This is the John C. Harth farm.
His brother Calvin lived 2.25 miles north of here. John and Calvin farmed together for many years. They raised and cared for a herd of mainly Holstein cows together. The dairying went on at Calvin's farm and almost all of the pasturing for both dairy and beef herds took place there. John's farm was good fertile ground so a large part of the crops to feed both herds were raised here. Johns farm is where all the young stock were raised. After sorting the heifers were driven up what is labeled Frye Road across Highway 48 and about 3/4 of a mile north to a pasture of choice on Calvin's farm.
The remaining young stock, typically young bulls were raised in the feed lot that you see to the east of the two houses in the picture until they were ready for market. There was always quite a ruckus in the evenings for the first two or three weeks after first bringing the young stock down to the feed lot in the spring. There would be 100 or so of them fresh weaning off their mothers crying into the night because they were missing their mothers. After a few weeks it would all settle down and they would all get used to their new home.
I remember in the very early summer of I believe it was 1976, dad (John Harth) was teaching me how we had such a great spring season, that we had planted the corn at the right time in the field just north of the house less than maybe 150 feet away, how we were have an awesome growing time as the corn was already 3 feet high in that field by the 3rd week in June. He told me if I was having trouble sleeping that I should lay quietly in my bed and I would be able to hear a cracking sound like twigs breaking but that it was the corn actually growing so fast at night after a good sunny day. I was unsure about this so a couple of nights I lay listening and sure enough there was a cacophony of noise going on out in that field. I asked dad how fast the corn was growing and he said on the best nights it was growing 4 to 6 inches. I wasn't to sure about that so John and I went out into that field and drove a 5 foot stake into the ground next to a corn stalk. We marked that stake so I could measure it as the days went on. It was 5 or 6 days before we had any of the kind of growing days where I heard the corn at night, but the first night I heard it growing I couldn't hardly sleep.... When I got up the next morning I ran out and measured my corn stalk... I couldn't believe it that corn stalk had grown 3 inches over night! The corn in that field was a 90 day high breed. Over the next 5 days that corn stalk grew overnight every night the 3rd night it grew the most overnight, it grew 6 inches over night and you could clearly tell the "trunk" of the stalk was grown thicker as well. That stalk grew taller than I could even reach as the days went on. In fact, that summer I was 5'6" tall by the end of July the corn in that field, and most of our fields had grown 7 feet or taller, I got a little lost in the field north of the house as I wondered around in it one day. I did find my way home though.

As you view this photo, the single story ranch home was the house that John had built. I believe it was finished spring of 1976. The house just off of the north west corner of the ranch style house is the house that Grandpa Harth built and where Grandpa and Grandma lived until they passed away. Grandpa and Grandma Hart's house is not there anymore. The shapes and sizes of the fields and pastures have changed a bit, but the feedlot remains and the 60 foot tall by 30 foot in diameter cement stave silo and it matching Harvestore brother 60' 30'silos and so does the bunk feeder. I loved growing up there and treasure many memories that my Dad and all of his family shared with and provided for me.