Beckstead Family - Custom Harvesters & Ranch Operators

For our next feature, please welcome Tana Beckstead and her family as they share with us their unique agricultural story! 

Our agriculture story is made up of Beckstead Harvesting LLC, Mount Oxford Ranch and Oxford Mtn. Ranch LLC. We are Doug and Tana Beckstead and our three children are, Wiley age 17, Savannah age 14 and Hazen age 8. 

We live in southeast Idaho in a small town called Swan Lake (about 45 miles south of Pocatello, Idaho and 45 miles north of Logan, Utah) along Oxford Mountain.

As a family we operate and manage two separate farm and ranch operations owned by different corporations and businessmen. Mount Oxford Ranch in Downey and Preston, Idaho is a cow/calf operation with 350 Black Angus beef cows and calves as well as alfalfa and irrigated grain crops. Oxford Mountain Ranch, LLC in Swan Lake, Idaho is a cow/calf operation with 100 head of Black Angus cows and calves as well as the alfalfa, irrigated grain crops and dry land grain and safflower. Our oldest son Wiley pretty much runs the Swan Lake place by himself - he does all the pipe moving, field work and runs the cattle on his own - with a little help from Grandpa Beckstead occasionally in the summer. All together we farm close to 4500 acres.

In addition to operating the two ranches we also started our own custom harvesting business as a family. Two years ago we purchased a John Deere 9560 combine and we custom cut grain crops for farmers in the local area. Our little business is growing and last year we were able to buy a semi and a grain trailer to haul grain. We also own about 10 good ranch horses and the kids like to participate in local rodeos and jackpots in the summer time. Our older children, Wiley and Savannah both got youth loans through our local FSA office and purchased their own Angus cows and heifers and raise them along with the bigger herds. The kids plan on attending college with the money they make from selling the calves.

Doug and I (Tana) have been married for 18 years and have been involved in agriculture our entire lives. I was born and raised on a small dairy and beef cattle operation in Downey, Idaho and was active in 4-H and FFA while growing up. I was the Marsh Valley High School Chapter FFA president in 1994 and the District FFA President in 1995. Doug started working for a dry farm in the Preston, Idaho area when he was in his early teens and grew to love every aspect of farming. He worked the dry land hills and fields with old D-4 caterpillar machines and John Deere hill side combines. His blood runs green and nothing compares to John Deere when it comes to farm equipment! 

A typical day for our family is long and busy! Right now it is summer time so there is a LOT of pipe moving going on and we are just finishing up 1st crop hay. Wiley takes care of the pipe at the Swan Lake place and Doug, Tana and Savannah move the pipe at Mount Oxford Ranch. (Our little Hazen likes to play in the water and get the end plugs for us-pretty soon he’ll be big enough to lift the pipe!) We work together every day as a family. YES, we all have to work on the ranch! Whether we are calving cows or doctoring or branding calves or cutting or baling hay or disking or drilling a field, we all have important jobs to do! Doug hires a part-time hand to help out in the summer at Mount Oxford Ranch and also hires on temporary help from January to April for calving and branding season, but for the most part we do it all as a family.

My favorite part of working and living on a ranch is getting to raise my kids here. There is no better way in my opinion than growing up and working on a farm or ranch! Our kids have learned the value of a hard day’s work and they are responsible, knowledgeable kids for that very reason. We get up early and go to bed exhausted, but I know my kids aren’t out making trouble or doing drugs or worse. 

We do like to have fun too! Our favorite time of year on the ranch is branding season. We make a big day out of the brandings and I cook a big meal and we make a party out of it. We have great friends that love to help us brand and we never have to pay them to help.

When our youngest son Hazen started Kindergarten they had to give him a test to see what level he was at and the teacher asked him a series of questions and one of the questions was “What are the four seasons of the year?”. Hazen answered just as cool as could be, “Well there is calvin’ season, brandin’ season, farmin’ season and huntin’ season!” The teacher thought that was the cleverest thing she had ever heard. In his world these are the seasons on the ranch. Our local FSA agent heard the story and has a poster hanging in her office with the Four Seasons by Hazen Beckstead.

The one thing I wish people could understand about our particular ranching and farming story is that just because we work for a corporation doesn’t mean the money for the ranch is just flowing free at our disposal. Many times we hear people say “You have it so easy because the owners just buy everything you need or you don’t have the stress because you don’t have to worry about the bottom line.”. This is so not the case! If anything we worry more about making things work and being in the “black” at the end of the year. Doug and I have to put together a yearly budget and operating expense account and we have to pencil out how things will work and run smoothly. If we are short or don’t pay off these expenses we have to answer for it at the end of the year. We run these ranches just like we would our own if we had our own ranch.

Thanks for the great feature Tana! Agriculturalist come in all shapes and sizes - just like you! If you or someone you know should be featured on Faces of Agriculture please contact us today! 

Anne of Feedyard Foodie

Today we welcome Anne from Feedyard Foodie! Anne runs a cattle feed yard operation while her husband farms, and together they raise three daughters in Nebraska. Welcome Anne! 

My life changed the night of October 31, 1993. I was a city girl athlete and freshman at Dartmouth College. My girlfriends and I were bending college rules and attending a fraternity party on campus. Amidst games of ping pong, laughter, and loud music I looked across the room and my world jolted just a little bit. He smiled at me and his beautiful blue eyes drew me in.

Just six weeks earlier, my mom’s parting words as I boarded a plane for college were “Anne, stay away from those senior boys”. Somehow, during the ensuing weeks, those words were lost in the love that bloomed between the football player farm boy from Nebraska and the swimmer girl from South Florida. 

We married in June of 1996 and moved back to the farm in Nebraska a year later: Matt with his masters degree in Engineering and Business, and I with a BA in psychology. We passed on higher paying city jobs, choosing instead a rural lifestyle working in agriculture. Sixteen years later, we have added three daughters to the mix of cattle and crops, but we continue to make our lives in partnership with the land in Dawson County Nebraska.

The first thing that I learned when I moved to Nebraska was to buy a hooded sweatshirt to combat the wind, the second was how to “run” a scoop shovel at the cattle feed yard. A farmer and an engineer, Matt went to work on the crop side of the farm growing alfalfa, corn, wheat and soybeans; and dehydrating the majority of the alfalfa into animal feed called dehy pellets. Today, he farms approximately 5000 acres in the Platte River Valley and is a partner in a nationwide alfalfa distribution company, http://alfagreensupreme.com. 

 
Matt had no interest in the family’s cattle feed yard, and I had always loved animals so I asked my father-in-law if I could go to work at the feed yard. When he finished laughing in surprise at my request, he gave me an hourly wage job and I put on my blue jeans and went to work. 

· I learned to read bunks and run the feed truck.
· I learned to ride pens and check cattle health.
· I learned to administer animal health products and be a member of the processing team.
· I learned the book work and the business side of running a feed yard. 

Most importantly, I learned that working with your hands to care for animals was incredibly rewarding. In the years that followed, I added cattle buyer to the mix and today I procure 90% of the cattle that are fed at Will Feed, Inc. In the early 2000’s, I became involved in U.S. Premium Beef’s Age and Source Verified pilot PVP program and began tracing cattle from the ranch all of the way to the packing plant.

In my years spent as cattle buyer, I have met some of the finest people that I have ever known. I established relationships with ranchers who were interested in tracing their cattle and tracking performance. As a result, I transitioned the feed yard philosophy to a concept of vertical collaboration: channeling performance and management information on cattle up and down the production chain. 

A psychologist at heart, I strive each day to gain a better understanding of both the cattle that I raise and the people who benefit from them. I have instilled a philosophy of low stress cattle handling and Beef Quality Assurance at the yard, turning the focus to high quality holistic animal care. In the spring of 2011 I looked outside of my farm and launched a consumer focused blog http://feedyardfoodie.com in order to make my cattle feed yard transparent to all of those great folks who eat beef!

Last year, Feed Yard Foodie reached more than 70,000 people as I answered questions about beef production and talked about our family and our farm. Blogging has not only allowed curious visitors to view life in a feed yard, but it has also made me a better cattle feed yard manager. The virtual perspective of my readers constantly pushes me to offer better care to my animals and raise awareness of food quality and safety. 

I do not know what the next sixteen years has in store for Matt and I and our daughters, but I can attest to the fact that the previous sixteen years has made me a true Nebraskan at heart as well as a passionate advocate for agriculture. I often find myself thinking of this mantra from Winston Churchill: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts…

Thanks to Anne for giving us the honor to share her story on the Faces of Agriculture blog today! If you have any questions about beef or how your food is raised we encourage you to contact Anne! You can also learn more by visiting her blog, Facebook page, and twitter! 

If you or someone you know is involved in agriculture and would like to share your story, please contact us today! You could be the next Face of Agriculture! 

Morgan Kontz - A First Generation Farm Wife

Today we welcome Morgan Kontz of South Dakota. Morgan is the author of the blog "First Generation Farm Wife." She is a great agvocate for agriculture - working hard to represent agriculture and promote conversation about food and farming.

Hi! My name is Morgan Kontz, a First Generation Farm Wife, from Eastern South Dakota. My husband and I farm in a partnership with his brothers, their wives, and my in laws. Between the three families we have 8 kids involved in the operation. Talk about a LARGE family farm!

(My husband, my daughter, and I at Mt. Rushmore. We went to a South Dakota Corn Board retreat...my husband is a Director on the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council)

We farm corn, soybeans, alfalfa, raise beef cattle, and run a beef feedlot. We stay quite busy year round- whether it’s in the fields, feeding cattle, working on equipment, or moving a ton of snow!

A typical day for me on the farm could include many things, or sometimes very little, depending on the time of year. This last harvest season I started my day getting our daughter ready for a day in the tractor and fixing meals for the day to feed the farm. Once I got to the farm I would typically spent the entire day in the tractor. Around bed time I would take our daughter home so our babysitter can get her settled for bed, and then I would be back in the tractor until the late hours of the evening- or the early hours of morning. However, you look at it!

During the non busy season things are a bit less busy for me around the farm. I spend a good chunk of my time during a month cleaning cattle water fountains and fencing with my husband every now and then. I also do bookwork, pay bills, and keep tabs on our breeding herd of cows- and those are just a few of the things I know need to get done. My schedule can vary depending on what my husband needs- whether it’s giving rides, watching gates, running for parts, or sometimes just having a family date in the tractor.  

(Cleaning cattle fountains- water source for animals)

(Filling salt and mineral tubs- supplements for our breeding cows)

Since we are involved in such a large operation sometimes being on the farm alone is very rare. The days where I get to spend with my husband just the two of us (well the three of us I should say..now with our daughter!) is probably one of my favorite parts. I wouldn’t trade being involved on a family operation for anything- but there is something about sharing what we both love when it’s just the two of us!

One of the unique things about our operation is how we split a lot of our duties. The women on the farm do the bookwork and split the responsibilities in the office. We also do a weekly rotation of cooking meals for the farm. Most of the year this includes the noon meal. During the busy seasons it includes two meals a day, delivered to the field. We also split our Sunday chores and holiday chores so that each guy has a chance to spend time with their families.

(Delivering supper to the field during harvest)

One of the things that I wish consumers understood about farmers is that many of us are family owned and operated businesses. 98% to be exact. I always get many shocking looks when I discuss that with various people at different events. I didn’t come from a farming background, although I grew up loving agriculture and made it one of my passions to educate others on agricultural production and practices in modern farming (I have a degree in Agricultural Education). I think looking back I would have been stunned to know that 98% of farms are family owned and operated, so it’s fun and enlightening for me to be able to share that with others.  

I am very involved in the industry and always have been in some way or the other since high school. When I met my husband and moved to South Dakota I became a first generation farm wife. Other than my time on the farm I am also a volunteer for CommonGround. The organization is sponsored by National Corn and United Soybean boards. Our main goal is to have a conversation about food, and of course farming! 

Being involved in the Ag industry outside of our farm is something my husband and I take very seriously, and something we both enjoy. Even if it’s just a simple conversation about small areas of farming it is so important that consumers feel confident and establish trust in farmers again! 

Years ago farmers would have never anticipated having to defend their livelihood. Today, I believe it is more important than ever as farmers and ranchers to share our stories in a positive light. Consumers need to feel safe in their food decisions and I believe their is no one more skilled in telling the story of America’s agriculture than us!

To read more about our family farm check out my blog:
www.sdfarmwife.blogspot.com

Have questions about Food? Check out the CommonGround site to meet other “experts” in agriculture!
www.findourcommonground.com

Thank you Morgan for a great feature!!! Keep up the great work!!! Be sure to check out her blog to learn more!  

You could be the next FOA! It's easy - just send an e-mail to foafeature@gmail.com to learn more!