In 1980 Dan Lamb moved from Gilbert, Az. There he was raised on his fathers dairy farm along with his brother Keith Lamb. Dan was always interested in the silage harvesters when thay came to do custom work on the dairy. When he was 16 he got a job working for a local custom harvester. Keith at the time also grew up on the dairy and moved into working at growing his own business which included farming and silage harvesting. In 1980 Dan started a green chopping company to deliver fresh chopped alfalfa daily to local dairymen. As this business grew he began to chop silage as well. In 1982 Dan was approached by a man named Darwin Omdahl who had a good size custom silage operation, about purchasing his company. They struck an agreement and Dan commenced to work for Darwin, and also contacted Keith who was still working at the time in Arizona. Keith moved over to Bakersfield as well and brought some of the machinery he had over with him and added it to the harvesting business. In 1983 they took control of the company, and changed the operating name to Lamb Chops dba Omdahl Harvesting Inc. They could not get a corporation name under Lamb Chops so they had to use the dba. About 18 years later they found that the company holding the corproration name was no longer in business and were able to get it changed to Lamb Chops Inc.
In the late 80's Bagging crops for silage was a fairly new concept and Dan and Keith were some of the first to stick there necks on the line and purchase one of these new machines. This helped the business to grow by being able to ensile grass crops such as alfalfa and have them last as high quality feed because of the storage method. At the time this created an opportunity to store crops particularly alfalfa at remote sites and reload after the insiling process and sell it to the dairies located in the Chino, Ca. area.
In the late 90's Dan and Keith saw an influx of new dairies moving into the valley. These dairy producers were being forced out of the Chino, Ca. due to housing and businesses being built in the area. Another thing that happened was the change in machinery. The ability to process or break the kernels of corn in the silage crops created a much more useful food product for the dairies.
By using state of the art machines they were able to provide high quality silage to their customers. This once again provided another opportunity to be able to stock pile feed for diaries in the southern San Joaquin Valley and ship it across the mountains to Chino, Ca. The limited amount af acreage left for daries to grow crops on created a chance to once again sell feed to the south. Through out the years of being in business Dan and Keith saw that they had opportunity by traveling to distant areas in the off season at home in Bakersfield. In the early years of the business they would travel back to Arizona and do custom work for dairies there, even in the wicked summer heat. Later on as business grew locally they saw the need to stay put and were not able to travel as much. Once again though they were able to find work down in the Imperial Valley which fell in the winter months. Also travelling back to their hometown was a viable option in early summer to do work in Arizona again. However once again the seasons grew close together and it was wiser to take care of the home front than travel.
Now in the next century Dan and Keith continue to provide great product for customers in the southern San Joaquin Valley, and attribute much of their success to BLESSINGS FROM HEAVEN and HARD WORK. Now they have the opportunity to work with their kids and do something they have loved doing for a long time, Chopping Silage.
