Lar Voss of Fort Collins, Colorado

Aiming for a goal of 10 tons of hay under his four Valley pivots, Lar Voss of Colorado Hay LLC near Fort Collins grows grass hay primarily for horse owners. He credits Clint Fiscus and Valley Irrigation of Greeley for his recent purchase of two 7000 series machines to go with a pair of 8000 series pivots.

Voss admits he didn’t feel the need to scope out the competition when he was ready to buy a pair of new pivots. “No need to waste the time. If my local dealer assures me it will work fine, he’s the one on the hook and he’s never let me down before,” says Voss.

“We like our 8000 systems. They work great. We have no reason to switch. Clint assured me the 7000 would work fine on these two small, level fields and since they’re a little less expensive, that’s what we went with. I chose the 7000 number one because it said Valley on it, number two, because I was buying it from Clint who I trust, and number three was because it was a small field and 3-tower system,” states Voss.

Voss is very satisfied with his dealership relationship and says it was even reinforced this year. “I rented another farm that had a new competitor’s pivot on it and the service from the competitor is 8 to 5 Monday to Friday perhaps. The service from Clint is essentially 24 hours a day, if I had to, 7 days a week. I try not to bother him that much but if I had to, I could,” he admits.

“When we have a problem, it’s nice to be able to talk to somebody and they oftentimes can help us solve it right over the phone,” tells Voss. “Usually when something goes wrong with the pivot, it’s probably something that we did. But the service is great. Things keep running. And out here that’s important. I like Valley and the service I get from Valley Irrigation,” he states.

When asked what the Valley brand meant to him, Voss quickly rattled off: “Dependability. Reliability. Good customer service.” He admits that he bleeds Valley blue as well as John Deere green. “I buy green tractors because, so far, they’ve been reliable and I get great service and if I ever need parts, I can get it. Same thing with Valley. I find something that works and stick with it. An old Army buddy told me it only costs 10 percent more to go first class.”

Scott Lewis of Johnstown, Colorado

Scott Lewis of Maplewood Acres near Johnstown, Colorado, recently put up a 7-tower Valley 7000 series. “I’m not a farmer by trade. My exposure to pivots was driving by them on the highway up until a year ago. I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t have the experience level,” confessed Lewis.

“Talking to several farmers in the area that had bought pivot sprinklers recently is what convinced me to go with Valley. A lot of it was testimony, too — ‘My sprinkler was down in the middle of irrigation season and Valley was out there on the spot when I needed them.’ It goes back to the servicing. That was what sold me. The fact is they are all going to go down occasionally but the commitment in the service that they’re going to be up and running again…that was a big one.”

While Lewis did quote a competitor to compare costs, he noted subtle differences in pricing packages but was clear about the choice he made and why: “The reason I went with Valley equipment is their reputation and also the Valley Irrigation dealership.”

Lewis explains his rationale for the rest of his decision-making process. “They’re complex pieces of equipment that need to have a certain amount of service and my rationale for choosing Valmont was as much to do with the dealer as it was to do with the product,” he clarified.

Once he’d chosen the Valley brand and dealership, he still had a choice of models — the 7000 or the 8000 series. Lewis admits the Valley Irrigation salesman, Clint Fiscus, helped him understand the differences in design, which he could appreciate as a mechanical engineer. “Since the land was relatively flat, I felt the value of the 7000 was just better than the 8000 for my conditions. It’s not a real demanding setting.”

“I certainly appreciate the reason for having the extra structural strength of the 8000 series but I didn’t see any reason why my farm I needed it. And this is going to be for a limited timeframe. The farm is in an area that is likely to be annexed into the town within the next five years if not sooner,” added Lewis.

“So I chose to go a little lighter weight [with the 7000 series]. I know it had a lot of testing done ahead of time and that’s a big reason I went ahead and chose it. I know Valley had them out on test in a number of places for a period of time,” Lewis shared. “In the end, it came down to the honesty and integrity of the salesman for me.”

James David Thornton of Screven, Georgia

James David Thornton of Screven, Georgia, has been buying Valley pivots for the past several years and now has eight units, including the new 7000 series installed in February in a tobacco field. He farms 5500 acres with 2500 irrigated for tobacco, corn, wheat, cotton, peanuts and soybeans.

He’s been very pleased with performance of the new 7000 pivot so far and realizes the importance of reliable irrigation, especially this year as his area is facing the worst drought conditions he’s ever seen.

“Valley has a good product and Chaney Bush [in Fitzgerald, Georgia] is a good dealership. They have the service to stand behind their product and take care of me and that’s the name of the game,” states Thornton.

“Wayne [Arant] is very helpful and dependable. The employees he has are all very nice and friendly when they come out and they’ll do their darndest to solve the problem. Ninety-nine percent of the time, they’re going to take care of it on the first visit out,” Thornton tells. “They’re just good people. That’s all I can say.”

“I have looked at other brands back several years ago. But when Wayne [Arant] came out the first time to show me a Valley, I haven’t looked at anything else again. I’ve been very satisfied with Valley. It’s an excellent product,” he concludes.

Allison Person of Fort Collins, Colorado

Allison Person of Mountain View Stables in Fort Collins, Colorado, explained how her late husband Rod looked at “everything on the market” and then chose the 7000 series pivot primarily because of Valley’s reputation and then for the size of the unit and the field, as well as the cost associated with it.

The 7000 series pivot is helping her grow even more grass hay than before. “It’s growing way too fast — which I’m not going to complain about! It’s been awesome!” laughed Person.

“Previously, I was flood irrigating and that was an insane asylum there,” she admitted. “This will be our first production [with the 7000 series] but I can already tell [how much more hay].”

“We have a horse-boarding operation with over 110 horses and I go through about 25 tons [of hay] a month,” Person stated. Because she doesn’t feed straight grass to her horses, she’s not able to use the majority of her own production but plans to change that next season. “I imagine I’ll probably sell most of my hay this year and hopefully next year put the field in a mix of alfalfa and then use all of it myself,” said Person.

She realizes the Valley 8000 series is the industry standard for durability but believes her 7000 series is also a high-quality product. “It’s been totally durable. I haven’t had any problems with it whatsoever,” noted Person. “It went through a winter of horses being right by it and came out totally non-fazed.”

While Person has nothing but praise for her new 7000 series pivot, she also has only positive things to say about her local dealership, Valley Irrigation of Greeley. “They have explained everything to me. I couldn’t ask for anything better! Clint [Fiscus] has gone above and beyond what he’s ever needed to do,” she remarked.

In the near future when she buys some new land, Person concluded, “I hope to be putting in another pivot soon and I definitely will go with Valley!”

Jerry Gigot of Garden City, Kansas

Jerry Gigot farms south of Garden City, Kansas, on 1200 total irrigated acres of sandy ground raising alfalfa under nine Valley pivots, including two new 7000 series machines. “They were bought to replace existing Valley pivots that basically went beyond their useful life. Finally, corrosion set in. One was a 1977 7-tower and the other one was a 1980 model 10-tower,” tells Gigot.

He says he chose these new models “because of our past experience with Valley irrigation equipment. I mean, when you’ve got a piece of equipment that lasted almost 30 years, why change brands?”

Clearly, Valley equipment has proven plenty durable for Gigot’s operation. “We really don’t have any terrain that’s extremely hard on them or any half-mile systems so we’re not as concerned about some of the strength issues that other farmers are concerned about. So that just gives us that much more life due to the fact that our terrain and soil conditions aren’t such that it would put an excessive amount of strain [on the pivot]. We have sandy soils so we don’t have big wheel tracks or anything like that to contend with,” he explains.

“And it really wasn’t because the drivetrain or the basic system [wore out],” adds Gigot. “It was just because we have some real hard water conditions and the pipe was beginning to get worn down. If the pipe was still good, we’d probably still be running the old ones. The drivetrain, gearboxes…it’s just next to none. There’s nobody even close. Overall, it’s just a great line of equipment,” he states.

He admits he’s dealt with a few competitive models when he added new land to his operation. “We immediately replaced the competitive brands just to keep all Valley equipment on the property. Our people are trained to work on the Valleys and service them and operate them. They’re just better pieces of equipment. So we just don’t run competitive equipment very long,” confesses Gigot.

“We looked at the possibility of poly lined or more corrosion resistance but 20-30 years is still good life so we didn’t go with anything different…we just went with the standard again. I probably won’t be farming in another 20 years so I’ll let somebody else worry about it,” he laughs.

But Gigot comes from a long line of Valley blue fans. “My dad was 93 when he retired. He just bought a new Valley the year before he passed away. He never owned anything but a Valley. His first one was bought in ’63. He always had his Valley jacket and Valley cap on,” recalls Gigot.

Gigot is fortunate to have two quality Valley dealerships to depend on for sales and service — Western Sprinkler out of Colby and Teeter Irrigation in Garden City. “I don’t know of a bad Valley dealer in this part of the country. They all do a great job,” praises Gigot. “They’re outstanding companies that give good service. They put the equipment up right, as far as the installation’s concerned, and furnish good technical assistance when needed and always have parts.”

Mike Sabatka of Wahoo, Nebraska

Mike Sabatka grows corn on land near Wahoo, Nebraska, where he just added a new Valley 7000 pivot after years of purchasing a competitor’s brand. When his trusted salesperson, Todd Thompson, switched to sell Valley equipment at Mid-Continent Irrigation of Fremont, Sabatka followed. “I was debating between two brands but we’d bought pivots from Todd before and we wanted to stay with him and I had also wanted to try a Valley pivot, too,” admits Sabatka.

“I just wanted to try something different and I always liked the way they were made. We put together all our pivots ourselves and I think this one [Valley] was a little easier. I like the way it was put together — real easy, simple. Even for our first one, it went really easy and everything fit like it should.”

Sabatka says he considered his choices with Valley between the 7000 series or the 8000. “Between the two cost-wise, I saved money that way without sacrificing quality, too. I know the 8000’s built a little heavier but because the ground I’m running this on is fairly flat, I saved a little money that way which I could put toward something else,” he explains.

According to Sabatka, Mid-Continent Irrigation went above and beyond and he speaks highly of his salesperson, Todd Thompson. “He was a great big help when we put it together ourselves. Whenever I called him, he was always there and could answer my questions or could find out from someone,” shares Sabatka. “That was really helpful!”

Sabatka’s 7000 series pivot will be running this summer on his corn crop. “I’m excited to try it but not to spend the $3 diesel fuel for it. But that’s part of it I guess. When a guy needs it, it’s there. If we had them just years before it would have made a big difference but we didn’t. Now that we have them, it’s a good insurance policy,” he laughs.

Van Steedley of Marshon, Georgia

Van Steedley owns 3000 total acres of property near Marshon, Georgia. He raises corn, peanuts, hay, pine trees and blueberries on about 500 acres of slightly rolling farmland. Of that, about 300 acres are under irrigation with two Valley 8000 series pivots and one new 7000 series machine.

His main reason for purchasing the 7000 series with a low pressure sprinkler system was the wind. “The wind does not affect the low-pressure pivot like it does the high-pressure one,” explains Steedley. “We’ve had a lot of wind the last couple months so I was looking for a low-pressure system because I think it will work better.”

Another reason for the low pressure machine is that “it takes less horsepower to operate this unit compared to the other because it uses a smaller pump. My pivots all run on electricity. You can take a 20-horsepower and do the same thing as a 75-horsepower,” shares Steedley. He likes the cost-savings on his electrical bill, too.

Steedley didn’t bother considering competitive models. “When I purchased this last pivot, I did not check with anyone else as far as comparing prices. I called Wayne [Arant of Chaney Bush in Fitzgerald, Georgia]. He came out. I told him what I wanted. That was it,” he states. “I have faith in Wayne. He’s always been very truthful and very honest. The service I get is excellent,” praises Steedley.

He shared a recent story about how the Chaney Bush crew helped him add a pivot point to an existing towable 8000 series pivot that allowed him to rescue 15 acres of land that was normally missed. “And in a year like this year where we haven’t had any rain…well, less than an inch since we planted corn in March, it’s very critical to get water on those areas. Otherwise, you’re looking at a total loss. You hate to plant a crop, put it out there, then let it all die. That’s not a very good feeling and it hurts the pocketbook, too,” adds Steedley.

Without the new pivot point on his existing system, “we would have had to use a hard hose traveler, which requires more time. You have to basically babysit one of those. They’re just not as dependable,” he notes.

“I don’t want to start talking about the durability because when you start bragging about something, it’ll tear up. But I have not had any problems with either of the pivots since I bought them. It’s basically been trouble-free,” praises Steedley.

Tom Menne of Fort Jones, California

Tom Menne, Menne Ranch Hay, Inc. of Fort Jones, California, grows 2000 acres of alfalfa under 10 pivots — nine Valley pivots, including one new 4-tower 7000 series. He’s also phasing out his remaining 54 wheel lines. “There are some competitive pivots in our area and you can see the difference in quality just from driving by. Looking at the design of them, the competitors seem to be behind Valley in their engineering from what I can see,” declared Menne.

“I bought a ranch that had a competitive unit on it and I’ve already adapted it with some Valley components so it’ll run better. But that’s the one I work on the most. I spend far more time on it than I do on any of my Valley pivots,” shares Menne. “Time’s valuable to me. And I just don’t have enough of it.”

In his opinion, the name Valley means “superior quality” and he even thinks the Valley pivots are almost “over-built” given their durable design. “I shopped competitive brands before I bought my first Valley. Then I spoke with J.W. Kerns Irrigation [Klamath Falls, Oregon] and they brought over a Valley gearbox, a competitive gearbox and some other components, one vs. the other, and it was pretty obvious which one would hold up and last the longest,” tells Menne.

“I’m not looking to buy another brand as long as I’m farming. You look in the Capital Press for irrigation equipment in the used section … I see a lot of other brands in there, including a lot of names I’ve never heard of, but I don’t think I’ve seen a Valley one in there yet. If so, it would be real seldom. They’re made to last,” claims Menne.

“We put together all our pivots and there’s very little difference between the Valley 7000 and 8000. I’m sure there are some thickness differences in the steel but most people probably wouldn’t even know that. Other than the one difference in the tower support anchor point, it seemed about the same to me,” he confesses.

“J.W. Kerns Irrigation has been excellent. They’re really knowledgeable about every aspect of the Valley pivots. They have good service with their sales. I can be looking at a tower box and if I’m having trouble with something, they can help me with how to diagnose it just over the phone and I’m able to figure it out fairly fast,” he admits.

He really likes the Valley controls “especially on a field with uneven soil types, you can adjust your water percentage and pick up a lot of production.” He adds, “I like the new panels. They’re backlit so when you’re out at night baling, you can see the display and it’s easier to operate in the dark while you’re baling or raking hay.”

He’s also quite impressed how the Valley pivots arrive on location for assembly. “I’m not missing anything. Delivery is always prompt and everything’s there. I don’t know how they do it. I’ve put together seven of them so far myself and a few of them I’ve come down to the last nut and bolt and that’s all I’ve needed,” Menne says with amazement.

He plans to put together a few more Valley pivots in the near future — an 8000 corner pivot and another 7000 pivot in a similar field. “All these pivots will outlast me,” concludes Menne.