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Family finds diversification is key to making a living on 160 acres

Raising healthy and responsible children while leading community projects, starting new businesses and managing a family farm require megawatts of physical energy plus the imagination of a Disney World executive, the skills of a plant biologist, veterinarian, business and marketing specialist, mechanic and nutritionist — at least the way Leah tenBensel and her husband Eric go about it.

The tenBensels own, manage and live at Prairie Sunset Farm, Inc., near Cambridge. They prepared for an entrepreneurial farming life with degrees from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in wildlife biology; Leah’s degree includes an emphasis in plant biology. As with most university degrees, they found their education fell far short of the actual knowledge needed to transform 160 acres into a prosperous business. In addition to cattle, sheep and goats, and corn, wheat and vegetables, the farm produces a variety of alternative value-added ag products for additional income.

“We succeed because we innovate,” Leah says, “and the farm is a work in progress.”

A ringing cell phone interrupts our conversation several times with customers asking to purchase cuts of frozen, fresh natural beef produced on the farm. The tenBensels produce fresh garden vegetables for sale at the farmer’s market in nearby McCook, as well as meat goats, goat milk, sheep, purebred Pyrenees/Akbash puppies, packaged cornbread mix, and fresh eggs.

A family affair

Leah and her son Caleb, ten, grow tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, egg plants, melons, green beans, and sweet corn. Caleb specializes in green, red and yellow peppers. He plants 100 pepper plants and weeds, irrigates, harvests and markets the peppers.

“He does the work and reaps the profits when he sells the peppers at the McCook farmer’s market,” Leah says. “We harvest first for our family, and we sell our surplus vegetables after we can, freeze, and pickle enough garden products to feed us throughout the year. We always think of our family first.”

A surplus of sweet corn inspired the research and development of the Prairie Sunset Farms, Inc. cornbread product. Leah researches varieties of heirloom seeds and one particular variety produced a bumper crop of sweet corn — more than they could sell at the farmer’s market.

“I couldn’t justify feeding it to the cattle,” Leah said. “I experimented with different cornbread recipes and after months of trial and error, we came up with a yummy recipe. I make the labels, and package the mix in a package that can be recycled.”

The cornbread mix business belongs to Caleb, and it is called Caleb’s Cornbread. Family and friends come together several times a year to package the product at a family cornbread “bee”. They grind the corn into flour, mix the dry ingredients, package and label the cornbread mix, and Leah markets the product in the South Platte region.

A strong demand for goats

Leah’s eyes light up when she describes the family’s goat business. Breeding, feeding and marketing goats was inspired when Leah and her husband discovered that goats are quite profitable and grow well from eating grain stubble, prairie hay, and alfalfa although the tenBensels feed them additional grain to finish their weight gain.

The live goat market in Gothenburg is where buyers from Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Texas buy for the goat meat market. Surprisingly, goat is the most popular meat sold in the world. Hispanic, Caribbean, Jamaican and other ethnic groups in the U.S comprise the domestic clientele for goat meat, and the goat meat market is expanding. In 2009, the tenBensels made more money from goats than wheat, Leah said.

Newborn goats are often prey for skunks, possums, coons, owls, eagles, coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions, but Prairie Sunset Farms lost only one goat because they also breed Great Pyrenees/Akbash dogs, a breed known for guarding herd animals. Currently, nine Great Pyrenees/Akbash pups live in a pen nearby the goat shed and goat pasture. Three adult dogs patrol the pastures keeping watch over the goat herd. The puppies will be advertised to farmers who grow alpaca, goats, and sheep, and their sale makes up a portion of the profit of the Prairie Sunset Farm.

The tenBensel’s 35 dairy goats produce milk during spring and summer.

“Goats milk is a universal milk,” Leah said. “We buy bucket calves, (calves that are separated from their mothers while they are still nursing.) and feed them goat’s milk instead of buying the powdered milk supplement. Four to five gallons of goat’s milk feeds several bucket calves at much less cost.” The tenBensels sell surplus milk to an entrepreneur who makes goat’s milk soaps and lotions. Leah says, “Potentially we will produce goat cheese for sale at the farmers market.”

Life lessons

The sheep business is in the preliminary stages of development at Prairie Sunset Farm. “Megan, our 8-year-old is interested in sheep,” says Leah. “We are raising the sheep for 4H, and Megan is learning to care for lambs and teach them to lead.” Caleb sells his animals at auction after he shows them at the county fair, and when Megan is 8, according to 4H rules, she can show her sheep and sell her animals after the fair.

“Caleb and Megan spend 10% of their profit and put the remainder in savings,” Leah said. The tenBensels pay their children for their work on the farm and believe that caring for animals, planting and working in the garden, going to county fair and the farmer’s market teaches children about money, work, responsibility, marketing, birth, death, science and a rich variety of other life skills.

Leah also volunteers to lead 40 youth in the 4H program in Furnas County. ”We believe in the values and principles 4H brings to the community and to our children, and when we work as a team, we accomplish so much without any of us being overburdened,” she said.

For the future, what Leah thinks would help them grow the business most is a licensed kitchen.

“We need a licensed kitchen to package products like our cornbread, and an industrial freezer for our frozen meat products. If we could form a cooperative in the county or with several counties, I believe a licensed kitchen would increase efficiency and profitability for a lot of family farms.”

Making a decent living on 160 acres has become a challenge in modern times. But with ingenuity, hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit, the tenBensels prove it can still be done.

Who to Contact

Leah tenBensel
Prairie Sunset Farm, Inc.
308-697-3473
eltenbensel@wildblue.net

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