Our story begins in 1919.
In that year Peter Henry and Ila Clayton sold their farm in Kouts, IN and purchased a farm southeast of LaPorte.
It was a typical farm. On their 145 acres, Peter Henry “PH” and Ila raised Holstein dairy cows and Hampshire pigs and grew crops to support the livestock: corn, wheat, oats and alfalfa. They also raised 4 children—Ione, Vernon, Lloyd and Betty. When our father Lloyd married Betty Jane Ribordy in 1945, he was still living in the farm home and working the farm with PH. Lloyd and Jane were married for 59 years, with Lloyd living in the home 85 years since he was 2 and Jane, a “short-timer” for only 68 years.
A Growing Farmstead
Lloyd expanded PH’s small herd of dairy cows to a registered herd of Holsteins, which continually competed for one of the top milk producing herds in the county. To accommodate the growing operation, Lloyd build a new dairy barn in 1951 and added a free stall, calf and bull barns as well as modern machine sheds by the ‘60s.
Lloyd excelled in his farming craft.
He purchased adjacent land to expanded the home farm to 248 acres and rented additional nearby land to farm up to 800 acres in '70s, with around a 100 Holsteins. David, Nancy, and Vane grew up in the farm home and all actively supported the dairy farm operation. Each cow received a commensurate amount of grain relative to their milk production; so the children had to memorize each cow at an early age and know where they were in their milk production cycle, to feed them while Lloyd was milking each morning and night. He was a Dekalb Seed corn dealer for 55 years, selling to local farmers to complement his dairy and grain farm operation. He also received numerous awards, including Master Farmer of Indiana in 1971 and Dairyman of the Year for Indiana in 1967. Velma was his prize cow, who was #2 in the nation in milk production in her prime. Her daughter, Debbie, achieved Grand Champion for Vane in the district competition. The dairy herd was sold in 1977, when Vane left for college. Lloyd continued to raise dairy steers and operate the grain farm until he retired in 2001.
Jane and Lloyd loved serving their community.
For more than half a century, they were active members of the Salem Chapel United Methodist Church. Lloyd took a leadership role in the mid ‘70s for the committee that built the New Salem Chapel that today still resides on State Road 4. Jane also took a leadership role in the Church community. She established the Salem Chapel Food Experience at the annual LaPorte County fair, which continues to be an essential source of fundraising for the Church. Her passion for homemaking led her to found the Kitchen Kin Home Economics Club and later serve on the Indiana State Board for Home Economics Clubs. Lloyd served as Chairman of the Farm Bureau Co-Op and held a variety of roles within Kiwanis Club. He was also heavily involved in 4-H, where both he and Jane served as leaders of the respective girls and boys’ clubs; for the children, showing off their prize Holsteins at the 4-H county fair was an annual highlight. Since 2004, the Lloyd & Betty Jane Clayton Scholarship Fund has funded scholarships to over fifteen Purdue University students from LaPorte County.
A Family Tradition
After graduating from Purdue, Vane led an R&D test team in John Deere’s Harvester division. He subsequently obtained his MBA and has led several software companies but remains passionate about his farming roots and loyalty to John Deere equipment. Despite living away, Vane has operated the farm since 2001 and purchased it from the estate in 2014. He continues to grain farm, rotating corn and soybeans under the Clayton Prairie Farms brand.