| Farm name: CSF Farms Farm location: Seibert, Colorado Names of farmers: Curt and Kerry Sayles, Patrick and Morgan Einspahr, Audrey Sayles Farm size: 5,000 acres Year established: 1987 Products: Grains (all dryland): cereal rye, corn, sunflower, millets, safflower, oats, chickpeas, buckwheat, field peas and flax; livestock: grass-fed beef, fed pigs grazed on cover crops Farm contact information: csffarms.com |
Why did you begin farming? After a stint working in the oil industry post college, I got a chance to return to the family farm. I did not like living in the city and longed for country life. I also realized that to achieve the financial independence I wanted, I’d have to be my “own boss.” Farming provided that opportunity.
What do you most enjoy about farming? Our move to regenerative agriculture has made farming fun again. I enjoy the financial freedom provided by moving away from commercial chemicals and fertilizer. Paddock grazing and cover crops have put me in intimate contact with my soil. It’s fun to ask, “What life are we going stimulate today?” instead of “What are we going to kill?”
What is your biggest current challenge? Our biggest challenge is an arid climate and erratic precipitation. Moisture makes regenerative principle easier to achieve.
What is the best piece of advice you ever received about farming? My father-in-law, who was a dairyman, once commented how the monthly milk check had allowed him to address debt and increase his success. This made us seriously reconsider fallow in our rotation (a common practice in our area). Shortly after that we went to continuous-crop no-till. It’s still a rare model in our part of the world. Every acre works for us every year. This reduces risk and normalizes our cashflow.
