{"id":164,"date":"2025-09-17T19:24:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T19:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmingtoolmagazine.com\/?page_id=164"},"modified":"2025-09-17T19:28:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T19:28:43","slug":"kenning-family-farm","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/farmingtoolmagazine.com\/?page_id=164","title":{"rendered":"Kenning Family Farm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Kenning Farm Operation now includes five generations with the original farmstead being well over 100 years old. The original farmstead south of Endicott was started by my great-grandfather, PA Carrico, according to Dennis Kenning, fourth generation farmer. That farm was called Rocky Hollow Farm because the hillsides were covered with sandstone rock.
\u201cIn fact we lived in my great-grandfather\u2019s homestead house made of the sandstone rock. In that area most of the homesteads were constructed with the sandstone rock,\u201d Kenning said. \u201cLater we moved in another house because the sandstone walls were collapsing. On the original homestead, I have been trying to preserve the old barn.\u201d
Kenning continued, \u201cYou don\u2019t really see many of the big barns and it has a sandstone foundation. The barn included six stalls for the draft horses, 10 milking stanchions, a granary, cattle shed, and a hay loft. The hay loft has a large hinged door at the peak to accommodate lose hay through the use of hay slings, with a trolley to move hay across the barn loft.\u201d
Currently the family use the barn for calving out cows during the winter months and use it for working calfs. Looking through the history of the farm, Kenning\u2019s great-grandfather had to mortgage the farm a number of times because of the tuff times.
\u201cThrough generations many of struggles are not much different, with low market prices, high input costs, borrowing money and drought. It doesn\u2019t seem to matter if it\u2019s 1925 or 2025, the farm life can be pretty tuff. It\u2019s not for everyone.\u201d
Today the operation includes beans, corn, hay, and a cow\/calf herd. \u201cWe also do a fair amount of custom farming by putting up hay and harvesting crops.\u201d
Kenning said, \u201cmy goal was to retire from teaching Agriculture Education with a 40 to 50 head cow herd. My son has kind of taken the cow\/calf operation to a whole another level.\u201d
Raising corn is kind of an important part of the operation and it has been a good dry land crop. They run our cows on corn stocks and bale stocks as filler in the feed ration, plus use some corn stocks for bedding. They buy distillers by-product from the corn ethanol plants and use corn in our feed rations.
\u201cFor the most part all of our equipment is purchased used due to the high price of new machinery. So it seems like we are always repairing or fixing equipment and those parts are expensive and availability can sometimes be a problem. Last year I was putting hay down when the fan went through the radiator,\u201d Kenning said.
The replacement parts were around $8,000.
\u201cAt the same time, we simply cannot pencil out new equipment for our operation. A new combine can exceed a million dollars, and that may not have all the bells and whistles. Another problem for our operation is that we need a great deal of machinery for cropland, hay ground, and feeding equipment. We use no-till with our crops and use cover crops, when appropriate.\u201d
In recent times, cattle prices have been good and they are an important part of the operation. However, all of those expenses to produce beef have been higher with increased cost of feed, taxes, medications, transportation, and other inputs. Raising cattle can take a great deal of labor and when you have livestock you\u2019re on call 7\/24, for 365 days of the year. And there is always those times when you have to pull a calf at 2:00 am during a snow storm, you got to be there. \u201cIt\u2019s your livelihood,\u201d Kenning said.
\u201cWe use technology in our operation when we see a real benefit and if it helps our bottom line. We plant using GPS for guidance with auto steer and row unit shut offs on the planting units. This year we used GPS tags on most of our herd bulls. These tags provide us their location, number of mounting and it has a good record keeping system. For our operation technology has got to be affordable with a real benefit. Technology is just one area of agriculture that just keeps growing, anymore if you can dream it they will make it.\u201d
Kenning said, \u201cSometimes I wonder why I\u2019m farming with long hours, hard work, poor grain prices, and at times low rainfall. I guess it gets in your blood and you can\u2019t let it go. And if you make a bad decision, you\u2019re the one that has to live with it. On the flip side in farming: you\u2019re your own boss, you set your own hours, you are in charge and work is not going to get done if you\u2019re sitting still. Sometimes the rewards come in different ways like saving a baby calf, raising a good crop, or making a wise decision. A lot of people don\u2019t realize that most farmers only get one crop per year. I\u2019ve learned to never brag or boast that will nip you ever time\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenning Farm Operation now includes five generations with the original farmstead being well over 100 years old. The original farmstead south of Endicott was started by my great-grandfather, PA Carrico, according to Dennis Kenning, fourth generation farmer. That farm was called Rocky Hollow Farm because the hillsides were covered with sandstone rock.\u201cIn fact we lived<\/p>\n

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