On a late winter day, traffic is light through this family-owned business on the southwest edge of Dayton. A few livestock producers have been in for fittings on a hog waterer, some early birds might be scouting out their needs for the season ahead, and owner Kevin Diehl is ready with a friendly greeting to help them find just what they need.

“I’m kind of a people person,” Diehl said. “I enjoy working with the farmers.”

Diehl and his wife, Janis, opened Diehl’s of Dayton to sell and service all types of spray equipment some 35 years ago. Today, they pride themselves on maintaining an extensive inventory of parts, and an even more extensive inventory of knowledge to serve their customers.

“I sell and service ag sprayers, lawn sprayers, golf course sprayers, ATV sprayers, all of it,” Diehl said.

The high season starts in March and will continue much of the summer, picking up again when farmers put down anhydrous in the fall. One of Diehl’s biggest goals is to make sure farmers can keep working, even when equipment doesn’t cooperate.

“I have an extensive parts inventory,” he said. “I have a lot of farmers tell me that I’m the last one they call when they can’t find something. They’ve been looking all over and someone tells them to call me, and I usually have it in stock.”

This year, with parts and equipment shortages prevalent in so many industries, Diehl says farmers would be wise to start checking their equipment as soon as feasible. He does not foresee a shortage, but says it’s a good year to be prepared.

“Get it ready sooner than normal if you can,” he said.

The business services Raven spray systems and carries a large line of new equipment.

“We carry Sprayer Specialties out of Grimes,” he said. “It’s a complete line with trailer sprayers, lawn sprayers, tanks that mount on planters, field cultivators, 3-point tank systems. They have big water tanks and we sell a lot of those.”

Hard work to build a business

Growing up in a large family, Diehl learned the value of hard work. His parents moved the family to Dayton in 1960 when they purchased the Dayton Review newspaper. By the 1980s, Diehl was a two-year veteran of the U.S. Army and had attended Iowa Central Community College. He was working at the former Buckley and Busch manufacturing company in Dayton when the farm crisis of the 1980s forced that business to close.

Still, he credits the experience with helping him learn basic business tools.

“I was working at a small manufacturer here and that’s where I learned it. That was my college education,” Diehl said. “I started out cutting steel, grinding steel, drilling steel, and then I moved into assembly, then into parts over-the-counter working with farmers. A couple of years I traveled half the state of Iowa selling to different dealerships. I enjoyed selling the product and meeting all the people along the way.”

When the couple opened Diehl’s of Dayton in 1987, he says they didn’t “give up their day jobs.” Rather, they worked hard and did what was necessary to help their new business grow on a slow and steady basis.

“We had side jobs,” he recalls. “I heated the shop and the house with wood heat, and sold wood.”

The couple worked hard together to make their business a success, and have seen the industry grow and adapt over time.

“It’s gotten so much more complex,” Diehl said.

The industry has gone from basic speed sensors, flow sensors, automatic pressure regulators and basic computers, to much more advanced systems today. Mapping systems allow farmers to shut off boom systems and to coordinate spray operations with auto-steer and more.

“Now companies are looking at doing individual boom tip shutoff systems,” he said.

More complex, to be sure, but it’s still a family business with a focus on service to the customer, according to Diehl.

“When the farmers are working, we’re here seven days a week to serve them,” he said.