Barb and Larry Olesen recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Tune out the background noise and stick to the plan is the approach the Olesen family takes on their farm in the northern suburbs of Turkey Ridge. “For the success of the operation, our philosophy is to go for base hits, not home runs. Dad has said that lots of times,” said Lance Olesen. They apply the base hits approach to most every decision – whether it’s the amount of fertilizer to apply, which seed and chemicals to use, or buying good used machinery to let someone else pay for the depreciation. “Especially with marketing, everybody is always trying to sell for the highest price. We just try to make sure we’re consistently profitable every year. If we can be in the top third of the market, we’re happy enough with that.” Lance’s father, Larry Olesen, concurred. “For those people who always think they’re going to sell at the highest price, they usually end up with the grain in the bin when it goes down. We don’t always sell at the highest point, but you don’t want to be on the bottom third. But it’s still emotional selling grain.” Larry and his wife, Barb, along with Lance and his wife, Elizabeth, raise corn and soybeans plus have a cow-calf herd. For Lance, his first 11 years of farming has been a wild ride. “Since I started in 2010, I feel like I’ve seen all the extremes, from the worst drought in 2012 to the wettest year on record
180 N Main Ave. Parker, SD 57053 Bus: 605-297-4747 368 N Main St. Freeman, SD 57029 Bus: 605-925-7353 mark@markkasten.com
205 10th St, Rock Valley
712-476-5419
209 S Main St, Inwood
712-753-2200
August 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine
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