Emporia-based custom cutters take to the roads, covering 2,000 miles
By Brandy Nance
Saturday, May 19, 2007
By Brandy Nance
nance@emporiagazette.com
From now until late this year, it’s all about the harvest for Dan and Stephanie Skinner, owner/operaters of Skinner Harvesting, a custom cutter business that covers more than 2,000 miles. The Skinners, along with their crew will travel from Texas to the Canadian border harvesting crops for farmers.
Dan Skinner started the custom cutting business 15 years ago with a John Deere 8820, a 1975 Kenworth cabover tandem and a 1975 Ford Louisville tandem. In the fall of 1997, Stephanie Skinner came on board and began helping with the operation. Throughout the years, the Skinners have added more equipment to meet their customer’s needs. This year, the Skinners have three combines.
The Skinners will start in Texas, southwest of Wichita Falls, work up the Texas Panhandle, then cut in Southwest Kansas, move to Colorado and then to Montana, where they have three large stops. They then backtrack back into Kansas in time for corn and milo season.
“We’ll hopefully be back by the first of December,” Dan Skinner said.
The Skinners advertise nationally for their crew. They generally take five to seven young men with them. They have two crew trailers with full-size showers, stoves and sinks.
“They are custom built for what we do,” Stephanie Skinner said.
Part of the business is networking, Dan Skinner said. In 1999, the Skinners started working with another custom cutting operation run by Carl and Karen Figgins. This relationship lasted until the Figgins retired. Working with another crew allowed both crews to hit as many customers as possible.
“We learned a lot from them,” Dan Skinner said. “It’s a little different business. We work together with our competition.”
The custom cutting business hinges on the weather, Dan Skinner said.
“Mother Nature rules the whole deal,” Skinner said. “Our livelihood is (determined) by Mother Nature.”
Stephanie Skinner pointed out a few things that sets their business apart from other custom cutter crews. They hire only American workers and make sure all their workers have CDL licenses. Skinner said she devotes her time to keeping the crew’s mind on harvesting by making sure they have home-cooked meals and the laundry is done.
“We feel the boys don’t need added stress. They don’t need to worry if they’re hungry and where they’re going to get their next meal,” she said.
Dan Skinner agreed.
“If our crew is not taken care of then things don’t run smoothly,” he said. “We need to focus on our work.”
The Skinners hand-pick their crew, starting in early December to find their team for their next harvest season. Stephanie Skinner said there is a lot of blind faith involved in the operation.
“There’s a lot of stress put on them,” she said. “They are living with seven people they don’t know. There’s a lot of trust and a lot of being open and honest.”
A lot is expected of the cutting crew. Oftentimes, they crew is out in the field by 7:30 a.m. and don’t return until after midnight. Dan Skinner said it is crucial that the crew enjoy being out in the field.
“I’ve always liked being out in the field,” he said. “If you don’t like to be out there, then it’s not for you.”
Like all businesses that require travel, the Skinners are taking a hit with gasoline prices.
“We’re faced with fuel and high insurance,” Stephanie Skinner said. “We’re battling the same demons everybody else is.”
Even with high fuel costs, the biggest expense is machinery, Dan Skinner said.
“We try to keep our rates up to cover the costs,” Skinner said.
There has to be a balance when it comes to rates. The Skinners have to keep their rates up, but without pricing themselves out, Stephanie Skinner said.
Despite the challenges of running a custom cutting operation, the Skinners said they enjoy it.
“For Dan, that’s always been his dream,” Stephanie Skinner said. “He’s got a burning desire to do harvest.”
Dan Skinner said custom harvest operations are diminishing.
“What we do is going by the wayside,” he said. “People don’t want to live like this. It isn’t like it used to be. There is a need for us, but there’s not the same people in it. Ever since the late 1990s, the economics have just been turned upside down.”
There is a thin profit margin in the operation too. Stephanie and Dan Skinner both hold full-time jobs during the winter months.
“If doesn’t afford us the luxury of not working,” Dan Skinner said. “We do what it takes to keep our business moving ahead. If you stub your toe in this business you will never catch back up.”