Producer Features

At the American Forage and Grassland Council’s annual meeting in mid-January, 75-year-old Ted Hughes, a self-professed “grass farmer” and beef cattle producer from Georgia, competed in the annual Forage Spokesperson contest.

A plungerless baler, on-the-fly bale monitoring for small balers, tedder/fluffer modifications, bale wagon strapper, improved hay loading equipment … basically, if a piece of equipment sits at Randi B Farm very long, it will never be safe from tinkering. It’s going to be tweaked and improved. That’s a fact.

A producer who is producing a quantity of hay can’t continue to produce 30-pound bales at 100 bales an hour; that producer can’t meet demand.

Last winter, a university ag economist told a group of producers in the Midwest he wouldn’t advise his students to pursue studies that fulfill their personal dreams.

Stoltzfus Hay Farm started with only 16 acres of hay and borrowed equipment, but grew into a diverse business that supports two generations. This is a classic story of a father mentoring and transitioning his hay business to his sons.

I interviewed Craig Stoltzfus and his sons, Ryan and Quintin, on their hay farm on a beautiful day in Elverson, Pennsylvania.