Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

Working together with other producers is a key element in Dana Stapleton's farming operation.

Whether it's equipment sharing with neighbors, owning a chopping business with another producer, or managing a pheasant hunting operation with his brother-in-law, Stapleton, 40, believes in strong working relationships.

“I enjoy working with other people. It's easy to work with others that are on the same wave length and all conscious of what's going on,” said Stapleton, who farms about 4,000 acres of wheat, soybeans, corn and operates a 900-head feedlot north of Sisseton, S.D.

Stapleton started farming with his dad, Gordon, in 1988. He says that the farming lifestyle suits him.

“I like the lifestyle of being your own boss,” Stapleton said. “In order to be a farmer you have to be self-motivated and understand that where you go with your farming operation depends on you.”

When he took over his family's farm from his dad in 1998, he says aging equipment was starting to eat into his bottom line. To change the trend, Stapleton has invested in new equipment. In some instances he has partnered with neighboring farmers to help share the expense.

“When I took over the farm, I started trading for new equipment,” Stapleton said. “When equipment starts to nickel and dime you, and the down time when you aren't in the field because of repairs starts to add up - I decided that old equipment was costing us more than it was worth.”

With just his dad, a hired man and now his son Tanner, 14, to help, Stapleton is always looking for ways to increase his productivity. The need to cover more acres quicker and the shortage of available labor, motivated Stapleton and two neighboring farmers to purchase a RoGator together.

“Equipment prices are so high that you can't own one yourself, and if you pay someone to spray it can get quite expensive - if you consider how many times you spray each field, combined we spray 24,000 acres,” Stapleton said. “Another thing is it saves hiring labor. One guy sprays their own crop while the other guy runs the water wagon and the other guy has the day off. Because we all own it, we all take care of it.”

This was not the first time Stapleton partnered with area farmers to solve equipment issues. Eleven years ago, he and his neighbor, John Oetken started O&S Custom Hire, a full-service custom chopping business. The partners chop, haul, pile and pack about 1,000 acres each year.

“I was calling around to ask someone to drive truck and so was John, so I went to him after that chopping season and suggested that we should get a self-propelled cutter. We started checking prices and decided the only way to justify the cost was to start a custom cutting business,” Stapleton said.

“It used to take me six to seven days to do my fields and now we can chop my fields in one day and his fields in one day,” Stapleton said.

Stapleton kept track of his 2007 chopping season in a 30-day diary that he kept for Farm & Ranch Living. I He says that the experience showed him just how much he did in a day.

“It was an eye-opener at how much me and my family do in one day,” Stapleton said. “And I didn't even include how many phone calls that I have in a day - but where would we be without cell phones?”

Since taking over the farm, Stapleton has put a lot of effort into improving his yields. He runs a minimum till operation - only tilling in the fall and air seeding in the spring - soil tests and utilizes information that he gleans from the precision ag equipment he has installed on his equipment to make management decisions.

“We have soil tests on every piece of ground dating back several years now. We also put a little extra on the soil in the past so if the crops needed it, it was there. Now when fertilizer is getting to these kind of prices, our fertilizer records show that we have excess, so we'll back off and see that it is still manageable,” said Stapleton, who also spreads the fertilizer from his feedlot on his fields.

Stapleton and his wife, Julie, have two children, Hope, 16, and Tanner. To Stapleton, his family comes first.

“Julie and I spend a lot of time with our kids and have them involved in a lot of activities because they enjoy activities and sports,” he said. “We figure that the kids are only around so long and we want to be with them as much as we can - it's nice to be there to watch them excel.”

Looking for an opportunity that would allow him to spend more time with his family and improve the quality of his land, Stapleton and his brother-in-law started Pheasant Haven hunting preserve 11 years ago.

“One day I was talking to my brother-in law and we talked about how when we were younger we'd go hunting and how over the years the pheasant population had gone down,” he said. “We started raising 6,000 birds - it helped that our dad had raised chickens growing up.”

Today, Pheasant Haven welcomes hunters from across the nation to hunt. The pheasant population has grown to the point that Stapleton only raises 2,500 birds each year. To keep up with all the hunters, Stapleton raises several hunting dogs and is currently building an indoor kennel and outdoor run for them.

Not one to sit on the sidelines, Stapleton is actively involved in his community and several agriculture organizations. He is an alumnus of South Dakota Agriculture and Rural Leadership Class IV, on the Sisseton Township board, on the Farmers Co-op Elevator board, a member of Roberts County Pheasants Forever, Roberts County USDA County Committee member and member of the St. Peter's Catholic Church. In 2002 he and Julie received the National Outstanding Young Farmers award from the United States Jaycees and John Deere and Company.

“Growing up my dad was a member of the Cenex board - I would say that if you don't voice your opinion and work to make things better then you don't have anything to complain about,” Stapleton said.

Stapleton will be the Tri-State Neighbor northeast South Dakota crop watcher for the 2008 growing season.