By Dianna Troyer
Friends leave posts on Richard Durrant’s Facebook page, asking to be adopted so they can drop over for the tantalizing breakfasts he cooks for his kids and grandkids to get the day started early on the family farm near Boise.
He posts photos of his latest menus on his Facebook page—omelets, burritos, oatmeal, fresh fruit, fried potatoes, pancakes, waffles, crepes, bacon, ham, sausage, breakfast casserole, even breakfast pizza.
During 2016, Durrant started serving breakfast at 6:30 for about 20, so the workday could start early at Big D Ranch near Kuna.
“Doing this is a win-win-win for me as a dad, granddad, and farm manager,” Durrant said. “It’s exciting to have a fourth-generation family farming operation like this – just so I can run it to torment people. Seriously, though, we’re blessed that six of our seven kids are still working with me on the farm. Before I started doing this, by the time they got their kids off to school, the workday here was starting at about 9. With everyone together, we get started at about 7:30 when the kids get on the bus here.”
Big D Ranch Inc. produces sugar beets, corn, wheat, dry beans, alfalfa and mint on 1,500 acres. The family also operates a 2 million bushel elevator and feed store for local farmers.
Durrant admits he has an ulterior motive other than starting the workday early.
“I get to start my day talking with the people who mean the most to me—and all it costs me is bribing everyone with breakfast,” Durrant said, laughing. “Knowing they’re coming energizes me to get up at 5:30 – well, on some days I call it my ‘necessary evil.’ ”
He admits that along with nourishing his family’s bodies, he tries to feed their souls, too, sneaking in a few life lessons with his actions as much as words.
“The grandkids see adults working, and now we have high expectations of them, too,” he says. “After school I always have something waiting for them—picking pumpkins or flowers, raking leaves, shoveling snow. We’re not the type to sit around indoors playing video games or surfing the internet.”
Along with teaching a work ethic and to do your best, he points out the power of teamwork and building strong relationships despite differences.
“We all have different personalities—don’t serve eggs to some and never blueberries to another—but we all come together when we find common ground, making the ranch productive,” he said.
Their business model has been successful. In 2016, the Durrants were named the Western Idaho Fair Farm Family and two years later were selected the Leadership Idaho Agriculture Farm Legacy Family.
Innovation and flexibility have always run in the Durrant family, ever since Richard’s grandfather, Clarence, moved from Utah to Kuna in 1946 to start Big D Ranch. By the time Richard was growing up in the family business, he was helping to care for 80,000 laying hens, 300 dairy cows, and farming 500 acres.
To shift to a less intensive and more profitable business model, the Durrant family eventually quit the egg business and launched a feed store where the chicken house once stood.
“You have to be flexible,” Durrant said.
All joking aside, Durrant said providing his children and grandchildren with opportunities to continue their decades-long farming heritage is deeply gratifying.
“Off the farm, one of my goals is to advocate for a stable agricultural environment to enable farmers and ranchers to prosper and live an American dream,” said Durrant, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation vice president and a volunteer with numerous ag organizations.
While he’s cooking breakfast, his wife, Denese, is getting ready for her job as a paraprofessional working with special education students at nearby Kuna Middle School.
“It’s the best way to start the day,” Durrant said after cleaning up.
Judging from all the Facebook photos, his appreciative children and grandchildren agree. E5P
