Custom harvesting in the Central Valley (Dan Lamb)

Click here to download Lamb’s PowerPoint presentation.

With Dan Lamb, Lamb Chops Custom Harvesting
Dan Lamb, Lamb Chops Custom Harvesting, Bakersfield, California, gave Vita Plus Custom Harvester attendees the inside scoop on the land he operates in the San Joaquin Valley of California.

The San Joaquin Valley is the most fertile land in the U.S., Lamb explained.  Thanks to the abundant, fertile land, California produces more than 400 crops. Of the 400 crops, the following are commercially produced only in California:

• Almonds
• Artichokes
• Dates
• Figs
• Raisins
• Kiwifruit
• Olives
• Clingstone peaches
• Pistachios
• Dried plums
• Pomegranates
• Sweet rice
• Ladino clover seed
• Walnuts

Lamb said California also grows nearly half of the nation’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts.  That’s why, as he explained, it is typically known as the “land of fruit and nuts.”

But, California is also home to 1.8 million dairy cows and more than 1,500 dairy farms. The average dairy farm in California has 1,200 cows and the state produces 21.3 percent of the U.S. milk supply.

Eighteen million tons of forage are harvested each year in California. Approximately 800,000 acres of corn and small grains can be found across California. More than 40 established custom harvesting operations exist throughout California to assist producers with their crops.

Lamb’s chopping operation includes a variety of harvesting equipment, including:

• 10 Claas Jaguar choppers
• 40 trucks, both 10-wheeler and semi
• 4 water trucks
• 4 dozers
• 2 Versa baggers
• 12 MacDon swathers, rotary and draper heads
• 2 low boys
• 2 loaders with forks and header adapters
• Cat forklife
• 3 service trailers with compressors, fuel tanks and oil
• 2 Oxbo mergers

In addition to his long list of equipment, Lamb relies on 16 full-time employees and more than 30 seasonal employees.

Since its origination in 1983, Lamb Chops Custom Harvesting has only had four bad days, according to Lamb. These four bad days include overturned trucks and accidents.

After a long year, Lamb Chops Custom Harvesting does its best to shut everything down for the entire month of December.

Click here for more information about Lamb Chops Custom Harvesting.