Informal agreements about the ownership structure for a farm won't work for everyone. But for the Vaughn family, it's how new generations work into the farm.

In 1950, shortly after he graduated from high school, Bill Vaughn began farming near Leon, in Decatur County, Iowa. In the years since then, acres and family members have been added to the operation.

Today, the diversified farm encompasses more than 2,000 crop acres, a 500-cow beef herd, and pasture and hay land to support the cattle, including 300 acres of alfalfa. Vaughn now shares the management and control of farm resources with several other family members: his son-in-law, Merlin Bell, and grandsons Lance Bell and Travis Vaughn.

Bill Vaughn can attest that it isn't easy to bring a new generation--let alone two generations--into a farming enterprise.

"But with an established financial base, when a new family member came into the operation, he didn't have to bite off too much at one time," he said. "To make this kind of enterprise work, the established member has to be willing to give up a little and the newcomer has to be committed to making the deal work. But it helps a beginning farmer to start with a strong base and get a couple of years under his belt."

"We had that kind of base to start with," Lance Bell amplified.

Merlin Bell agreed: "When I got out of college in 1974, I joined the operation with Bill Vaughn," he recalled. "I rented some additional land and added that to the farm business. As the boys [Lance Bell and Travis Vaughn] finished school, they joined the operation in pretty much the same way."

Travis and Lance both finished college degrees prior to returning to the farm.

For more than half a century, the partners have worked together with no formal arrangements made; nothing written down on paper.

"But we have to manage this business as a business," Lance added. "Still, this is a different life; we work together at everything. We each must be willing to listen to what other people in the operation have to say; to respect their ideas and opinions. Fortunately, we've always been able to agree on major issues. For example, we each bring our own land into the operation, but we buy equipment together. When we decide to trade equipment, whoever owns the old machine also takes title to the new equipment, but we all use it as if it were our own."

"We let nature dictate many chores," said Travis Vaughn. "At planting time, we start planting wherever we can, then move on to the next field that is ready--regardless of who owns or leases that piece of land. And harvest goes pretty much the same way."

"In some respects, each of us having our own land offers some opportunities," Lance added. "For instance, if one of us wants to try something new and perhaps a little risky, he can do it on his land without bothering anyone else's property."

Bill Vaughn long has been a staunch supporter of farm cooperatives, and has passed that attitude along to his junior partners.

"Bill Vaughn was an early patron when MFA established an outlet here," said Marvin Rockhold, manager of MFA Agri Services at Leon, Iowa. "He has been--and still is--one of our stronger supporters."

A major cash crop from the Vaughn-Bell operation is backgrounded calves from the 500 or so Angus-base cows. Until the early 1980s, Bill Vaughn finished cattle to slaughter weights on the farm.

"But there got to be fewer places to sell fed cattle and packer/buyers got harder to deal with, so we decided to grow calves to 700 pounds or so, then sell them," he said.

Calving begins in late March and goes through early June.

"We breed cows to Angus-Simmental crossbred bulls. The Simmental influence adds growth to the calves. And we've been able to find the kind of bulls we want. When you tell a breeder that you need a half-dozen bulls at one time, he tries to help you out," said Merlin Bell.

At weaning, calves are vaccinated against clostridial and respiratory diseases, de-wormed and de-loused.

After weaning, the calves start on a ration geared toward backgrounding.

"When cattle are over the stress of weaning, we turn them into pastures in groups of about 100 head," added Merlin. "They continue on feed as backgrounders."

"Most guys the age of Travis and me have left the community or have jobs in town," said Lance. "We've been lucky that my father and grandfather were able to give us a leg up. We all get along together but we work at it."