Kenny Zenz started farming as soon as he could walk. When he was a kid, his family farmed with horses. They would plow and plant the fields with teams of horses. While he was growing up, he farmed with his parents and his four siblings. They all worked together to keep the farm running.
Kenny graduated from Potosi High School in 1969. He said his favorite part of going to school was how small the school was and his friends. After he graduated, he went on to Southwest Technical College to get a degree in Ag Mechanics. His degree helped him to be able to fix things on the farm.
When he was done with college, he still farmed with his dad for a little while. He decided to keep farming because he liked being his own boss and wanted to follow what his family did. He bought his first tractor when he was 22. It was an Oliver. When he was 26, he bought his first farm from his dad. It was 115 acres, and that is where he would raise his family. When asked why he stayed in Potosi, he said it was because this is where all of his family was and he had bought land here. His favorite part of owning his own farm was nobody could tell you what to do.
Kenny had his first child a year before he bought his farm. Then he had two more children in the years after. As they grew up, the four of them farmed together, along with his wife Joyce. His favorite part about farming with all of his children was being able to work together and loading hogs. Once his kids got older and moved out, he got rid of his cows. He said he did this because he was tired of milking, the equipment was getting worn out, and his kids didn’t want to milk.
Kenny now farms with his youngest son, Dave Zenz. Together they plant and take care of 1,050 acres. His favorite part about being a crop farmer is combining, or harvesting, the crops because it is nice to see the final harvests of the crops. He has now been able to work and build his farm to 678 acres. Kenny also enjoys being able to help two of his sons with tractor pulling. His favorite parts are when they win and being busy with all of the other tractor pullers.