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ROCKFORD, Ill. — For the farmers and neighbors who gathered to help harvest Lyle Hill’s corn, the best thing about the day was Lyle Hill.
“The important part was Lyle was there, and he was healthy and happy,” said David Hunt, of Walsh Hunt Seed Service in Durand.
Hunt and his business partner, Bernie Walsh, along with Dustin Bartlett, of River Bend Seed LLC, in Pecatonica, organized the lunch for those who came to help on Nov. 16.
Hunt said the fact that the recipient of the help was there lightened the atmosphere.
“A lot of times when these types of events happen, it was because somebody has gotten sick or got hurt or died. This was a situation where they had some bad stuff happen and they’ve had some back luck throughout the fall. Lyle was there and he got to see his grandson be a big part of the harvest,” Hunt said.
Hill’s challenges started earlier in the fall when he had a combine catch fire.
On Nov. 10, a severe wind storm tore through the area and caused damage to several farms, including Hill’s home farm. The storm destroyed a cattle shed that was housing several hundred head of cattle at the time. The storm also destroyed a silo.
“We’ve had so many things going on, especially with the cattle, the harvest was wonderful because it really took the pressure off of harvest for us, since we have other things to do with the cattle,” Hill said.
Ben Dolan, who farms near Hill and has known him for many years, said the idea to do the harvest came together as neighbors were helping clean up the damage around the farm.
“I kind of helped organize it. The Wednesday after the shed blew apart, we tried to think of something to help him out because the shed is a pretty good sized workload right there,” Dolan said.
Dolan saw it as a chance to repay someone who helped him get started farming and who has helped out many friends and neighbors.
“It was easy to do this. It was the perfect time to pay him back. I don’t think there was one person there who Lyle hasn’t already done something for, or helped out or said come and get this piece of equipment to get something done or said we can do that, if someone needed something,” Dolan said.
Six combines, around 10 grain carts with tractors and some 20 grain semis showed up on the day. Working together, with combines unloading corn into carts on the go, the volunteers harvested around 300 acres of corn in a day. The harvest help extended beyond Nov. 16.
“One of the guys who wasn’t there on Monday, Stuart Glenny, went and put a corn reel on and helped them get the stuff that the wind knocked down, which was really awesome of him,” Dolan said.
Hill’s generosity and willingness to help others was reflected as word went around about the chance to help him and his family.
“He’s just a really good guy. It was so easy to have help show up because he’s that kind of person. To plan it was so easy, when people found out we were going to do something for him, they called and immediately stepped up,” Dolan said.
Hunt, a Golden Harvest seed dealer, and Bartlett, who sells Pioneer seed, teamed up to get lunch to the volunteers.
“We weren’t sure how many to expect. We knew the word would spread in the days leading up to it, so we thought we’ll guess on the high end and we had lunch for 100 people. With all the volunteers, we are pretty sure we served close to 90 people,” Hunt said.
Hill said he was touched and grateful to see how many showed up to lend a hand. He farms with his son, Brian, and several grandchildren.
“It was wonderful to see the people and especially in these COVID-19 times. It was very rewarding to have the neighbors here and helping out. I try to be the same as everybody else and help out when it’s needed and it really was wonderful to see everyone come together to help us out,” he said.
Cattle Moved To Safety
The Nov. 16 harvest was the second part of a week that saw Hill’s neighbors come to his aid. When the wind storm destroyed the 300-foot-long cattle shed that was housing 500 head of cattle, neighbors rushed to help, working in the dark and amid the wreckage of Hill’s cattle barn to move cattle to safety and shelter.
“Several neighbors came over. We had around 20 people here. We had to drive the cattle outside and then make an alley with pickup trucks and drive the cattle so we could get them to our loading chute,” he said.
Hill said that only two cattle were lost in the collapse, which in itself was something of a miracle.
“This was a 300-foot-long building that completely collapsed on the cattle,” he said.
Neighbors and fellow cattlemen Kent Peterson and Dave Daley moved cattle around at their farm to make room for emergency housing for Hill’s cattle.
“They have a feedlot about three miles away, so they really stepped up and pushed their cattle together and made room to put ours in their pen for the night, so that really helped,” Hill said.
A collection of semis and trucks with gooseneck trailers were used to transport the cattle.
Semis were used from Wiplash Express and Duane Lovett Livestock Hauling, Hill said.
Hill said with harvest out of the way, the focus will be on getting cattle under a roof for the winter.
“We’re in the process of getting bids and trying to figure out which way to go and what’s going to be the quickest. A very big factor is what we can get done before winter,” he said.