Nelson Sensenig grew up working on the family farm raising steers, hogs and crops. At 17, he began working as an electrician doing residential and agriculture wiring. He and Susan met through friends when they were 15 and have been married for 33 years. In 1988 they bought and remodeled a 180-acre dairy farm next door to his parent's farm. They ran it as a dairy farm until they sold their herd in 2004, and along with their three sons started a manure hauling business. Nelson and Susan bought the home farm from his father in 2011 and put up two barns there to produce eggs for Pete and Gerry’s. They had no real experience with laying hens, but that didn’t deter them. Susan and Nelson visited Pete and Gerry’s home farm in NH in 2014 to learn more and liked the fact they they too were third generation farmers. “I choose laying hens because of the cleaner environment and so I could do less manure handling" he chuckles.
Eventually their son, Daryl, and his young family, built their own barns on the adjoining property and began farming for Pete and Gerry's as well. In addition to the egg barns, Nelson farms 250 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat. “I enjoy farming. ”Harvest is the busiest time and the most rewarding. Every day is harvest time with laying hens. A farm is the best place to raise a family."
"There are a variety of things that we can work on together,” Susan adds. "We plan to do this as long as we can and then turn the farm over to the next generation.” Nelson is positive about the future. “I see a real future for small family-owned farms."
"Consumers are willing to pay more for products they believe in, and Pete and Gerry’s gives small, independent farmers access to larger stores.” says Nelson. “I’m also involved in ministry work. I care about people. Life is short, but there are things we can do for others. We bring nothing with us into this world and cannot take anything with us when life is over, but we can be good stewards while we are here.”
Rottweiler named Macy
Deviled eggs
Trout fishing & Gardening
We take pride in our small family farms. We offer farm tours to let our customers get a first-hand experince of our small family farms.
