The Farming Families of Minnehaha County (SD)—March 2022

March 2022 | www.AgeMedia.pub

of Minnehaha County

Faith / Family / Friends / Farming

Meet the

JOHNSON Family Matt, Melissa, Sawyer, Harper, Pam and Brad Johnson. Story begins on page 18.

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of Sioux County

PUBLISHERS Garrett and Mindy Gross, AGE Media (605) 690-4071 EDITOR Bob Fitch, AGE Media (712) 551-4123 ADVERTISING SALES Garrett Gross, AGE Media (515) 231-9367 garrett@agemedia.pub © The Farming Families, Age Media & Promotion The Farming Families is distributed free exclusively to the farmers, ranchers and producers in rural southeastern South Dakota. All rights reserved. Content in this magazine should not be copied in any way without the written permission of the publisher. The Farming Families assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Content in articles, editorial and advertisements are not necessarily endorsed by The Farming Families and Age Media & Promotion.

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TURNER COUNTY FAMILY

‘DON’T DWELL ON THE BAD BECAUSE IT’LL DRIVE YOU NUTS ON THE FARM’

By Bob Fitch

In a few days’ time in 1979, Rich and Paula Horton got married and moved on to their new farm. “One week of insanity and you’re paying for it your whole life,” laughed Rich.

Jeff and Sydney Horton with their sons, Clay and Micah.

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Rich and Paula farm with their son, Jeff, and his wife, Sydney, southwest of Hurley. In addition to growing corn and soybeans, they have a cowcalf herd and a custom chopping business.

Rich grew up on a farm southeast of Hawarden, Iowa. “I was about five years old when I started driving tractor through the gates. I had one hand on the wheel and one on the hand-clutch.

I’d drive through, then Dad would close the gate and get back on.”

After graduating from Iowa State University, Rich worked for about eight years as a farm manager and in real estate for Farmers National out of Omaha. He liked Omaha, but agreed with Paula who said the country was a better place to raise kids. She grew up between Hurley and Parker on the farm of her parents, Pete and JoAnne Andersen.

“Back when I started, you could go on a wing and prayer, but now you can’t do that,” Rich said.

“When I moved up here to start farming and I walked into the bank, the banker was like ‘Oh yeah, we’ll set you up with a line of credit.’ Three or four years later, you’re telling him ‘I wish you hadn’t borrowed me that money. I can’t make the interest payments.’”

Paula and Rich Horton.

Jeff has wondered aloud why his dad didn’t buy more land in the 1980s when it was cheap. Rich’s answer: “I was lucky to make the payments I had. The ‘80s were by far the worst time. The crop prices were so low, 1980 was a drought, and 1984 was so wet we drowned out. My wife was a school teacher so at least we had food to put on the table and clothes and insurance.” Paula taught second grade in Chancellor and then at Lennox for a total of 39 years.

A farrow-to-finish hog operation helped pay the bills in the early years. But hogs were not life’s calling for Rich. “I remember in July and we’re loading those hogs when the humidity was so high, by the time we got done, I thought, ‘This isn’t the way I want to die.’” In 1997 when hog prices dropped to nine cents, they sold their sows. “We fed feeder pigs for a few years after that. But that was basically the end of the hogs. Nobody really missed them.”

When he was in fifth grade, Jeff remembers the morning when the last load of pigs left the farm. “I like to eat pork, but that’s where my relationship with them ends,” he said.

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The cab of the tractor and combine made a good daycare spot for Jeff. “When he was young, he rode many hours in the cab with me,” Rich said. “That was back before they had buddy seats. He started driving pickup when he was about eight. His mother wasn’t too happy about that. But she got over it. He spent a lot of time on my lap learning how to steer.”

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Jeff said, “I worked alongside my dad since I was 10. A lot of what you get taught is both spoken and unspoken. Some days it’s a real blessing to work with your dad and some days it’s a curse – and that can be all on the same day.

Anyone who works with family knows that.” Life is a little easier for father and son and their cows these days. After many years of calving on a dry lot, Jeff put up a hoop barn three years ago. He began buying cows while he was still in high school and continued while he was attending Mitchell Technical College.

After about 40 years living on the farm site, Rich and Paula recently moved into a new home on the south side of Hurley. In January, Jeff, Sydney, and their two boys, Clay, 3, and Micah, 9 months, moved to the main farm site. Previously, they were living on the farm where Jeff’s mother and grandmother grew up. He also rents farmland from his grandfather.

Jeff and Rich Horton with the next generation, Clay and Micah.

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therapist at Avera in Sioux Falls.

They waited to get married until after she completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

The couple met during high school when Hurley and Marion high schools were fielding a football team together. They started dating after the football season. According to Jeff, “I liked Sydney before then, but the football coach said, ‘If you have a girlfriend, keep her. If you don’t have a girlfriend, you don’t get one during the season.’ That’s actually pretty good advice. He didn’t want the drama.” It must have worked – the Hurley-Marion team won the state championship that year.

Their three-year-old son, Clay, said Dad drives the cutter and Papa Rich drives the combine. “He’s only three, but he knows every piece of equipment we have and who drives it,” Jeff said. Looking at Clay cleaning up some broken

Jeff Horton and his sisters, Lindsey and Brittany. Both sisters work in Sioux Falls – Lindsey for Great Western Bank and Brittany for Avera.

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chain from the floor of the shop, Rich said that was a good job for his grandson because he’s closer to the ground. “At my age, you wouldn’t think I’d be getting taller, but I’ve got to be because the ground’s further away,” he said.

In his custom cutting business, Jeff harvests haylage, oat silage, rye and corn silage. He started off doing an occasional cutting job for neighbors about nine years ago after they replaced their pulltype cutter with an older fourrow, self-propelled John Deere.

According to Rich, “Then Jeff had the opportunity to a buy an eightrow silage cutter – and I said this could just as well be his thing. It’s a way to generate income to keep the banker happy and put some money in the checking account.” The new large dairies in the area have also provided opportunities to chop more hay.

Jeff said, “We’ve got three or four trucks. I chop and Dad packs. When everything’s clicking and you’re productive, it’s a lot of fun joking around on the radios. But when it’s 100 degrees and you’re sitting underneath of it wrenchin’ and you’re paying three people to watch and the customer is breathing down your neck wondering what’s going on, then you say ‘There’s better ways to make money.’ In most custom work, the only guy who is profitable is the one at the parts counter.”

While he used to get more work done when he was single, Jeff is glad to find time for his wife and boys. “When the day’s over, I just want to go inside and spend some time with my family. I want the kids to know who their dad is and not just be a picture hanging at the end of the crib.”

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Rich said, “If you’re going to farm, you’ve got to be a caretaker of crops; a caretaker of the machinery that you use to put the crops in; and a good caretaker of livestock.

You can’t do stuff halfway. But however hard or bad your day may be, when you walk into the house and your little kid comes running at you with ‘Daddy, this or Daddy, that …,’ you just forget all the bad.

“Life is a lot more rewarding if you learn to forget the bad and remember the good,” Rich said.

“As a farmer, there’s days when you come out and the cow’s got a dead calf, your crops have withered away in the drought, or something breaks down. You don’t want to dwell on the bad too long because it’ll drive you nuts on the farm.

You’ve got to remember the good and be an eternal optimist.”

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HUTCHINSON COUNTY FAMILY

The Bill and Mary Schoenfish family. Front row: Granddaughter Savanah, son-in-law Ryan Wielenga, grandchildren Lillian, Jensen and Valerie, and son Robert. Standing in back: daughter Cassie, Mary, Bill, daughter-in-law Abby, and daughter Kari. Photo by DeAnn McClure, Photography by DeAnn.

SCHOENFISH ARE THE ‘LUCKIEST PEOPLE’

By Bob Fitch

Bill and Mary Schoenfish have a large aerial photo on display of their farm taken in 2012 when it and everything around it was brown and dry as a bone.

Why put up a photo of the farm from that awful looking year? “Bill wants to remember how bad that year was and how lucky we are today,” Mary said.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2022

Bill also believes he and Mary are the luckiest people in the world because their kids live so close. “Robert and Abby live in the house right across the road; and our daughters live on acreages next door to each other south of Menno. And we get to see our grandkids all the time,” he said.

Bill, Mary, Robert and Abby work together north of Menno raising corn, soybeans and hay; plus have stock cows and a cattle feeding operation.

They feed most of their corn crop to their own cattle and harvest both silage and haylage. Robert and Abby also have sheep and sell feeder lambs. Bill and Robert have a pretty good partnership going. “Pretty much I feed the cattle and Robert fixes everything I break,” Bill said.

Everything they calve out, they feed in their own yard. In addition to working together well and having complementary skills, they were the first Menno High School graduates where both father and son received their FFA American Farmer Degree.

Forty-some years ago, Bill and Mary graduated from high school, got married and started farming with his dad. Bill’s brothers are both CPAs and he joked that he “was never smart enough to be a CPA, so I had

to farm.” Mary does their books and “there’s never a penny missing,” he said.

Mary said, “I learned that from my mom. She used to reconcile the bank statements and she kept on until it was to the penny.”

HOGS HELPED OUT There’s always been cattle on the farm, but an old fashioned farrow-to-finish swine operation helped get the ball rolling. “When I started farming I had hogs, that was my source of steady income,” Bill said.

Mary added: “When we got low on money, he’d say ‘Well, I think I’ve got some butchers out there I could sell.’” For the hogs, they used existing buildings except for one farrowing house built in 1977. The old big barn was used for sheep before the pigs moved in. In recent years, they removed the hayloft and remodeled it into a heated shop for Robert.

Age Media Qtr Page Color 7-12-19.pdf 1 7/12/2019 11:22:43 AM

Bill feeds the Schoenfish cattle.

About the time Bill’s dad passed away in 1995, hog prices tumbled. “It was a good time to get out,” he said.

44 YEARS ON THE COURT In addition to a 40-year marriage and 44-year farming career, Bill has also been a high school basketball referee for 44 years. “I played ball in high school and being a ref was just a way to stay with the game. If I quit, I don’t know if Mary and I will make it because I’ll be home too often and it will be too much time together,” he joked.

Mary said, “I wish he’d kept track of how many games he’s officiated and how many miles he’s driven.” Bill said, “Who knew I’d still be reffing when I was 62?”

About 75 percent of the games he officiates today are done in tandem with their oldest daughter, Kari. “She’s been doing it for about 10 years. She does more games than I do now.” Kari works as a rehab specialist for a chiropractor in Yankton.

The further away from Sioux Falls, the harder it is to find officials, Bill said. So the father-daughter duo along with another referee will travel as far as Kimball, Burke, Bonesteel, Armour, Lake Andes and Dakota Christian. He’s not uptight about the heat directed towards officials. “Truth be known, when the game’s over, you really don’t have any enemies.

That’s just the spirit of the game and home town rivalries.”

March 2022 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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Their other daughter, Cassie Wielenga, is the mother of their four grandchildren and works with her husband, Ryan, in their trucking firm. For a time, Cassie worked for the same law firm that Mary had years earlier. Cassie and Ryan’s two oldest daughters beg Grandpa to go practice basketball with them.

“I hope the good Lord lets me live long enough to see my grandkids play in high school ball,” he said.

THE BEST SILAGE TRUCK DRIVER Mary has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 36½ years.

Initially, she just did fill-in work as a clerk for the mother of her employer, a local attorney. After about seven years of working both jobs, she quit her job at the law firm. Two years before Robert was born, she took a full-time position with the USPS in Olivet, where she worked for 22 years. Then about 10 years ago, she was fortunate to get the postmaster’s job at Marion.

Bill said, “She knows if she doesn’t go to work, I’ll put her to work here.” Mary replied: “No, I retired from farm work. Robert took over for me.” “Oh I don’t know,” Bill said, “You’re still my best silage truck driver.” In addition to her USPS job and her work on the farm, Mary also served on the Menno School Board for 19 years.

Robert and Abby with their flock of sheep.

Mary said postal employees were deemed essential workers during Covid in 2020, so they never missed a day of work.

Robert’s reply to his mom: “We never got a day off here either.”

Bill said 2020 was a good year for fence repair. “Many days we were putting posts in. We got more done in that Covid year than we ever have. Still, you know, I’ll never live long enough to get all the fence fixed.”

THE NEXT GENERATION: ROBERT AND ABBY Robert graduated from the diesel mechanics program at Lake Area Technical College in Watertown. Lake Area Tech was the right fit for him in part because of the hands-on nature of the program. During college, he never spent a weekend in Watertown. He always drove home, worked on the farm all weekend, and went back either on Sunday night or Monday morning.

Mary said diesel program instructor Carl Tesch “ran a pretty tight ship. He would tell the kids ‘I’m not going to teach you diesel mechanics, I’m going to teach you to be a good employee – you come, you be on time, you be in the shop ready to turn a wrench. If you miss class three times, you and your toolbox are going out the door.’” And Robert said there were a few students who were shown the door.

Bill and Mary Schoenfish with their restored grand piano which is more than 100 years old.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2022

Like her mother-in-law, Robert’s wife, Abby, grew up on a farm southwest of Menno owned by her parents, Brian and Cindy Herrboldt. Abby has an associate’s degree in animal science from Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb. She worked at a vet clinic for four years, but she wanted more room to grow, and is now attending Mount Marty University in Yankton to become a radiology technician. She’s currently

working at the Menno-Olivet Care Center as a certified nursing assistant while she’s going to college.

Abby’s veterinary experience has been appreciated on the Schoenfish farm. “I haven’t had to pull a calf since show she showed up,” Bill said.

“She implants and vaccinates and even castrates. We pretty much do all of our own vet work unless it gets to be something serious.”

Abby’s grandfather got her started with sheep. “My grandpa used to buy sheep from the Tripp sale barn when it was still open. When I was eight or nine years old, he started buying me bottle lambs. I had as many as 10 lambs. Then when I was 15 or 16, I decided to get my own ewes. We lamb out starting in mid-February and then sell feeder lambs around the end of May and beginning of June. I still take my ewes over to pasture where my grandpa farmed

by Kaylor,” she said.

The sheep have become popular and they sell several for private butchering.

Robert said, “When Dad started, he bought land and he had no equipment. As the circle has come around, the equipment has caught up and the acres are getting easier to farm. With modern technology, it’s a different game. If the right

opportunity comes along, we’d get more land, either renting or buying.” He hopes to have the ability to grow the farm and pass it on to the next generation.

FAITH MATTERS But faith is more important to the family than where their next chunk of land is coming from. When she’s not coordinating the mail in Marion, Mary is active in their church. As long as they’ve been married, she has either played, directed or sang in the choir at Grace Lutheran Church in Menno. She grew up in “The Old Stone Church,” Our Saviors Lutheran Church, south of Menno “Farming needs more faith than other professions. It’s a gamble every day with the elements. When you get a bad year, a drought year – the next year, you just go do it again,” Mary said. Bill joked, “I always say that farmers have Alzheimer’s.

They wouldn’t farm this year if they remembered what last year was like.”

Bill and his daughter Kari frequently referee basketball games together throughout the area. Bill has been a referee for 44 years.

and good doctors, I’m still here.” But they kept their sense of humor even during that tough time. “When we were at the doctor once, Bill patted me on the knee and joked to the doctor: ‘Can you get her fixed? Calving season is coming up.’ The doc didn’t take that very kindly. He did lighten up later when he figured Bill out.”

Mary said, “The older you get, the more hindsight you have. You look back and you’re able to see how God has directed your path or put things in your path that you didn’t expect to happen like that.” you

Whether

’re seeking a Like most families, they’ve lived living comm skilled, assis u n According to Bill, “Our machines t ity for yours through physical and emotional able things e lf is o a r se fo n r se a w don’t work on Sunday.

Obviously, we love of armth a e’re number traumas. “We lived in our garage for n o toe.feed cattle, butwwe still have n don’t d comfort. Let T over a year after our trailer burned combine or plant on Sunday. We down. When you have nothing, you made it 40 years without having to take what you can get,” Bill said. Mary work on Sunday, so we’re not going had a rare form of breast cancer to start now.” when she was 42. “Thanks to God

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PASTURE AT SUNSET PHOTO BY MAGGIE VANDER LAAN, MAGGIE MAE, CREATIVE CO.

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MINNEHAHA COUNTY FAMILY

The Johnson family in 2019. Front: Mark, Pam and Harper. Back: Brad, Melissa and Matt. Mark passed away in October 2020. Photo by Rusty Imagery.

‘THE DAY WE SELL THE CALVES IS THE BEGINNING OF OUR JOB’

By Bob Fitch

The Facebook page of MPJ Cattle Co. says it is “focused on the production of show cattle and quality breeding cattle.”

But there’s much more to their story than that.

Jeff, Ken, Marcia and Nick Siemonsma.

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“It’s kind of like any business these days. You used to buy a product, now you’re buying service,” said Matt Johnson.

His brother Brad agreed: “We take a lot of pride in helping our customers.”

MPJ Cattle Co. has three sites spread over two states.

Brad and their mom, Pam, are in charge of calving at their Maurice, Iowa, farm. Then the cattle are pastured and the calves are weaned near Hinton, Iowa, Pam’s hometown.

Subsequently, the calves are trucked north to the family’s site near Garretson, S.D. Based there, Matt and Melissa focus on marketing as well as communications with their customers. Melissa said they each play to their strengths.

Matt said, “It works out good for us. I’m basically done selling everything now. We can clear everything out of my place and get it cleaned back up for sale season again.

Cattle are going to come into our place at Garretson in July, and we’ll be done with the bulk of selling by the first of December, except for a random bull sale like we held this February.” MPJ Cattle also sells semen and embryos.

HELPING CUSTOMERS REACH THEIR GOALS The target customer for their calf crop At the Sioux County Fair in 2021, a new traveling trophy was presented to the senior showmanship champion in honor is junior exhibitors. of the late Mark Johnson. Champion Reagan Jansen is pictured with the Johnson family: Melissa, Brad, Pam, Sawyer, “When we were kids, Harper and Matt. you went to some random pasture sale somewhere. When you took that calf home, that was your calf. Those breeders never saw it again,” Matt said. “Now the day we sell the calves is just the beginning of our job.

The families do the day-to-day stuff, but we’re basically with them at every show; helping them make breeding decisions; helping them sell the calves they get out of those cows; and everything else in between.”

Brad said, “What’s most important is helping customers reach their goals. Some people want to win the county fair and some people want to win the state fair. Nothing is too big or too small. We help them reach their goals before we reach our goals.”

Coaching their junior exhibitor customers and helping them fit and clip at county, regional, state and national shows is a core piece of their “service after the sale” approach.

Melissa said the MPJ Cattle team strives to re-enforce lessons of responsibility and hard work; and help teach kids how to win and how to lose. “It doesn’t always work out the way you want it, but the experience, the atmosphere and the project have value no matter what. Caring for an animal is just something special.”

She said, “Some of these kids we’re with from fourth grade when they start 4-H up until they’re done showing when they’re 21. We’ve been through a lot of things with these kids and their families. What means the most to us is the return relationships we enjoy.”

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A FAMILY TRADITION Building relationships and expanding connections and friendships is a tradition set by Matt and Brad’s father, Mark, who passed away in October 2020.

Mark and Pam were married in 1984 and moved to their location near Maurice in 1988. He worked for Trans Ova Genetics for about 30 years and served on the boards of the Iowa and American Chianina Associations. “Dad is the reason why we do this. He went to every major cattle show in the country. His connections were huge. There’s no doubt he laid the groundwork for what we’re doing today,” Matt said.

Matt and Melissa Johnson with their children, Harper and Sawyer.

Photo by Dear Jane Photography.

Mark and Pam started with 10 cows and built their herd slowly over the years, but maintained it at a “hobby” level of about 40 cows. They started with Simmental and transitioned into breeding Chianina cattle. Since Matt graduated from South Dakota State University and Brad graduated from Iowa State University, they’ve more than doubled the size of the herd and diversified the number of breeds and crossbred cattle in the herd. Brad said the four primary breeds are Angus, Simmental, Maine Anjou and Chianina, with some influence from Limousin and Charolais. All of the calves they sell are halter broke.

Mark’s influence on local youth was so strong that a group of his friends and colleagues created an impressive traveling trophy for the senior showmanship champion at the Sioux County Fair.

It was presented for the first time in July 2021 and, ironically, the winner was Reagan Jansen, who had purchased her heifer from MPJ Cattle.

The mother-son calving team at MPJ Cattle: Brad and Pam Johnson.

“I think Mark is why we’re so focused on customer service and the junior projects,” said Melissa.

“Whether it was at the county fair or a national show – whether we sold them a calf or not – Mark would be over talking to the kids giving them advice and pointing out this or that. He cared so much about the junior exhibitors and that’s why I care so much about them as well. We want to carry on that legacy.”

LIVING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH JUNIOR EXHIBITORS

The late Mark Johnson, right, with a junior exhibitor and his calf at the 2016 Sioux County Fair.

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Between their dad always talking cattle, Matt and Brad majoring in animal science, Matt coaching the SDSU Livestock Judging Team, and Pam and Melissa also growing up in cow-calf operations, growing the herd seemed like the only path forward. Plus there’s just the energy of being a part of youth livestock exhibitions. Brad said, “We just couldn’t hang it up.

We couldn’t quit showing ourselves. We had aged out, but wanted to keep going. To some extent, we’re living vicariously through our junior exhibitors.”

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.”

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KEEPING LOCAL HISTORY ALIVE

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.

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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

Headline and story from the Rapid City Journal on April 20, 1933.

Headline and a portion of the news story from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader on June 29, 1933, the day Floyd Strain was captured. Strain was found guilty of robbery and of murdering Fred Voll in the April 1933 bank robbery in Kaylor. Strain’s conviction was reversed on a technicality.

robbers, but the rear window was knocked out and guns were blazing – and young Freddie fell to his death at age 21.

It is said his mother took some comfort that Fred's older brother held him in his arms and recited The Lord's Prayer as his final breath was taken. Shelske was also hit but did not realize it until later that morning when a bullet fell from his coveralls (not verified, but it does make the story more colorful). Also hit by a stray bullet in the escape was Matilda Zweiful who was in her garden at the time.

Leaving town, the Chevy with Yankton plates dropped off their hostages about a mile out and then continued north about 10 miles somewhere near the Highway 44 corner and Kaylor oil where the car was abandoned.

A portion of the story from the Aug. 10, 1937, New Castle News (Penn.) which references several bank robberies in South Dakota to which Clair Ralph Gibson was connected.

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THE SUSPECTS WERE EASILY CONFUSED WITH BONNIE AND CLYDE More about the accused: The Strain brothers were originally from Milbank where distant family still reside, but around the time of the robbery they were frequently in Sioux Falls. Floyd, Tony and Mildred were easily confused with Clyde and Buck Barrow and Bonnie Parker in their appearance and family composition, but they did not suffer the same gruesome end. In the Kaylor trial, 18 eyewitnesses testified and the jury found the Strains guilty. But the verdict was ultimately overturned on a technicality – because testimony supportive of Floyd’s alibi had been improperly excluded.

The Strains did end up serving prison time after being found guilty for a robbery in Okabena, Minn., which occurred a few weeks after the Kaylor robbery. The Strains always maintained their innocence for both the Kaylor and Okabena bank heists. Floyd, Tony and Mildred Strain were all paroled in the 1940s and lived ordinary lives into old age – yet young Freddie Voll lay in his grave in the St. John's Lutheran Cemetery outside Kaylor. It seems there was no justice for Freddie and his family.

Headline from Aug. 10, 1937, New Castle News, New Castle, Penn., after the capture of Clair Ralph Gibson.

Among the robberies Gibson confessed to was the April 1933 robbery of the Kaylor bank. There are no further reports on who among Gibson’s gang may have murdered Fred Voll.

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The Strain trio were also suspected of robbing banks in the South Dakota towns of Canova, Vermillion and Huron, as well as the Minnesota towns of Chandler, Ihlen, Madison, Russell and Westbrook. However, research has cast a cloud on the conclusions of “whodunnit” in various robberies in the upper Midwest – including the Kaylor and Okabena robberies.

Through meticulous tracking of their travels and alibis, researchers have shown conclusively that the Strains did not commit the robbery in Okabena, Minn. It really was done by the infamous Bonnie and Clyde. So, if there was mistaken identity in Okabena, what about Kaylor? Amateur and professional sleuths have spent countless hours unraveling the crime trail of Bonnie and Clyde and other famous gangsters, including persons who were frequently mistaken for them.

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WERE THE STRAIN BROTHERS JUST PETTY CRIMINALS AND NOT KILLERS? In the winter 2010-11 edition of the Minnesota History Journal, St. Cloud State University professor Brad Chisholm laid out research related to the alleged intersecting crime sprees of Bonnie and Clyde and the Strain gang. What follows is a synopsis of his findings.

Tony and Floyd Strain were admitted criminals. They both served six-month prison terms for stealing a load of grain from a neighbor in 1924. Floyd served a second prison term for abandoning his wife and children. And both brothers were guilty of illegally transporting liquor for area bootleggers.

And even though the Strains were let off on a technicality in Kaylor and were wrongfully convicted in Okabena, surely they were still members of the notorious gang that robbed a spate of banks in the Sioux Falls area? In his Minnesota Journal of History article, Chisholm states: “As a matter of fact, they were not. The Minnesota State Prison inmate files contain the proof that there never was a Strain gang. The robberies which occurred near Sioux Falls in 1933 were largely the work of three gangs unknown to the authorities until after the Strains were put in prison.”

Clair Ralph Gibson confessed to perpetrating the 1933 robbery of the Kaylor bank.

A RECORD OF VIOLENCE One gang was led by a St. Cloud hoodlum named Cyril Wooldridge.

The Wooldridge crew drove to Milbank (Strains’ hometown), stole a car, robbed the bank in Russell, Minn., then returned the stolen car to Milbank. By design or not, the Milbank connection helped point a finger at the Strain family.

Wooldridge robbed a total of eight banks in 1933.

The second gang was led by professional gambler Ralph “Cap” Simpson of Omaha. This group hit at least six banks in 1933, Chisholm says in his article.

Referencing a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension file, Chisholm states: “Finally, the third gang was led by a Rochester, Minn., house painter named Clair Ralph Gibson. He was caught in 1937 after a five-year robbery career that involved 21 banks. Among these were the remaining banks to which the Strains had been linked: Vermillion, Huron, Canova, Ihlen, and Kaylor.”

the same way. “Modern criminologists know that eyewitnesses are wrong a shocking amount of the time; a substantial body of literature bears this out.” Chisholm’s case in point: “For example, at Floyd Strain’s 1933 trial for the Kaylor robbery and murder, one eyewitness maintained that Tony Strain was also one of the gunmen, even after it was pointed out to him that this crime occurred while Tony was sitting in a Sioux City jail cell.”

So who killed Freddie Voll in Kaylor in 1933? Pure speculation: Even if there wasn’t a “Strain gang,” was the murderer still Floyd Strain? Could this two-bit bootleg runner have had a bank robbery sideline with Gibson’s group and that’s why he was identified by Kaylor residents as a gunman in the robbery? In a different case, Gibson was found guilty of murder and ended up serving life in prison, so his gang did have a record of violence.

In the 1930s, some line-ups didn’t include a suspect standing next to others of similar complexion and build.

“Quite often, they paraded the accused, alone, before a group of witnesses concealed behind a screen.”

The eyewitnesses and law enforcement officials of the 1930s are gone now; and the records and news accounts are all as dusty as the roads back in the dirty ‘30s. The whole truth on the 1933 Kaylor bank robbery and many others may be dust in the wind, too.

DUST IN THE WIND In his Minnesota History Journal article, Chisholm concludes that reliance solely upon eyewitness testimony is why the Strains were found guilty in the Okabena robbery even though it was really committed

by Bonnie and Clyde. Many other cases reached erroneous verdicts

SOURCES • Local oral and written history compiled by Gary Jerke, www.experiencethefarm.com.

• “Okabena: A Bank Robbery Revisited,”

By Brad Chisholm, St. Cloud State University as published in Minnesota History Journal, Winter 2010-2011.

• State of South Dakota vs. Strain File 7772.

• FBI Bulletin Law Enforcement Bulletin Vol. 6 No. 10, Oct. 1, 1937.

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LINCOLN COUNTY FAMILY

POWERLIFTING ‘A PIECE OF CAKE’ COMPARED TO SORTING CATTLE IN A HOT CORRAL

By Garrett Gross

Michelle and Jona Leo at Liberty Barbell.

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Jona Leo in his element – a powerlifting competition. He has bench-pressed more than 800 pounds.

Almost four years ago, the Jona and Michelle Leo family hit the “reset button.” In the summer of 2018, the couple and their three children moved from the west side of Sioux Falls to rural Lennox. The move returned Jona and Michelle to roots similar to their own childhood experiences. Jona was raised on a beef ranch in Dannebrog, Neb., while Michelle grew up on a farm in Estelline, S.D. Jona’s family operation revolved purely around the seed stock cattle industry and everything it entails.

“Growing up, we had registered Herefords until 1985 before we switched to Salers. Now my father raises Simmental and SimAngus,” he said. “The majority of my summers were spent dragging a string of show cattle throughout the United States, and winter break consisted of working on animals for the Denver Stock Show.” His brother, Joel, had a deep passion for developing the show calves. Jona followed his brother’s lead which, in turn, led them to the winner's spot at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Nebraska State Fair, and Salers Junior Nationals.

The rest of the time growing up, Jona spent his summers fencing, putting up hay, checking pastures and working calves, tasks which seemed like an eternity to him as a kid.

Meanwhile, Michelle’s background was a completely different experience. At the Jongeling farm, they grew corn and soybeans plus had dairy cattle, stock cattle and laying hens. She spent more time inside the tractor cab, milk barn, and henhouse than Jona did. Their backgrounds are different, but both appreciated the benefits of being raised in the multifaceted ag industry.

Both Jona and Michelle pursued

careers outside of the ag industry.

Jona has been active in the training and fitness industry since 2000. He owns Liberty Barbell, a gym located off the Tea exit near Thornton Flooring. He does personal training for clients, both at his gym and remotely. Michelle owns and operates Renew Therapeutic Massage in Sioux Falls.

To say that Jona is active in the fitness industry is accurate – but also an understatement. He is literally one of the strongest people on earth. Maybe all the hay he put up on his family’s ranch as a kid helped prepare him for the international powerlifting competitions he’s participated in as

March 2022 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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an adult. His accolades and victories are as impressive as anybody in the world in powerlifting. There are not many people who can say they have bench pressed greater than 800 pounds and claim the title of “World Champion.”

Jona said a big part of his success is the lessons he learned growing up on the family ranch. “Being raised on the ranch molded me and played a critical role in my powerlifting success. The mundane tasks of doing chores and preparing for the next project are easily transferable to training for whatever athletic endeavor you might pursue. After sorting cattle in a hot corral for 12 hours, showing up for a workout in a climate-controlled gym is a piece of cake,” he said.

Jona Leo at the 1997 National Salers Junior Show.

“Honestly, between the mindsets of my father and brother it is pretty easy to draw a parallel to my powerlifting success. My dad always takes on more and more projects. Meanwhile, Joel is very detail-oriented and methodical. Just like my father, I take on more and more whether it's opening a gym, taking more clients in the coaching business, directing another powerlifting meet, or training for a competition. Then I follow the lessons from the show barn with Joel – his methodical and detail-oriented approach can be seen in my preparation for each world championship and in my professional life.”

With the positive farm and ranch life experiences in their childhoods, the decision to move south of Lennox was an obvious choice for Jona and Michelle. The move enabled them to share rural life lessons with their children: Lyncoln, 14, Lennox, 11 and Liberty, 8. Their goal was to get into a smaller community while creating life experiences different than what metro Sioux Falls could offer. Their children have the luxury of often visiting both sets of grandparents and their aunt and uncles, so they routinely see the larger perspective of the ag industry.

“We fall into the category of ‘hobby’ farm, but each year we have grown in the direction of creating our own unique experience,” Jona said. “For example, year one was planting shelterbelts, lawn and pasture, and general land development. We have eased into the farming responsibilities with the chicken coop filled with laying hens, a couple head of show cattle, and gardening.

The next goal is to develop a small CSA (communitysupported agriculture) that's exclusively offered to clients of Renew Therapeutic Massage, LeoStrength and Liberty Barbell members.”

The children have learned to connect with their animals by reading their personalities and working with them appropriately and, of course, the responsibilities of daily care.

Liberty Leo lays a little loving on her calf.

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The process of developing bare land into a homestead has been unique as well. “I remember vaguely my parents building their home and the ensuing outdoor

projects. We just moved in 2018, but we have already looked back at the acreage we have developed.

I hope each project will create a memory for my children, even the 14 tons of river rock we scooped last summer, aided by a skid steer of course,” he joked.

While agriculture is not the livelihood of the Leo family, the experiences on their acreage are teaching their children the same sort of life lessons Jona and Michelle learned growing up. So far, the move to the country has been fantastic. “Our neighbors have been great in helping us get settled in – whether it's giving our boy, Lennox, a John Deere wagon to pull with the ATV, the periodic borrowing of a skid steer, or even mowing down our weeds the first month we arrived in Lennox. It's all been lessons on how great rural living is,” Jona said.

Lennox Leo exiting the show ring with a smile.

Lyncoln Leo exhibiting at a local competition.

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Liberty and Lennox is a pasture near their home.

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Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sugar, salt, eggs and salad oil and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Then mix in enough flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured board and knead until smooth - 8 to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl and turn greased side up. Cover. Let rise in warm place until double. Punch down. Divide in half. Knead ½ cup of raisins into each half. Roll each into rectangle 18 x 9. Brush with soft butter.

Mix ½ cup sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle each with half sugarcinnamon mix. Roll up, beginning with short side. With side of hand, press each and seal. Fold ends under. Place in greased pan. Brush with salad oil. Let rise. Bake 375 degrees 30 to 35 minutes.

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Introducing

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2022