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For over a century Haug Implement
has met the ever-growing and
high-tech requirements of farmers

CEO and general manager of Haug Implement

CEO Donald "Butch" Haug and his General Manager son, Paal, are co-owners of Haug Implement Co. John Deere dealerships in Willmar and Litchfield, Minnesota. Butch's grandfather, Gunder Haug, started the first implement dealership in 1918.

Over the years, "The Long Green Line," of John Deere dealerships have continued to get bigger and more high-tech to serve the needs of farmers, who in many cases are now stewards of much larger tracts of land that produce many more bushels or tons per acre. Haug Implement, a family-owned dealership with locations in Willmar and Litchfield, Minnesota have kept ahead of the times.

The first Haug dealership dates to 1918 when Gunder Haug, originally a manager of a farmer-owned co-op, transitioned from buying and selling cattle and horses to operating a machinery dealership in Pennock, Minnesota. This was at a time when horses were indeed the primary source of horsepower on farms. Long gone are the days of farming with horses that he observed.


"We like the straps. We've had very little maintenance with Schweiss Doors. We had Aerolift cable lift doors in the past. I would replace those cables about every six years just because I did not trust them. We personally know Mike (Schweiss) and value the advice he has given us. When we were going to put a door on our warehouse Mike came here and said, because of the sidewall height, we should fix that one way or another to gain more headroom. I rebuilt the header so we could get our combines in there. Without his advice, we wouldn't have done that. When we moved our building at Litchfield it had 16 ft. sidewalls. Again, Mike told us we should go to 20 ft., so we lifted the building up four feet. I have a lot of respect for Mike."


- Butch Haug, CEO
Haug Implement
Willmar & Litchfield, MN


With co-owners, CEO Donald "Butch" Haug Jr. and his son, Paal, as General Manager, Haug Implement has since expanded to operating two sizeable John Deere dealerships. The Willmar dealership, opened in 1972, covers 38,900 sq. ft. and the Litchfield dealership acquired in 1996 covers 28,900 sq. ft. Each of these dealerships carry new and used equipment. In addition, customers look to Haug Implement for John Deere Lawn and Garden equipment, Stihl® Power tools, Unverferth grain handling equipment, Westfield augers, Salford tillage products, Felling heavy and utility trailers lines and various other brand products. Haug has 10 service trucks for on-the-farm equipment, repair and delivery, tire work and a bulk engine and hydraulic oil delivery service.

As a young lad, Butch recalled working for his grandfather, Gunder, doing various menial tasks such as sweeping floors to start with, and later as a high schooler working for his dad, Don Sr., setting up machinery.

"Almost every small community had an implement dealer. Dealers never delivered machinery. People came in with their horses or tractor and pulled the machinery home. Later on, when we started to deliver - we didn't have any hydraulics; we had a 2-ton Chevrolet truck with a flatbed that you'd back into the ditch and pull out a couple planks to load up," added Butch.

Haug Implement in Willmar

Haug Implement Company storefront in Willmar, Minnesota.

Butch's lifestyle took a different course following high school graduation in 1956 when he entered college at St. Cloud State. After graduating with a teaching degree in 1961, Butch came home to help his dad at the Kerkhoven location. It was at this time the Superintendent of Schools at Kerkhoven asked Butch if he was interested in a job. He ended up teaching high school science and math there for three years and earned a few more bucks as a coach, with summers off to continue working at the dealership. Not big money, but enough for a comfortable living that included income from his wife. In 1964 Butch decided to work fulltime at the dealership eventually helping his dad to move the dealership to Willmar in 1972.

Paal followed a similar route that nearly kept him out of the family business. After graduating from Southwest State in Marshall with a business degree he also took courses in landscape design and architecture at the University of Minnesota, Waseca. It was about this time that Butch told Paal that an opening came about for a service manager; a job that Paal accepted.

"We've operated a Willmar John Deere location dealership longer than anyone else," noted Butch. "There were a number of John Deere dealership owners in Willmar. There was Lobnetz, Kvam, Bower's, Molenaars and Lindstrand. Burt Lindstrand said early on in his life that he was going to retire and sell out on his 50th birthday, and he did. John Deere asked us if we were interested in taking over. We then closed the Kerkhoven dealership and moved to Willmar."

"We are a little unique in that there aren't many dealerships our size anymore," added Paal. "Most have been bought up and belong to larger groups - we are still an independent dealership with two John Deere stores. Those other dealerships are not necessarily owned as individuals anymore, they've merged and have shareholders; we're still a family operation that allows us to be a little more agile and make decisions a little differently. We've seen that our customers like to deal with a smaller organization with someone that still cares and knows about their specific operation. We try to get close to our customers."

Haug Implement estimates that over half of its business is in used equipment sales. If a customer is looking for a unique piece, Haug will do quite a bit of scouting to fulfill requests. They can trade or buy from another dealer, buy it off an auction or lease returns from John Deere.

Paal Haug is in front of a Schweiss bifold door owned by Haug implement

Big equipment requires big buildings and big doors for easy access for people working on and setting up today's large farm implements. Paal Haug stands in front of one of six Schweiss bifold doors owned by Haug Implement. This bifold liftstrap door on the repair shop in Willmar is 44.6 ft. wide x 22 ft. tall.

Haug bifold doors are built to handle big machinery

Haug Implement saw the reliability of Schweiss liftstrap doors with the first purchase of a 34.10 ft. x 15.7 ft. custom door with a walk-through door and manual latching system. Two years later another 34 ft. x 18.11 ft. door was installed on another building at the Willmar location.

At each end of the set-up and repair shop are Schweiss liftstrap bifold doors. The west end shop door in Willmar is 44.6 ft. x 22 ft. and on the east end is a 37.4 ft. x 22 ft. door. These two fast-opening doors provide a convenient drive-through option for big tractors, combines and other equipment. Each door is equipped with auto latching systems, windows and were reinforced with free-standing headers.

The most recent Schweiss door was installed just this year at the Litchfield location. Big doors at each end of the machinery storage building give it the convenience of drive -through capability. On one end is a 37 ft. x 23 ft. bifold liftstrap door. The opposite end wall has a 34.10 ft. x 18.1 ft. door. The Schweiss bifold liftstrap door is equipped with a freestanding header to give it the full 20 ft. clear opening. It also has an automatic all-strap latching system and emergency back-up system.

Hydrostatic Drive moves tractor replica at about 10 mph

At the east end of the repair shop building is a 37.4 ft. x 22 ft. bifold door which gives the building timesaving drive-through capabilities.

"We like the straps; they are low maintenance. We've had very little maintenance with Schweiss Doors. We had Aerolift cable lift doors in the past. I would replace those cables about every six years just because I did not trust them," said Butch. "Another thing is the fact we personally know Mike (Schweiss) and value the advice he has given us. When we were going to put a door on our warehouse Mike came here and said, because of the sidewall height, we should fix that one way or another to gain more headroom. I rebuilt the header so we could get our combines in there. Without his advice, we wouldn't have done that. When we moved our building at Litchfield it had 16 ft. sidewalls. Again, Mike told us we should go to 20 ft., so we lifted the building up four feet. I have a lot of respect for Mike."

Over the years, farming equipment, and one-owner farms for that matter, have increased in size. To keep up with this growing trend, Haug Implement retrofitted an older 60 ft. x 150 ft. cold storage shed in 2009 into a newly insulated, well lighted "Set-up" assembly shop equipped with a 3-ton lift crane on parallel tracks on both sides of the building. A 500,000 BTU capacity heating system burns used tractor and equipment crankcase oil to keep it warm inside as does its insulated concrete floor. Twelve high-pressure air outlets run the full length of both walls. The heated facility is used a lot to set up and assemble equipment for early Spring delivery.

Schweiss liftstrap bifold doors Schweiss bifold doors Schweiss liftstrap doors

Haug Implement saw the reliability of Schweiss liftstrap doors with the first purchase of a 34.10 ft. x 15.7 ft. custom door with a walk-through door and manual latching system. Two years later four more bifold doors ranging from 34 ft. wide to over 37 ft. were installed on other buildings at the Willmar location.

Futuristic farming: Implement dealers are no longer just selling iron

Today, farming has become a high-tech operation and implement dealers are selling precision farming products that require special training of both the dealership personnel as well as farm customers.

"Obviously, technology is a big part of what we do and is a big item for our customers. We do offer special training for the products we sell. We were one of the early dealerships and forerunners to push GPS technology in 1994. It was dad who embraced this technology," noted Paal.

With the advent of the Orbital Satellite GPS (Global Positioning System) in 1994, Haug Implement was one of the earliest implement dealers to pair farmers with specially trained staff and offer classroom training on all aspects of GPS technology. Since that time, they've taken a different approach that now brings them one-on-one, farm-to-farm visits for specific real time instruction on how to operate or introduce a particular system.

Haug Implement developed its own RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) network with a series of 17 RTK towers that permit overlapping GPS accuracy regardless of which field you are farming within a five-county area of its two dealerships. RTK is a technique working off these towers that uses carrier-based very precise ranges and positions. These towers, using complicated RTK techniques were installed at a cost of $20,000 each.

With the RTK guidance system it takes only a few minutes to switch a unit from a tractor doing tillage work to a tractor doing the planting. The RTK guidance system lets farmers preprogram each machine to travel virtually the same wheel tracks each pass through a particular field.

"It's futuristic stuff that's not here yet, but you might see multiple smaller driverless units on a field where you won't see someone in the tractor or combine," explained Butch. "With the guidance, mapping and data systems that some of our farmers have accumulated that show where the tile lines are and the good and bad parts of a field, it's almost overwhelming for farmers trying to keep up and handle it all.

Schweiss strap/autolatch door

Twin motors and a strong patented Schweiss liftstrap and an "all-strap" autolatch system give these big bifold doors everything an implement dealer wants.

The trend for big equipment continues. But at the same time, with the coming of autonomous (driverless/guided) tractors and equipment Butch and Paal can see equipment needs going smaller at some point in time. Big equipment is getting harder to move around the country on the roadways.

"There is a company that already does autonomous farming using smaller tractors and planters all running on a field at one time. There's so much data out there that can be put together to help farmers manage. At one time we were talking about managing a field by the square foot; today John Deere technology is saying we are going to manage a field by the plant. One that is really coming on and tremendous is 'See & Spray Select.' A sprayer will be able to acknowledge and recognize a plant and determine whether it is a weed or a plant and spray it."

See & Spray Select for 4000 and 6000 Series sprayers can help farmers reduce their non-residual, pre-emerg herbicide use by 77 percent on average by targeting and spraying only weeds on fallow ground. See & Spray Select uses camera technology to detect color differentiation in the field and is ideal for small-grains farmers to achieve a more effective weed kill at a lower cost.

Virtually every new John Deere tractor, and combine, is factory equipped with the wiring and electronic harness to permit plugging into a variety of technology capabilities be it Auto Steer, Yield Mapping, VSR (Variable Seeding Rate), even Row Command on planters.

Butch recalled something his dad said that pretty much sums up what their customer service measures up to.

"My dad had a saying. 'You don't owe a customer one single thing until you sell him something. When you sell him something you owe him the parts and service that go along with it.' That's been one of the things we've strived to do for years, and years and years. Because we take care of them, I think we've built a great customer base."

Keeping memories alive: Tractors run in the family

"We have actually over the years collected and restored tractors that were significant to our family," said Butch. "The first tractors we sold were Model D's. We have the first GP tractor that was sold by my grandfather, a 1929. We have the first Model B that my dad sold, a 1935 and we have one of the first 1935 Model A's that were sold. My grandfather kept very good records noting who these tractors were sold to and resold to. We found the Model GP in the woods by Solomon Lake. I was the one who bought it; my dad really didn't care one way or another. When I bought the Model B; a tractor that he sold - that got him kind of caught up in it. We have the first 3010 and 4010 that we sold."

Haug Implement Company in Litchfield, Minnesota

Haug Implement Company storefront in Litchfield, Minnesota.

Paal's son, Charlie, and Butch bought the 1961 Model 4010. Charlie worked on restoring it for three years as a FFA project, getting a Grand Champion award at the Kandiyohi County Fair, advancing him to the Minnesota State Fair where he won Best of Show. It looks like new, and Charlie has run it in tractor pulls; it's been a great project for him. Charlie just graduated from high school and will be going into the Army."

History of Haug Implement Company

Haug Implement is a family-owned authorized John Deere dealership that has been serving the Willmar and Litchfield, Minnesota area since 1972, but its story goes back over 100 years to 1918 when company founder, Gunder Haug started managing a farmer owned cooperative in Pennock, MN. Gunder later purchased the business, renaming it Haug Implement Company.

Donald Haug, Sr. purchased the expanding business in 1955 upon the death of his father. In 1960, Donald relocated the family business to Kerkhoven, MN, along busy Highway 12. His son, Donald Haug, Jr. (Butch), joined the firm on a full-time basis in 1964. In 1972, Donald, Sr. and Butch moved the growing business to a location on Highway 12, east of Willmar, MN, where a new facility was constructed. Butch became the owner/manager upon the death of his father in 1980. Paal Haug, great grandson of Gunder, joined the business on a full-time basis in 1992 as the fourth generation of Haugs.

Always a growing business, Haug Implement Co., has expanded its Willmar location and in 1996, acquired the Litchfield John Deere dealership. In September 2006, Haug Implement Co. purchased the assets of Quality Power and Lawn of Willmar. This acquisition brought the Stihl® Power Equipment line as well as the John Deere Lawn and Garden equipment line to the Willmar location to make it truly a "One Stop Dealership".

To meet the parts needs of its customers, Haug Implement Co. stocks in excess of $3.2 million of repair parts and attachments. Today, after over 100 years after Gunder Haug founded his small establishment, Haug Implement Co. employs 60 experienced and knowledgeable employees in the 38,900 sq. ft. plant in Willmar, and the 28,900 sq. ft. plant in Litchfield.

The Haug Implement dealership in Willmar is located at 3593 E. Hwy. 12, phone 320-235-8115. The Litchfield dealership is located at 62105 MN Hwy. 24, phone 320-693-2438. www.haugimp.com

Schweiss bifold liftstrap doors with eye height window

Following advice from Schweiss Doors, when Haug Implement moved this building to this location in Litchfield it only had 16 ft. sidewalls. By lifting the building up four feet they were able to get a 20 ft. clear opening so they could get their combines in there.

Freestanding header with Schweiss bifold door in Litchfield

The most recent Schweiss bifold liftstrap door was installed at the Litchfield location is equipped with a freestanding header to give it the full 20 ft. clear opening.

Bifold door with emergency back-up system

The all-strap automatic latching system locks the bifold door weathertight to the building. Two strong motors and liftstraps, each capable of lifting 29,000 pounds, raise and lower the door quickly, quietly and fast. The bifold door also has an emergency back-up system.

Haug implement has room to spare of extra equipment

The interior of the Litchfield Haug Implement warehouse has ample room to store several implements and vehicles of all sizes.

Machinery warehouse has a bifold door at each end

Big doors open wide and tall at each end of the machinery warehouse storage building giving it the convenience of drive -through capability.


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"When I heard the Schweiss bifold doors went to straps instead of cables, it was a no brainer. I knew there would be less maintenance because of the straps - it works every time, all the time, and that's what I really like about the door." Those were the words of Lonnie Spaeth, who farms 400 acres just northwest of Sleepy Eye, MN.
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For over 100 years and four generations, the Hanson family has been involved with agriculture and has grown to symbolize quality, economy, and dependability. Hanson Silo was founded at Lake Lillian, Minnesota in 1916 by Emil Hanson - a local farmer who wanted a better product for himself and for his neighbors. His goal was to manufacture an improved product at the best price with the lowest upkeep. Hanson silos are easily identifiable - those with the checkered pattern on top are a Hanson silo.
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World War II had just ended and in March of 1946 a new business by the name of Lano's Body and Fender Works took roots in the small town of Chaska, MN. The original Lano brothers, Dick, Hauser and Clarence, returning from service in WWII, started that repair shop and expanded their business vision in 1948, when they took on the Allis Chalmers farm equipment line. When the company switched from the automotive business to farm equipment, brother Joe, also just out of the military, joined the corporation. The rest, as they say, is history.
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When the time came for the City of Meriden, CT to order four new bifold doors for its new municipal airport hangar they went through the usual procedure of getting multiple bids, as most cities are required to do. The low bid for four 40' x 14' doors was awarded to Schweiss Doors.
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Turtle Farms of Gibbon, MN, managed by the brother combination of Mark and Brad Turtle, along with Brad's son-in-law, Andrew Hansen, have been loyal Schweiss door customers ever since they put up their first farm shop.
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Forty-one years of farming can teach you a lot. Dennis and Jennifer Peterson of Hector know just about everything there is to know about the good years, the not so good years and how farming technology has progressed to where it is today.
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Sleek is a good word to describe Erik Dean's new Hector, MN cold storage building. The clean lines and brown accent, all the way down to the exterior LED lights and large Schweiss Bifold Liftstrap/Autolatch door with decorative windows give this structure a great working and farmsite appeal.
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Fredonia, Kansas is a city of 2,482 and the county seat of Wilson County, Kansas. The quiet picturesque city is in the southeast corner of Kansas farm country at the junction of US Highways 400 and 47 within 150 miles of Wichita, Kansas City and Tulsa Oklahoma. It was founded in 1868, and saw considerable expansion in the early 20th century, with a fossil fuel boom.
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Don Anderson of Hector, MN has a progressive Renville County farm operation and building arrangement that is well planned out. For the 40-some years he's been farming, he has a good handle on what it takes to be successful at what he does.
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Dave Duehn's path to farming followed a different route than that of most farmers today. I guess you could say, "It was from the ground up." And at first it wasn't an easy row to hoe.
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There's a very old John Deere two-row corn planter that sits next to Jeff Buboltz's modern 80' x 120' Lester Building steel-sided building that now shelters a full line of powerful, modern John Deere tractors, implements, a combine and two semi grain trucks. Now an ornamental piece, that old planter which probably sat in a grove for quite sometime, would easily fit in the back of a pickup truck - it is literally a step back in time from farming days gone by.
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Perry Meyer of New Ulm, MN lives and works on a seventh-generation farm dating back to 1858. Things were a lot different when his great-grandparents tilled the soil with a horse-drawn plow.
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Kurt Sandgren is like a lot of other Schweiss Door customers who at one time or another have purchased a Schweiss door and who like it enough to be a repeat customer when they put up or renovate another building.
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Around these parts Paul Lux is known as a Jack Of All Trades and master of many. He's one of those guys who can and has fixed everything from refrigerators to airplanes and everything in between.
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How Frans Rosenquist got his start in farming back in the late '70s is quite unusual. It wasn't a situation where the family farm was handed down to him or where he was able negotiate a nice loan through his local friendly banker. It was a matter of him spending money wisely.
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Chad Hoese at age 29 is a new-generation, unmarried farmer producing corn, soybeans and a herd of 60 dairy heifers at Stoney Creek Farms, a 2,500 acre spread just three miles north of Glencoe, MN. His latest acquisition was to put a Schweiss One-Piece Hydraulic 29.10' x 14' clear door on an existing woodframe cold storage building. He uses it to shelter two sparkling semi trucks and other equipment.
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If you are a farmer that takes care of a lot of acres and you need a machine shed that's more than just the average machine shed, you might want to give Randy Buboltz of Hector, MN a jingle. His 80' x 240' machine shed has it all from in-floor heating, a kitchen for farm help, to an office to conduct and keep track of crop production and all the ins and outs associated with it.
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"I didn't even price anyone elses doors, I knew this was the one I wanted. I still would have went with a Schweiss door even if I wasn't so close to the factory. Schweiss is the only company I know of that has the liftstrap. I've seen bifolds on other buildings that weren't Schweiss doors, but they didn't have the quality. Some guys tried to talk me into these big rollup doors, and then they put a post in the middle of them that I figure someone sooner or later is going to back into and you lose some headroom with a rollup..." explained Kiecker.
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Cliff "Chipper" Willhite of Hector, MN has two Schweiss bifold liftstrap doors, both equipped with autolatches and remote openers. His first Schweiss bifold, a 24' x 15.6', went on his remodeled 30' x 72' shop over nine years ago to replace a worn out rollup door. When he built a new 70' x 84' machine shed he didn't hesitate to give Schweiss Doors another call which resulted in a 40' x 18' bifold liftstrap door. Willhite farmed for 40 years. In 2012, retirement was calling so he turned the keys to the 1,000 acre corn and soybean farm over to his son-in-law, Mike Koenig.
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Never try to beat a man at his own game was the advice of Jim Hinton, father of Randy Hinton, General Manager of the 'Red Power' Case/IH Team of northern Iowa. That was back in 1971 when Randy and his Dad were just trying to get a toehold in the farm equipment business with their 'start up' store in Bancroft, IA.
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It stands tall, nearly 40' to the roof line. It's big, like 120' x 200'. Concrete walls standing 16' tall wrap all four sides of this huge structure. And it holds nearly 1 million bushels of corn. We're talking about the huge feed storage structure at Revier Cattle Company, a beef operation with feedlot capacity of about 16,000 head. But what makes this feed storage especially unique are two steel hydraulic doors, each 15' 6" wide and 15' tall and positioned at both ends of this feed storage structure.
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Jim Becke, a Winthrop, MN farmer stands in front of his new Country Wide Lumber 120'x66' machine storage building. The tractor, sitting just outside the Schweiss 36'x 18' bifold door is a New Holland T6050 that he bought from Lano Equipment and it is fitted with a Loftness snowblower.
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