Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

In 1885, Irish immigrant, Patrick McAreavey, homesteaded land northeast of Montrose, S.D.

Six generations later, his great-great-great grandson, Jason McAreavey, 29, continues the farming tradition on the same land.

“Growing up I always enjoyed farming - I liked being outside with my dad,” McAreavey said. “I had the opportunity to buy my grandparents' farm when I was a sophomore in college and start farming. Today, what I enjoy most about farming is being my own boss and getting to see the results of my decisions with the cattle and crops. With the cattle, it's rewarding to see the progress that is made over the years based on the bulls I select.”

As a young farmer, he recognizes how difficult it would have been to start out in farming today if it had not been for his family's support.

“There are only about a half a dozen other young farmers in my area,” McAreavey said. “If my dad hadn't helped me get started, or my grandparents hadn't helped by selling me the ground, I probably wouldn't be in farming today because with ground costs so high, it would have been hard to get started. We had a piece of ground sell near us that had quadrupled in price since 1997.”

McAreavey and his dad, Vernon, own separate land but farm together - sharing equipment, feedlot space and labor. They raise corn, soybeans, alfalfa and operate a cow/calf herd and feedlot where they finish out their own commercial cattle and an additional 300 head that they purchase, background and finish.

“We partner on equipment - I own some and he owns some. I started with a few cows running on his pasture and slowly build the herd as I go. Eventually, as I go, I buy more equipment and more cattle and when my dad is ready to retire I'll be ready to take over,” said McAreavey, a 2002 animal science and marketing graduate of South Dakota State University.

McAreavey said that although most of their neighbors only raise crops - adding that the soil in his area is very fertile - raising cattle has been a farming tradition in his operation since his grandpa started a herd.

“Grandpa always had cows. My dad and I started growing the cow herd more when I was in high school. When I came back from college we started to increase the size of the feedlot,” said McAreavey, who says that even though he knew he wanted to return to his family's farm, he wanted a college degree in case he ever needed something to fall back on.

He says that feeding out cattle gives them another way to market their grain. Other than supplementing their rations with some distillers grain, the McAreaveys grow all their feedstuffs.

“One advantage that we have with our cows, over just being strict grain farmers, is we have more options to market our grain. We can sell corn and we can feed our calves and sell them as fat cattle. Plus, we can utilize the cheap feedstuffs by grazing our crop residues,” McAreavey said.

McAreavey said that he and his dad started utilizing the markets as a risk management tool when he was in college taking marketing classes.

“I was taking some marketing classes and learning more about futures and options. I got the name of the broker that we use through one of my classes and got things going that way,” said McAreavey, a South Dakota Ag and Rural Leadership alumnus. “I kind of pushed the marketing idea, but today my dad does more than I do. We talk about everything together first, but he actually calls the broker and gets things figured out that way.”

He says that he and his dad work well together because they each focus on areas of their operation that they enjoy most.

In the 11 years since he graduated from high school, McAreavey says that he has noticed many changes in the agriculture industry.

“I think people watch their input costs in the way that they feed cattle and put together rations,” he said. “The technology side of things has really increased on the crop side of things with GMO crops, and rootworm-resistant crops, auto-steer technology and GPS and field mapping.”

On his farm he says that they have steadily been increasing the amount of technology they use and how they utilize the information.

“We try to learn new things each year,” he said. “Technology has helped us decrease our costs somewhat - but because costs of everything have increased so much, we also find it important to forward price and pre-pay for inputs,” McAreavey said.

McAreavey's wife, Sarah, is a neonatal nurse at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., they have a 6-year-old daughter, Kayla. McAreavey will be the southeast South Dakota crop watcher for the Tri-State Neighbor.

Comments »

D. Goldammer wrote on Apr 26, 2008 2:27 PM:

" It is refreshing to see a gifted young man stay on the land of his ancestors. Jason is a success not only because of the backing of his family, but of his own hard work and forward thinking. Congratulations, Jason! "

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