Idaho Farmer Embraces Crop Diversity

Brett Jensen knows what it costs to the penny to buy and run four new balers each year to harvest three cuttings from around 2,000 acres of alfalfa and up to 40,000 straw bales.

“Brett’s a numbers guy, and if something doesn’t pencil out, he won’t do it,” says Braden Sommers, the forage manager of Jensen’s Idaho Falls, Idaho operation. “He understands breakdowns and downtime are very costly and that to be as efficient as possible, buying new balers and trading them in every year makes the most sense for his business.”

Jensen, a third-generation farmer, and his wife, Kristy, own and operate Brett Jensen Farms, which encompasses nearly 16,000 owned and rented acres in the eastern section of the state. In addition to the alfalfa, about 10,000 acres are dedicated to grain crops, including barley, canola and wheat, and 4,000 acres are utilized to grow Russet Burbank potatoes.

Most of the land is pivot irrigated with water sourced from deep wells and the Snake River. “The farm’s relying less and less on sprinkler pipes because they take more labor,” Sommers says. He’s a former farmer who’s known Brett for 25 years, worked for the family for seven and is one of five managers. 

Because Brett spends most of his time on the marketing and financial aspects of the business, he depends heavily on his two 20-something sons, Jace and Brayden, to oversee employees and day-to-day duties. The brothers’ five younger siblings help when they can.

In addition to the family and Sommers, the labor pool includes 25 full-time employees who truck, operate machinery and perform maintenance. Other employees include about 20 seasonal workers from Mexico via the U.S. Department of Labor’s H-2A program.

Please pass the potatoes
The potatoes are seeded in mid-April and harvested in mid-September through early October. “They’re very time-consuming and the most difficult to raise of all the crops here,” says Jace Jensen, who notes that sometimes potatoes bring in more revenue than alfalfa and vice versa.

Potatoes are measured in sacks/acre. Each sack holds 50 lbs. The Jensen’s spuds average about 450 sacks/acre and are kept in on-farm storage facilities until they’re ready to be sold to the fresh and processed markets.

Over the years, Brett has held board positions in several industry organizations, including the National Potato Council, Potatoes USA and the Idaho Potato Commission. Some promote potatoes, and others inform legislators about the crop. Jace is following in his dad’s footsteps with an appointment to one of the leadership committees of the Potatoes USA board.

Meeting forage needs near and far
Sommers and his forage team swath, rake and bale at the right times to produce a leafy product with fine stems. “After the day we cut, it’s six to seven days before we can harvest,” he says. “It’s tough to dry hay here because there’s so much dew at night and in the morning.”

The crew takes its first alfalfa cutting in late June to early July and then two subsequent ones at 25- to 28-day intervals if the weather cooperates. Before the second cutting, fields are scouted regularly to check for aphids, and if they are found, they’re aerially sprayed with pesticide.

The Idahoans use two new self-propelled New Holland Speedrower®260 PLUS windrowers equipped with Durabine™ 416 PLUS disc headers. “The machines offer tremendous horsepower and can each cover up to 130 acres per day,” Sommers says. “And we like the long, wide knives. They cut fields so clean they look like my lawn after we’re done.”

The 16-ft.-wide swaths are left in the fields for up to five days to ensure adequate drying. After that, raking commences with three New Holland H5980 heavy-duty wheel rakes that fluff the forage and gently bring two swaths together into 53- to 55-inch-wide windrows. “We keep the windrows as wide as we can for the pick-up on the baler without running over them with the tractor.”

Sommers shoots for 12% moisture when baling begins on day six or seven but can go as high as 16% and still feel comfortable. The crew uses three of the four BigBaler 340 PLUS large square balers the family owns to harvest packages that weigh 1,350 to 1,400 lbs. each. The fourth baler is only used for harvesting straw. All the bales are put into stacks, providing protection from the elements and speed loading.

High-quality hay and straw are sold to several local dairies, while rained-on bales are sold to nearby beef producers.

Premium-quality bales are shipped to two processing facilities – one in Idaho and the other in Utah – that turn them into  2” x 2” x 3” cubes for stateside retail stores and export to Pacific Rim countries.

“The processors want dark, rich green hay with very little bloom,” Sommers says. “They might cover all sides of the stacks to prevent bleaching, but if the tops get bleached, they saw 3 to 4 inches off.”

While the family makes and markets hundreds of tons of alfalfa annually, customers still want to buy more. “We just don’t have enough product for them,” Jensen says, who notes the family and employees handle all trucking duties and factor in those costs when pricing hay.

The Jensens are very satisfied with their decision to use New Holland equipment exclusively on their forage crops. 

“We’ve never been wrong about that,” says the millennial farmer. “Great customer service and trustworthy relationships are a big part of why we use New Holland. Our dealer and the dealership are awesome to work with.”

Sommers adds, “If I’m out at midnight working and I have questions or problems, I can call the sales manager, and he’ll pick up. If he can’t fix the issues over the phone, he’ll send someone out immediately instead of waiting until morning. That means a lot.”

Controlling wildlife losses
Just like dairy and beef cattle, several species of wildlife – both large and small – have voracious appetites for the Jensen’s hay. “Several elk herds migrate from Yellowstone to this area in fall and then overwinter here. The herds, often up to 500 head, can eat 50 tons of hay a night,” Sommers says.

Haystacks are checked regularly and fenced to prevent those losses from elk and deer. The tops of the stacks are also covered before the snow flies to curb weather losses.

Smaller critters, including voles, ground squirrels and rock chucks, also like to munch away in the stacks. “We put bait out to help prevent damage, and that’s expensive,” Sommers says. “My guys also check the irrigation pipes daily for mice because those little pests love to eat the rubber on the gaskets.”