buy the original farm.” As the years continued, the farm grew and experienced changes in crop enterprises, and when Mike’s dad was young, almost all of the crops grown on the farm were used to feed the variety of livestock being raised. Mike recalled that as he was growing up, the farm only sold small amounts of hay and corn. That quickly changed. In 1988, Mike bought the land the office is currently on to expand the farm. After switching from small square bales to round bales, the Schuppes began taking on custom work. After leasing a 3x3 square baler and realizing the marketability of the bales, in 1998, he purchased a 3x3 baler of his own. With the new equipment, his customer base only grew. “After Dalton finished college in 2012, the business kind of exploded,” Kammy explained. “As he got more involved, we took on more and more as a business.” With time and hard work, the farm has transformed into the successful hay business it is today.
Quality over quantity After continuous growth, the Schuppes switched to 3x4 balers and now run three 15-foot swathers and three balers to achieve added efficiency. “Some customers still ask for 3x3 bales, but we just have too many acres to be running the smaller balers,” Mike explained. Each year, the business looks to eclipse alfalfa yields of 7 or more tons per acre in four cuttings. Their first cutting is
typically the biggest yielder. They strive for 3.5 to 4 tons per acre of grass in two to three cuttings, excluding the fall and spring grazing of the dry grass. The Schuppes put more emphasis on forage quality than yield and work to
Dalton (left) and Mike Schuppe check the condition of a wilted alfalfa field.
maintain a loyal customer base. “We bale when the hay is ready, not when we feel like it,” Mike noted. “There is nothing better than baling good hay, which is something that can’t be rushed.” Excluding their dry hay pastures, all their fields are under irrigation. The water is sourced from a reservoir, which gets water from the South Platte River. The system was built in the early 1900s and runs as a canal system that stretches over 40 miles. Mike and Dalton start their summer days at the diversion structures setting the water needs for the day. The water is shared with neighbors and levels are recorded daily. “It blows my mind that something built so long ago still works for us today,” Mike noted. “It just shows the original builders knew what they were doing all those years ago.” While most of their customer base is located in the eastern part of the U.S., Kammy explained that where their hay is sold depends on the weather patterns in a given year. “If it’s dry in Texas, we will have a big market there,” she remarked. “Iowa and Indiana are big markets for us, but
we’ve also delivered to Florida, New York, and Louisiana in some years.”
Multiple marketing strategies Schuppe Hay Farms uses a variety of strategies to promote their product, including a Facebook page, a website, and inclusion in the annual Colorado Hay Directory where a large number of their new buyers come from. However, their most effective marketing tool is word of mouth. “Once you get established in a community, you start getting neighbors calling, and that’s the biggest reason that we’ve grown,” Mike noted. “We provide quality products to our loyal customers, and then they do promotion for us,” he continued. In addition to promotion by their customers, often their returning truck drivers will bring new customers. People will ask the drivers where the hay came from, and they will pass along the contact information. Schuppe Hay Farms has one full-time driver who stays within 150 miles of the farm and several owner-operators they use every year for longer hauls. They will also contact freight brokers who will line up back hauls.
A family with many hats Aside from the hay business, the Schuppes also operate other successful enterprises. Kammy explained that farm cash flow can be easier to manage when multiple enterprises are a part of the larger picture. “Most of the add-on companies just fell into our laps,” she said. “After the local feed and seed retailer closed, we saw a need and took on the business. We now sell seed, livestock supplies such as minerals, and twine. This has allowed us to buy in bulk, and we have seen growth in this part of our business,” she added. Dalton also runs an excavating company called SNS Excavating. In 2013, the South Platte River flooded, so Dalton bought an excavator to help improve some farmland that they were leasing. It became clear that there were other continued on following page >>>
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