On a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of August, Dan Funke zipped through a hayfield in a Krone Big M450 triple mower. He was taking the third cutting of a spring seeding of alfalfa alongside John Schruers, a full-time employee, who was driving another piece of the same machinery. The two men cut 150 acres of alfalfa in a little over an hour — a fast-paced farming activity that Funke almost forgot what it was like to be a part of.
“This is fun for me,” he said. “I don’t usually get to run the mower.”
Instead, Funke spends most of his time in the driver’s seat of a Krone 1290 high-density press 3x4 large square baler. The forage producer from Larchwood, Iowa, grows about 1,100 acres of alfalfa in the northwest corner of the Hawkeye State, making baleage and delivering it to local dairies. Funke hasn’t always been in the baleage business, though. The first-generation farmer started out making dry hay.
Although Funke didn’t grow up on a farm, he worked on one when he was in high school to put himself through college. The experience inspired him to have a career in agriculture, and he eventually bought a round baler and started doing custom work. Over time, he rented some farmland and began growing forage of his own, which evolved into his primary enterprise. Funke thought hay had more profit potential than row crops, but hitting target moisture levels before baling proved to be his biggest challenge.
Nov. 27, 2023 11:24 AM
By Amber Friedrichsen, Associate Editor
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