12/12/05 Young Farmer and Rancher, Phillips

Jessie and Julia Phillips are raising two young daughters but they are also second generation Bingham County farmers who have found success on the farm in diversification. JESSIE -"We farm about 1800 acres. As far as crops go we just grow grain and hay. We're trying a new experiment this year with some corn for corn silage. We also have a dairy, we milk about 180 cows. Between us and the uncles we have about three thousand sheep and then we have a small herd of beef cows, about 100. So it seems like we're the jack of all trades, the masters of none. Diversification is important because each year you can't guarantee that one thing is going to be good. Some years the cows make really good money and the sheep make nothing. Its helps to pay the bills that way." JULIA "We both have college degrees in business. I have an HR emphasis in business and I use it all the time in the office. The accounting I took, because we're so diversified there's a lot of things to keep track of, making sure that our H2A guys are all up to date on their paperwork which is a challenge." Young Farmers and Ranchers Jessie and Julia Phillips, Bingham County and District chairmen and honored recently by the Idaho Farm Bureau. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott