OXFORD, Ohio – If you’re starting out in farming on your own, you better love it. That makes it easier on the hard days, said KJ (Ken Junior) Lehman. He is 19 and farming 100 acres, mostly hay. He’s done it all with old equipment and good mentors. He’s the first farmer in his family.

“I always liked to watch tractors out in the field,” he said. “That’s where I got it. My grandparents were involved with farming and my mom (Jenifer Lehman) was in 4-H all through high school. I worked for Darrell Beckett down the road and he gave me my start. I owe it to him.”

KJ began working for Beckett when he was about 13. Beckett helped him learn the ropes and eventually gave him a good deal on a haybine.

“We farmed about 1,400 acres and KJ worked for me probably from the time he was 13 years old,” Beckett said. “He was a good worker. He took to doing whatever needed to be done, tractor work, handwork or whatever. He was good help. I took him with me everywhere I went.”

KJ was in 4-H for a while and in FFA throughout his four years at Talawanda High School, with advisors Mike Derringer and Kari Roberts. While in high school, the parents of a buddy asked him if he knew of anyone who wanted to farm their 10 acres. KJ bought Beckett’s haybine and told them he would. He did only hay, at first.

“I started buying hay equipment,” KJ said. “I watched auctions and found some good deals along the way. I got lucky with a couple of deals. Then I planted wheat so I needed a combine.”

He would start with a small piece of equipment and then try to buy something a little bigger and a little bigger, said his dad, Ken Lehman. And he’s traveled to Oklahoma for a good deal as long as it’s Allis Chalmers.

“That’s why he’s where he is now,” Ken said. “And it’s hard to get him to sell any of these old tractors.”

 KJ has three combines. He just picked up an F3 gleaner, plus 15 Allis Chalmers antique tractors and three farm tractors, also orange, he said. His biggest is a 190 diesel. He takes some of the equipment to the Brookville Antique Tractor Show. “I pull a little too, but they’re all stock tractors,” he said. “I never win. I just do it for fun.”

The trouble with older equipment is that it tends to have problems. That’s where his dad comes in.

“All of them need work eventually but some of them are getting to be pretty labor-intensive so it’s time to retire them to the collectors’ side,” KJ said. “Me and my dad work on the old equipment. He’s more into cars and trucks so it was a learning experience for him too, but he knows the basics. I’m learning to do a lot of it on my own. I learned from the best.”

KJ. is looking into loans and hopes to buy a farm of his own. He’d like to get about 300 acres in his name and go from there. He’d stick mainly with hay. There’s money in it and it’s too labor-intensive for a lot of people, but not for him.

“He’s a very hard worker,” Ken said. “He’s done this on his own; his passion for farming is just unbelievable.”