November 2007
NEWSTALK
“OUR MISSION IS TO BE A PROFITABLE, QUALITY SUPPLIER OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS & SERVICES”
NOVEMBER 2007
FARMERS COOPERATIVE ELEVATOR COMPANY GARDEN PLAIN, KS
Volume 10,Issue 11
visit our web site at www.gardenplaincoop.com
From the General Manager’s Office by Terry Kohler The Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company of Garden Plain, Kansas would like to announce the acquisition of the facilities at Pretty Prairie, Varner, and Kingman, formally, Prairie King LLC. Prairie King was formed in April of 2003 by the Cairo Coop and The Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company of Garden Plain. Both parties have reached an agreement to have the facilities owned by only one cooperative. There are several reasons for this change of operations, but the number one reason is that the entity should be more efficient with one owner rather than operations as a separate company. The effective date of this transaction was Monday, October 29, 2007. We welcome new patrons and members to the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company. New members will be able to earn the membership requirements, which are, 2- $50.00 shares of stock. There is an application process where the interested party must apply to the Board of Directors for a membership request. If you do not already have credit at the Farmers Cooperative Elevator you will need to submit an application requesting the privilege of credit. We will try to make this necessary process, a painless one. If you have an outstanding account with Prairie King we would request that you please make your checks payable to “Farmers Coop Elevator” for any and all invoices and statements. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. We look forward to working for you, and with you, at your local Cooperative. The Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company is a local cooperative with 1,750 members. We have just celebrated our 75th year of operations. The Farmers Coop has 12 facility locations that are located in the counties
of Sedgwick, Kingman, and Reno.
The Automotive Service Center in Cheney will be having a new face the second week in November. Brent Stuhlsatz will become the new manager of the service center. Brent has several years of experience and ASE certification. We are very fortunate to have Brent on our team and look forward to having him available to work for you at Cheney!
News from Clonmel & Anness by Jim Schmitz Anness: We are finishing up the fertilizer season and since we have hauled all the wheat out so there won’t be much activity over here until Spring. We will be doing some repairs but if anybody sees any unusual activity going on around Anness, please let us know. Thank you. Clonmel: We are having a special on our Carlton Premium Chainsaw Chain. We can make chains for almost all saws. You need to drop off the saw or chain at any one of our locations and we will get the new ones made. Peanuts and candy will also be in stock soon for your holiday shopping. Stop by and see us soon!
News from Norwich by Randy Rhodes Well things are starting to slow down a little here in Norwich. The wheat cleaning season went real well. We didn’t clean near as much as we have in the past, but we haven’t had a wheat crop like this one
either that I can ever remember or anyone that I have talked to about it can remember “one that bad.” There are a lot of you that have wheat screenings that we can get turned into wheat cubes or wheat pellets for your calves to help you keep the cost down on your feed bill. I am trying to find out how many of you would be interested in doing that so I can put a semi load together. If you are interested, please call me so I can get a list started on how many I am going to need. It is time to start thinking about winter. The temperatures are staring to get cooler and it is time to start winterizing your lawns. I have some fertilizer on hand and there are also a lot of spiders too and we have some stuff to get rid of them also. Some of you may have noticed a fuel truck sitting here at the Coop. I am filling in on the fuel truck so if you need any fuel don’t hesitate to call and I will try to get right out as soon as possible. Thank you for your business and I will try to get out and talk to all of you soon to see what your concerns are and what I can do to help you.
News from Belmont by Steve Goebel In the little corner of the Farmers Coop Elevator Co. trade territory we call Belmont most of the fall field work has been completed, wheat in the ground and fall crops harvested. Attention in the area has turned to gathering cattle from summer pastures and starting to feed and supplement them. A few of the supplement options we offer are 225 pound Rangeland lick tubs in various protein levels. Another option is Xtraformance liquid 40% cow supplement which we stock in 3000# (continued on page 2)
The CoMark Grain Alliance will start bringing new members into the group on February 1, 2008. The Grain Alliance may bring questions from producers. Some of the questions we have tried to think of and some we are sure we have missed. If you have a questions or concerns please give us a call or email us the thought and we will respond. To get you started thinking, a few questions and answers are listed below. We want you to still have the confidence in all aspects of grain delivery and settlement that you have and we have enjoyed had in the past. The grain alliance should pickup many advantages in the market place, with access to other markets, freight advantages, and by increasing the storage utilization of grain facilities. Again, if you have any questions please let us know. COMARK GRAIN ALLIANCE FACT SHEET Question: What is a grain marketing alliance? Answer: A group of cooperatives form a separate company to store and market grain as one entity under one grain license. Ownership of the physical grain assets remains with the local cooperative. This alliance will have 10 members with storage capacity of 39,000,000 bushels and average annual grain receipts of 45,000,000 bushels. Question: Why would my coop want to be involved in an alliance? Answer: To increase profits for the cooperative and it’s members. Several advantages come into play, the biggest being marketing efficiencies and more efficient utilization of storage assets. All profits are returned to the local coop. Question: How will this affect me as a producer? Answer: You will see little difference in the way you do business with your cooperative. You will deal with the same people in the same places that you do currently. The difference you will see is the grain check that you receive will have the alliance’s name on the check. New crop contracts and other marketing tools will also be written by the alliance through your local employees. Question: How will this affect the local coop employees? Answer: Local employees will see little change. The coop is responsible for daily operations and service to the producers. Some back office functions will be shifted to the staff of the alliance. Question: Where will the alliance be located? Answer: Comark Inc. was formed in 1992 and currently has an office in Cheney, Ks. with enough room for expansion. Comark currently has four employees and has been managed by David Smith for the last 10 years. Question: What does the alliance provide? Answer: The alliance staff is responsible for all grain merchandising, risk management, freight, logistics and accounting. Question: Who sets the local grain bids? Answer: The alliance will set the local bids based on the same factors that your local coop uses today. Question: Will all coops have the same grain bids? Answer: No. Freight is the biggest factor that determines differences in bids at various locations? Question: Who governs the alliance? Answer: A board of directors. The alliance will be a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and the manager from each participating coop will serve as a director. Question: Will membership in the LLC ever change? Answer: Growth will be a goal for the future. New members will be accepted only if growth is beneficial to the alliance and the applying cooperative. (continued from page 1)
shuttles that can be picked up here and drained into your feed tanks. We also have bagged range cubes and soon plan on having a supply of bulk cubes on hand. Please feel free to stop by or call and check out the various supplements and see what will best fit your needs. Thanks again for your business.
It is almost turkey time. Take a moment and count your blessings and be thankful!
2
From our Crop Production Dept. by Jay Smith Brisk mornings and long-sleeve shirt days, we sure are having great fall weather. Now that the wheat is up and so is the volunteer, what do we do now that we realize how much volunteer we do have? Run an empty drill through the stand to try and thin it out? Drag a chisel through it? Or tear it up and re-drill? One thing you might not have thought about is how much of this volunteer is going to survive if we get a string of days that are in the 20’s or teens? Will that shallow seeded volunteer be able to withstand the cold given the crown of the plant is so close to the soil surface? Do you have cattle out grazing on this wheat? That could also help with the volunteer problem. Will it help if we get a wet period while we are grazing this wheat? I think that could work to our favor. Some of you are planning for next years spring crops now that the drilling is done. Don’t forget to call Doug or I for your corn, milo, soybean needs. If you need us to order you bulk seed we have two 40 bu. seed tenders that are available for your use. If you are planning to drill spring crops into some of this down wheat it would be a good idea to have that field free of weeds going into the winter. With a mulch like we have out there and any moisture we get this winter that ground will stay wet under there for a while in the spring. With wet ground in the spring you sure don’t want to run on it to wet. If it is to wet you will see your tracks in the field when the crops come up. That’s not a problem you want to look at all summer, trust me. In the coming days we will begin to start topdressing and applying herbicides. I ask you to call in early and get your orders placed that way we are timely in your application and can manage our workload better. Just doing this one thing makes our job here at the Coop that much easier. In the days ahead our company will begin growing and taking on a few more locations. This is a good thing for your Coop. In today’s business world you either get bigger or get out. With some hard work and everyone working together, like a well oiled machine, we can make this transition seemingly painless. The full amount that the owners of this Coop will benefit from this acquisition is not yet known. What you benefit from the start is the producers that will soon become patrons have experience in many of the same things that we do and many, many experiences in other areas
(continued on page 3)
(continued from page 2)
News from Cheney
of a farming operation that we might not. We will be able to glean from our neighbors by Steve Goebel to the north, as they will from us. I am excitedThe to get extremely to know hot moredry of the weather producers of up there in andour learn the did experiences August areafrom really some they’ve Thenlawns. can then usethe some that damagehad. to our With rainofwe knowledge to help down here. temperaThe possihave received andusthe cooler bilities seemistothe betime endless. As always if you tures now to repair the damneed is my number age. anything The feedhere stores rent power316-772rakes, 1423. aerators and verti-cutters, these ma-
chines do an excellent job of preparing your lawn for reseeding and a Fall apFrom the Feedstore plication of fertilizer. The feed stores bya Joe all carry full lineKrehbiel of grass seeds and I would to likeget to share fertilizers your an yardarticle backthat in I received of ourinsuppliers shape. Iffrom youone re-seed the Fall,concernyour ing ourwill changing RuralinLifestyle Market. lawn look great the spring. “Over the years there have been many names for this group, like “hobby farmers’, “sundown farmers,” etc. Whatever name you would like to call then we can all agree that they are a growing piece of our business and many times have more disposable income to spend in your stores and on our products. According to statistics and data from the USDA and this study, over 1 in 4 households in the United States qualify as Rural Lifestyle. That is over 27 million households and 51 million people over the age of 18. Over half of these households have median income of $75,000 (the US average is $44,000), and 63% of them live on less than 10 acres. When asked where they like to shop, 77% of them said Farm Stores! This was tied with one major “big box” chain for first. When it comes to livestock ownership, dogs are far and away the most popular with 65% of these people owning dogs. Horses and cattle were virtually tied around 15%. Surprisingly 6% had goats. Understanding this growing demand of a new clientele makes it a little easier to explain some of the new things you might see in our stores such as Trophy Rocks, Corn Stoves, Boots, Clothes, Pet Supplies and many other things you might question seeing at a “Feed Store.” Rural Lifestyle is changing and we must try to also accommodate these changes. Speaking of changes - the addition of the new branches of Pretty Prairie, Kingman and Varner, bring new opportunities, challenges and changes. Serving these areas requires more organization. Help us help you by getting feed orders to us as soon as possible. Feed delivery orders received after 10:00 a.m. will be next day delivery only. On bagged feed orders, we ask you to please allow a minimum of 24 hours. Being busy is great! Please help us organize it. In spite of one of our Director’s wishes
News from the Grain Department by Larry Werner As we wrap up this season and reflect back to what transpired with this 2007 wheat harvest, we find it hard to remember just what happened that resulted in one of our worse wheat crops ever. And when looking at this our main focus will be on the weather. Listed below is a list of temperature and rainfall amounts plus other events from April 6th through July 12th. 1) April 6th ….. temperature 34 degrees 2) April 7th ….. temperature 23 degrees 3) April 8th ….. temperature 22 degrees 4) April 13th … 3 – 5 inches snow 5) April 13th to June 8th ….. 12.25 inches of rain 6) June 8th …… First load of wheat at Garden Plain & Cheney & Belmont 7) June 9th …... First load of wheat at Anness & Clonmel 8) June 10th ….. 1 inch First load of wheat at Rago 9) June 12th ….. First load of wheat at Norwich 10) June 13th ….. 1/3 of an inch 11) June 14th ….. 2/3 of an inch 12) June 15th ….. 1/10 of an inch 13) June 16th ….. 1/10 of an inch 14) June 19th ….. 1 inch 15) June 20th ….. ¾ of an inch 16) June 21st ….. First load of wheat at Murdock 17) June 23rd ….. ¼ of an inch 18) June 27th ….. 1.50 inches 19) June 28th ….. ½ of an inch 20) June 29th ….. ½ of an inch 21) June 30th ….. 1.50 inches 22) July 4th ……..1.90 inches 23) July 9th ……..1.40 inches 24) July 12th ……1/3 of an inch On the rainfall, I took the average of all our locations on each day and used this figure to simplify things. If you add up the average rainfall amounts for each day in our territory from June 10th to July 12th this amounted to 11.60 inches of rain. There were basically no loads of wheat cut at all locations from June 28th-July 14th. Now at Rago the last load of wheat was on June 27th and that was it for them. The total amount of wheat taken in at all locations was 1,069,803.53 bushel. These were hard fought bushel and there were a considerable number of acres abandoned. for “belt-tightening”; we are again selling candy and peanuts. The good news is they are here! Come in and stock up. I’ll let you know if Martin Kerschen buys any. Overheard coffee drinkers wit and wisdom: Perhaps the only way to avoid quarreling with your wife is to let her go her way and you go hers.
CANDY AND NUTS ARE IN! STOP IN & CHECK OUT OUR SELECTION! WE HOPE TO HAVE SOME DISTRIBUTED TO OUR OTHER LOCATIONS SOON! 3 3
A Reminder from our Crop Production Dept. by George Batt Check with us on carryout prices on Olympus, Maverick, Finesse, RT3, Ammonium Sulfate and Original Max. Watch for next month’s newsletter for end of the year specials. Call if we can assist you in any of your chemical and fertilizer application needs. We will be glad to help in anyway that we can.
WE WELCOME OUR NEW LOCATIONS PRETTY PRAIRIE, VARNER & KINGMAN TO OUR FARMERS COOP FAMILY!
Alfalfa, Prairie Hay &Oats, Brome & Wheat Hay Round Bales, 5x4, net wrapped, also Small square bales of wheat straw call 620-545-7269 Soybean, Stover Crabgrass Round Bales, $40/ton, no rain, in Murdock call 620-297-3632 Green Creep Feeder w/ calf creep, good shape, $800, call 316-706-7403 6’ Box Blade w/ Ripper Teeth $250 call 316-540-3870 Stock Trailer, 5’x16’, bumper pull, tandem wheels, new floor, paint and wiring $2000 New 2 Barrel Wood Stoves $125 Duck & Goose Decoy weights, and Fishing sinkers for sale call 316-542-3676 Demco 500 gal., Pull Type, 40’ Sprayer call 316-640-0659 606 IHC Tractor, 50-60 hp, ps, 3 pt., JD 148 Loader call 620-243-3253 JD ED 350 7½” Fertilizer Drill, $2500 Call 620-532-2768
Round Bales Prairie Hay call 316-640-2596
½ Price Carlton Saw Chain Buy 1 chain @ regular price &Get 2nd one for half price. Free Sharpening with purchase of a new chain. At our Clonmel location, Offer expires November 30th.
Crabgrass Hay, Prairie Hay & Alfalfa Big Round Bales Net wrapped, call 620-478-2674 8 ton Upright Grain bin w/ 20’ 4” Auger, auger like new $2000 Small square bales Teff grass & Prairie hay, excellent call 316-214-6085 12’ x 18’ Portable Shed on skids call 316-794-2428, after 5 pm ask for Jim LP Tanks 250-500 gal. $1/gal. 16.9 - 34 Tractor Tires, 90% Tread, $100 call 620-532-2768 LOST HEIFER: from 1 mile East of Suppesville on 10-28-07 Black 650# Heifer w/ 777L tag in right ear call Troy Cox @ 620-478-2803 or 316-772-8825
FARMERS COOPERATIVE ELEVATOR COMPANY DIRECTORY ANNESS – BELMONT – CHENEY – TOLL FREE – TBA – CLONMEL – GARDEN PLAIN – TOLL FREE – FEED STORE – GRAIN MARKETKINGMAN – TOLL FREE – MURDOCK – NORWICH – PRETTY PRAIRIE RAGO –
620-478-2458 620-297-3911 316-542-3181 800-525-7490 316-542-3381 620-545-7138 316-535-2221 800-200-2122 316-535-2291 316-531-2681 620-532-2662 800-987-2662 620-243-3827 620-478-2272 1-800-472-4670 620-243-3828
www.gardenplaincoop.com OFFICERS & DIRECTORS STEVE DAVIS GREG RENO DENNIS DAVIS RICK CASLEY JON KERSCHEN MARTIN KERSCHEN GREGG SCHEER
LOCATIONS AT: ANNESS BELMONT CHENEY CLONMEL GARDEN PLAIN KINGMAN MURDOCK NORWICH PRETTY PRAIRIE RAGO VARNER
FOR SALE
PRESIDENT VICE-PRES. SEC/TREAS. DIRECTOR DIRECTOR DIRECTOR DIRECTOR
WICHITA, KS PERMIT #1536 “WE’RE HERE TO SERVE YOU!”
401 MAIN, P.O. BOX 316, GARDEN PLAIN, KS 67050
FARMERS COOPERATIVE ELEVATOR CO.
PAID PRSRT STD U.S.POSTAGE
“OUR MISSION IS TO BE A PROFITABLE, QUALITY SUPPLIER OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS & SERVICES”
NOVEMBER 2007
FARMERS COOPERATIVE ELEVATOR COMPANY GARDEN PLAIN, KS
Volume 10,Issue 11
visit our web site at www.gardenplaincoop.com
From the General Manager’s Office by Terry Kohler The Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company of Garden Plain, Kansas would like to announce the acquisition of the facilities at Pretty Prairie, Varner, and Kingman, formally, Prairie King LLC. Prairie King was formed in April of 2003 by the Cairo Coop and The Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company of Garden Plain. Both parties have reached an agreement to have the facilities owned by only one cooperative. There are several reasons for this change of operations, but the number one reason is that the entity should be more efficient with one owner rather than operations as a separate company. The effective date of this transaction was Monday, October 29, 2007. We welcome new patrons and members to the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company. New members will be able to earn the membership requirements, which are, 2- $50.00 shares of stock. There is an application process where the interested party must apply to the Board of Directors for a membership request. If you do not already have credit at the Farmers Cooperative Elevator you will need to submit an application requesting the privilege of credit. We will try to make this necessary process, a painless one. If you have an outstanding account with Prairie King we would request that you please make your checks payable to “Farmers Coop Elevator” for any and all invoices and statements. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. We look forward to working for you, and with you, at your local Cooperative. The Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company is a local cooperative with 1,750 members. We have just celebrated our 75th year of operations. The Farmers Coop has 12 facility locations that are located in the counties
of Sedgwick, Kingman, and Reno.
The Automotive Service Center in Cheney will be having a new face the second week in November. Brent Stuhlsatz will become the new manager of the service center. Brent has several years of experience and ASE certification. We are very fortunate to have Brent on our team and look forward to having him available to work for you at Cheney!
News from Clonmel & Anness by Jim Schmitz Anness: We are finishing up the fertilizer season and since we have hauled all the wheat out so there won’t be much activity over here until Spring. We will be doing some repairs but if anybody sees any unusual activity going on around Anness, please let us know. Thank you. Clonmel: We are having a special on our Carlton Premium Chainsaw Chain. We can make chains for almost all saws. You need to drop off the saw or chain at any one of our locations and we will get the new ones made. Peanuts and candy will also be in stock soon for your holiday shopping. Stop by and see us soon!
News from Norwich by Randy Rhodes Well things are starting to slow down a little here in Norwich. The wheat cleaning season went real well. We didn’t clean near as much as we have in the past, but we haven’t had a wheat crop like this one
either that I can ever remember or anyone that I have talked to about it can remember “one that bad.” There are a lot of you that have wheat screenings that we can get turned into wheat cubes or wheat pellets for your calves to help you keep the cost down on your feed bill. I am trying to find out how many of you would be interested in doing that so I can put a semi load together. If you are interested, please call me so I can get a list started on how many I am going to need. It is time to start thinking about winter. The temperatures are staring to get cooler and it is time to start winterizing your lawns. I have some fertilizer on hand and there are also a lot of spiders too and we have some stuff to get rid of them also. Some of you may have noticed a fuel truck sitting here at the Coop. I am filling in on the fuel truck so if you need any fuel don’t hesitate to call and I will try to get right out as soon as possible. Thank you for your business and I will try to get out and talk to all of you soon to see what your concerns are and what I can do to help you.
News from Belmont by Steve Goebel In the little corner of the Farmers Coop Elevator Co. trade territory we call Belmont most of the fall field work has been completed, wheat in the ground and fall crops harvested. Attention in the area has turned to gathering cattle from summer pastures and starting to feed and supplement them. A few of the supplement options we offer are 225 pound Rangeland lick tubs in various protein levels. Another option is Xtraformance liquid 40% cow supplement which we stock in 3000# (continued on page 2)
The CoMark Grain Alliance will start bringing new members into the group on February 1, 2008. The Grain Alliance may bring questions from producers. Some of the questions we have tried to think of and some we are sure we have missed. If you have a questions or concerns please give us a call or email us the thought and we will respond. To get you started thinking, a few questions and answers are listed below. We want you to still have the confidence in all aspects of grain delivery and settlement that you have and we have enjoyed had in the past. The grain alliance should pickup many advantages in the market place, with access to other markets, freight advantages, and by increasing the storage utilization of grain facilities. Again, if you have any questions please let us know. COMARK GRAIN ALLIANCE FACT SHEET Question: What is a grain marketing alliance? Answer: A group of cooperatives form a separate company to store and market grain as one entity under one grain license. Ownership of the physical grain assets remains with the local cooperative. This alliance will have 10 members with storage capacity of 39,000,000 bushels and average annual grain receipts of 45,000,000 bushels. Question: Why would my coop want to be involved in an alliance? Answer: To increase profits for the cooperative and it’s members. Several advantages come into play, the biggest being marketing efficiencies and more efficient utilization of storage assets. All profits are returned to the local coop. Question: How will this affect me as a producer? Answer: You will see little difference in the way you do business with your cooperative. You will deal with the same people in the same places that you do currently. The difference you will see is the grain check that you receive will have the alliance’s name on the check. New crop contracts and other marketing tools will also be written by the alliance through your local employees. Question: How will this affect the local coop employees? Answer: Local employees will see little change. The coop is responsible for daily operations and service to the producers. Some back office functions will be shifted to the staff of the alliance. Question: Where will the alliance be located? Answer: Comark Inc. was formed in 1992 and currently has an office in Cheney, Ks. with enough room for expansion. Comark currently has four employees and has been managed by David Smith for the last 10 years. Question: What does the alliance provide? Answer: The alliance staff is responsible for all grain merchandising, risk management, freight, logistics and accounting. Question: Who sets the local grain bids? Answer: The alliance will set the local bids based on the same factors that your local coop uses today. Question: Will all coops have the same grain bids? Answer: No. Freight is the biggest factor that determines differences in bids at various locations? Question: Who governs the alliance? Answer: A board of directors. The alliance will be a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and the manager from each participating coop will serve as a director. Question: Will membership in the LLC ever change? Answer: Growth will be a goal for the future. New members will be accepted only if growth is beneficial to the alliance and the applying cooperative. (continued from page 1)
shuttles that can be picked up here and drained into your feed tanks. We also have bagged range cubes and soon plan on having a supply of bulk cubes on hand. Please feel free to stop by or call and check out the various supplements and see what will best fit your needs. Thanks again for your business.
It is almost turkey time. Take a moment and count your blessings and be thankful!
2
From our Crop Production Dept. by Jay Smith Brisk mornings and long-sleeve shirt days, we sure are having great fall weather. Now that the wheat is up and so is the volunteer, what do we do now that we realize how much volunteer we do have? Run an empty drill through the stand to try and thin it out? Drag a chisel through it? Or tear it up and re-drill? One thing you might not have thought about is how much of this volunteer is going to survive if we get a string of days that are in the 20’s or teens? Will that shallow seeded volunteer be able to withstand the cold given the crown of the plant is so close to the soil surface? Do you have cattle out grazing on this wheat? That could also help with the volunteer problem. Will it help if we get a wet period while we are grazing this wheat? I think that could work to our favor. Some of you are planning for next years spring crops now that the drilling is done. Don’t forget to call Doug or I for your corn, milo, soybean needs. If you need us to order you bulk seed we have two 40 bu. seed tenders that are available for your use. If you are planning to drill spring crops into some of this down wheat it would be a good idea to have that field free of weeds going into the winter. With a mulch like we have out there and any moisture we get this winter that ground will stay wet under there for a while in the spring. With wet ground in the spring you sure don’t want to run on it to wet. If it is to wet you will see your tracks in the field when the crops come up. That’s not a problem you want to look at all summer, trust me. In the coming days we will begin to start topdressing and applying herbicides. I ask you to call in early and get your orders placed that way we are timely in your application and can manage our workload better. Just doing this one thing makes our job here at the Coop that much easier. In the days ahead our company will begin growing and taking on a few more locations. This is a good thing for your Coop. In today’s business world you either get bigger or get out. With some hard work and everyone working together, like a well oiled machine, we can make this transition seemingly painless. The full amount that the owners of this Coop will benefit from this acquisition is not yet known. What you benefit from the start is the producers that will soon become patrons have experience in many of the same things that we do and many, many experiences in other areas
(continued on page 3)
(continued from page 2)
News from Cheney
of a farming operation that we might not. We will be able to glean from our neighbors by Steve Goebel to the north, as they will from us. I am excitedThe to get extremely to know hot moredry of the weather producers of up there in andour learn the did experiences August areafrom really some they’ve Thenlawns. can then usethe some that damagehad. to our With rainofwe knowledge to help down here. temperaThe possihave received andusthe cooler bilities seemistothe betime endless. As always if you tures now to repair the damneed is my number age. anything The feedhere stores rent power316-772rakes, 1423. aerators and verti-cutters, these ma-
chines do an excellent job of preparing your lawn for reseeding and a Fall apFrom the Feedstore plication of fertilizer. The feed stores bya Joe all carry full lineKrehbiel of grass seeds and I would to likeget to share fertilizers your an yardarticle backthat in I received of ourinsuppliers shape. Iffrom youone re-seed the Fall,concernyour ing ourwill changing RuralinLifestyle Market. lawn look great the spring. “Over the years there have been many names for this group, like “hobby farmers’, “sundown farmers,” etc. Whatever name you would like to call then we can all agree that they are a growing piece of our business and many times have more disposable income to spend in your stores and on our products. According to statistics and data from the USDA and this study, over 1 in 4 households in the United States qualify as Rural Lifestyle. That is over 27 million households and 51 million people over the age of 18. Over half of these households have median income of $75,000 (the US average is $44,000), and 63% of them live on less than 10 acres. When asked where they like to shop, 77% of them said Farm Stores! This was tied with one major “big box” chain for first. When it comes to livestock ownership, dogs are far and away the most popular with 65% of these people owning dogs. Horses and cattle were virtually tied around 15%. Surprisingly 6% had goats. Understanding this growing demand of a new clientele makes it a little easier to explain some of the new things you might see in our stores such as Trophy Rocks, Corn Stoves, Boots, Clothes, Pet Supplies and many other things you might question seeing at a “Feed Store.” Rural Lifestyle is changing and we must try to also accommodate these changes. Speaking of changes - the addition of the new branches of Pretty Prairie, Kingman and Varner, bring new opportunities, challenges and changes. Serving these areas requires more organization. Help us help you by getting feed orders to us as soon as possible. Feed delivery orders received after 10:00 a.m. will be next day delivery only. On bagged feed orders, we ask you to please allow a minimum of 24 hours. Being busy is great! Please help us organize it. In spite of one of our Director’s wishes
News from the Grain Department by Larry Werner As we wrap up this season and reflect back to what transpired with this 2007 wheat harvest, we find it hard to remember just what happened that resulted in one of our worse wheat crops ever. And when looking at this our main focus will be on the weather. Listed below is a list of temperature and rainfall amounts plus other events from April 6th through July 12th. 1) April 6th ….. temperature 34 degrees 2) April 7th ….. temperature 23 degrees 3) April 8th ….. temperature 22 degrees 4) April 13th … 3 – 5 inches snow 5) April 13th to June 8th ….. 12.25 inches of rain 6) June 8th …… First load of wheat at Garden Plain & Cheney & Belmont 7) June 9th …... First load of wheat at Anness & Clonmel 8) June 10th ….. 1 inch First load of wheat at Rago 9) June 12th ….. First load of wheat at Norwich 10) June 13th ….. 1/3 of an inch 11) June 14th ….. 2/3 of an inch 12) June 15th ….. 1/10 of an inch 13) June 16th ….. 1/10 of an inch 14) June 19th ….. 1 inch 15) June 20th ….. ¾ of an inch 16) June 21st ….. First load of wheat at Murdock 17) June 23rd ….. ¼ of an inch 18) June 27th ….. 1.50 inches 19) June 28th ….. ½ of an inch 20) June 29th ….. ½ of an inch 21) June 30th ….. 1.50 inches 22) July 4th ……..1.90 inches 23) July 9th ……..1.40 inches 24) July 12th ……1/3 of an inch On the rainfall, I took the average of all our locations on each day and used this figure to simplify things. If you add up the average rainfall amounts for each day in our territory from June 10th to July 12th this amounted to 11.60 inches of rain. There were basically no loads of wheat cut at all locations from June 28th-July 14th. Now at Rago the last load of wheat was on June 27th and that was it for them. The total amount of wheat taken in at all locations was 1,069,803.53 bushel. These were hard fought bushel and there were a considerable number of acres abandoned. for “belt-tightening”; we are again selling candy and peanuts. The good news is they are here! Come in and stock up. I’ll let you know if Martin Kerschen buys any. Overheard coffee drinkers wit and wisdom: Perhaps the only way to avoid quarreling with your wife is to let her go her way and you go hers.
CANDY AND NUTS ARE IN! STOP IN & CHECK OUT OUR SELECTION! WE HOPE TO HAVE SOME DISTRIBUTED TO OUR OTHER LOCATIONS SOON! 3 3
A Reminder from our Crop Production Dept. by George Batt Check with us on carryout prices on Olympus, Maverick, Finesse, RT3, Ammonium Sulfate and Original Max. Watch for next month’s newsletter for end of the year specials. Call if we can assist you in any of your chemical and fertilizer application needs. We will be glad to help in anyway that we can.
WE WELCOME OUR NEW LOCATIONS PRETTY PRAIRIE, VARNER & KINGMAN TO OUR FARMERS COOP FAMILY!
Alfalfa, Prairie Hay &Oats, Brome & Wheat Hay Round Bales, 5x4, net wrapped, also Small square bales of wheat straw call 620-545-7269 Soybean, Stover Crabgrass Round Bales, $40/ton, no rain, in Murdock call 620-297-3632 Green Creep Feeder w/ calf creep, good shape, $800, call 316-706-7403 6’ Box Blade w/ Ripper Teeth $250 call 316-540-3870 Stock Trailer, 5’x16’, bumper pull, tandem wheels, new floor, paint and wiring $2000 New 2 Barrel Wood Stoves $125 Duck & Goose Decoy weights, and Fishing sinkers for sale call 316-542-3676 Demco 500 gal., Pull Type, 40’ Sprayer call 316-640-0659 606 IHC Tractor, 50-60 hp, ps, 3 pt., JD 148 Loader call 620-243-3253 JD ED 350 7½” Fertilizer Drill, $2500 Call 620-532-2768
Round Bales Prairie Hay call 316-640-2596
½ Price Carlton Saw Chain Buy 1 chain @ regular price &Get 2nd one for half price. Free Sharpening with purchase of a new chain. At our Clonmel location, Offer expires November 30th.
Crabgrass Hay, Prairie Hay & Alfalfa Big Round Bales Net wrapped, call 620-478-2674 8 ton Upright Grain bin w/ 20’ 4” Auger, auger like new $2000 Small square bales Teff grass & Prairie hay, excellent call 316-214-6085 12’ x 18’ Portable Shed on skids call 316-794-2428, after 5 pm ask for Jim LP Tanks 250-500 gal. $1/gal. 16.9 - 34 Tractor Tires, 90% Tread, $100 call 620-532-2768 LOST HEIFER: from 1 mile East of Suppesville on 10-28-07 Black 650# Heifer w/ 777L tag in right ear call Troy Cox @ 620-478-2803 or 316-772-8825
FARMERS COOPERATIVE ELEVATOR COMPANY DIRECTORY ANNESS – BELMONT – CHENEY – TOLL FREE – TBA – CLONMEL – GARDEN PLAIN – TOLL FREE – FEED STORE – GRAIN MARKETKINGMAN – TOLL FREE – MURDOCK – NORWICH – PRETTY PRAIRIE RAGO –
620-478-2458 620-297-3911 316-542-3181 800-525-7490 316-542-3381 620-545-7138 316-535-2221 800-200-2122 316-535-2291 316-531-2681 620-532-2662 800-987-2662 620-243-3827 620-478-2272 1-800-472-4670 620-243-3828
www.gardenplaincoop.com OFFICERS & DIRECTORS STEVE DAVIS GREG RENO DENNIS DAVIS RICK CASLEY JON KERSCHEN MARTIN KERSCHEN GREGG SCHEER
LOCATIONS AT: ANNESS BELMONT CHENEY CLONMEL GARDEN PLAIN KINGMAN MURDOCK NORWICH PRETTY PRAIRIE RAGO VARNER
FOR SALE
PRESIDENT VICE-PRES. SEC/TREAS. DIRECTOR DIRECTOR DIRECTOR DIRECTOR
WICHITA, KS PERMIT #1536 “WE’RE HERE TO SERVE YOU!”
401 MAIN, P.O. BOX 316, GARDEN PLAIN, KS 67050
FARMERS COOPERATIVE ELEVATOR CO.
PAID PRSRT STD U.S.POSTAGE
