Staff writer
The first seven days of being open at a new location were very busy for Mike Morales and his family-run implement and diesel repair shop.
Longtime customers of his 5-year-old shop were aware that Morales and his wife were building a new shop in Hillsboro, and business has ticked along as usual since the move.
Morales started This N That Farm at his home at 1281 170th Rd.
The shop repairs farm equipment of any kind as well as trucks, school buses, semis, power equipment, and pretty much any diesel equipment.
The business also does welding, fabricating, and weld repairs.
On Saturday, the new shop had two semis, a Hillsboro trash truck, a pickup truck, and two skid steers inside for repairs in progress.
Outside on the lot sat several more vehicles waiting their turn.
A customer who saw a bay door open drove onto the lot to talk to Morales about a needed repair.
“We’ve been staying real busy,” Morales said.
Now that he has space to do so, he wants to expand automotive work.
On the farm, he and employees use a barn to work on vehicles.
“It was an 80-by-50 shop, and we needed to be more efficient,” Morales said.
The new shop is 60 by 100 feet.
The pickup at the shop is getting a new transmission, the trash truck needs drivability issues fixed, one semi is getting a new engine, and the other needs differential repair. The skid steers have electrical issues.
Morales and wife Staci have three employees, mechanics Chris Moyer and Deven Karki and Morales’s father, Dan Morales. Staci does bookkeeping and business management.
Back when the operation was on the family farm, Staci wanted more room for raising the family’s cattle, hens, and guineas. She wanted her farm back. Now she has it, Morales said.
Barkman Honey, Countryside Feed, Hillsboro school district, the city of Hillsboro, and local farmers are among his biggest customers, Morales said.