Large farming operation selling all machinery and equipment in February auction
MANHATTAN, Kansas — For over 50 years, Knight Farms has been a fixture of Rice County and the surrounding area. Located about a mile northeast of Lyons, Kansas, on the south side of US Highway 56, the late-model farm equipment is now lined up in rows and ready to be sold to the highest bidders in a no-reserve public auction ending February 13 at purplewave.com.
Knight Farms auction near Lyons, Kansas
Kenny Knight started farming in 1960, trading work with his father and brother, Don. In 1962, they created Knight Farms and began farming together. After the passing of Knight’s father in 1970, Knight Farms continued under the guidance of Kenny and Don. In 1972, they started a feedlot which Kenny ran while Don handled the farming operation. Don decided to move to Texas in 1982, so Kenny began overseeing the farm in addition to the feedlot.
Crops common to the area include wheat, corn, grain sorghum, soybeans and alfalfa, and Knight produced them all. “We got started just getting up and going to work every day,” said Knight. It worked, too. Starting with roughly 500 acres, Knight Farms has grown to just over 11,000 acres today.
Kenny Knight
The auction isn’t something Knight has been planning for very long. “The decision wasn’t made until June of 2017…we spent about a month [during] wheat harvest discussing it and that’s when the decision was made,” he said.
The decision was made so recently that the equipment has been serviced and maintained based on the assumption that the farm would still be in full swing today. In fact, some of the equipment has been serviced and not operated since. “I’ve never enjoyed a breakdown during harvest. We’ve…operated with the idea that the maintenance needs to be done properly and timely. Maintenance in the field isn’t very exciting for me,” Knight explained. “We think [the equipment] is field ready. Our guys don’t miss very much….I believe [it] to be ready.”
Knight decided to sell his equipment because neither he nor his brother has any family who wants to take over the farm.” As I look around at different farming operations, I’ve never seen one very successful that didn’t have family in the game,” said Knight. “It’s not an eight-to-five. You kind of have to have some ownership to enjoy that. I felt like it would be better to liquidate.”
Combines
The internet auction comprises combines, tractors, sprayers, planters, drills, trucks, tillage equipment, hay equipment and much more, as well as all the support vehicles, shop tools, parts, trailers and equipment for such a large farming operation. The catalog can be viewed at purplewave.com and includes over 480 listings with pictures of all items and videos of the equipment.
Bidding is open now and will close on February 13 beginning at 10 a.m. Interested bidders can inspect the equipment during business hours Monday through Friday without an appointment. There will also be guided inspections with Purple Wave’s staff on-site to answer questions on February 7 and February 12 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“I think this is the fifth sale that we’ve had with Purple Wave.” Knight said they were more than satisfied with the results from previous Purple Wave auctions. “I believe the internet sales are the way the industry’s going to go. That’s why we chose Purple Wave.”
