Neal Krueger and Kent Walterscheidt met during college at OSU in 1972. Both grew up on family farms and shared a love of farming and raising cattle. Kent graduated with an ag econ degree and returned to Kingfisher County to farm full time. Neal was an accounting major and pursued a business career after graduation while raising cattle part-time.
Kent began raising top quality alfalfa hay in 1977. During this 35 years of raising alfalfa, he has had as much as 650 acres in production and has seen everything from floods to severe droughts and when the weather cooperates, top producing fields. He is the fourth generation to raise wheat, rye, hay, and cattle on his Granddad's homestead where he and his family live today. His daughters represent the fifth generation and his grandsons, the sixth. In addition to the alfalfa, he also bales crabgrass hay and sometimes rye hay.
Neal still owns part of the family farm he grew up on in Kiowa County where they raised wheat, cotton, hay, and cattle. Beginning in 1999, Neal bought farm land near Hennessey. Kent farmed it and they grew alfalfa on it. The operations have grown and in the fall of 2010 they planted 380 acres of new alfalfa. Establishing a stand of alfalfa is sometimes difficult and always a worrisome deal because you are at the mercy of mother nature. Neal wanted to plant 3 farms to alfalfa and Kent was reluctant to plant that much at one time. Mother Nature cooperated and we got excellent stands on two of the farms and a good stand on the third. Then in the summer of 2011 Mother Nature turned against us bringing severe drought and extreme heat that lasted for months. Fortunately the alfalfa survived and with this year's rain and mild winter, the hay looks great!
Kent manages the hay operation and says with rain, the prospects are good for top quality hay this year.
Check the availability of hay on the Inventory & Pricing page often as it will be updated for new production and sales. Prices offered may also be adjusted as the hay markets change.