OFI 883: An Innovation In Hay Delivery And Storage | FFA SAE Edition | Caleb Peper | Adair High School FFA

SHOW NOTES

INTRODUCING CALEB PEPER!

When I was in college I wrote a fan letter to a weather forecaster at The Weather Channel named Jill Brown.  She wrote me back and sent me a calendar with a picture of a different tornado for each month of the year.  I flipped through those photos many times, and I learned a lot of town names in The Plains that I had never known before.  One of the towns that was unfortunate enough to make that calendar was Adair, Oklahoma.

All I ever knew of Adair, Oklahoma until the Off-Farm Income Podcast came around was that they had a large tornado take place there.  I am happy to say that today I know a lot more, and it is much more positive.

In today’s episode I am speaking my third guest from Adair High School, Caleb Peper.  This was a fantastic interview, and Caleb was an absolute pleasure to speak with.  Caleb and his family are in the hay business, and they raise cattle as well.  Caleb told me that each summer they will put up 3,000 round bales and 5,000 small bales of hay for people in their community.  They do this by custom baling for folks as well as putting up their own hay and selling it.

Those numbers were impressive enough, but when Caleb told me how they deliver their hay to their customers I was blown away by their method.  Some time back Caleb’s father got the idea to purchase an old semi, box trailer.  Then he filled it with small bales of hay and sold the whole trailer load to one of their customers.  This customer then received the trailer, and it was parked on their property for the season.

The hay stays in the trailer, protected from the weather.  The farmer or rancher pulls small bales out of the trailer as needed to feed their cattle or horses.  When the trailer is finally empty, Caleb and his family go to pick it up and start again.  It is a brilliant idea.

Caleb told me that not every customer wants hay delivered this way.  Some customers consider the trailer unsightly.  However, they are now up to six trailers that they use for delivery in this manner.

Caleb loves his agricultural life.  Whether it is working in a tractor and getting the hay baled or watching their cattle grow, he enjoys his time in this family business.  When I asked what he like the most about it, he responded that it was all the time he got to spend with his family working in the business.  That is a special way to grow up!

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Ag Mechanics

HIGH SCHOOL: Adair High School; Adair, Oklahoma

MASCOT: Warriors

FFA ADVISOR: Devin DeLozier

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR CALEB PEPER:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Adair High School FFA website:

Caleb’s FFA Advisor’s Email Address: ddelozier@adairschools.org

Adair High School’s Telephone Number: 918.785.2424

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA 

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000.  In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants.  With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

• Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world.  FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
• Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation.  The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
• Farmers, ranchers and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue

Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:

Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters