News OYFF—Hay & Forage Division

OYFF—Hay & Forage Division

OYFF—Hay & Forage Division
July 27, 2004 |

He may not have grown up working in the fields or helping his dad with the crops, but Thomas Ridgeway has always known farming was what he wanted to do with his life.”I’ve had a fascination with agriculture since I was a small child,” Thomas said. With help and encouragement from long-time farmer and neighbor Milburn Chesser, Thomas worked for local farmers while still in his teens and a few years later started his own farm.What began as a childhood dream has matured into a thriving operation, and although he started from scratch, today Thomas and his wife Jennifer farm 567 acres in DeKalb County. Thomas has always had an interest in hay and hay products, and his commercial hay business now ships throughout the Southeast. Catering to the equine industry, the Ridgeways’ farm has been successful, growing from a one-tractor operation in 1992, to a business that employs up to six part-time helpers during its busiest season.”The commercial hay business is kind of unheard of in this part of the country,” Thomas admits, but he has worked hard to make it flourish. While it takes time to build a reputation, he believes that “in the farming business, a man’s word still goes a long way, and that’s what we try to hang on to.”Thomas has found the hay business gives him the freedom to sell directly to his customers. Although row-crop farmers must accept the market price, he has more freedom to dictate his own price, if production costs rise.In the future, the Ridgeways expect to see their farm continue to grow and are thankful for the help that the Farmers Federation has given them as they have started their farm. “The Farmers Federation has been a real big asset to us,” Thomas said. “They’re doing a lot of good things for the farmer, and they’re definitely the voice of agriculture in Alabama.”

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