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Raelyn and Weston – the family’s next generation – are ready to head out for their afternoon chores – feeding the kitties and chickens.

He took over the cow herd from his grandfather in 2016. And he feels fortunate that neighbor Darrel Hansen asked him to farm his crop land. “Darrel’s kind of been like an extra grandpa to me. Every Thursday, Grandpa would golf and I’d go down to Granite to help Darrel mow.” The family also attends Grandview Covenant Church with the Hansen family. A year after starting on Darrel’s land, Tom Miller (former owner of Miller Loaders in Granite) asked Dylan to start farming his land. “He told me he wouldn’t want anyone else to do it. So that’s always a good thing. It’s nice having the Millers as neighbors. They’ll weld me up anything.” He also rents farm land belonging to Alan Enger across the Big Sioux River in South Dakota. “It’s nice, everything is pretty close. Even the South Dakota piece isn’t too far away.” His sister, Brooklyn, is an operations manager for Verizon in Sioux Falls, but also owns some cows and helps her brother with the cows in the spring. Their grandfather helps truck the corn and beans in fall. “Otherwise, I do pretty much all the tillage and planting and spraying,” Dylan said. Wife Kelsey is a NICU nurse at Avera, working three 12-hour shifts per week, rotating between days and nights. Kelsey is originally from Kirkland in northern Illinois. “My dad farms, so I grew up in a farming household, too. Kirkland is a small town, so it’s pretty similar here to what I grew up in. It wasn’t some crazy transition. It is hard to be away from my family. But we usually see them once a month so we’re very fortunate,” she said.

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Although they’re both from the Midwest, Dylan and Kelsey’s story actually begins off the eastern coast of the Yucatan peninsula. “We met in Cozumel, Mexico, when we were both on family vacations,” said Kelsey, who is the daughter of Paul and Lisa Dreska. “We dated long distance for a year. Then I moved out here because the farm can’t move.” “Even though her dad wanted me to move out there to work with him,” Dylan said. “Kelse helps me run around from place to place. It’s nice on her days off I get her to help. I try to plan jobs accordingly.” The couple met in January 2013, Kelsey moved out here a year later, and they were married in August 2016. Kelsey said, “When we were dating long distance, I worked every other weekend. So, pretty consistently, every other weekend, one of us was always driving. That took dedication. “Then I moved and we were happy not to have to drive all the time anymore. But now with the kids we still travel there a lot,” she said.

“Dylan and Dad get along so well. Dylan definitely talks to my dad more than I do. It’s worked out nice for both of them with Dylan’s dad dying so young and now my dad getting the son he always wanted. Hopefully my parents will move here some time. Right now, we see them about once a month.”

Dylan and Kelsey McCarty have a picture perfect spot on a rise overlooking pastures, fields and farm acreages in western Lyon County high above the village of Granite. Dylan has appreciated the input and advice he receives from his father-in-law. “He’s been farming for so many years, it’s definitely nice to have someone to call.”

Kelsey appreciates the Snyders-McCarty weekly family meals. “We have a family supper every Sunday. That’s kind of fun. It’s almost always at his grandpa and grandma’s house. When we have more people, if my folks are in town, then we’ll go to Dylan’s aunt’s house.” She also enjoys the atmosphere in northwest Iowa and southeast South Dakota. “People are nicer out here than in Illinois. Everyone waves when you drive by. People aren’t in such a hurry,” Kelsey said. “In the hospital where I worked in Illinois, a doctor would never just talk to you to say hi. When I started working here, the first time a doctor said hi and asked me how I was doing, I looked around and thought ‘Who’s he talking to?’ They actually care about me enough to make conversation.”

A 2011 graduate of West Lyon High School and an avid outdoorsman and hunter, Dylan said, “We’re definitely happy to live ‘out west.’ I don’t need a lot more acres. It works pretty good where we’re at now – it keeps me pretty busy. But I suppose if another neighbor asks, I’d have to say yes. So far, they’ve come to me and asked me if I wanted to farm their ground. It’s nice to not have to be searching out land. I’m definitely blessed that way.”