Amanda Senn introduced Mason Kisamore, who frequents the Kent Farmer’s Market. Amanda noted that Mason met his wife Stacy at the Randolf Fair. Mason, his wife along with sons Harlan and Emerson raise animals, supplying meat for Dumas and the Farmer’s Market.
Mason told us that he has been involved with farming his entire life. He started helping on his dad’s farm and now he has his own farm business. He owns over 20 acres of land and leases an additional 600 acres of land, to grow crops and raise animals. They raise cattle, lambs, pigs, turkeys, chickens, laying hens and milk cows. They sell pork, lamb, beef to customers at Dumas Meats and the Kent Farmer’s Market. They also sell fresh turkeys and eggs.
Mason talked about his wife’s egg selling business. She started with 20 chickens and is now up to 500 chickens. They sell about 250 dozen egg per week.
The crops that are grown on the farm include corn, soybeans, and hay. The corn and hay are used for feed and the soybeans for cash.
Mason talked about some of the difficulties with being in farming. He noted that it can be difficult to get animals processed. There can be long waiting times for available processing. He hopes that problem will level off fairly soon. Financing can also be an issue. He uses lines of credit during the months when he is not receiving income. Farm equipment is also very expensive to buy.
Future goals for the farm include building a storage facility for grain storage. In addition, Mason would like to retire the debt on the current property and buy more land for farming.
There were numerous questions asked of Mason about his extensive farm operation.
