Replicating memoires is sometimes what farm layouts are about, and that is true for Gary Zimmerman, who recreated his family farm for the 2014 National Farm Toy Show in Dyersville, Iowa.

Gary took fifth place in the Small-Scale Category with his farm that was set in the 1960s. The layout represented his childhood farm that was located in the Watertown, Wis., area.

He began his layout design back in 2005, so this has been almost a 10-year project. His boys’ toys were up in the attic and the farm layout idea had been brewing for a while. “I was laid up, so I started designing buildings from the farm where I was from eight to 10 years old,” he explained.

The scene Gary recreated was a dairy farm with around 30 cows. “They were a mixed herd with Holstein, Jerseys and Brown Swiss; my brother always had Brown Swiss cows for 4-H.”

The farm includes a brooder house where, he added, “we had baby chicks and Mom always had straight run chickens. Hens were in a bigger house. We always had plenty of chicken and sold chickens on the side.”

To finish out the animal portion of the farm Gary added a few pigs. “We kept four to six sows and had two litters every year. There would be around 40 hogs we would finish out.”

While the chickens and hogs were there only for a while, he said the cows were permanent residents: “We always had beef and kept some after the chickens and hogs were gone.”

The farm layout includes an extensive garden and several fields, including a cornfield for silage. To create the corn Gary used a garland he trimmed down. The base of the display is cut-down Styrofoam.

The equipment in the fields is all reminiscent of the 1960s and at 1/6 scale. Gary custom-built the uniharvester and chopper. One of the more unique aspects of his equipment is the replication of his uncle’s truck.

“My uncle had a picker/sheller unit. My uncle had a portable feed grinder on his truck  He came around each farm (and) I used to help him shovel corn into the feeder,” Gary said. To create the truck he found an example online he was able to use for a guide.

Since he was school-age when he lived on the farm, a bus was a fitting attribute to the display. He added lights to it, and to keep busy hands from handling the bus at the show, he had to write “Do Not Grab” on the top.

The Zimmerman roadway was evidently a place where speeders felt free to “let it go,” but not in this layout – Gary had in it a squad car that had pulled over a yellow muscle car with American Graffiti pinstriped on the side. The tiny perpetrator is being handcuffed in the scene and won’t be speeding past that Zimmerman farm anytime soon!

He also added lights to a railroad crossing. Lights are inside the buildings and he detailed the insides as well as the exterior scene. “I have ideas to add more features,” Gary said. “I like young kids coming up and asking questions. I like helping young people, give them ideas.”

While the farm itself was located in the Watertown area, Gary and his wife, Diane, reside in Dorchester, Wis. “I work seasonally driving an asphalt truck. I puttered on this in the winter time,” he explained.

Diane enjoys the hobby and Gary said she especially likes the craft end of it. “I am glad she likes coming and setting up and spending time,” he noted of the family hobby. The couple has enjoyed tractor pulls in the past: “My summer hobby when I was younger was to pull a Ford 7000, but back in the 1980s I had to put it on the back burner.”

Gary was a farmer until he was 35, then he said he gave up farming to go into trucking. 

The farm is still in the family, though, and still in Gary’s blood  With five kids and six grandkids, he and Diane have a full plate and enjoy sharing their farm memories with their family – and those who came to see Gary at the show.

(Note: The Jan. 28 column featured farm toys sold by Tri-County Auctions, but was missing contact information. To find out more about Tri-County (including an upcoming March 27 sale), contact Vernon Yoder at 217-268-3444. The address of Tri-County Auctions is: 650 E County Road 400 N, Arcola, IL 61910.)

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.