It is no secret that farming can be a difficult business to break into, especially if a young farmer doesn’t have a family member to farm with.  However, Kelly Lyons of Garretson, South Dakota, has turned an interest in cattle into a full time career thanks to a solid partnership, hard work and creativity.

“I was a town kid – my dad is a retired electric lineman and my mom worked in banking,” said Kelly. “I got started working with cattle by helping my wife’s uncle and grandfather.  When her uncle quit farming, he asked if I wanted to rent the pasture for cows.”

Kelly bought some bred heifers to graze on the pasture, and it was the starting point for his cattle operation.  However, he never expected to be able to farm full time.

Kelly and his future business partner John Eggers worked together at a dairy farm near Brandon. They both had a few cows and an interest in staying involved in raising cattle.  John’s family raises purebred Hereford cattle, and John had started raising a few commercial stock cattle.

They began working and renting pasture together, and eventually formed the Grand Meadow Cattle Company partnership about eight years ago.

When they started, John owned about a dozen cows and Kelly had about 40.  Over the years, they’ve grown their cow herd to about 400 cows and added more grassland for grazing. They raise corn for silage and earlage, as well as alfalfa and grass hay.  All the crops they raise are used as feed for the cattle.

They raise Angus cattle, typically backgrounding their calves for about 100 days before selling them for finishing.  They also have expanded into buying yearling heifers, selling cow/calf pairs and feeding out some of their own cows.

For several years, John and Kelly worked full time jobs in addition to their own cattle business.  As their own operation grew, they slowly transition from full time jobs off the farm to part time, then finally became full time farmers about three years ago.

“When we were both working full time jobs, we had to be creative in getting chores and work done,” he said.  “There were lots of late nights and work done at odd hours.”

John and Kelly rent John’s grandfather’s farm and barns south of Garretson.  Instead of spending on new facilities, they’ve remodeled existing barns to work for their operation.  An old hog barn has been insulated and is now used as a calving barn.  An open front barn has been remodeled as a space for working cattle.

They work with Curt Vlietstra, DVM, from Pipestone Veterinary Services for ultrasounding in the fall, help with calving when needed, and advice throughout the year.

“He’s been a good resource for us as we’ve grown, especially providing advice on calving and vaccination programs,” said Kelly.

As Grand Meadows Cattle Company continues to evolve and grow, Kelly said they are always looking for ways to improve their operation.

“The biggest change that we’ve made, and the one that has brought the most benefits, has been moving our calving dates to later in the year,” said Kelly.

For the past several years, their cows have calved in May or June instead of March.  Kelly and John made the decision when they were both working full time jobs, knowing they couldn’t always be watching the cows.  They thought that a later calving date would be better for cows, calves and their own schedules, and it has paid off in multiple ways.

“Since the weather is warmer, we don’t have to be moving cows indoors for calving and we’re not as worried about keeping the calves warm and out of the winter weather,” he said.

They’ve seen better calf health with very little death loss, as well as increased feed consumption.  They can also keep cows grazing on cornstalks longer.

In addition to their business, both have growing families.  Kelly and his wife Jessica have three children:  Layna (8), Katlyn (6), and Jarad (3).  John and his wife Natalie have one son, Jackson, who is a year and a half old.

The partners continue to look for opportunities to build the business for the future.

“We don’t have specific goals in place for the future, but want to be in a position to take advantage of opportunities when they come up,” said Kelly.  “I never thought I could make a career out of farming and raising cattle, but it has all fallen into place.