Dylan and Shelby Laster: Farming with Purpose, Passion and Pride
By Kristen Oaks-White
Louisiana Farm Bureau News
Dylan and Shelby Laster’s farm in Marion is a place where tradition meets innovation, where technology works hand-in-hand with hard work, and where family roots run deep. As finalists for the Louisiana Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Achievement Award, the Lasters are not just raising chickens and cattle — they’re raising a future.
Their broiler houses are empty now, but that’s no sign of rest. For Dylan Laster, the work doesn’t stop when the chickens leave. It only begins.
“Whenever the chickens leave, that’s when the work starts,” he said. “You jump right in there and start kicking around and getting ready for a new flock.”
Every eight weeks, more than 91,000 baby chicks arrive at their farm. The busy season begins, and it’s all hands-on deck for Dylan, Shelby and their children. With the clock ticking, there’s no time to waste as they prepare for the next flock. They clean, sanitize and relevel everything, from the floors to the water lines and feed pans.
“It’s the busiest time. That’s like when it’s all hands on deck,” Shelby said. “It’s definitely not off time.”
This annual cycle happens about seven times a year. Each time, the Lasters raise more than 91,000 chicks into 8-pound broiler birds, which amounts to more than half a million pounds of chicken per flock. In total, they produce more than 3.6 million pounds of chicken annually. It's a massive amount of poultry, but Dylan knows it’s essential to feeding the world.
“If we don’t grow chickens the way we grow them and in broiler houses like we do, you can’t feed the world,” he said. “There’s not enough ground in the world to grow chickens other than the way we do it.”
But for Dylan, farming isn’t just about numbers — it’s about legacy. As a third-generation farmer, the farm has always been a part of his life.
“For a long time, I didn’t know you could do anything except grow chickens,” he said.
What started as a family tradition has become a precision operation, thanks to technology. The Lasters’ farm is fully automated, with controllers in every house to regulate temperatures, feed lines and water systems. Dylan even uses an app on his phone to control everything.
“Technology has changed the game,” he explained. “We know what is optimal for bird placement. We can control the temperature, feed lines and water lines.”
While technology has improved efficiency, growing chickens is never easy. Rising costs, narrow margins and the pressure to produce at scale make farming a high-stakes business.
“It’s hard to get help,” Dylan said. “The cost of labor is high, and the margins are tight. Feed prices go up. Fuel prices go up. We don’t really have a choice — we have to make it work.”
Despite the challenges, the Lasters aren’t just focused on chickens. They also raise cattle on their farm, using the full-circle approach of combining poultry and beef production. The chickens help fertilize the land, allowing the Lasters to raise more cattle on less land.
“The chickens and the cattle go hand in hand,” Dylan said.
They’ve been steadily growing their herd, adding more and more heifers each year. For Shelby, the goal is to expand the cattle operation, but the biggest challenge they face is land.
“That’s what we want to do in the future,” she said. “We’d like to be able to expand.”
What drives the Lasters is not just the work, but the hope for a future where their children can carry on the family business. Shelby is proud of the legacy they’re building and hopes one day, one of their kids will continue the farm’s traditions.
“That has been my most favorite part of what we do. Just I want my family to grow up in this. I want one day, if we were constantly looking for ways that we can expand, I want our kids to do this when we're done,” she said. “If they want that, hopefully one of the three will at least. So it makes me very proud.”
For the Lasters, farming is about more than just raising chickens and cattle. It’s about family, tradition and creating a legacy that will last for generations.
“It gives you a lot of pride. You ride down the road and you say, ‘Hey, I own that field. That’s my place,’” Dylan said. “The whole lifestyle of being here and being on my farm every day with my wife and my kids. I don’t know why anybody would want to do anything else.”
It’s long hours, hard labor and steep challenges, but for Dylan and Shelby Laster, it’s a life they wouldn’t trade.
The winner of the 2025 Louisiana Young Farmers and Ranchers Achievement Award will receive a $35,000 cash prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to the American Farm Bureau Convention in Anaheim, California, to compete for the national YF&R Achievement Award in January 2026.