By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

AVILLA, Ind. — Whenever Jody Riecke’s husband, Dean, hears the song “Right Where I Need To Be” on the radio, he calls her so she can hear it, too.

The title of the song by country singer Gary Allan seems to sum up her feelings about life with her husband of 22 years, and their five children.

“I’m so happy to live in the country,” she said. “This is a good place to raise our kids. We wouldn’t want to raise them in town.
“I wouldn’t want to move back to town, even to a small town. Our kids have learned more responsibility on the farm because they have things they have to do here.”

The Rieckes raise sheep and farm 1,200 acres in Noble County near Avilla. They raise Suffolk crossbreeds, Brockles (a combination of a Dorset buck and black-faced ewes) and Hampshires, to sell for 4-H projects and for breeding stock. They have 150 head of ewes.

“For some families, we’ve provided lambs for their entire 10 years in 4-H,” she said. “The kids have made so many friends through the years.”

The Rieckes have sold lambs for 4-H projects to families in seven states and have had numerous grand champions in several.
They operate under the name Riecke Club Lambs.

Even though Riecke – raised in Albion, Ind. – was a city girl, she experienced farm life before she met her future husband.
“I had aunts and uncles who farmed, and we’d visit, and we’d play in the hay mows, making tunnels,” she said. “We’d wade into the manure up to our knees and have fights. I wouldn’t dream of doing that today.”

She and Dean met when she was a junior in high school, and they had their first date in December 1982. They married when she was 19 and Dean was 21.

“Before we were married, I helped him on his family’s farm,” she said. “They had hogs then. I’d put on old clothes and help him.”
Jody, 41, and Dean, 43, have five children. Cassie, 20, a junior at Purdue University, is studying elementary education. Ashley, 18, Cody, 16, Brooke, 14, and Jordan, 9, all live at home.

Dean started farming with his parents right after he graduated high school. He and Jody later bought out his parents’ share of the farm operation. In 1998, when they stopped working with hogs, he went to work with his father-in-law, who has an excavating company in Albion.

“He would rather be here, but there wasn’t enough income in the sheep and crops,” Riecke said. “Hogs provided a steady income throughout the year. With sheep, you sell them in the spring, and then the crops in the fall.”

Through her father’s company, Jack Owen Excavating, Riecke learned about Case IH equipment before she met her future husband. “My dad used Case equipment, dozers and backhoes,” she said. “Dean’s father also had Case farm equipment.”

The Rieckes buy their Case IH equipment from Archbold Equipment in Topeka, Ind. Dana Miller, their salesman, is also a family friend.
“Dana is a super nice guy and he’s close with us,” Riecke said. “If Archbold Equipment doesn’t buy our kids’ animals at the fair, Dana himself does. We’ve become great friends with him, and Case brought us together.”

The company’s mechanic, Bob Price, is another family friend.
“He comes out and checks everything for us before harvest,” she said. “That’s a big plus. They take good care of us.”
During harvest, Riecke can be found in the cab of the combine, which she has driven for years.

“When they were younger, the kids always went with me,” she said. “I’d take toys and a blanket, and if they got tired, they took a nap.
“I love it. The combine is my home away from home in the fall.”
Lambing season also keeps them busy, and has provided for some family stories over the years.

“When I was pregnant, one of the ewes was having problems, so there I was, with my arm in the ewe trying to help get the lamb out,” she said. “My mother said she couldn’t believe I was the same little girl who used to be afraid of putting worms on a fish hook.”

Riecke also does all the farm books and paperwork for the operation. In addition, she also keeps busy as a sales consultant for Longaberger baskets and a distributor for Original Limu, a nutritional beverage she said heals the body from the inside out.