Lessiter Publications acquires three farm titles.

Lessiter Publications, publisher of the 1972-founded No-Till Farmer and American Farriers Journal, recently acquired the assets of Farm Equipment magazine, the Farm Catalog, and the Ag Industry Watch newsletter from Cygnus Business Media, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.

"Farm Equipment will be a focal point of our growing ag portfolio," said Lessiter Publications president Frank Lessiter. "This is a great opportunity for us and we plan to use all of our vital resources to grow and further develop the magazine for dealers, the annual Catalog for high income farmers, the monthly newsletter for ag machinery suppliers and the market as a whole."

His son, Mike Lessiter, will oversee the newly acquired titles. Previously the editor-publisher of two Illinois-based manufacturing equipment and business magazines, he joined Lessiter Publications last October as executive vice president.*

"Frank Lessiter approached Cygnus about the possibility of purchasing these properties for his growing ag portfolio," said Cygnus Publishing president Rich Reiff. "We are certain they will both mature and grow within the Lessiter group of agricultural publications."

Longtime Farm Equipment vice president Jim Rank will help with the transition, mainly in advertising. In addition to its ag publications, Lessiter hosts the National No-Tillage Conference, currently in its 13th year, and the International Hoof-Care Summit.

Newsletters for coaches, too

In an operation that's become much more than a sideline, Lessiter Publications also publishes two newsletters for coaches.

* Winning Hoops, "An X's and O's newsletter for coaches at every level of competition, from grade school to the pros."

* Grid Iron Strategies, "The complete resource for football coaches at every level of competition, from grade school to the pros."

P.O. Box 624, Brookfield, WI 53008, 262-782-4480, fax [phone], www.lesspub.com

* Mike Lessiter's working for another publisher before joining his father's newsletter business reminds us of a remark Austin Kiplinger once made about his own son, Knight, currently the head of Kiplinger Washington Editors.

Austin's words were to the effect that, "I had another publisher pay him to learn the publishing business before he joined our family business."

Similarly, Mark Ragan covered Congress, the White House and national political campaigns for Copley News Service, States News Service, New York Newsday, the San Diego Union-Tribune and Insight Magazine before joining his father's company, Lawrence Ragan Communications Inc. Mark is now publisher and CEO of the company.--Ed.