By Jolene FarleyPeter and Carrie Bakken and their family are this year’s Rock County Farm Family of the Year. The Bakkens, who have two children, Makayla, 7, and Eli, 4, live by Garretson on the Minnesota-South Dakota border. The family will be recognized at FarmFest and at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 31, at the Rock County Fair 4-H Livestock Show Arena. Peter and his father, Richard, and brother, Jay, own BLAC-X Farms Inc. Bakken Land and Cattle is a diversified beef cattle and grain farming operation. Peter’s responsibilities are the cow/calf and cropping segment of the business. Carrie does the accounting for the operation and is a first-grade teacher in the Brandon Valley School District. In their operation, electronic identification of cattle helps track individual performance and source verification of each animal. Iowa State Feedlot Monitoring is used in the feedlot and the CHAPS program along with the Kansas State Ration Balancer program. The Bakkens also raise and sell commercial bred heifers that have been synchronized and AI bred. Bakkens use several conservation practices, including contour farming, terraces and grassy waterways to help preserve the land they farm. They planted 1,600 trees in an effort to promote wildlife habitat and improve water quality. The couple is on the Farm Bureau’s State Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee. This commitment, although very rewarding for the couple, requires them to be away from their farm and children for extended periods of time. Other family members pitch in and help when Peter and Carrie need to be gone. "It truly is the family that makes things work; it’s everyone else in the operation," Peter said.Peter is chairman of the Beaver Creek Township Board and serves on the Rock-Nobles Cattlemen’s Association Board. He has also been involved in the Rock County Feedlot Task Force. Carrie is a member of the Brandon Valley Education Association, is a Weekender’s consultant and is a member of Cornerstone Investment Club in Luverne. Peter and Carrie are charter members of Parents of Adopted Children and are active members of their church, Palisade Lutheran, in rural Rock County.