By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

ROANN, Ind. — Jeann Hudson and husband Stan have worked closely on their family’s Miami County farm operation for about 40 years.

She wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I enjoy working with my husband. We discuss the same things at the end of the day,” she said. “I know I’m contributing something important to something he loves.”

The Hudson family farms 1,700 acres of corn, soybeans, hay and wheat. They also raise about 5,000 market hogs a year, and milk about 200 cows. Hudson Farms, Inc. is a partnership between Jeann and Stan, his brother Kenn and Kenn’s wife Lorraine and Lois Hudson, Jeann’s mother-in-law.

“(The dairy, hog and grain operation) is a good combination most of the time,” Hudson said.

“When one is down, the other is usually doing good.”

She is the operation’s bookkeeper, a job she has held since she married into the family in 1968.

“I worked off the farm for a year, and then Stan decided we needed a cook at home,” she said. “My father-in-law was more than happy to turn the bookkeeping over to me.”

Stan’s father, Don, started the farm operation after he graduated from high school in 1949. The Hudsons added the farm that is currently the hog operation in 1967. Don died in 1994.

“My family moved to a farm when I was six,” Hudson explained. “My dad always had an off-farm job, so I guess you could call him a hobby farmer. We had a few cows and hogs. He later farmed full-time.”

Her interest in computers and bookkeeping can be traced to her school days. “I’ve always been into bookkeeping, it’s always been my main focus,” she said. “I got hooked on computers in the 7th grade.

“It’s so much easier to use a computer for bookkeeping these days. I print out our monthly records so everyone has a copy and is kept informed. It’s a lot better when everyone can see what’s going on. I can’t imagine doing it on ledger sheets anymore.”
Hudson’s work on the farm isn’t limited to bookkeeping. “I do what I call the ‘pig stuff,’” she said. “I feed the hogs every morning. On Tuesdays we sell hogs and Wednesdays, we wean the pigs.

“I don’t do any fieldwork, though. When they go to the fields, I go to the hog house.”

Including members of the family, the farm has six full-time employees and five part-time workers.

The Hudsons have two children. Ryan, 37, lives in Iowa and works in computer programming. Their daughter, Nicole Butler, 34, lives in the area with her husband, Mark – who works on the farm – and stepdaughter Markie.

Stan is the operation’s hog and crop manager and Kenn, its dairy and equipment manager.

Stan’s family always bought Case IH equipment and continues to do so today, Hudson said.

“We buy from Gary Raber at Koenig Equipment in Logansport,” she said. “They do have good service. Gary is good about taking care of us when we need things. We think Case IH has good products.”
She knows the farm life isn’t for everyone. “You have to love farming to do it. This is hard work. There are a lot better ways to make money,” she said.

“It’s more stressful than it used to be, and maybe not quite as fun as it used to be. Marketing is a lot more important, too. It used to be you sold it and you didn’t worry about it.”

Jeann and Stan have hobbies to help relieve some of the stress associated with farming.

They have both developed an interest in antique cars and have traveled to Dearborn, Mich., for the city’s old car festival. They have a couple of restored Model A Fords and are working on restoring a 1928 Model A truck.

Hudson also recently completed a quilt top. “I made the time to work on the quilt,” she said. “It’s a ‘this is your life’ quilt, with things like the kids’ footprints.”

Jeann and Stan, both 57, started dating while they were in high school. She joked that she long ago reached the goal she had while in high school: “My goal as a senior was to be a secretary and marry the boss – and I guess I did.”