THE DOGGIE BLOG Dates to Remember
April, 2014
Issue 6
Photo above taken across the road from the homestead.
measures about 35 x 50, far smaller than today’s combine headers and implements can house. The new shop and maintenance area will measure 100 x 60 and will be large enough to fit more than one piece of machinery in at a time.
Dates to Remember
THE DOGGIE BLOG
CRP Sign Up—May 20th
The Adventures of Brandi
I have new friends! If you saw the article inside in the newsletter, you saw that I am now the chief herd dog for the chicken ranch. I can’t figure the birds out. Most of the time they walk around banging their noses into the ground...don’t ask me why. They make very strange sounds. I also think if you somehow made their necks stiff, they would probably be unable to walk….they seem to have to pump their necks forward to make their feet move. But...the kids like them, especially the younger two. They are always checking the coop for small round white balls. It’s funny, I never get to fetch those! Until next time…. Brandi
Direct Payments with FSA— June/July
Jon Oden
[email protected]
Heather Oden [email protected]
620-278-6410 620-204-0171
Kenny Tucker [email protected] 620-257-8488 Conrad Bates
[email protected]
620-204-8267
Larry Smith
[email protected]
620-278-3474
March 20, 2013 – Although it looks like a picture of….well….nothing, some very exciting changes will be taking place on this site in the next six months. Formerly serving as the cattle pens on the north side of the homestead, this area has been cleared of pens and leveled to make preparations for a new shop and office building. SHF plans to erect a 100 x 160 building that will house three sub-structures: a larger shop, chemical containment, and offices. The current shop/barn facility used to be a milking barn with a hay loft. Converted to a shop in the late 1960’s, the work/maintenance area now
Chemical containment is not currently federally mandated but experts say that it won’t be long before the EPA starts pushing strict mandatory regulations. The chemical containment will measure 40 X 100. Two semis will be able to park and load in this area which will store bulk chemical and fertilizer. Drains and concrete stub walls will aid in the containment of chemical should there be a spill. The office area will be a 50 x 50 area on the east end of the building. There will be five private offices, one shared operations office, a kitchen/break room, locker room/bunk room, conference room, and lobby area. We have chosen a building company and will begin cement work in the next three weeks. The building will be erected in June (while we are cutting wheat!). The finish work will be done by Conrad Bates, our new Maintenance, Construction, and Special Projects Lead (see page 3).
KENNY’S CORNER KENNY TUCKER - AGRONOMY AND PRODUCTION IT SPEACIALIST Spring has sprung! Or has it?? Following a colder than average winter, we are anxiously awaiting warmer weather, as well as spring rains. The wheat crop is not showing serious stress, yet but will be quickly when 70 and 80 degree temperatures arrive. Wheat planted into soybean stubble has soil moisture about 1 to 2 feet deep, wheat following corn at 3 to 5 feet deep and wheat following wheat at 4 to 6 feet deep. Fields that had more residue benefited from snow catch following a couple of sizeable snow events this winter. Wheat has been fertilized and we will see how the weather develops before making any decision about fungicide application. Herbicides were applied in November. On a positive note the dry March weather has made for excellent conditions to do some ripping on certain fields and ammonia application on fields going to corn. We also planted about 200 acres of corn on April 1st! Probably a bit early considering soil temperatures are cooler than we would like, but with soil conditions ideal and the potential for swampy conditions on those fields, we thought it best
to get those fields planted. We chose last fall to be more aggressive with rye and wheat plantings on fields slated for 2014 row crops. The main goal was to protect the soil from blowing, but also to see if we can get any other benefits from having a cover crop. Planting and drilling tend to work better when we have a firm soil with roots (or dying roots) to plant into. We will need additional rain in the seeding zone however to get that program to work well. Typically in April through June time frame we will get sufficient moisture to offset any moisture the cover crop uses. The extra vegetation usually increases water infiltration into the soil as well. Herbicides applied in early December have performed well to this point, helping to control marestail and other winter annual weeds. More herbicides will likely be applied to soybean and milo fields over the next few weeks, assuming rains come to germinate the weed seeds. Some of our fields going to corn have already had herbicide applied or will in the next week or two.
Meet Conrad Bates We are so excited to introduce the newest member of our team, Conrad Bates. Conrad will be our Maintenance/ Construction and Special Projects Lead. Conrad is from the Garfield area and has twenty years of experience in construction. He does plumbing and electrical work as well as having been a supervisor of his construction team. Conrad is married to Seneca, a very talented and energetic stay-at-home mom. Together they have four kids at home: a 7th grade daughter, Jasmine, a fifth grade son, Jacob; a
first grade daughter, Isabelle; and a four-year-old son Daniel. They also have two grown kids who are out of the house as well as one grandbaby. If that weren’t enough, their home is always open to others and they have blessed others with a temporary place to stay! Conrad has topnotch skills. He is a great team player with a positive attitude and a quick sense of humor. He and Seneca have a very strong faith. They are a great addition to our Sterling Heritage Farms family!
OUR SPROUTS
Meet Larry Smith We are so excited to introduce the even newer, newest member of our team, Larry Smith. Larry has been a Sterling resident for thirty years, moving here after his graduation from Sterling College. Three years ago, he retired from the United States Postal Service and went to work for Royer Tree Service. He comes to us as our new Harvest Lead and Business Development Specialist. He will be working in Operations and helping us grow our business. Larry isn’t really new to
us though, he has been helping us seasonally since the mid1980s. He is very familiar with our operation. Larry is married to Marsha, a dedicated and intelligent accountant. They have three grown children: Daniel, a teacher, and his wife Laurie have four children and live in Valley Center, Brian is with Verizon in Portland, and Kimberly is an interpreter in the Wichita area. We are so excited about having Larry and his family in our SHF family!
Our Little Sprout Report Insert pic of jake above
Family Farms Winter Conference At Sterling Heritage Farms, it’s important to us to give back. This winter, while at a training conference, members of our operation participated in a packing event at the San Antonio Food Bank in San Antonio, TX with an organization that we support, Family Farms Charities. “We failed to take into account the fact that you are farmers.” That was how the San Antonio Food Bank staff explained their underestimating just how much frozen food the Family Farms Charities volunteers could unpack, examine, sort and repack in the short time allotted. At the end of a busy day of meetings and networking, 82 volunteers, representing both Team members and staff,
kids and adults, were bussed to the San Antonio Food Bank to volunteer our efforts for an hour and a half. The San Antonio Food Bank provides food and grocery products to over 500 partner agencies in 16 counties in Texas. In 2013, they provided over 50 million pounds of food. All 82 volunteers from our group with Family Farms Charities were amazed at the storage space, immense amount of shelving, huge bags of foods (both fresh and packaged), organization and efficiency of the operation. And… in case you were wondering what it took to astonish those Food Bank workers…our volunteers sorted almost 21,000 pounds of food in just over an hour!
Saying Good-Bye…. It is with gratitude for his hard work that we say farewell to Jeff Pieplow who, for almost two years, has served as our Operations Lead. Jeff will be taking a position with Straub in Hutchinson, our local Case dealer, in the parts department. Jeff came to us with a background in agriculture and law enforcement. In addition to daily operations duties, Jeff served as our Crisis Management/ Emergency Action Plan Coordinator. Now he will be on the other side of the parts counter when we are need of service or repair. We will still benefit from his experience here as well as he plans to continue to help us seasonally during harvest. We wish Jeff well in his new endeavors!
Spring is here! Out with the basketball and in with track! JJ– About to finish his freshman year, he is now in forensics, choir, band, and track. He is still on the Youth Council at church and involved in the Youth Worship Team. Jacob– Wrapping up 7th grade, Jake is in choir, band, and track. He is also on the Youth Council and the Youth Worship Team. He is looking forward to his first summer of work on the farm. He recently got third place with his team at the Kansas State Future City Competition! (see pic above)
Cody– Now that basketball is over, Cody has developed a new passion…. chickens! We had a delivery of chicken manure delivered for one of the circles across the road and they accidentally brought a chicken. Cody decided to rescue it….now we have six! He is officially a chicken rancher! Caitlin- Caitlin is almost done with first grade. She is involved in gymnastics and Little Lambs choir at church. She is also a deputy chicken rancher.
Issue 6
Photo above taken across the road from the homestead.
measures about 35 x 50, far smaller than today’s combine headers and implements can house. The new shop and maintenance area will measure 100 x 60 and will be large enough to fit more than one piece of machinery in at a time.
Dates to Remember
THE DOGGIE BLOG
CRP Sign Up—May 20th
The Adventures of Brandi
I have new friends! If you saw the article inside in the newsletter, you saw that I am now the chief herd dog for the chicken ranch. I can’t figure the birds out. Most of the time they walk around banging their noses into the ground...don’t ask me why. They make very strange sounds. I also think if you somehow made their necks stiff, they would probably be unable to walk….they seem to have to pump their necks forward to make their feet move. But...the kids like them, especially the younger two. They are always checking the coop for small round white balls. It’s funny, I never get to fetch those! Until next time…. Brandi
Direct Payments with FSA— June/July
Jon Oden
[email protected]
Heather Oden [email protected]
620-278-6410 620-204-0171
Kenny Tucker [email protected] 620-257-8488 Conrad Bates
[email protected]
620-204-8267
Larry Smith
[email protected]
620-278-3474
March 20, 2013 – Although it looks like a picture of….well….nothing, some very exciting changes will be taking place on this site in the next six months. Formerly serving as the cattle pens on the north side of the homestead, this area has been cleared of pens and leveled to make preparations for a new shop and office building. SHF plans to erect a 100 x 160 building that will house three sub-structures: a larger shop, chemical containment, and offices. The current shop/barn facility used to be a milking barn with a hay loft. Converted to a shop in the late 1960’s, the work/maintenance area now
Chemical containment is not currently federally mandated but experts say that it won’t be long before the EPA starts pushing strict mandatory regulations. The chemical containment will measure 40 X 100. Two semis will be able to park and load in this area which will store bulk chemical and fertilizer. Drains and concrete stub walls will aid in the containment of chemical should there be a spill. The office area will be a 50 x 50 area on the east end of the building. There will be five private offices, one shared operations office, a kitchen/break room, locker room/bunk room, conference room, and lobby area. We have chosen a building company and will begin cement work in the next three weeks. The building will be erected in June (while we are cutting wheat!). The finish work will be done by Conrad Bates, our new Maintenance, Construction, and Special Projects Lead (see page 3).
KENNY’S CORNER KENNY TUCKER - AGRONOMY AND PRODUCTION IT SPEACIALIST Spring has sprung! Or has it?? Following a colder than average winter, we are anxiously awaiting warmer weather, as well as spring rains. The wheat crop is not showing serious stress, yet but will be quickly when 70 and 80 degree temperatures arrive. Wheat planted into soybean stubble has soil moisture about 1 to 2 feet deep, wheat following corn at 3 to 5 feet deep and wheat following wheat at 4 to 6 feet deep. Fields that had more residue benefited from snow catch following a couple of sizeable snow events this winter. Wheat has been fertilized and we will see how the weather develops before making any decision about fungicide application. Herbicides were applied in November. On a positive note the dry March weather has made for excellent conditions to do some ripping on certain fields and ammonia application on fields going to corn. We also planted about 200 acres of corn on April 1st! Probably a bit early considering soil temperatures are cooler than we would like, but with soil conditions ideal and the potential for swampy conditions on those fields, we thought it best
to get those fields planted. We chose last fall to be more aggressive with rye and wheat plantings on fields slated for 2014 row crops. The main goal was to protect the soil from blowing, but also to see if we can get any other benefits from having a cover crop. Planting and drilling tend to work better when we have a firm soil with roots (or dying roots) to plant into. We will need additional rain in the seeding zone however to get that program to work well. Typically in April through June time frame we will get sufficient moisture to offset any moisture the cover crop uses. The extra vegetation usually increases water infiltration into the soil as well. Herbicides applied in early December have performed well to this point, helping to control marestail and other winter annual weeds. More herbicides will likely be applied to soybean and milo fields over the next few weeks, assuming rains come to germinate the weed seeds. Some of our fields going to corn have already had herbicide applied or will in the next week or two.
Meet Conrad Bates We are so excited to introduce the newest member of our team, Conrad Bates. Conrad will be our Maintenance/ Construction and Special Projects Lead. Conrad is from the Garfield area and has twenty years of experience in construction. He does plumbing and electrical work as well as having been a supervisor of his construction team. Conrad is married to Seneca, a very talented and energetic stay-at-home mom. Together they have four kids at home: a 7th grade daughter, Jasmine, a fifth grade son, Jacob; a
first grade daughter, Isabelle; and a four-year-old son Daniel. They also have two grown kids who are out of the house as well as one grandbaby. If that weren’t enough, their home is always open to others and they have blessed others with a temporary place to stay! Conrad has topnotch skills. He is a great team player with a positive attitude and a quick sense of humor. He and Seneca have a very strong faith. They are a great addition to our Sterling Heritage Farms family!
OUR SPROUTS
Meet Larry Smith We are so excited to introduce the even newer, newest member of our team, Larry Smith. Larry has been a Sterling resident for thirty years, moving here after his graduation from Sterling College. Three years ago, he retired from the United States Postal Service and went to work for Royer Tree Service. He comes to us as our new Harvest Lead and Business Development Specialist. He will be working in Operations and helping us grow our business. Larry isn’t really new to
us though, he has been helping us seasonally since the mid1980s. He is very familiar with our operation. Larry is married to Marsha, a dedicated and intelligent accountant. They have three grown children: Daniel, a teacher, and his wife Laurie have four children and live in Valley Center, Brian is with Verizon in Portland, and Kimberly is an interpreter in the Wichita area. We are so excited about having Larry and his family in our SHF family!
Our Little Sprout Report Insert pic of jake above
Family Farms Winter Conference At Sterling Heritage Farms, it’s important to us to give back. This winter, while at a training conference, members of our operation participated in a packing event at the San Antonio Food Bank in San Antonio, TX with an organization that we support, Family Farms Charities. “We failed to take into account the fact that you are farmers.” That was how the San Antonio Food Bank staff explained their underestimating just how much frozen food the Family Farms Charities volunteers could unpack, examine, sort and repack in the short time allotted. At the end of a busy day of meetings and networking, 82 volunteers, representing both Team members and staff,
kids and adults, were bussed to the San Antonio Food Bank to volunteer our efforts for an hour and a half. The San Antonio Food Bank provides food and grocery products to over 500 partner agencies in 16 counties in Texas. In 2013, they provided over 50 million pounds of food. All 82 volunteers from our group with Family Farms Charities were amazed at the storage space, immense amount of shelving, huge bags of foods (both fresh and packaged), organization and efficiency of the operation. And… in case you were wondering what it took to astonish those Food Bank workers…our volunteers sorted almost 21,000 pounds of food in just over an hour!
Saying Good-Bye…. It is with gratitude for his hard work that we say farewell to Jeff Pieplow who, for almost two years, has served as our Operations Lead. Jeff will be taking a position with Straub in Hutchinson, our local Case dealer, in the parts department. Jeff came to us with a background in agriculture and law enforcement. In addition to daily operations duties, Jeff served as our Crisis Management/ Emergency Action Plan Coordinator. Now he will be on the other side of the parts counter when we are need of service or repair. We will still benefit from his experience here as well as he plans to continue to help us seasonally during harvest. We wish Jeff well in his new endeavors!
Spring is here! Out with the basketball and in with track! JJ– About to finish his freshman year, he is now in forensics, choir, band, and track. He is still on the Youth Council at church and involved in the Youth Worship Team. Jacob– Wrapping up 7th grade, Jake is in choir, band, and track. He is also on the Youth Council and the Youth Worship Team. He is looking forward to his first summer of work on the farm. He recently got third place with his team at the Kansas State Future City Competition! (see pic above)
Cody– Now that basketball is over, Cody has developed a new passion…. chickens! We had a delivery of chicken manure delivered for one of the circles across the road and they accidentally brought a chicken. Cody decided to rescue it….now we have six! He is officially a chicken rancher! Caitlin- Caitlin is almost done with first grade. She is involved in gymnastics and Little Lambs choir at church. She is also a deputy chicken rancher.
