“There was a period where we still did business together, and through the years, we’ve eventually split up.
“We had six years of transition,” Knobbe said. His father and uncles, who were all a part of the family operation, had to split up their operation to make it work. But coming back home into an operation that involved his father and two uncles, Knobbe also had another cousin who wanted to return at the same time. “My dad was having health troubles, and that is when I decided to come back home,” Knobbe explained. He came home from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor’s degree in ag economics, but adding him to the family feeding operation was complex. Joe Knobbe, West Point, is also a farmer-feeder. “There is no way we could have scaled up our cow herd and future-proofed our operation without living where we live.”Īinsworth, as Miles noted, is like a crossroads, because there are ample high-quality cattle available in the region because of the Sandhills, but they are also close enough to irrigated corn country to take advantage of locally available feedstuffs. “There are so many opportunities because of less people and more land mass,” she said. Some young producers would find that difficult, but for Miles, it is a small price to pay for new opportunities. The Miles family loves their hometown, but they are far from many amenities. “There are trade-offs for living here,” she said. She noted that living at least three hours away from a town of 5,000 population has its own challenges. “That is why we are growing our cow herd.” “As true farmer-feeders, we are kind of a dying breed, and there are more challenges that we are facing,” Miles told the audience. In light of the challenges of moving finished cattle to a processor during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Miles and her husband took strategic steps to diversify their business and add multiple income streams, including the photography business, into the mix. One of the important points Miles made was describing her family’s mission to “future-proof” their operation, allowing them to take advantage of new opportunities that may come along, but also in preparing themselves for challenges that arise. She talked about Sandhills Blue Photography, a wedding and “small-town” rural photography business she has started that keeps her very busy, along with her farming and ranching duties and the responsibilities of being a young mother. As a founding member of the University of Nebraska Engler Entrepreneurship program when she was in college, Miles recently shared her story about the farm she and her husband operate during a panel discussion at the Nebraska Young, Beginning and Small Farmer Symposium in Lincoln. Haley Miles works as a farmer-feeder with her husband, Mark, and their young son, Bogue, near Ainsworth, Neb. No one knows what the future holds, but several young producers are employing deliberate strategies to take the gamble out of farming and navigate an uncertain future. It has been said many times that farmers and ranchers are the greatest gamblers.
0 kommentar(er)
