"I want to farm", said the shoe salesman to his wife. So, with the help and support of his wife, they bought some land and built their home in Monticello. Shortly after, the first barn was up, and Russell got some pigs. He was bored. You can only watch the pigs grow for so long in a day. It wasn't long before he became a feed dealer for Nutrena, and was selling it out of his garage. The company offered him a discount on his feed, with a full house he couldn't say no. And so it began. In 1982 he purchased the mill in Elk River. All the feeds were purchased from Nutrena. It didn't take long for him to realize it would be more profitable to make his own mixes, and the mill came with the equipment. 1990 the Monticello store opened, and business continued to grow.