WOLFORD, N.D. – Four generations of Slaubaughs have farmed and ranched within the rolling hills and gentle plains surrounding Wolford, located northeast of Rugby, where cattle graze the native prairie and spring grass pastures and crops thrive in the warm summer temperatures tempered by timely rain showers.
Glendon Slaubaugh, 26, operates the farm with his younger brother, Dalen; his sister, Darlene; and brother-in-law, Keith Hess. The farm is spread out over four counties: Rolette, Bottineau, Pierce and Towner.
Glendon also owns a trucking and custom spraying business.
Darlene and Keith mostly run the cattle side of the farm/ranch, but Keith helps Glendon out with the crops during the busy summer months.
The weather in the north central region of the state during the first couple of weeks in April was warmer this year compared recent years, and many farmers were able test their planters out on a few acres before rain/sleet and cooler weather was forecasted and brought welcomed moisture to the area.
“We planned to plant some durum ahead of the rain and cool weather. We didn’t do much, but we did put in a quarter section of ND Riveland durum on April 13,” Glendon said. “It was warm Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and then Tuesday (April 16) is when it really started cooling down, and we got about three-quarters of an inch of rain.”
The Slaubaughs were glad to be able to start planting so early in the season to take advantage of some April moisture after seeding. It is the first time Glendon can remember getting in the fields so early in the season.
“We’ve started planting around April 25 before, but to seed on April 13, that has got to be a record. We also applied all our spring fertilizers, some AMS and urea,” he said. “What usually keeps us from getting in the fields early is we’ll get a lot of snow melt that will fill up the low spots in our fields with water, and we don’t really want to spread fertilizer going around every little low spot. Last week, all our sloughs that are usually full at this time were dry, and you can just go right through them and spread fertilizer.”
Besides durum, they will be planting a diverse rotation of spring wheat, soybeans, silage corn, barley, and canola this spring.
The Slaubaugh farm began with Glendon’s great-grandfather, whose relatives came to the U.S. from Sweden in the 1760s and started migrating west. The Slaubaughs eventually settled near Wolford where Glendon’s great-grandfather bought land and began farming.
“My great-grandfather was born and raised in North Dakota. He farmed about five miles up the road, and later, passed the farm down to my great uncle,” he said.
Glendon’s grandpa, Edward, grew up on the family farm. After graduating from high school, Edward went to Indiana where he worked on a chicken farm. Edward began working with heavy equipment in Indiana and later received his diesel mechanics degree through correspondence. He married Marilyn Maust in 1961.
After living in Florida and serving time in the military service, Glendon’s grandparents moved back to North Dakota and bought a dairy farm in the Wolford area in 1964.
Besides milking cows, Edward grew crops and raised beef cattle. At the same time, he owned a fuel business.
Edward and Marilyn sold the dairy cows in 1990. They focused on raising beef cattle and crops, including feed crops. They retired in 2000, selling the farm to Glendon’s dad, Glen, and they moved to Wolford. Edward passed away in 2021.
Glen grew up on his parents’ farm, milking cows from the time he was young. He married Marilyn and they had seven kids, including Glendon and Dalen.
“My parents started running a beef cattle operation and farming crops in 2000,” Glendon said, adding they raised not only feed crops, but cash crops like wheat, as well.
Glendon and his siblings were homeschooled, so they helped with the chores around the farm.
“I grew up farming with my dad, so we would have been out helping him with the cows and other work,” he said.
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Later, Glendon worked for a farmer in Rolla, N.D., for two years to gain experience working for someone else.
In 2018, Glendon started farming with his dad, while still operating a couple of businesses he started.
He was able to purchase a truck and started a trucking business and trucked for four years before purchasing a sprayer.
“The fourth year, in 2020, I bought a sprayer and started a custom spraying business for farmers while I still owned the trucking business and trucked,” Glendon said.
Custom spraying involved many long days in the cab of the sprayer.
“There was about a three-week window where I needed to get all the crops sprayed, so I was going 20 hours a day trying to get it done,” he said.
Wind was also a problem that he needed to work around.
“A lot of times, we would spray at night just because of wind,” Glendon said.
Another problem he ran into was that certain herbicides could not be sprayed at night.
“Your herbicides for wheat and Roundup, you can definitely spray those at night, but some others have to be sprayed in the daytime,” he said.
Glendon’s dad, Glen, recently retired and started working for Glendon on the farm.
“He wanted to get out the marketing part of it – the risk. Now, he works for me full time,” he said. “Dad still likes to run the combine, as well as sprayer and seeder, but he doesn’t have to deal with the stress of marketing crops.”
Once the Slaubaughs finish seeding durum, they will start on the spring wheat and go from there. They will spray herbicide after seeding.
“When it’s this early in the season, we like to seed and then do our burndown on the weeds, so we’ll do that probably next week before the durum comes up,” he said.
Glendon said they were out digging into rock piles and didn’t find any frost in the field, so they were glad to see that, even though there might have been some frost somewhere on the farm with the cool temperatures.
Glendon was elected to his first four-year term as the Pierce County representative on the North Dakota Wheat Commission board, with his term starting officially on July 1.
“Being new to the commission, I look forward to learning more about the industry and our markets. I appreciate the opportunity to represent local wheat producers at the state and national level,” Glendon said.
Glendon said he believes farmers in the area will be planting more soybeans, canola, and dry beans this year.
“I would say wheat acres backed off a little bit this year, and there’s more soybeans and canola going in. I have heard a lot of guys are trying dry beans,” he concluded.
Farm & Ranch Guide would like to thank the Slaubaugh family for allowing our readers to follow along with their operation this summer. We wish them the best of luck this growing season!