Volume CVII, No. 5 Huron, SD AUGUST 2022
A PUBLICATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA FARMERS UNION
SERVING SOUTH DAKOTA’S FARM & RANCH FAMILIES SINCE 1915.
Leadership Seminar for JACs
Rapid City Packing Plant
A Letter to the President
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What a Farmer Earns:
Farmers Share Lunch Feeds Fairgoers for 35 Cents
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Mentoring the Next Generation
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Farmers Union Celebrates Todd County Ranch Family
uring the South Dakota State Fair, fairgoers can eat a $10 lunch for only 35 cents. It’s South Dakota Famers Union’s (SDFU) way of helping consumers understand just how much money family farmers and ranchers earn from the food products they raise. “It’s our way of letting consumers know that even though prices are up in the grocery store, profits for South Dakota’s family farmers and ranchers are Dallis Basel, Union Center rancher and not. The people who do District 5 Board Member. the work to raise the food ingredients receive a small percentage of the price we all pay in the grocery store,” explained Karla Hofhenke, SDFU Executive
State Fair 2022 Continued on Page 12 Farmers Union Day at the
Saturday, Sept. 3. Events begin at 11:30 a.m. For complete agenda turn to page 11.
Free tickets for members, call Kelli at 605-352-6761 ext. 116
South Dakota Farmers Union has served South Dakota farm and ranch families for more than a century. Throughout the year, we share their stories in order to highlight the families who make up our state’s No. 1 industry and help feed the world. This month we highlight the Abbott family of Hidden Timber. Left to right: Chad and Kodi Blotsky; Chord, 10; Chaz, 17 (SDFU 2022 JAC) and Chase Blotsky, 14; Bryan Abbott, Kay and Bill Abbott.
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ancher Bill Abbott was just a kid when a neighbor hired him and his sister to ride pastures checking cattle and water tanks. “He was a big operator and most of his hired men were drafted into World War II, so he was hard up for riders to check pastures. You talk to all guys my age, who were kids when World War II was on, and we all started working early because all the young men and women left for the war,” explained Bill, who at 89 is still actively involved in ranch work. Only, today, he works with his son, Bryan, and daughter, Kodi Blotsky, on the Todd County ranch where he and his wife, Kay, raised their six children: Kasey, Tracy, Bryan, Cleo (deceased), Lisa and Kodi. Bill is the third generation to raise cattle near Hidden Timber, S.D. – a small ranching community 42 miles west of Winner. He said he
Abbott Family Continued on Page 2