Meet the Beacom family: A Butler Farm Show family carrying on an agricultural legacy
Tucked away in the rolling hills just south of Butler County, the Beacom Farm has stood the test of time through world wars, the Great Depression and the rise and fall of local industries.
Since 1913, when Kevin Beacom’s great-grandfather first purchased the 104-acre plot, the land has remained in the hands of the same family. Today, the farm is operated by Beacom, his wife, Amy, and their two children, Rachel and Craig.
The Tarentum farm is home to two historic barns — one built in 1863, the other in 1889 — both still standing and in use today. The older of the two, a structure with the trunks of trees still bearing their bark as running beams, offers a glimpse into 19th-century rural life.
“It’s had two new roofs, I believe. The second time around they raised it higher than it originally sat,” Kevin said.
The second barn, built just before the turn of the century, now houses sheep. Together, the barns reflect the generational care the farm has received as a living landmark that witnessed over 150 years of Western Pennsylvania history.
Depending on the time of year, life on a farm starts in the dark and ends in the dark. While Kevin and Rachel Beacom head off to work away from the farm’ Amy and Craig Beacom begin their mornings by checking in on and feeding the animals. Currently, the Beacom farm is home to cows, sheep, bulls and a handful of rams.
This isn’t like feeding a pet in the backyard. It’s a full-scale operation done entirely outdoors in the elements across the farm.
It’s a rhythm that’s deeply ingrained in the Beacom family.
Kevin Beacom, who has worked a full-time job off the farm since graduating high school, leaves for work around 5 a.m. every day. He’s been with the same group of guys for years, working on other local farms while still tending his own.
“I’d love to work here full-time, but we just can’t afford it,” he said.
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Rachel Beacom watches a calf eat on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Rachel Beacom guides a baby ewe to a feed pan on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Craig and Rachel Beacom exit the barn after doing the nightly feeding of the livestock on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Craig Beacom climbs down from a feed truck on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Rachel Beacom scoops hay on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Amy, left, and Rachel Beacom put livestock feed into buckets on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Rachel Beacom fills buckets with corn to feed livestock on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Rachel Beacom scoops hay on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Kevin, left, Amy, Rachel and Craig Beacom stand in a field on their farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Amy Beacom feeds cows on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Amy, left, and Rachel Beacom put livestock feed into buckets on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Amy Beacom measures out livestock feed on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Amy Beacom pours livestock feed into buckets on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Rachel and Craig Beacom fill buckets with oats on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Rachel Beacom measures out livestock feed on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Rachel Beacom fills buckets with corn to feed livestock on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Amy, left, and Rachel Beacom put livestock feed into buckets on the Rea family farm, Beacom Farms, in Tarentum on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The Beacom Family — Kevin, Amy, Rachel and Craig — took home the 71st Annual Eagle Bowl Farm Family Award at the Butler Farm Show on Friday evening, Aug. 9. Holly Mead/Special to the Eagle
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Tracy Leturgey hands the Eagle Bowl award to the 2024 Eagle Bowl Farm Family recipients, the Beacom family. From left are Leturgey, Kevin Beacom, Amy Beacom, Rachel Beacom and Craig Beacom. Holly Mead/Special to the Eagle
Rachel Beacom, currently on summer break from the University of Findlay, is interning with a local veterinarian, a step toward her goal of working in animal medicine. On her days off, she’s back on the farm helping with feeding, repairs and whatever else needs done.
Coming home from work to the farm is nothing like coming home from an office or shop. The day is far from over. Fields need maintained. Hay needs baled. The animals need to be fed again and supplies need checked.
“And then it’s down to the garage to work on something for this one,” Amy Beacom said, pointing to her son. “Sometimes as soon as he’s finished eating.”
Craig Beacom, a high school student, splits his time between online classes and attending the local Vo-Tech, where he’s studying diesel mechanics. He’s finds that his educational schedule allows him to be able to be more hands-on with the farm.
“He spends a lot of time in the garage with me,” his father said with a smile.
It’s something reminiscent of Kevin Beacom’s time on the farm with his own father, Vern.
“My father and I really bonded when working together in the garage or out in the fields,” he said.
His father spent forty years working as a butcher while also operating the farm and now lives in a house next-door. He can still be found working, and during the Butler Eagle’s visit to the farm, was out cutting down brush in a nearby field.
Growing up, life for Rachel and Craig Beacom was certainly different from that of their peers who didn’t grow up on a farm, with chores and responsibility a part of their daily routine. Despite it all, they said they wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“Even when they were little, I would drive them out to wherever Kevin was on the farm in their car seats so they could see him,” their mother said.
According to the Beacom children, they gained an appreciation for the farm and the hard work that goes into maintaining it.
“They were never afraid of the hard work that goes along with owning a farm,” Amy Beacom said.
According to their father, it’s helped to raise great kids and it taught them how to work and learn responsibility.
Kevin and Amy Beacom’s dedication to youth development doesn’t stop at their own children. Both serve as volunteer leaders for their local 4-H Club, where they help guide young members in animal care, responsibility and leadership.
They’re also active on the county’s livestock sale committee, a role that supports one of the most important events of the 4-H calendar and helps connect young farmers with the local agricultural community. It’s also something that Craig Beacom currently takes part in.
While Rachel Beacom has aged out of 4-H, she competed for 11 years and hopes to take on a leadership position like her parents.
Still, for all the labor and long hours, the Beacom family members are quick to talk about the joys that come with life on the land, the quiet rewards that outsiders might miss.
“There’s nothing like stepping outside after the first snowfall, when the full moon’s out, you can just see everything. It’s just quiet and peaceful,” Kevin Beacom said.
The farm also offers the solitude of being alone without noisy, or nosy, neighbors nearby, solitude he said he appreciates.
“I can honestly say, if I moved into the city tomorrow I wouldn’t know what to do,” he said.
As the farm celebrates its 112th year, its future is in the hands of the Beacom children.
“We would be lost if this farm wasn’t in our family anymore,” Rachel Beacom said as her brother nodded in agreement.
For Kevin Beacom, that means everything.
“It’s great to know that it's going to continue on, it’s important,” he said.
Watching the two siblings work together you can see how seriously they take their chores, and yet, at the same time, shining through is a familiar banter.
The work is never finished. There’s always another fence to fix, another calf to check on, another tool to fetch, but there’s real pride in what they do in taking care of land that was there long before they were born and will continue on long after they’re gone.
“Farming is in your blood. Many days you may want to quit, but you’ll get up the next morning and start all over,” Kevin Beacom said.
Even when most families are just sitting down to dinner, the Beacom family moves through their evening chores like clockwork. The rhythm of the farm hums on steady and strong.
