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Texas Agriculture Archive

November 4, 2005

Outstanding Young Farmer & Rancher Contest

Jay Davis
Getting closer to the consumer...

Diversity is key to Jay's operation.

Jay, Laura and Jhett Davis.

By Mike Barnett
Editor

Jay Davis says the key to his future success is getting close to the consumer. Give consumers what they want, Jay maintains, and the American farmer will stay in business.

"I think the days of being a commodity producer are numbered," this young man, who farms near Grandview, says. "I don't know how much longer we're going to be able to sustain producing a straight commodity. But I think we're going to have to figure out what we do well—each of us individually as agriculturists—and find some specialization to add value to our product and put as much efficiency into the total production as we can."

With a background in progressive agribusinesses that "think outside the box," Davis feels he's well on the way to ensuring his and his family's future.

"What I'm trying to do here is add value to my farming product by utilizing crop residues, by selling the grain I produce...the feedgrains I produce, in feeds or as gain on livestock," he explains. "I see those as being key opportunities to avoid just selling my production as a commodity at the local elevator, and being able to transform it into a more finished product—and get closer to the consumer to try to achieve that value."

Primarily, Jay describes himself as a farmer. He grows wheat, oats, corn and hay, which leads into the cattle division of his operation.

The operation runs stocker cattle. A big part of his business is preconditioning feeder cattle. He also develops replacement heifers and this year started a breeding bull development program.

"That's the key thing. We're looking at different enterprises that will complement each other," Jay explains. "The cattle complement the farming by being more productive on the land. Whether it's grazing ahead of harvest on the wheat or oat crop, or being able to graze behind the corn stalks—like this time of year we're turning in on corn stalks and grazing crabgrass and the lost grain that's out there in the field—and being able to be more productive on that land than just a straight grain crop."

Add trucking to the operation and you get a complete picture.

"The trucking, again, is just one of those enterprises that developed out of our cattle and our farming operation," he adds. "We started out just transporting our own products, be it cattle or be it grain. We've since grown the number of units we're operating and do custom work. What it allows us to do is have another source of income and our actual farming and ranching operations can create work for those trucks at slow times of the year."

Profitability is one way Jay measures his success. But he's also looking for his business to grow.

"With a growing family, I need to try to increase my income and my savings to put my children through college. That's not necessarily measured on a yearly basis, that's measured over time. You can be hit with difficult years, like we have been this year with extreme drought, and that can hurt you in an individual year."

Another obstacle to growing the operation is urban development. Grandview is on the edge of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, and farmers and ranchers in the area are feeling the pressure.

"There's a lot of demand for labor," Jay says. "And it's very competitive to get good employees in here and to retain them. Employee retention is something we're really going to have to focus on."

With urban encroachment, too, comes increasing land values, which gives producers less chance to purchase land and grow. It also cuts down on leasing opportunities.

"This area will continue to grow and will continue to be cut up," Jay says. "Unfortunately, I don't see any way around that."

Jay's wife, Laura, is on leave from a job with Lockheed-Martin to take care of their newborn son, Jhett. She's thankful their son will grow up in rural Texas.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing the opportunities and experiences that being involved in agriculture will provide for our son," Laura says. "And hopefully, he'll have the same passion and love for it as his father does."

Jay says that passion for farming is what drives him in a difficult profession.

"You've got to have a love for it to do it," he admits. "I had a good friend to me, back when I was in college, say, `Jay, go find something that you love to do, and figure out how to make a living doing it.'

"It took me probably seven or eight years for that to sink in, and that's what I'm doing here.

"This is what I love."