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Stevens County Farm Family

Golombiecki Family

Golombiecki Family Farm, LLC, started with Peter. He ran away from home as a teenager and hopped off the train in Chokio. He worked odd jobs until finding a job with a local farmer north of town. He later went on to buy that farm in 1948 with a handshake and a smile securing the loan, as the story goes. Over the years, the farm has had a little bit of everything; farrow-to-finish hogs, dairy, beef, and a feedlot, along with corn, soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa.

Peter married a local, Veronica, in 1940 and they had five kids. The oldest, Dennis, stayed on the farm and a middle son, Ronald, came back to the farm after tech school and serving in Vietnam. Ron took over the dairy portion of the farm, installing a pipeline and growing the herd. He married Julie who he had first met when she had done veterinarian work on the farm. They raised three children, Lester, Elizabeth, and William.

The farm today is run by multiple generations of the family. Cousins and siblings are working together now with the crops. Hogs are no longer in operation. The beef herd and feedlot are run by Dennis' son, Brian, and grandson, Tony. The dairy herd continues to be run by Lester and Elizabeth.

The greatest thing the farm has ever raised is the kids. Tony and his wife, Abbie, have the youngest children, Peter and Emma. Only time will tell how many other kids will grow up on the farm in the years to come from the other cousins.

Farm life with crops and livestock does keep the family busy but they enjoy being involved in the community in many ways. Elizabeth currently serves on the Stevens/Traverse County American Dairy Association. She was a 2019 Princess Kay Finalist and 2018 President of the National Professional Agriculture Student Organization board. Lester and Elizabeth both hold spots on the Stevens County Farm Bureau board and Dairy Farmers of America Young Cooperator program. Elizabeth and Abbie are both members of the Chokio Community Club. The dairy makes regular donations of milk and other dairy products to the Stevens County Food Shelf. Elizabeth worked with the local 4-H to start an all-you-can-drink milk booth at the county fair this past year. She also had the opportunity to help plan the new dairy building on the county fairgrounds.

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