Turkey Ridge Oil

Cousins at the fair: Emerson, Jovie, Braelyn and Brysen

BULK FUEL DELIVERY

‘WHERE THE BOSS STILL SITS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT’

JESSE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (605) 660-2290 BRUCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (605) 660-2292

Turkey Ridge, SD

Independently owned and operated forgot him. There are still days I get called Russell by people who remember him.”

Helping youth have a positive experience showing livestock is a common goal in the family. “It’s just like my mom teaching kindergartners all those years. She taught the kids of kids she taught a generation before. We do the same thing in 4-H,” Randy said.

Adam said, “Showing livestock is what we do. We’re super busy in the summer, not only working on our own livestock projects, but also farming and helping our customers. It’s what we enjoy. Showing is our sport. We go hard at it trying to get those big outcomes.”

Randy said, “The biggest thing you get out of showing livestock is the friendships. I’ve got life-long friends all over the country. You build a lot of connections over the years.”

Of course, the world has changed with more connections occurring online. Adam handles the farm’s website, social media and online sales. They have a few online sales every spring and held their 43rd annual live sale this year. “Every spring, I’ll sell in the neighborhood of 80 to 100 show lambs. Dad will sell 150-200 show pigs.”

In addition to his role on the farm, Adam manages the POET Bioethanol plant at Hudson. “My story is pretty simple. When I got done with college, there wasn’t enough land for me to come back to the farm fulltime. There was my grandpa, my dad and my uncle. Trying to slide a fourth one in wasn’t possible. You can only cut the pie so thin. Meanwhile, over the horizon nine miles was a new ethanol plant at Chancellor. I didn’t think 18 years later I’d still be working for the company. But it has provided me a career pathway in agriculture that I didn’t see coming when I was in school.”

He started in Chancellor in 2003 on the front line of production as a plant operator. Because the ethanol industry was booming, the company couldn’t find people fast enough to fill leadership positions. He became a night supervisor and then kept moving up in management. He’s worked at six different POET locations including the corporate office. “Everything I’ve ever needed in a career, they always put it in front of me. I’ve done research, I started our biomass business, I worked in our pilot testing facility, and now I’m back in Hudson for a second time, this time to manage it.

“POET has good people. Most importantly to me, though, the ethanol space is huge for supporting agriculture on so many levels – supporting our local corn farmers and creating that market opportunity; supporting our communities and helping to keep them alive. While I didn’t get the chance after college to come back to the farm fulltime like I had hoped, by running the ethanol plant and driving stronger grain markets, I hope I can create the chance for others to start their farming career like I was not able to.” In his current role, Adam has the flexibility to be able to help farm and run a part of Wirt’s operation.

Adam applies lessons and strategies he learns in the ethanol world to the farm, and vice versa. “Dad talks a lot about diversification. That’s what our business model is at POET. We try to diversify to be able to ride the commodity market. As things move, we’ve got to be in the right spot. Just like you can’t raise pigs for one market, you can’t process corn for just one market. We’re always trying to keep our eyes open for where those opportunities are. You’ve got to be smart and flexible,” he said.

“POET never sits still very long. We always have a lot of change going on.” When the economic slow-down hit the ethanol industry in the wake of the pandemic in spring 2020, the Hudson plant was fortunate because of its diversified product mix. Not only is it producing ethanol fuel, it also produces CO2 and a specialty corn oil. “When the ethanol market is bad, we can make it work selling other products. It creates more stability,” Adam said. “And it doesn’t hurt we’re right next door to Sioux County, Iowa, and that area’s demand for livestock feed.”

Sarah also splits her time on-farm and off-farm. “Twice a week I collect commercial boars for Rasmussen’s swine herd by Hurley. The rest of the time, I spend helping dad with the sow herd and the ewes and farming,” she said. Sarah and her kids have been raising Duroc hogs. Going forward, they will include Durocs in every group of feeder pigs sold because of the demand for them, said Randy.

Sarah’s husband, Travis, is a service manager at Standard Plumbing in Sioux Falls. They have a daughter Braelyn, 12, and a son, Brysen, 10. Adam’s wife, Melissa, is a veterinary technician at All City Vet Care in Sioux Falls. They have two daughters: Jovie, 13, and Emerson, 11. All four kids are active in 4-H livestock shows.

Sarah and Adam’s sister, Katie, is an emergency room nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital, part of the Mayo system in Rochester, Minn. She’s married to Jon Fish, who is an office manager at A&A Electric Underground Construction.

Turner County pork producer Randy Wirt.

Sarah said it takes a lot of long hours to be successful in the livestock business. Adam concluded, “You’ve got to love what you do. If you’re passionate about it, you can find a way to make it work. Today (at the Turner County Fair), our kids had a very good day in the sheep show and that makes the long hours worth it.”

FARMING FUELS ABILITY TO ENTERTAIN THOUSANDS ON THE OUTLAW CIRCUIT

By Bob Fitch

No one stands to cheer when Mark Ulmer completes a pass planting corn. And no one cheers when he harvests the corn in the fall. But farming provides the means for him to pursue his tractor-pulling passion, delivering victories to his devoted fans across the Midwest.

Huge crowds of people roar their approval when Mark releases a torrent of black exhaust from his 3,000-horsepower tractor – and suddenly man and machine explode down the track harnessed to thousands of pounds heaving towards a goal 300 feet away.

Tractor pulling is a tremendous amount of work, but Mark relishes the thrill when he puts the hammer down. “I imagine I love the element of competition. We’ve been very successful which is probably what drives us more than anything. We entertain thousands and thousands of people with these tractors.”

For 50 years, the Ulmer family has been a part of the tractor pull world, either by actively driving at events or by building and repairing the super-charged engines in the world’s most powerful motorsport. Mark’s dad, Marvin, started taking part in tractor pulls in the 1960s. Mark competes in the light super stock class. His brother, Curt and his son Craig, are also heavily involved