“Young farmers like Wes are the future of agriculture, and we need to support them,” he added.

Equipment Needed

It wasn’t long before that new tractor was on Kahoe’s farm. The credit application was approved with his grandfather co-signing the note. By the time Wes was 22 years old, he had purchased an additional half-million dollars worth of equipment, including another new tractor, and nobody has since asked for a co-signer.

“There was someone in that credit office to talk to” Miller, his dealer, said. “They listened when I told them guys like Wes Kahoe are the future of farming. I told them he’s got all the numbers, and if we get started with him, we’ll have him for a long time. These were people trying to help people.”

Wes plunged into serious professional farming when he was only 14 years old. That year he rented 114 acres of wheat land and borrowed his grandfather’s equipment to work it. Next, he bought his grandfather’s combine, used it to harvest his own crop and added to his income by custom cutting wheat for other farmers.

He bought 10 cows to put on grass that first winter, and his farming operation has been growing ever since. Last year, at age 22, he was honored by the Future Farmers of America when he was named one of only four national FFA American Star Farmer finalists.

More Than Projects

Competition for the prestigious FFA honor in 2001 started with 2,408 applications nationwide. Recipients were judged on their outstanding production farm supervision. The judging process involved detailed applications, visits to the farm, and careful record-keeping of farm projects. But in Wes Kahoe’s case, the records he submitted for competition were more than FFA projects; they were his real farming operation.

Feeding 20 percent protein pellets on the Kahoes’ Oklahoma farm.

Shy and quiet-spoken, Wes and his wife, Rachel, talked about the Star Farmer award and the exciting week they had at the national FFA convention in Louisville. “I didn’t do anything special just to have an FFA project,” he said. “What the judges saw on my farm and in my records were exactly what I do to make a living farming.” What he does to make a living is to grow winter wheat and run a cow-calf operation for himself. In addition, he does custom farm work that includes managing, planting, and harvesting wheat along with running calves on wheat through the winter.

While in high school, Wes rented 240 acres of wheat and 1,100 acres of grass. With his farm growing, he bought his first tractor, a used one, and carried a co-signed note to purchase his grandfather’s tillage equipment. His land, cows, and custom work increased each year through high school and beyond.

But something else was going on with this young man at the same time, and it wasn’t farming. He proposed to a young lady he knew from high school, and he and Rachel were married just 30 days after her graduation in ’99.

Important Custom Work

Custom work has continued to be a major part of the Kahoes’ farming operation. At the time of his own graduation from high school in 1998, Wes was planting and harvesting 1,300 acres of wheat on a custom basis. His custom work now includes 2,400 acres of wheat, 1,600 acres of grass, and 500 calves on the wheat.

His personal farm operation includes 600 acres of wheat, 3,200 acres of grass, 200 mother cows, and 170 calves on wheat. His cows are kept on grass through the winter and fed a 20 percent protein pellet every other day. Calves are born between January and March.

His spring calves stay on the cows through the summer and are put on wheat for the winter. Stocker calves are purchased in the fall to graze wheat. He employs one full-time hired man through the summer and a second one for a two-week period of long hours during the wheat harvest in early June. “I like it,” Wes says of his farming experience. “But it has always been long hours and hard work.” Like farmers everywhere, he says his biggest problem has been Mother Nature who has seen fit to withhold rainfall in recent years. “Without the custom work, it would be tough for me to make it in farming,” Wes said. “The custom work gives me cash flow.” Wes has discovered he can do all the farm work for people who own land and want to remain in farming, but for personal reasons are not able to perform the work themselves.

Wes Kahoe, veteran Oklahoma farmer at age 23.

“I’m at the point now I have all the custom work I want. From here on I want to expand my own operation,” he said. And with an obvious reference to his American Star Farmer award, Wes smiled and said, “For me this has never been a project, always a business."