The Cattle Business Weekly

Black Fork Farms: A Legacy of Farming and Craft Bourbon in S.D.

By Kelly Brandlee Black Fork Farms has been in the Ommen family since 1889 when Gordon Ommen’s fourth great-grandfather, Poppy J, immigrated from Germany. The farm started as a traditional crop and cow-calf operation in Southwestern Minnesota, expanding into South Dakota in the 1950s. Today, Gordon and his son, Jacob, continue to operate the farm. However, the desire to diversify has added another entity to their operation: a distillery, producing premium bourbon and other spirits from native grains grown on the farm near Brandt, South Dakota. The idea for the distillery came during one of Gordon’s travels. “My wife and...

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