meet your neighbors
A Lot of Hay By Julie Turner-Crawford
Neosho, Mo., FFA member captures state forage production awards
Jacob Morgan considers himself “It’s mostly hay for our cows,” Jacob, the a “typical farm kid.” son of Danetta and Chris Morgan, exEver since he was a boy, Jacob said he has plained, adding that they may sell surplus helped out on the family’s 200-acre farm, hay. “I don’t know how many bales I did, doing whatever needed to be done. but I did a lot of hay.” As he got older, his chores included more At the 2022 Missouri FFA State Conwork in the hayfields and helping with his vention in Columbia, Mo., Jacob’s time on family’s custom haying business. the tractor and in the fields paid off when “We bought hay for several years, but my he was presented with the 2022 Missouri grandpa (Jimmy Morgan) got into baling Forage Production Entrepreneurship and and custom haying,” Jacob said. “When Placement Combined Proficiency Award. I was about 12, I started raking for him. I He said he knew he had a strong applifinally graduated up cation but did not to baling. Grandthink he would pa taught me a win the state lot.” award. In addition to “We were up on harvesting, Jacob stage, and really I monitors soil fercouldn’t hear what tility and deterthey were saying,” mines when forJacob recalled of agers are ready for the April event. “I harvest. looked up at the “I know when big screen, and something isn’t the camera was on ready to be cut or me. I thought, ‘Oh when a field needs shoot!’ Then I got to be fertilized,” my plaque. I knew Jacob said, adding I had a decent apthat the easiest plication, but that way to tell if soils was my first year require nutrients competing at state; is to look at the I didn’t know what overall producSubmitted photos to expect. My advition. If a field is not sors (Kelin Kruse, producing adequate forages, then it’s time Jennifer Thogmartin and John Littlefield) to look at overall fertility. “We do some helped me through it, but I wasn’t sure custom jobs where the owners don’t fer- what they would look for. It was exciting tilize or lime, and you can tell too.” the difference. We will have “The neat thing to see with Jacob is leased hay ground just down the growth he showed with his SAE the road, and they produce project. What just started as rakmore than double those fields.” ing hay grew over the years to Jacob said between the family’s mowing and baling,” Jacob’s Neosho, Mo. farm and their custom operation, advisor Kelin Kruise said. he harvested in excess of 500 “And then taking on more acres of forages. management in making de-
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Jacob Morgan has been active in his family’s farming and haying operation from a young age. As he grew older, he accepted more responsibility in the custom haying operation. In April, Jacob received the Missouri FFA Forage Production Entrepreneurship and Placement Combined Proficiency Award.
cisions, like when to bale hay and what fields could use fertilizer, etc. I was also glad to see him recognized as a winner because this is something he has decided to continue after high school.” Jacob also credits his time in ag classes at Neosho High School and his participation in FFA for him to learn additional skills. “I mostly took ag mechanic classes,” he said. “I learned how to weld and do some fab stuff. My dad and grandpa wouldn’t have gone as far as my advisors.” Unfortunately, Jacob was not selected as a finalist for the national competition, but it has not diminished his spirit for the organization. “You can’t just sit around and let the world go by you,” he said. While not a part of his SAE, the Morgan family also operates a commercial Angus cow/calf operation. “Between feeding and working them, I’m involved in all of it,” Jacob said of the cattle operation. Jacob said college is not for him, and he has opted to focus on the family’s farming
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operation at Morgan Farms, and their excavating business. “My dad and grandpa started the business and I’ve been working with them,” he said. “This last summer, we were hot and heavy with the hay, but when it slows down, you still have to have something to do. We have a backhoe, track loader, dump truck and things like that. We can do just about anything, like putting in a septic system or digging a pond. I want to add more custom hay customers and maybe gather more acreage here at the farm and expand the cattle operation a little.” Continuing his family’s farming tradition, Jacob said, was the right move for him, and he encouraged other young people to consider production agriculture because there will always be a demand for agriculture. “I like riding a tractor all day,” he said. “I get to kind of be my own boss. I like being on the farm and doing the work. I put up a lot of hay, but cows eat a lot of hay, and a lot of people eat cows; it all kinds of goes together.” NOVEMBER 7, 2022
