Minnehaha Funeral Home

Building on the legacy of serving youth, MPJ Cattle will host its first weekend cattle camp this summer at their Garretson site, just prior to the busy summer show season. According to Melissa, “We’re going to invite our customer’s kids and go through lots of different things in a calf’s life, including daily care, feeding practices, showmanship, fitting and clipping. For some kids, the weekend will be a lot of information and for some it will be a sharpening and refining experience.” Whether it’s calving season or summer or winter show season, Johnson’s have a lot on their plate – especially since three of the four of them have full-time jobs outside of MPJ Cattle. Brad is full-time at their Maurice farm. Pam has been the director of accounting at Schuster Trucking in Le Mars for 32 years. Matt works in sales for Eby Trailers, which is located at the Worthing exit off I-29. Melissa works as a merchandiser of dry distiller’s feed at the Sioux Falls headquarters of POET. She grew up on the grain and cow-calf operation of her parents, Ernest and Angela Gradert of Sibley. Matt emphasized that Pam is a quiet but vital part of MPJ Cattle. “Mom doesn’t talk much, but she does a lot. The weekend of the Iowa Beef Expo, Brad and I were there fitting cattle; Melissa was taking care of the show heifers at our place; and my mom pulled two calves by herself overnight. There’s not many grandma’s who can do that.” Pam added: “And one calf had her leg back and one calf was backwards. I was here and it had to be done.”

Just as the family relies on teamwork in getting regular tasks done, they also approach breeding with a larger team in mind. Matt said, “Part of the reason we’re being so diverse in the breeds of cattle is so our customers aren’t competing directly against each other, except maybe in the grand drive. So our customers are all on the same team – some are showing steers, some are showing heifers of one breed or another.” Brad added, “We’re trying to get everybody rooting for each other. And they’ve become friends with each other. It makes it so much fun going to a show.”

MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE SHOW

Matt said their customers basically become family. When electrical work is needed at the farm, a customer who is also an electrician is there immediately. A customer who owns a trucking company brought over a load of wood chips. One helped them with fencing and one helped tarp the silage pile. “Everywhere you look, they’re doing stuff for us, too, which is really cool.” The all-for-one, one-for-all attitude is a good example for Matt and Melissa’s children, Harper, 5, and Sawyer, 2. Harper has started showing calves in open events. “I love to see her interact with our kids and our customers. It’s great seeing her learn how people work together as a team,” Melissa said.

While winning the ribbons, banners and trophies at shows is rewarding for the junior exhibitors and breeders, it’s not the be-all, end-all. “When you’re at the show, you think there’s nothing more important than the show. But when you look back at it, the things you remember are not the things you thought you’d remember,” said Matt. “Some of the best times are working cows here or sorting calves or checking cows on pasture.” Brad agreed: “Driving through cows in a cornfield is probably one of my favorite things to do.”

Respectfully serving families for generations.

BALTIC | 180 St. Olaf Ave. 605.529.5411 COLTON | 205 East 4th St. 605.446.3246

DELL RAPIDS | 104 East 4th St. 605.428.4200 GARRETSON | 101 South Leslie Dr. 605.594.3700

Headline from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader on April 20, 1933.

Mug shots from 1924 of Tony and Floyd Strain, the alleged robbers of the Kaylor bank in 1933.

WHODUNNIT?

KAYLOR’S 1933 BANK ROBBERY AND MURDER

By Gary Jerke and Bob Fitch

In the 1920s and 1930s, gangs of armed robbers attacked banks across the nation, especially in the Midwest. Because of folklore and the movies, claims that Bonnie and Clyde or one of the other big-name bandits robbed the local bank or hid out in a local shack are almost as common as the stories of “Jesse James was here.” But the truth is often hidden amongst tall tales, shoddy police work and mistaken identifications.

On April 20,1933, Farmers State Bank of Kaylor was one of the Depression-era banks hit by gangsters. According to historical accounts and legal documents from the trial, here is how the robbery 'went down' … Tony and Floyd Strain drove into Kaylor in their beautiful new maroon Chevy sedan with wire wheels. Behind the wheel was Tony's common law wife, Mildred. The brothers walked into the bank with sawed off shotguns and took approximately $1,200 in cash. They also took hostages: Bank owner Bill Billars, teller Andrew Voll, and customer August Freitag. Trouble began during the getaway. With hostages in tow hanging on the Chevy's running boards, the robbers fled north on Main Street only to find a dead end. Andrew Voll's son, Fred, and fellow Kaylorite Paul Shelske took advantage of the u-turn to try to stop the