< PreviousHORSE PROGRESS DAYS 202348 L5090 S. Mt. Eaton Road Dalton OH 44618 | 330.857.7811 WeaverWagons.com Hitch Wagons Practice Wagons Parade & Trail Wagons Farm Wagons Parts & Accessories Durable Automotive Finishes Training, Marathon, Presentation and Dressage Carriages Visit our website WorldClassCarriages.com for our complete lineup! The Singletree 5090 S. Mt. Eaton Road Dalton OH 44618 | 330.857.7811 WorldClassCarriages.com 27 Years Stocking all the parts you need! Visit our website to see our complete list of parts! Visit our website WorldClassCarriages.com for our complete lineup! Stocking all the parts you need!HORSE PROGRESS DAYS 2023 49 Rand produce growing communities. The farm is supporting a flock of sheep which is hopefully on the way to including 200 ewes. Larry also enjoys small construction jobs on the side which has helped to make it possible for the boys to take on most of the responsibility for running the business. Larry will be talking about how to add dollars to the bottom line without bankrupting the checking account. He says, “God has blessed us greatly in health and occupation and we wish the same for you!” Life on the Family Farm Ervin Bontrager Jr. farms with his wife Wilma whom he married in June of 1992. In December of that year, the two moved to Wilma’s home farm and started milking cows. There were only about four cows on the farm then, and they were milked by hand. The milk was sold in large milk cans to a local cheese house. Now, there are over 40 cows being milked in a milking parlor with a pipeline to the milk house, and the milk is shipped to the Organic Valley Cooperative. The total farm consists of 120 organic certified acres with four acres in woods, and there are a couple of acres of low land. There are seven children in this household: four boys and three girls. The oldest three are married. In this seminar Ervin will be talking about things to do or not to do to keep life on the farm interesting for the family, and for himself, as the dad. Ways to Keep a Small Dairy Farm Viable in Today’s World Dairy farmer three-man panel. Join Atlee Yutzy, David Miller and Merlin Miller Atlee Yutzy and his wife Susan, are parents of eight children, four of them are Seminars (continued from page 47) (continued on page 51)HORSE PROGRESS DAYS 202350 LLaGrange Office: 260-463-3233 THE LIGHTHOUSE INSTALLATIONTHE LIGHTHOUSE INSTALLATION 8216 TOWNSHIP ROAD 568 8216 TOWNSHIP ROAD 568 FREDERICKSBURG, OH 44627 FREDERICKSBURG, OH 44627 330-330-275-275-05350535 We sell We sell wholesale wholesale and retail!and retail! • Sales and Service Installations• Sales and Service Installations • Inverters • Inverters • Chargers• Chargers • LED Bulbs • LED Bulbs • Prewired Systems• Prewired Systems • Solar Systems and Battery Packs• Solar Systems and Battery Packs Customize your battery pack today! 24v 150ah and 48v 100ah stackable modules. Smart BMS, and monitoring. 10 year warranty. CALL FOR A CALL FOR A FREE CATALOGFREE CATALOG We ship UPS and USPS 8-8:15 am or leave a message • Strong, lightweight, aluminum bed • Hydraulic brakes • Fold-up steps – rear entry for passengers • Wooden seats available • Custom size beds – custom sizes on tarps • 6 ton running gear designed especially for draft horses • Horse-friendly steering system • Rattle-free reach system NEW! Also offering a fifth wheel gear for your hitch teams. Great for your practice wagon. Hay Ride WagonHORSE PROGRESS DAYS 2023 51 Rmarried and have brought two grandchildren into the family. They own a 99-acre farm, 58 tillable and 38 in woods, and rent another 17 acres from a neighbor. They milk 40-45 head of New Zealand and Holstein crossbred cows and they raise all their own replacement animals. The farm was certified organic in 2009. They also tend a small orchard and produce about 400 gallons of maple syrup every year. David Miller and his wife Naomi started dairy farming in 2010 and transitioned to organic in 2012, joining the Organic Valley milk marketing cooperative in 2014. The 35-40 head they milk are Holsteins. They own a 100-acre farm of which 85 are tillable and 15 in meadow and woods. Of the 25 acres of corn they raise, 13 are chopped for silage and 12 are harvested for grain. The rest of the tillable land is in hay. In order to be good stewards of the land that God has given them, they pursue a goal of producing and maintaining healthy soils. Merlin Miller and his wife Mary, with help from their two boys and three girls, milk 35 head of Jersey cows and raise all their own replacements. They also have a herd of 20 Draft Horses. They moved onto Merlin’s home farm in 2013, became organic certified in 2014 and began milking in 2018. This farm is made up of 76n owned acres and 45 rented. ✸ Seminars (continued from page 49)HORSE PROGRESS DAYS 202352 LCLOTHING • HOUSEWARES TOYS & GAMES • CANNING SUPPLIES OFFICE SUPPLIES • FOOTWEAR COME SEE US!COME SEE US! 2825 W 350 S2825 W 350 S LaGrange, IN 46761LaGrange, IN 46761 260-463-7469260-463-7469HORSE PROGRESS DAYS 2023 53 RThe cost of the tour is $129 per person, payable in advance. The cost includes one day free admission to the event and the noon meal. The free noon meal is on tour day. To make a reservation, go to michianaevents.com/events/horseprogressdays or call 260-768-3300. Tour Stops 2023 SH I P SH E WA N A , I N DI A N A The Freeman Miller Produce Farm There’s a greenhouse for growing flowers for hanging baskets. There are succulents (those odd-looking desert plants that are so easy to care for) there will be pumpkins and squash and watermelons and cantaloupes growing in the fields and 620 tomato plants in the 200x24 foot hoop house. This is a 14-year-old produce farm, full time since 2016, operated by a father and mother and their seven children. In 2008 Freeman was working in the buggy wheel shop across the road when sales of buggy wheels took a bit of a dip, and he decided to try raising some money by farming some of the 48 acres he was using to feed dairy calves. He planted some pumpkins, and sure enough it paid. The pumpkins are still part of the picture along with squash and watermelons to make up The Annual Horse Progress Days tour scheduled for Thursday, June 29, 2023. Busses will be boarded at the front entrance of the Michiana Event Center 455 E. Farver Street Shipshewana, IN Please arrive by 7:30 a.m. Bus will depart promptly at 7:45 a.m., and return at approxi- mately 5:00 p.m. (continued on page 55)HORSE PROGRESS DAYS 202354 LWe Sell a Variety of Boilers! 11605 W 700 S., Millersburg, IN 46543 574-536-4447 We Also Sell: Pex, Black Pipe, Push Fit & Copper Press Fittings Now Stocking DWV Schedule 40 PVC Fittings! Made in GermanyMade in USAHORSE PROGRESS DAYS 2023 55 RBus Tour Stops (continued from page 53) (continued on page 57) the 30 acres in vine crops that are grown here. The flower greenhouse is used to grow hanging baskets, lots of petunias, geraniums and begonias. It was 2014 when the oldest child, a daughter, was 11 years old that production was ramped up, and in 2016 Freeman became a full time produce farmer. He enjoyed the buggy shop, he says, but the profits from the produce and the chance to work side by side with his family lured him away. It’s nice, he said, to be farming in a way that handily pays the bills and pays off the farm. And the family doesn’t see this occupation in which they all have a very vital part, as being tiresome. Far from it. The children even have their own little garden to grow things to take along to the local produce auction where all the rest of the farm’s crops are sold. All the good stuff goes there, only the number two and three stuff is sold at home, out along the road. The life of this family, whether planting or harvesting, is not monotonous as they work together in the fields; sharing news, reciting poems, singing together and settling the occasional squabble. Even keeping the weeds at bay with their teams of Belgian horses pulling a cultivator seems a privilege. Freeman likens a day of working in the melon patch loading melons, tossing them from the ground up to the wagon bins, to playing ball all day. Moving, throwing, bending and catching, it tires out the muscles, but at the end of the day there is a good feeling, something good has taken place. Throwing baseballs or throwing melons, it takes a good team to win! Peaceful fields, growing crops, the anticipation of harvest, and a reliable outlet for selling, and most of all a family that works together and has fun together. It can work. Royal Equine Freeman and Rose Yoder, the owners of Royal Equine, live near the small town of Topeka, Indiana. Freeman grew up a buggy builder’s son. His father passed away when he was 12 years old, and then he spent a lot of time at his grandfather’s farm where his uncle, Devon Bontrager, was taking over the farming. Freeman was fascinated with the eight or more Belgian HORSE PROGRESS DAYS 202356 LFor more information call or write 3230 E. Gordon Road Gordonville, PA 17529 717-768-0600 Many Aftermarket Parts Available for New Holland Hay Equipment and John Deere Balers BELLOTA RASPS KERCKHAERT STANDARD SERIES LIBERTY 10 LITE NAIL Learn more online and nd an FPD dealer near you at farrierproducts.com or call (800) 468-2879. facebook @farrierproductdistribution | instagram @fpdinc | youtube @farrierproducts Choose Products that Deliver Consistent Results LIBERTY COMBO SLIM NAILSHORSE PROGRESS DAYS 2023 57 RBus Tour Stops (continued from page 55) (continued on page 59) gelding hitches his uncle was using on the farm. When he was old enough, Freeman started to work in an RV factory, and then in 2006 he bought his first stallion, a Belgian named Country Road Firestone. Eventually the operation increased to eight stallions while he was still working off the farm. Then he quit his factory job to work at home, concentrating on becoming a breeding operation. With expansion came the need of employees which now number three. Royal Equine stood 23 stallions in 2022. They do take in outside mares, but most of the breeding is done by collecting semen from the stallions and distributing it to mare owners throughout the country. They began as a Belgian breeding business, but now they include standardbreds as well. Freeman’s heart is still with the Belgians which he loves to train and work with in the fields. Expect to see lots of horses on this stop. Horn of Plenty Hustle and bustle is what it takes to make things work, whether it’s in some stuffy office, riding in a vehicle to meet customers and potential ones, turning out mobile homes or RVs, or digging in the dirt to grow things. You will see results of hustle and bustle at this stop on the tour. It’s a community effort to market things from small family farms: things like vegetables, meats and eggs. And then there are the niche lines of honey, stone ground flour, tinctures and salves, beeswax candles, and puffed spelt cereal. Everything is from LaGrange or Elkhart counties, and while not organic certified, great care is taken to remain clearly chemical and GMO free. Farmers Markets, restaurants and retailers are the wholesale customers, and the on-site store provides some retail income, as well as farmers market stands that the company itself runs at the Goshen and Elkhart Farmers Markets. Their top Next >