Brad Dieken drives truck during the day, something he’s been doing for 34 years. His wife, Tammy, has been an assistant school librarian for more than a decade. They have two sons. The oldest, Wayne, works construction. Eric is a full-time student at Illinois State University in nearby Normal, Illinois. For the busy family, time is a premium. So they mow after work, on weekends and during holidays.
Dieken Lawn Care in Danforth, Illinois, has a lot of mowing to do—40 acres outside of town and 25 properties mostly in town. The family maintains a couple of cemeteries, eight to 10 farmsteads, a bank, a park, a railroad right-of-way, and several residences. They do more than 90 percent of it with Walker Mowers equipped with side-discharge decks.
Since buying their first Walker Mower in 1993 from their dealer, Pool & Sons Garage in nearby Onarga, the Diekens have logged 10,000 hours on their Walker Mowers. The fleet now consists of two (including the original) with 20-hp Kohler carbureted engines and two with 26-hp Kohler EFI engines. The four mowers share three 56-inch decks and two 62-inch decks.
“That’s one of the nice things about a Walker Mower,” Brad says. “Nearly everything, including the decks, is interchangeable between models, and the fact that the decks flip up is a real timesaver for cleaning and changing blades.” Brad also claims that the machines are especially durable, noting how they’ve experienced very little downtime over the years aside from maybe replacing a gearbox or two after mowing over something that didn’t cut as easily as grass.
No steering wheel?
Brad’s father, Robert, started mowing lawns in 1977. He operated a grocery store at the time, which happens to be Dieken Lawn Care’s current location. “For 15 years he mowed with a Yazoo,” Brad relates. “Then, one afternoon at the coffee shop, a friend told him about a mower that didn’t have a steering wheel. ‘No steering wheel? That’s for me,’ my father remarked. Years of cutting meat had taken a toll on his hands and arms, and operating a mower with a steering wheel became difficult.”
Enter the Walker Mower
Robert, now 90 years old, lives in town a few houses down from his son and Tammy. The old grocery store has since been remodeled to accommodate the Walker Mowers, a John Deere four-wheel-drive rider, and a Kubota tractor equipped with a loader/backhoe, along with just about every tool imaginable and a supply of fast-moving replacement parts.
“We have a lot to do in a very short time and cannot afford any downtime,” explains Brad. “So we have the tools and parts.” Brad also has the skill set to match and goes through every machine from stem to stern during the winter. “Like any piece of equipment, maintenance is key,” Brad emphasizes.
This operator is creative, too, coming up with a handy plate to transform side-discharge into mulching decks, and wood sections that fit like a three-piece jigsaw puzzle into the mower’s box for securing his Echo handheld blowers and other on-the-job necessities.
Close proximity
A small farming town with approximately 600 residents, Danforth now poses as a bedroom community for commuters taking I-57 north 30 miles to Kankakee. The seeds of its past, however, are still very present, signaled by a high-profile grain elevator and a bustling train track that cuts through the center of town.
“The trains come by at around 60 miles per hour,” Brad notes. “Sometimes we get four a day and others maybe 14 or more. It just depends.” He looks across the street and nods in the direction of the grain elevator. “It’s time to move my truck and trailer. I see that the first of many grain trucks has arrived and they need room to maneuver.”
Brad’s pickup pulls a large tandem trailer capable of hauling three Walker Mowers. Brad demonstrates how the dual-action hydraulic cylinder tilts the trailer to easily load and unload the mowers. The outfit transports the mowers to the outlying larger properties. In the meantime, most of the smaller residential properties are within easy driving distance for Tammy and the company’s golf cart.
Prior to working at the school, Tammy spent more than a decade at a local garden center, growing her knowledge of horticulture. In summer, when school is not in session, she mows and does the installation, pruning and detail work during the day. Like Brad, she often works until dark most evenings. When in school, the librarian tells her colleagues and friends that going-home time is time to do something she loves doing.
“We started the company to keep our sons busy while they were growing up,” Tammy says. “The company just kept growing. There’s plenty of work for us right now, but the town is too small to support us full-time or to think Wayne or Eric could make a living doing it, although Wayne has other ideas. Eric, on the other hand, is getting a degree in agronomy and will likely look for a career in that field.”
“I would like to grow the business,” Wayne admits. “It’s something I enjoy doing and the Walker Mowers do a great job.”
“People don’t understand what this mower can do,” Brad adds. “I’ve mowed in tall grass and wet grass. We mow small properties and large estates, and the low profile of the mower allows us to get close to trees and mow under branches.
“You don’t get tired operating one either,” Brad continues while glancing over at his wife. Tammy smiles and then confesses to asking for a comfort seat last Christmas. “Now we have three,” Wayne chimes in knowingly.
There might be a fourth in the offing, as well. After driving truck for more than three decades, Brad could be talked into expanding the market a bit, and that just might require another Walker Mower. Like Brad says, “When it’s time to mow, you mow.”
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