Krog U of M Farm Family of the Year for Lincoln Co.

 

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Ken and Laura Krog fam­ily of ruralLakeBentonwere chosen as the 2011UniversityofMinnesota Farm Familyof the year forLincolnCounty.

The Farm Family recognition program honored farm families from 75 participating counties throughoutMinnesotafor their significant contributions to the agricultural industry and their local communities in a ceremo­ny which took place at Farmfest on Aug. 4, 2011 at the Gilfillan Estate inRedwoodCounty.

Farmfest is the largest outdoor agricultural event inMinnesota.

“We are honored yet humbled by this recognition,” said Ken Krog. “There are a lot of other hard working farm families inLincolnCountythat deserve this award.”

Krog, a fifth generation farmer inLincolnCounty, grew up farm­ing with his parents Brian and Pat Krog and started his own op­eration as a sophomore in high school.

“When I was a senior in high school, I rented a piece of land fromVernonand Lucille Wil­liams who were retiring that year,” said Krog. “My brothers and I helped each other out, which we still do, and without Dad we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

“My dad taught me a great work ethic, let me use his ma­chinery, supported us and had all the contacts necessary to be successful.”

Krog said he and his brothers got their start from a bunch of old farmers and neighbors who supported them and wanted to see family farming continue in the area.

Both Ken and Laura Krog graduated from Lake Benton High School, Ken in 1989 and Laura in 1990, and went on to school with Ken earning a busi­ness agriculture degree from Canby while continuing to farm and Laura earning her nursing degree at Watertown, S.D.

The Krogs married in 1993 and Laura Krog has been a regis­tered nurse atTylerHealthcareCenterfor the past 18 years.

“We started farming corn and soybeans in 1990 and have grown the operation from 120 acres to nearly 1,900 acres over the past 20-some years,” said Krog. “We now have sheep and cattle also. It started with two lambs Nathan received as his third birthday present from Grandpa and Grandma, John and Pam Nibbe. The next year we bought 80 ewes, put up a hoop barn and now we lamb, feed out and finish our own lambs.”

“Our flock has grown to 850 ewes and our cow-calf operation is at about 40 cows.”

The Krogs bought the family farm from Ken’s grandparents Arnold and Aletta Krog in 1998, though Krog has worked the land since he was a sophomore in high school.

“Great Uncle Leon Krog rented me some more land, which we still farm today,” said Krog. “We are very lucky and fortunate to have acquired a great group of land over the years.”

“Without the help and support of area farmers and neighbors in the early years, I’m not sure we would have made it.”

The Krogs have five children and each does his or her part to help out on the farm.

The Krog family has been in 4-H since their oldest child was in kindergarten and Laura is a livestock superintendent for sheep at the county level.

Nathan is 15 years old and a sophomore atElkton-LakeBen­tonHigh School. He plays foot­ball and basketball at the varsity level.

“Nathan is very essential to the farm and has a lot of responsibil­ity,” said Krog. “He does the fall tillage, has his own set of chores and cuts hay. Both boys do all my haying.” Nate has about 15 of his own ewes and is in FFA at school.

Nicholas is 13 and in eighth grade atElkton-LakeBentonSchool. He plays quarterback on the football team and also plays basketball.

“Nick lives on a sheep farm, but is a cattle man,” said Laura Krog. “He is a member of the Junior American Angus Associa­tion and gets a lot of sup­port from area cattlemen, neighbors and friends who help him with this oppor­tunity.”

Nick began showing cattle at the age of eight in 2006 and currently has 10 head of purebred Black Angus.

“Nick has a knack for running machines,” said his dad. “He was my com­bine driver this year at 13 and has been driving grain cart for several years now.”

Hannah is nine years old and a third grader at Lake Benton Elementary. She just started basketball this year and this is also her first year in 4-H, where she will show sheep and cattle.

“Hannah is a great help in the kitchen and around the house,” said her moth­er. “She hangs with her brother Nick around the cattle, has a very strong outside interest, likes to ride tractor and is her dad’s sidekick.”

“Some day she wants to drive truck for him, but not until she gets a bedazzled, bright orange semi with lots of bling.”

Hannah helps with laundry, dishes and en­joys cooking. Her favorite things to make are spa­ghetti and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Ryan and Rachael are seven-year-old twins and first graders at Lake Ben­ton Elementary.

“Ryan is a natural ath­lete and a man of action,” said his father. “He kind of lives in his brothers’ hip pockets and loves driving the utility vehicles and four-wheeler.”

“He wants to drive the grain cart, helps with chores and is the watcher of the gate when we go in and out of the pens.”

Rachael has a horse named Nevaeh (which is Heaven spelled backward) that she loves, a couple of her own ewes and gets very excited when she has sheep in the barn.

“Both girls share the horse and Rachael takes care of the dogs,” said her mom. “Shaggy is her favor­ite. She also likes to sit in the bottle lamb pen and talk to them to try to save them. She likes making cookies with her grand­mas and she names all of her animals.”

The whole operation is a family effort and everyone has their jobs to do.

“Laura is my ewe man­ager and an essential part of our operation,” said Krog. “She stays very busy working as a nurse, being a mom, running kids here and there and working with the sheep and on the farm.”

Both sets of grandpar­ents are also an integral part of the Krog family and help with preparing meals, taking care of or driv­ing the kids to practices, games or other events.

“We are very fortunate to have both sets of grand­parents living so close to us,” said Krog. “They are very family oriented and help out tremendously. Even the little things mean a lot to us.”

Laura’s parents John and Pam Nibbe rented them land in the early years and for the past two years John has been Ken’s right hand man on the farm, helping with spring tillage for he and his brother, haying, harvest, lambing and many other things.

“We start lambing in January with three groups, January, February and March,” said Laura Krog. “It gets very tiring as it’s a 24-7 operation and goes for three straight months.”

“Every ewe gets a pen with her lamb for 48 hours and then we put them in a larger pen with about 80 of each.”

Krog said the kids bring friends from high school home to help out with lambing.

“The kids all help out with different jobs,” said Krog. “Pen jobs, moving sheep, feeding, vaccina­tions, everything that’s in­volved.”

“We feed them all sum­mer long and sell them as fat lambs.”

In April the Krogs calve between 30 and 40 head.

“True farming is diver­sified with crops and live­stock so we aren’t relying on just one thing,” said Ken Krog. “We take a lot of pride in our operation and do things the right way.”

Krog says it is nice to live and farm inLincolnCountybecause they support local businesses from the gro­cery store, banking, parts, mechanics, fuel suppliers and the local businesses also support them.

“It’s nice that they sup­port us and we support them,” said Krog. “It means a lot when you can look a man in the eye and shake his hand. It’s important.”

Ken is a board mem­ber of the Lincoln County Corn and Soybean Grow­ers organization and also a member of the Knights of Columbus.

Laura is a member of the Lake Benton Volunteers for Education in addition to serving as a 4-H live­stock superintendent for sheep.

“I’m very fortunate to be a farmer,” said Krog. “It’s a great way to raise a family and make a living.”

“On any given day on our farm you will find us work­ing together or playing ball out in the yard.”

The Ken and Laura Krog family will reign as Lincoln County Farm Family of the Year until Aug. 9, when the 2012 winner will be intro­duced at Farmfest.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who nominated us for Lincoln County Farm Family of the Year,” said Laura Krog. “It is indeed an honor to represent our county with deep agricul­tural and livestock roots.”

“We are humbled by this recognition and know there are many families inLincolnCountywork­ing hard every day to be good stewards to the land, herdsmen to livestock and raise their families and support their communi­ties.”

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