From The Farming Families of Sioux County - February 2020

In 1902, the first year Orville Rehder’s grandfather Julius farmed in western Sioux County, he paid cash rent of $2.50 per acre for the corn and alfalfa land. While farm economics have changed a lot since then, the need for hard work never changes.

Julius Rehder returned to Tama County that winter but came back here in the spring of 1903 and purchased the family’s original 240-acre farm. The fourth and fifth generations continue the family’s farming tradition. Orville’s son Steve said, “When my great-grandfather decided to move west, his mom said, ‘Don’t move to South Dakota, I hear it’s dry there.’ He went about as far west as he could without moving to South Dakota – we’re three miles away.” Nearly 120 years later, the chance Julius took by moving west has paid nice dividends.

Brothers Steve, Jeff and Kevin Rehder, and Steve’s son, Trent, now run the operation along with their business partner Tim Schmidt. While Orville and his brother George retired a number of years ago, their example is still a guiding star.

Jeff said, “A lot of people don’t have a father, and we were lucky enough to have two with George being around all the time. We got to see the example of how Dad and George got along. Even when there were conflicts, they’d always get through it. You hear stories about other families not getting along and splitting up. That’s just sad.” Steve concurred. “The example was set by our two dads – when you get yourselves into a situation where you’re a little upset, we need to try to remember that we’re a family and we work together. That’s always been an inspiration to me.”

Jeff said, “To me, communication is vital. It’s been huge when you’ve got this many things going on.” In addition to the example set by their dad and uncle, the Rehders also engage practical measures to ensure good communication. “One of the keys is all five of us carry two-way radios. Cell phones are nice, but you can only talk to one person at a time. But, with two-ways, you can talk to everybody. That helps with harvest and logistics. We don’t always have cell phone service where we farm.”

Steve said, “If something breaks down, you can call on the two-way. One of us is likely to be on the yard and can round up what’s needed and bring it down.” Because time is always tight, the conversations over the two-way radios sometimes substitute for a team meeting. Jeff said, “We try to work hard to communicate so everybody knows what the others are thinking. And we’re not afraid to have a little fun when we’re working…just make sure the work gets done. It doesn’t matter who’s doing it, you just know it has to get done.”

About 60 percent of their corn and soybean land, plus their farrow-to-finish hog operations, is in Rehder Farms Inc. The rest of the land is in 3R Feedlot Inc. Jeff said they formed the two corporations around 2009 on the advice of their banker and lawyer. “The thought was it makes it easier to get someone new involved and maybe easier to back one of us out when it comes to retirement.”

Decisions like these were made not just for business sake, but also to help assure their commitments to family. “Time is very valuable to our operations,” Jeff said. “When we’re making decisions about equipment or about land, things that help us save time so we can spend more time with our family, that’s pretty important.”

Steve and Jeff had farmed with George’s son-in-law Dean Blom for a number of years. Dean left farming to become a building inspector about 20 years ago. “When Dean quit, Steve and I had the discussion ‘Are we going to try to do everything on our own or try to find someone else? If we do everything ourselves, we’re going to have to quit volunteering on different things.’ We decided it was best for us and our family to get someone else involved. That’s when we gave Tim Schmidt the opportunity to join the operation, not as a hired man, but to work his way into a full partnership,” Jeff said.

Steve said, “If we hadn’t found Tim, I don’t think we could have kept the hogs going. That’s the only reason the hog operation survived. That farrowing is not an easy job.”

Jeff said, “It’s good to have someone in the farrowing building whose passion is animal husbandry. Having a partnership is different than a hired man. With a hired man, you tell them what to do. But when you’re a partner everybody knows what needs to be done and you try to pitch in and get it done.”

In addition to farrowing, Tim helps out with field work. Steve is in charge of the cattle feedlot and crop spraying. Jeff is in charge of planting and harvesting decisions, the grain inventory, grinding most of the hod feed and caring for the finishing pigs. Kevin runs the hog gestation building, does most of the grain trucking, runs the chopper and fills in wherever he’s needed. Trent works the cattle with Steve plus dees most of the combining, round-bailing and tillage work.

Steve said, “Jeff and I try to keep it running on the back side. It’s challenging at times, but it works. We’re walking a fine line right now getting it all done and not adding manpower.”

Jeff said, “There’s always something going on. If you’ve run out of work, you’ve quit looking.”

While work is ever-present, volunteering is also a priority. Past or present, family members and Tim and Mary Schmidt have served on many boards including: German Farmers Mutual Insurance, First State Bank of Hawarden (now called River’s Edge Bank), Sioux County Farm Bureau, Sioux County Extension, Sioux County Zoning, Hawarden Hospital, Iowa Beef Industry Council, Northwest REC, and Siouxland Energy Cooperative. The Garfield Township clerkship has been staffed by the Rehder family for 100 years, passing from second generation Albert to George to Dean to Jeff.

Besides rich soil and strong civic organizations, why do they think agriculture in Sioux County is so successful? Jeff said, “A lot of it is due to taking a day of rest on Sundays where other counties don’t. I think that is huge. That makes it a little easier to retain the next generation of farmers because you get at least one day with your families.” Steve agreed: “You work so hard, you’ve got to have a little rest too.”

Orville said the family and the farm have successful because of “the Lord’s blessings. I’ve only had two bad things happen in my life – my wife dying nine years ago and my daughter dying. I got to work together with my brother George for 35-40 years – that worked out really well.”

Steve said, “We farm together and pray together and worship together. The whole operation goes to Peace Lutheran Church. God’s first and he’ll take care of us. He gives us everything we have.”

Corn to Whiskey