Born in 1954, I grew up in a farming family. It was 1883 when my great grandparents first settled in Salem, Idaho. For generations our family has been growing hay. As early as I can remember, I participated in the hay harvest cutting and baling the two-string hay. As I got older, I teamed up with my brother Blaine in the 80’s, first selling the three–string bale and then the one-ton bale. One thing about Idaho hay is it is blister beetle free.

By 1987, we began pressing our one-ton bales of which reduced their size to half making it possible to ship more tonnage. In 1989, we built our first warehouse in Dubois, Idaho. We chose this location because it was central to our farms and next to the railroad. There we had the first ever hay press that could press hay into 1200 lbs. We could now compress bales to 1200 lbs., 500 lbs., and 100 lbs. Because of our ability to compress bales, we went from shipping 30 ton on a rail car to be able to ship 80 tons!

To get to the east coast we dealt with a hay broker from Florida, but the demand became such that in 1992 we decided to go direct. We set up our first location in Lake City, Florida. It was 2002, nearly ten years later, we decided to purchase a larger warehouse in Ocala, which was next to the rail and more central to the horse industry and dairies. From there we have satellite locations in Fort Pierce and Williston.

It has always been my mission to provide high quality products at a fair and reasonable price to the consumer. We have specialized in growing high quality alfalfa and grasses. The hay we provide has less humidity, higher quality by means of texture and color. I love that we have a reputation for beautiful green hay.

To see satisfied customers who are pleased with our products is exciting. That is what keeps us going. The future goal is to grow and become more efficient and to meet our customers’ expectations. We are intending on being available in more locations as we expand. I love having my family involved in the business, and it is exciting to know I have family coming into the business. We look forward to meeting new customers and love to honor the ones we have.