The Kasper Dairy Story
After the move, Tom had to make the fields work. Unfortunately, the land was a former cattle ranch built on an old, rocky river basin. Over the years, the Kasper family has moved thousands of tons of rocks out of the fields to get them to produce as well as they do today.
When his kids left for college, Tom decided to expand the operation. Today, the kids are back and working with Tom. Son Peter manages the cattle, daughter Janelle does the books and son Eric handles the forage growing, which now consists of 100 percent Pioneer® brand corn silage.
“Now that my brother has kids and I'm about to have my first kid, they’ll grow up experiencing the same things that we experienced together,” explains Peter. “Being able to bring all our passion together and share that with each other is a lot of fun.”
“Initially, they planted another brand. ... We’ve since converted them to 100 percent Pioneer corn silage. That improved their operation drastically.” -David Sass, Pioneer territory manager
The land Kasper Dairy sits on ranges widely in elevation — from 2,500 to 6,000 feet. The family keeps a complex rotation schedule, always with a keen eye on irrigation management. And since everything they grow is for the dairy, they work closely with local agronomist O.J. Barber. Peter Kasper and Pioneer territory manager David Sass have also formed a tight bond over the decades they’ve spent working together at Kasper Dairy.
These days, Tom still handles some management duties, but he’s inching toward retirement. “He enjoys wine more and growing grapes,” Peter explains. “He doesn’t want to say the word ‘retired,’ but he does pretty much whatever he wants to do at this point.”