Let’s take a trip back nearly 30 years. It was 1996, and Brian and LaSheil Knowles decided to invest in building poultry barns on their ranch near Keota, Oklahoma. Technology wasn’t as prominent back then, and poultry producers spent countless hours at the barns.

Over the years, technology and automation have grown exponentially. Automatic feeders, climate-controlling mechanisms, notification alarms, and other features have made the industry more efficient. With the new technology, growers could take care of many farm duties from the luxury of their office computers. In more recent years, new technology has allowed growers to control things such as feeding times, fans, various ventilation, and other functions from their mobile phones.

These advances have allowed these hard-working families to essentially “cut the cord” and no longer plan on being tied down to the barns all day and night. There is only one catch: this was only possible if you were fortunate enough to have fast and reliable internet services, which were essentially non-existent. Insert Cookson Hills Connect, a subsidiary of Cookson Hills Electric Cooperative, that now offers true fiber optic services to all its members. No matter how many miles down a dirt road, Cookson Hills Connect is there to help close the gap in the digital divide.

“We had internet before, but we just didn’t have the high-quality technology and speeds that allowed us to do what we needed when away from the barns. Since signing up with Cookson Hills Connect, we can do so many things straight from our phones.”, said Brian. “I was in OKC last week and received a notification on my phone about a feeder being low. I was able to log into our system and feed the birds with my phone using the wi-fi from our office on the farm. I’ve even done the same thing while I was in San Diego, California. That certainly wasn’t an option in the past.”

Since Cookson Hills Connect started providing fiber to their rural members, stories similar to this one are more common among rural Oklahomans. Cooperatives just like Cookson Hills have made significant investments to better serve their rural members with electricity and now fiber optic services.

“Cookson Hills Connect now allows our family more time to focus on our cattle operation and other things that need attention without being tied down to our poultry barns. In fact, fiber internet is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to rural Oklahoma. And you can quote me on that!” said Knowles.