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CapitalPress.com
June 1, 2018
Double J Jerseys continues Bansen legacy
By ALIYA HALL
For the Capital Press
D18-1/101
MONMOUTH, Ore. —
It’s been said dairy farming
is something you have to be
born with, and Jon Bansen
stands by that ideology.
Bansen is a fourth-genera-
tion Jersey dairy farmer, and
many of his siblings and cous-
ins are also in the industry.
One brother owns the grand-
father’s dairy in Northern
California, and another has
taken over their father’s farm
in Yamhill.
He said that he had “a
grand plan for anything”
growing up, and after he grad-
uated from Dana College in
Blair, Neb., with a degree in
biology he considered going
to veterinary school.
“But I didn’t love school
that much,” he said. “I also
hate driving, and if you’re go-
ing to be a large animal veter-
inarian, you’re going to travel
all over. That sealed the deal. I
don’t recall if my dad offered
me a job on the farm or I just
showed up one day. I have
never turned in a job applica-
tion, never written a resume.”
Bansen started his dairy,
Double J Jerseys, in 1991. Af-
ter being approached by Or-
ganic Valley, Bansen switched
to organic in 2000.
“(We switched) to remain
economically viable on the
farm,” he said. “I didn’t re-
ally fully understand the or-
ganic principles and it was
new to me at that time. Since
then — it’s still economically
viable — but it’s a lot more
of a bit-player in what we’re
doing. (Organic) revolves
around producing really high
quality food that consumers
are desiring.”
He said it wasn’t a difficult
transition, but it was “a little
scary” at first. Then he real-
ized his grandfather had been
practically an organic farmer
without knowing it.
“If he could do it, couldn’t
I?” He said.
Recently, Bansen has also
stopped feeding his cows
grain, because there is a mar-
Aliya Hall/For the Capital Press
Jon Bansen of Double J Jerseys is a fourth-generation dairy farm-
er. He started his dairy in 1991 and switched to organic in 2000.
ket for milk raised without
grain supplement.
“The fat profile is much
more beneficial to human
health,” he said. “I want to
be where the consumers are;
that’s always a good thing.”
Bansen raises around 200
Jerseys on 600 acres. The
cows rotate to a new pasture
every 34 days. The forage is
a mixture of 15 plant species.
“The key is producing high
quality forage that is efficient
to milk cows on,” he said.
Bansen said he attempts to
keep as close to self-sustain-
ing as possible.
He milks the cows twice
a day in a parlor that accom-
modates six. He estimates
that it takes about three hours.
While he is aware it’s not the
most “highly efficient” parlor,
he said it works well for his
needs.
There are five employees
at Double J Jerseys: Bansen;
his wife, Juli; Bansen’s oldest
son Ross; and a father-and-
son team. Eventually, Ross
Bansen will take over the
dairy.
“It kind of means every-
thing. You can pass on your
knowledge,” Jon Bansen said.
“That’s the tragedy in farming
nowadays, a lot of farmers
who spend their life under-
standing animals and soils,
and the kid doesn’t want to
come back; it just dies with
them. It’s pretty important
that we have people who un-
derstand how to grow such
good food.”
The biggest challenge that
he has faced is “the gray mat-
ter between my ears.”
“You can’t let that get in
the way of learning,” he said.
“A lot of times I have precon-
ceived notions, and I’m pret-
ty sure about something. The
more sure you are about it the
less you should be trusting it.
It’s not letting your gray mat-
ter get in the way of making
progress.”
Progress and continuing
education is important to Ban-
sen, and it’s his favorite part
of being a dairy farmer.
“It’s a big playground,” he
said. “The conventional world
is tied into producing bigger,
faster stuff. I get to boil it
down to what really works in
the natural system, what can I
add in to work better, and how
can I make the system stron-
ger biologically. As we built
that soil system, we’ve seen
the financial end of our farm
get stronger, too.”
Bansen is already making
plans for the future once his
son takes over.
“I might just play around
with cider apples,” he said.
“It might work to plant in the
fence lines. It’s a thought pro-
cess, but I’m closer to where
my son is going to take over
the farm, and I got to have
something to do.”