit www.okfarmbureau.org.
