News Outstanding Young Farm Family—Feed Grains

Outstanding Young Farm Family—Feed Grains

Outstanding Young Farm Family—Feed Grains
October 9, 2003 |

At Henderson Farm in Limestone County, environmental stewardship and wildlife management aren’t new practices that came about because of government mandates. They have been an integral part of this family farm for three generations.Chad and Marie Henderson, this year’s Outstanding Young Farm Family in the feed grains division, explained that Chad’s grandfather, G.W. Henderson, began working with the Tennessee Valley Authority decades ago to provide food and habitat for waterfowl in the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge.Today, the 1,000 acres the Hendersons farm in the Refuge constitute the bulk of the farm’s corn, wheat and soybean acreage. Chad said the agreement is mutually beneficial because the Hendersons get to farm the land, and in turn, they either plant food plots for wildlife or leave a portion of their crop unharvested.”This year, we planted 150 acres of millet and grain sorghum just for the wildlife. That allows us to harvest all of our soybeans,” Chad said. “I also leave a certain percentage of corn in areas where the feed value would be good for wildlife. This year, we left 20 acres in one field that was making anywhere from 225 to 185 bushels per acre.”Altogether, Chad and his partners–father Mike; cousin, Stuart Sanderson; and grandfather, G.W.–planted 600 acres of corn this year as well as 500 acres of wheat, 800 acres of soybeans and 1,700 acres of cotton. The family will only harvest 450 acres of corn, however, because heavy spring rains drowned 150 acres. The deluge also prevented the Hendersons from planting 200-300 acres of soybeans.”This is the first time that I remember it raining that much during planting season,” Chad said. “We would get one day of work, and about the time it started to dry out, it would rain again. I’ve got one 100-acre field that has three different ages of soybeans in it.”But Chad isn’t complaining. Like most Alabama farmers, he would rather have too much rain than too little.”We’ve had excellent rain so far. It’s gotten dry the past two weeks, and we need rain now on our soybeans. Other than that, everything is looking pretty good. Ninety percent of the cotton crop is in good shape, and we have an excellent corn crop,” Chad said in September.The Hendersons expect to average 175 bushels of corn per acre, and Chad said they will have some fields that will go as high as 225 bushels. That’s good news, especially with commodity prices hovering around the break-even mark. Even with good yields, Chad said he has to watch his expenses.”You’ve got learn how to keep your head above water with these minimum prices we are receiving. You’ve got to cut your costs down to the bare minimum without cutting your nose off to spite your face,” he said. “You can’t cut fertilizer, but you have to make good decisions.”Chad said farming grain crops helps Henderson Farm because it allows the partners to work more land with fewer employees. “It’s easier for us because corn and soybeans aren’t as labor intensive as cotton. You don’t have to have your hands on them everyday like you do the cotton. That means a lot when you are dealing with a four- or five-person operation.”Marketing is another key to the success of Henderson Farm, Chad said. “We have a DTN (Data Transmission Network) machine, and we try to watch the market prices and the weather in other parts of the country. We try to make our decisions on when to sell based on that.”Chad and Marie have been married nine years and have two children, Savannah, 7, and Jackson, who turns 5 Oct. 31. Marie works as a nurse in Decatur, but she and the kids spend as much time as they can on the farm–often riding with Chad in the combine.Chad said he would like to expand his farm operation so, one day, he could give his children the same opportunity to farm that his father and grandfather gave him.”I ‘m lucky to have the opportunity I’ve had to work my way into an operation,” Chad said.When asked why he loves farming so much, Chad, who is seldom at a loss for words, was uncharacteristically silent. “It’s just hard to narrow it down to one thing,” he finally said. “It allows you to be outdoors and be your own boss. It’s not like other jobs because you aren’t doing the same thing every day. But the best part is that you are growing something that you can put your hands on. You know that you had a part in raising a crop from seed to harvest, and you know that–good or bad–you made the decisions on how to take care of that crop.”

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