This Week’s Farm Family: Old Hickory Gives Siglers Land Purchase OK | Agriculture – Illinoisnewstoday.com

As the harvest season continues on Tuesday, Dave Hinton of The News-Gazette will spotlight the Farm Family of the Week.Email nominations dhinton@news-gazette.com..
this week: The Sigler family who farms in Douglas and Champaign counties and runs Gillong farms
According to Pam Sigler, the 19th-century president signed a form allowing her family to buy land that is still cultivated. One morning, when the hired hand didn’t show up, she took her first lesson in farming — it’s a lesson she’s endured.
My family has been cultivating this sesquicentenial farm since 1834. Acquired by the Land Act of 1820. Samuel Gil of Bath County, Kentucky bought a horse in Palestine, Illinois. There is an original treatise signed by President Andrew Jackson.
Our two sons are the 7th generation who continuously cultivate the land. When my father John Long retired, he gave up the land to my husband Dean and me.
I am the 6th generation and actually helped my dad in spring and autumn. One morning, my dad’s hired hand didn’t show up, so he went home and took me, the oldest of the three girls. He taught me how to run a field cultivator. In the fall, chop the stems and disks, and when they are old enough, take the grain to the elevator.
Dean’s family was also farming, and he was farming with his two brothers.
Today, our farm operations, called Sigler Farms, are east of Hugo and extend to Camargo, Villa Grove and Longview / Broadlands.
Today we are a grain farm that grows soybeans and corn. Previously growing a lot of seed corn, the company moved production to the northern irrigation acres.
our farm The operation supports four families — Dean and I. Our youngest child Eric and his two children, Deakin and Harper. And our eldest son, Steve and his wife Karen. There is also Dick Howard, who is a farmer all year round.
My house has had a beauty salon for 35 years. Dean is a journeyman lineman who did electrical work in the winter. We both retired. Steve’s agent teaches when he’s not farming, and his wife is an American Airlines flight attendant.
Agriculture has really evolved since childhood. Then all the farmers I knew had livestock. Over time, it was fewer animals. First the cows were sold, then the chickens left. Until the mid-1970s, cattle, pigs and sheep were kept. The sheep finally left. They were kept to keep the meadows “cut”.
Since then, grain transportation has really changed. All the small towns had elevators so they could be carried using tractors and wagons. After that, I used a grain truck that I thought was big, but it got bigger until the elevator closed, so it became a semi-trailer. The distance between the elevator and production has all changed the dynamics of bringing crops to market.
Agriculture is a wonderful life with the privilege of working and caring for God’s good earth. Every year, we prepare, plant, grow and harvest crops, which vary from year to year because we cannot control the weather. The family works together, and it is a reward in itself.
If I can change one thing, it may be a risk. The weather is unpredictable, but trying to get the best price on the market is always gambling. Other companies can price goods, but we can’t ask what they want or need. JFK once said that farmers buy everything retail, sell it wholesale, and pay shipping costs in both directions. It’s true when he said it, and it’s true today.
harvest. It has been my favorite since I was a kid. I love to eat in the field, see the combine and tractor with the auger wagon moving together, and dump the combine into a wagon that looks like liquid gold. Corn is very golden. It’s fun to take a grandchild and go around with a combine or tractor. I hope they love farm life and continue to maintain their 8th generation tradition.
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This Week’s Farm Family: Old Hickory Gives Siglers Land Purchase OK | Agriculture
Source link This Week’s Farm Family: Old Hickory Gives Siglers Land Purchase OK | Agriculture

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