Hometown Farmer: Father and Son Farm and Run Ag. Business - Siouxland News - KMEG 14 and FOX 44

HURLEY, SD - Many people in the agriculture industry farm a few different crops and raise more than one kind of livestock, but very few have a whole other business. 

Steve and Ethan Schmeichel in Hurley, South Dakota not only farm corn and soy beans and raise cattle and hogs. They have a separate warehouse where they operate their business across the farm.

Steve Schmeichel's passion for farming all started when he was in the 4H program. An organization aimed at teaching high school students about the ag industry. That was nearly 45 years ago.

"Back then I guess what I enjoyed was working on the farm with my dad and it was a kind of a passion to be on our own farm I guess and to work with livestock," said Schmeichel.

His son Ethan is following in his footsteps, studying general agriculture at SDSU. On Fridays, Ethan comes home to help out on the farm like he used to growing up.

"It's fun being out in the outdoors and stuff and working with animals and playing with bigger machinery these days now," said Ethan.

They raise cattle and hogs in confinement barns, but that's not all. They've got a whole other business. They assemble and sell wood pellet barbeque grills.

"In this warehouse, we also keep our inventory. We have bag seed yet where people use the small bags and even some of the large boxes. After that, we also have our corn in here, too," Steve explained. 

Working on a diverse farm, Steven and his right–hand man both agree they were meant to be together.

"I think it's just a great thing to be able to have your son come back and be part of an operation," said Steve. "Hopefully there's some things that I learn from my dad and he'll learn from me and we'll just kind of pass things along."

"It's always fun working with your father, especially when you have a good relationship," said Ethan. "We have our ups and downs sometimes, but we get along enough where we might yell a little bit but we get it done and we have fun doing it."

As Steve says, they're a social group. In fact, Friday night, April 6 from 5 p.m. to Midnight, the Schmeichel's will have their customer appreciation night with crawdads and ribs located at 28439 449 Ave. Hurley, SD.