Family from the Ament Farm with their Centennial Farm award.

Centennial Farms & Ranches

Ament Farm

Logan County

In the early 1900s Russian Germans George and Alice Ament began farming near Fruita, but relocated to Iliff in Logan County in 1914 when they purchased 502 acres from a sheep rancher who didn’t like the new North Sterling Irrigation District. 

Ament Farm barn.

Ament Farm barn.

Photo courtesy of Ament Farm.

George and his brothers divided the land equally amongst themselves.  Raised near the Volga River in Russia, George used his farming experience to grow sugar beets, corn, alfalfa and wheat after breaking the ground using a team of horses.  George and Alice first lived in a sod house with their three daughters, one son, and baby on the way, but in 1918 they built a new house, barn and windmill after acquiring 160 acres of adjoining land through the new Homestead Act.

Garage at the Ament Farm.

Garage at the Ament Farm.

Photo courtesy of Ament Farm.

A few years later they added a chicken house and garage, and all of the historic buildings still stand on the farm today.  Over the years, in addition to crops, they raised cattle, dairy cows and chickens, and today the farm is more than 2,000 acres.  George and Alice’s legacy is carried on by grandson Donald, who became well known in local politics after serving as Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture from 1999 to 2007.  These days Donald spends his time farming the land, working to keep the century-old farm alive for another hundred years.

 
Ament Farm chicken house.
Ament Farm buildings.
Ament Farm.