American Farm 2

Yesterday we visited the T.J. Cook Farm northwest of Blackfoot and learned that Todd and Jennifer Cook had taken a pretty barren piece of ground and turned it into a farming ranching operation. It's pretty neat starting something from nothing.” Blood sweat and tears got them to where they are now but a strange little accident spurred things along.when their haystack tipped over. “The stacks tipped over and we broke a few bales and we found a neighbor that had some old cows and he was willing to trade those broken bales for four cows. They weren't real choice cows, people don't give away their best cows, they give away the worst and that is how it all started. We are growing. It's hard to expand farming wise so we have decided to put more emphasis on the cattle. We are up to 70 this year and hopefully by the middle of the winter we will have bought some more and maybe break that hundred mark with any luck.” The Cooks were also the first to grow timothy hay in Bingham County. “It's raised primarily in Washington State, most of it goes overseas and some of it stays domestic for horses and some of the small pets eat it.” Wife Jennifer describes the step by step growth of the operation as an amazing dream. "You know it has been living a dream. It is amazing to see what my husband has been able to accomplish. When he talks about breaking out background he doesn't really do it justice how much work you put into that and how much rock he picked. The hours and hours, sweat and tears that went into that. It's been fun to watch us take those baby steps one at a time and be successful and able to expand a little every year.” Looking into the future, the Cooks are working towards better balance. "At this point the cattle are only 10 to 15% of our operation and we hope to get 50-50. So that’s what our goal is.”