Unger Farms consist of three entities. Del and Tammi Unger operate as one, Lance and Ashley Unger operate as one and the four of us also operate one together. The three operating entities allow us to have more flexibility in moving the farm forward while still being able to operate efficiently. As a whole we farm about 8,500 acres, 40% being irrigated and run 35 head of cattle for an online club calf sale.

Taking pride in making the best of what acres we have to work with, as a farm we consider ourselves high management. Multiple passes of fertilizer and nitrogen give us the ability to produce more bushels per acre while maximizing our return on the fertilizer investment. We preform multiple tissue tests during the growing season to identify plant needs in real time. Owning a sprayer and spreader has allowed us to address the specific needs of the crops in a timely manner before we compromise yield potential.

Technology is always changing from day to day and we are embracing the change to better our farm. These technologies have allowed us to variable rate our fertilizer, seed and water which have driven our farms APH higher. As a result yield maps have become more important in spreading removal back to build up soil fertility. Soil moisture probes have been useful in our extensive water and spoon feeding programs. The probes benefit us in several aspects. They can tell what water capacity we have at four inch levels, at which level we still have nitrogen and how much time we should have before we start stressing the crop.

As we have grown over the years we have had to expand our equipment inventory. We feel it is extremely important to plant our crop into ideal conditions also in a timely manner. Being able to run two corn planters and a bean planter at the same time gives us an advantage in assuring a fast start for our crops. A fast start is only as good as your ability to handle large quantity of grain in a short period of time. Three different bin sights and dryers allow us to harvest crops at optimum moisture levels while still maintaining desired efficiency. We are able to store a majority of our crop to capture better marketing opportunities and ease transportation.

We like to think we take the same approach when managing our cattle operation. Having only 35 cows has allowed us to AI multiple times, run cows closer to home, pay closer attention to cattle health and insert many embryos. In doing so this has increased our quality of calves to better serve our customer base. This year will be our third online club calf sale; not only has our passion for agriculture increased but we have gained great friendships in this life long journey.