'I made it': Ironclad work ethic brings rancher success

Now he’s happy raising 149 Black Angus beef cattle on 220 acres he owns in Elkland, a small town about 30 miles northeast of Springfield.

“I am pretty happy,” he said. “I made it.”

The success didn’t come easily for Quinonez, now a naturalized citizen. Quinonez credits his positive attitude and ironclad work ethic with helping him navigate his turbulent journey.

Now 57, Quinonez, a Durango, Mexico, native, was arrested three times during his initial efforts to enter the United States illegally in 1970.

After he crossed successfully at McAllen, Texas, Mexican smugglers called “coyotes” crammed him and 53 other illegal Mexicans into a 45-foot semi-truck trailer destined for Chicago. The truck, traveling across Texas in May, broke down and six men nearly died of dehydration in the suffocatingly hot trailer.

“It’s a dangerous deal,” he said. “At that time, we don’t know anything. They (were) just driving us like a bunch of cattle.”

Quinonez returned to Mexico three years later for his wife, Elena, and she later crossed with him while she was five months pregnant.

Remarkably, he said he received a Social Security card from the government shortly after immigrating illegally in 1970, but it wasn’t until 1976 that he received a green card and not until 1981 that he became an American citizen. He didn’t fully know English or learn how to drive until 1979.

By 1990, he had saved enough money, about $166,000, to buy 120 acres in Elkland and populate the land with 56 dairy cows. He added cows and land to his portfolio throughout the years and switched to raising beef cattle last year because he said it’s easier on his aging body.

His work has been productive. In 2002, he received an award from Kraft Foods for milk quality. Last year, his farm made about $300,000 in revenues.