Mike & Lynn Martz Family

 

About our family

We have a son, Justin, our daughter-in-law, Jamie, and our grandson, Jaxson.

About our food

We grow corn, soybeans and wheat on 6,350 acres. We can also raise 3,500 beef cattle at a time on our feedlot.

About our farm

We’ve been farming since 1979, when we formed the Larson Farms Partnership with Lynn’s father, Ray, and her brothers, Dave and Norm.

We spent the first nine years managing the cattle backgrounding operation in Wisconsin. (Backgrounding means raising the calves on pasture and getting them ready for the feedlot.)  

In 1988, we moved to the main farm in Maple Park. Mike worked with Lynn’s father, Ray, managing the feedlot (where we use high-energy rations to “finish” the cattle, which means getting them ready for market). Lynn handled the billing for our custom feedlot.

 

In 1996, Lynn’s brothers, Norm and Dave, had the opportunity to work with Case IH to develop a crop scouting business (a service to farmers where professionals monitor and evaluate crop health and growth). So at that time, Lynn started to manage the cropping side of the farm.  And our sister-in-law Barb (Norm’s wife) took over the cattle billing as the crop acres began to grow in size. 

Our son Justin joined the Larson Farms Partnership in 2011.

Video

Follow the Tours

See Mike and Lynn Martz host a group of Chicago moms to answer their questions about animal welfare, antibiotics, grass-fed vs. grain-fed beef, cuts of beef, ethanol, manure, harvest, sustainable farming, hormones and family farms.

Larson Farms

Meet Mike and Lynn Martz, Illinois cattle farmers. Watch our video.