We are a 5th generation farming operation in Pike County, located in west-central Illinois. Three sons and mom and dad comprise a truly "family farm".
Russ is a 1968 graduate from the University of Illinois majoring in Ag Mechanization. Wife Donna graduated from the LPN program at John Wood Community College in 1980. Oldest son Bryan graduated in 1989 from Western Illinois University in Ag Science. He is married to Kim, who graduated from Culver-Stockton College in 1991 and received her Masters degree from William Woods University in 1999. Kim is an elementary teacher (6th grade) at our local West Pike Community Unit School District. Their sons are Dawson Reid...almost 6 and Jayce Ryan...almost 4. Middle son Gavin graduated in 1992 from the University of Illinois majoring in Ag Economics. His son, Clark Edward, is 10 years old! Youngest son Kris graduated in 1994 from Southern Illinois University majoring in Agri-Business. He is married to Deanna, who graduated from Truman State University with a Marketing major and is the Human Resources Director for American Convenience (AMCON) in Quincy, IL. Their oldest daughter, Hannah Mae, is 7 years old and their son, Aidan Christopher is almost 5. Now they also have twins...Alyssa Ann and Max Reagan, and they will be 3 this summer!
Hopefully some or all of these grandchildren will decide to farm and be part of the sixth generation to continue this operation!
We have a wide range of talent and assets for our farming operation.
The top photo shows us "trying out" a tracked version (9400T) of our rubber tired tractor (9400). Each tractor has 425 horsepower.
This photo shows us planting corn. The stainless steel tanks on the tractor hold 1000 gallons of herbicide spray mixture (for weed control). The 24 row planter plants a strip 60 feet wide with each pass. When everything is working correctly, we can plant the seeds, spray for weed control and apply insecticide on nearly an acre each minute! This lower photo is another view of the same planter. Each row has a box for seed and another for insecticide, so we have 48 of these yellow boxes to keep filled!
