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Show adjacent to already existing hay and grain land it made a nice addition in the production of those crops. Bill also built a feed yard at the ranch southeast of Mt. Pleasant, on a hill near the hay barn. The plan was to keep the buck lamb feeding operation there for the winter rather than to feed out in fields near Sigurd (about 80 miles south of the home ranch) as had been the custom. (That had also been a dream of John K's). Automatically, Bill was fulfilling the hopes of John K that had been expressed at his funeral-that the finest monument the family could erect to his memory, and the one that would please him the most, would be to carry on the business he had spent his lifetime building. WORKING FOR WOMEN At the beginning of the next year (1943) Virginia and the girls arranged with Bill to manage the business for them. He was to receive one-third of the net profits for doing so, Virginia's share was a third, and the girls shared the other third, equally. Even though Bill made many decisions on his own there were matters he often discussed with them (as owners) to benefit by their opinions; and it was important to keep them informed regularly. There were times when Bill laughed about his situation- the fact that he had a hard time working for and pleasing three women. But actually there was little friction and Bill was given a free hand at management. 271 |