Boone County: Lemon Family Farm

For 30 years, Brian and Tammy Lemon have been overseeing and farming this year’s Boone County Farm Family of the Year, the Lemon Farm.

“I grew up on the farm that we have now,” Brian said. “My parents and both sets of grandparents had cattle, so cows have always been a big part of my life. For a few years, our family raised hogs. At one point, we had 30 sows, raising feeder pigs and fattening hogs.

“During the summers as a teenager, I would use one of our logging trucks, and get my crew of friends together to haul square bales for local farmers. In my early 20s, my dad and I started a goat dairy, milking 125 goats by hand, twice a day. After a few years, my wife and I moved off to work away from home. A couple of years later, we wound up buying a small farm that was connected to my dad’s land. In 2002, my dad built turkey barns. In 2015, he passed away and I began farming fulltime.”

When Brian and Tammy started farming they owned 40 acres of land. Currently, they own 600 acres and rent 880 acres. They grow baleage on 70 acres and yield nine bales per acre. The Lemons’ focus is livestock. They raise 225,000 turkeys for Butterball each year, yielding more than 3.3 million pounds annually. They also raise 170 head of cattle, including cows and calves, and 50 goats. The cattle and goats are sold at a local livestock market. Lastly, the

Lemon Farm oversees six beehives that produce honey that is sold to neighbors and friends.

“I love the challenge of keeping the animals healthy and the pride that you get when you are successful at that,” Brian said. “Being raised up on my grandparents farm, it’s just part of me.”

The Lemons faced some obstacles early on, especially with the turkey farm.

“The turkey farm was not profitable under the situation the farm was in when we started,” Brian said. “With help from Farm Credit Services, we remodeled and added equipment that almost doubled the number of birds we place each flock. I didn’t have and couldn’t afford good help when I started with the turkey farm. Turning the farm into a profitable operation, working side-by-side, together as a family, is my greatest reward.”

Brian and Tammy have four children, Coy, 29, Cooper, 26, Presley, 18, and Coda, 15. Coy and Cooper work full-time on the farm with Brian. Presley and Coda are still in school but help as needed.

“All my children have been heavily involved in FFA,” Brian said. “The two youngest are currently FFA officers. The kids have all shown livestock at the Boone County and district fairs. The boys have played basketball, baseball and track for Lead Hill School, and my youngest son still does. My daughter played basketball, golf and track.”

I love the challenge of keeping the animals healthy and the pride that you get when you are successful at that. - Brian Lemon

Brian and Tammy believe their children are their most important responsibility on the farm.

“You know, there’s going to be more flocks of turkeys and more crops of calves and more goats, but you only get one chance at raising your kids,” Brian said. “And it’s so important to do that right and to spend your time with them and enjoy what they do. That’s what Tammy and I feel is most important, the kids.”

Part of the Lemons’ education on the farm has been exploring ways to improve conservation and how to protect the environment.

“I have been on a steep learning curve these past few years,” Brian said. “I used to think there was no way spraying chemicals on a pasture could be good for the environment. When I started farming the 600-acre farm after my dad passed away, the pasture was overrun with a variety of weeds. Grass just couldn’t grow.

“As the life cycle of the weeds ended, it left the ground exposed to erosion,” Brian said. “I had to do something. I started spraying to reduce weed coverage and applied litter from the turkey barns to build up the soil. This has greatly increased ground coverage, reducing the amount of erosion in the watershed. We have also been working with USDA APHIS Wildlife Services personnel to reduce the number of feral hogs in the area. They destroy acres of ground coverage. We have been changing turkey barn lighting over to LED bulbs. We also keep honeybees which are very helpful in the health of vegetation through pollination.”

Looking ahead, the Lemon Farm has plans to add a better barn/shed for the goats. “I hope in the future to be able to attempt to ‘goat-proof ’ the entire farm so we can increase the size of our goat herd,” Brian said. “Of course, my wife would really love for us to work on ‘organizing our assets,’ as she calls it. We have a lot of junk that I inherited with the farm and, I must agree with her, dealing with it needs to be higher on our list our priorities.”

Brian said it is a very big honor to be named Farm Family of the Year.

“Especially because it was our peers who voted for us. If it hadn’t been for my dad’s hard work, I wouldn’t be here. So, I was lucky to get started that way.”

For young farmers starting out, Brian advised, “I’d say it’s gonna take a lot of hard work so get prepared for the disappointments and learn to be able to bounce back from them.”