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Spring Ag UpdateThursday, May 8, 2014
State raises bar on feedlot inspections
Jake Grages
346REGISTERED FEEDLOTSIN JACKSON COUNTY
25,000REGISTERED FEEDLOTSIN STATE OF MINNESOTASee INSPECTIONS on C6
Federated REAurges extreme caution when planting around electric poles
Frederickson family farm has a rich pastand a bright future
by MIKE JORDANStaff Writer
Members of the Freder-ickson family have owned the same farm in Jackson County’s Weimer Township for more than 100 years.
In 2012, the Frederickson farm — under the care of Ardith and son, Karl — was recognized as an official cen-tury farm by the state of Min-nesota.
For 90-plus years, Freder-ickson family members have lived on the farm; in fact, not
A CENTURY OF CHANGE
See CHANGE on C3
Submitted photoSKarl Frederickson harvests corn in 2011. Frederickson said he thinks his great-grandfather, who purchased the farm in the early part of the last century, would be surprised with technological advances, but also pleased with what the future holds for his family.
Left: Ardith Frederickson as a toddler looks for danger in a wash pan outside her family’s new house in 1922. Center: Karl, Ardith (seated) and Bonnie Frederickson today. Right: Karl and Bonnie Fredericksons’ daughter, Beth, with husband Mark Bents and son Tyler are now partners in the Frederickson family farm-ing operation.
Local agribusiness featured in regional farm publication
See AGRIBUSINESS on C2
Black Challengers are rolling off the line at AGCO Jackson Operations in cel-ebration of 28 years of Challenger track tractors.
This limited edition “Stealth” tractor is based on the flagship MT775E previewed last year in Germany at Agritechnica, the world’s leading inter-
national exhibition for ag-ricultural machinery and equipment.
“We picked the name ‘Stealth’ because it has many associations with the new MT700E Challenger tracked tractor,” said Luca Cattani, product marketing manager for Challenger in Europe, Africa and the
Middle East. “The ground does not feel or see it as it moves quietly, economi-cally and smoothly and leaves virtually no foot-print. Moreover, with the AGCO Power plant, it is so quiet you cannot hear it.”
The 438 horsepower MT775E is most powerful
AGCO Jackson Operations builds ‘Stealth’ tractors
See AGCO on C7photo by mike Jordan
Brian Elness and his big Dodge 3500 hauler ready to pick up a load.
More work for localofficial and morescrutiny of feedlots
by JUSTIN R. LESSMANPublisher
Heightened state expec-tations mean more work for Jackson County’s feed-lot officer and more scru-tiny of Jackson County feedlots.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which del-
egates feedlot inspections to Jackson County, has put forth three new goals for 2014-2015 that raise the bar for local feedlots and increase the workload for Jake Grages, the county’s feedlot officer.
“ The state is asking more of feedlot officers,” said Grages. “There are some area of increased in-spections.”
One recommendation from the MPCA is that the county set a goal of attain-ing a 10 percent annual
inspection rate. At present, the required minimum an-nual inspection rate is 7 percent.
Grages said that means he must inspect at least 7 percent of all registered feedlots in the county each year. Hiking that number to 10 percent equates to another 10 or so feedlots Grages must inspect an-nually
Jackson County cur-rently has 346 registered feedlots.
A second goal for 2014-
2015 is a production site inspection strategy goal that asks Grages to make an effort to inspect sites required to be registered that have never been in-spected, as well as sites required to be registered located within shore land.
Grages said the county requires any feedlot with 10 or more animal units to register. However, only sites with 10 or more ani-mal units within shore land or 50 or more animal units outside of shore land
count toward the 7 percent inspection rate. About 90 percent of Jackson Coun-ty’s feedlots are outside shore land, with only 10 percent consid-ered within shore land.
The third g o a l f o r 2014-2015 is a land application strat-egy goal that asks Grages
Submitted photoLimited-edition “Stealth” Challengers are rolling off the line at AGCO Jackson Operations in celebration of 28 years of Challenger track tractors.
A rural Lakefield agri-businessman is featured in the latest edition of the Farm Market News, a regional ag publication reaching nearly 18,500 households and business-es across the tri-state area.
Brian Elness, owner of the Elness Livestock, is the subject of the cover story of the May 5 Farm Market News.
In the article, Elness traces the history of his business back to the early 1970s when his dad, Rus-
sell, began raising a few calves while working for Johnson Livestock of Ber-gen. Today, what his dad started four decades ago, has grown into a multi-faceted and multi-location family business.
by JUSTIN R. LESSMANPublisher
Bigger and better equip-ment makes it quicker and easier to dig up fields for planting, but officials with Jackson-based Federated Rural Electric urge local farmers to make use of the time saved to potentially save their lives, money and others’ inconvenience.
Farmers are asked to be extra careful when working near powerline poles and guy wires when out with farm equipment this spring. Each season, farmers dam-age electric poles and un-derground cabinets with machinery. If the pole or underground green cabinet is damaged, the farmer is responsible for the damage and is charged for the time and materials required to replace the equipment.
“Already our linemen responded to two farm-ing accidents,” Joe Mar-thaler, Federated’s opera-tions manager, said Monday morning. “Both occurred near Dunnell. One accident snapped a pole in half when hit with the planter and the other one snagged a guy wire. The price for replac-ing one pole and labor for two linemen starts at $400 per pole. This time no out-ages were caused.”
By noon Monday, Fed-erated had received two more reports of farmers hit-ting electrical equipment, according to Federated’s Steve Ruthenbeck.
Marthaler said safety is another concern.
“We want to remind farmers to be extra care-ful near powerlines so they can come home safely each night,” Marthaler added. “We know farmers are in a hurry due to the cold, late spring, but you cannot take shortcuts with safety.”
See POLES on C6
C2 Thursday, May 8, 2014
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AGRIBUSINESS: Elness Livestock featured in Farm Market NewsContinued from C1
photo by mike JordanElness Livestock, owned by Brian Elness, is the re-cipient of several recognition plaques from the National Farmers Organization.
Elness Livestock started out with a straight truck, then added another one. Then it was decided the growing business needed a semi and then it was two semis.
“We have three drivers now, but at one time, it was nine,” Brian Elness is quot-ed as saying in the article. “I started working with my dad when I was 9, writing the market out on a chalk-board, and I had to stand up on something to do that. I like the work and working with my dad. By the time I graduated and turned 19, I got my license and was out running around picking up animals.”
Elness typically has 400 head of cattle at three loca-tions presently — his own place, on Larry Majerus’ acreage and at Kevin Pohl-man’s place, he said.
“We buy what looks like it will make some money,” Elness said in the article. “We have Holsteins be-cause we had the opportu-nity to contract them. It’s a lot about risk management. I keep about 400 around. Fifty-three of them came out of Wisconsin near Lake Superior. My dad took care of them up there and I do the same. We sell some and feed what’s left.”
Elness’ dad built his business helping small producers market and transport their animals, both beef and pigs. Brian continues to help those same producers, the ones the big guys don’t seem to care to deal with all that much, he said.
Elness has gained a few customers over the years, as well as lost some to re-tirement.
“A few guys have in-creased their cattle,” he said in the article. “And some have actually in-creased their herd with a mono-sloop roof. It is one big roof built on a sloop to provide cattle protection and reduce runoff.”
Elness Livestock pretty much hauls for its own customers and 95 percent of those producers buy their cattle, sows and boars through Elness while a lot of them trust the business to buy feeder cattle for them too.
The top issue Elness sees facing cattle producers now is the amount of dol-lars it takes to handle their business with 5 to 7 percent interest rates and having to borrow three to five times the amount of money be-cause animals are worth three to five times more
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than before.“It used to be a truck-
load was worth $5,000,” he said. “Today that same truckload is worth around $50,000. Margins haven’t changed, but you are han-dling more money, as over-head is higher — to feed and truck cattle or hogs as well as purchase them. Everything is higher.”
Right now, however, El-ness sees the market for beef cattle being pretty good.
“Most of our Holsteins go to Green Bay,” he said. “Some of our cattle go to JBS in Grand Island, Neb.”
Elness Livestock has received recognition over a period of several years from the National Farm-ers Organization for being one of the top 10 livestock marketing centers.
“I grew up with this busi-ness, serving the smaller guys,” Elness said. “That’s what the National Farmers Organization does — mar-kets smaller groups.
“For me, what I like is what I call ‘liquid bull eq-uity’ that we have around,” Elness said. “When corn was $8, a lot of guys got out of cattle. A lot of them were farming — brothers to-gether and that. Then they came in with some high rents and a lot them lost ground, so they thought a way to keep income up was to put up a mono-sloops over their cattle and they actually improved their herds. And the guys that stuck to it are doing good
Photo by Dan Condon
now. So I am doing what my dad did, working with the smaller guys that seem to keep growing and growing, those that have been with me for years and years.”
With $8 corn, nothing was sure, like it often is raising cattle, Elness noted. But he, along with those who stayed in cattle, weathered it and is expe-riencing growth in small steps.
“After my dad died, I had to prove myself — espe-cially buying animals,” El-ness said. “Buying a whole load of them was $9,000 back then now it is closer to $70,000.”
Elness has some good, reliable help with his busi-ness.
“Roger Johnson is my right-hand man,” he said. “He takes a load every week, lately to Grand Is-land, and he also takes a lot of our calls.”
Elness’ wife, Holly, and daughter, Jordin, are both involved in the business.
“Holly is our secretary and takes care of our ac-counts receivable, sees that the bills go out and goes over our log books,” Elness said. “Jordin rode with me to start with, but she can run the Bobcat, drive pickup and does the phones — just about anything that needs done around here.”
As to the future of the cattle business, Elness said, “It looks to be pretty darn good into the next few years with less dollars re-quired to handle stuff and I don’t see that increasing much.”
The Farm Market News is mailed free of charge to 18,400 rural homes and businesses across 17 coun-ties in southern Minnesota, northern Iowa and east-ern South Dakota and is available for free pickup at cafés and coffee shops throughout the coverage area.
Extra copies are avail-able for free pickup at the offices of Livewire Printing Co. in downtown Jackson and the Lakefield Standard in downtown Lakefield. The Farm Mar-ket News may also be read by article online at jack-soncountypilot.com and lakefieldstandard.com or in its entirety online at farmmarketnews.com.
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CHANGE: Frederickson family farm has a rich past and bright futureContinued from C1
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too long ago, Ardith cel-ebrated her 90th birthday at the place she has called home for all those years.
“My grandpa, Tollef Egge, rented this farm for several years after he bought it,” said Ardith, now 93. “In March of 1922, his daughter, Ella, my mother and my dad, Ernest Brodin, moved onto the farm. I was 1 year old. The old house here was torn down and a new one was built. A gra-nary had been built on the property, too, and we lived in that granary — made four rooms out of it — and stayed there until the new house was built.”
In 1928, a new barn and hog house were added to the farmstead. Later addi-tions included a silo, cattle barn and machine shed.
“Tollef was raised in Christiana Township,” Ar-dis said. “He helped on his father’s farm and as a hired farmhand. When he was 23 years old, he went to Wisconsin for a year. Then spent a year in North Da-kota before coming back to this area and again worked as a farmhand. One of the places he worked was Ole Selnes’ place west of here. Tollef met Mary there. Then he bought the farm-land north of the Selnes place and, after he and Mary were married, they settled there. They bought 80 acres, then another 80 acres across from them.”
Tollef and Mary had three children — Ella, Olga and a boy, Elai. Together they worked to improve their place, Ardith noted.
Mary died in 1914.Prior to that, in 1911,
Tollef purchased the 120 acres that later became the original family farm now owned by Frederickson Family Legacy, a family limited liability company.
“In 1920, my parents
moved to Delafield Town-ship where I was born in 1921,” Ardith said. “My sister, Ruth, was born nine years later, so I spent a lot of time following every-body around the place.”
But Ardith created her own fun that at times was met with some disasters. She managed to cut her foot while playing out by the barn and, after the horse pasture was fenced in with barbed wire, at age 8 while playing with her cat forgot the fence was there and ran into it. She required 10 stitches to her neck from that accident.
“I fell out of our car too,” she said. “When my par-ents were getting ready to go to town one Saturday evening, I was upstairs leaning out of the window when I fell, but must have turned completely over be-cause I landed on my feet. My mom came running through the house looking for me and I met her at the back door.”
It wasn’t all fun and dan-ger for Ardith. She helped her mother cook and bake, especially at threshing time.
“We had 10 to 12 men, part of a threshing ring working west and north of here, but a total of 19 men for meals,” she said. “We served them lunch and din-ner and it took two settings to serve all of them. We served them an afternoon lunch too. Three of the men with the threshing rig stayed overnight.”
The Brodins always had at least one hired man, but at certain times of the year, had two.
Following Tollef ’s death in 1927, the farm was di-vided up among his survi-vors, with Ardith’s mother getting the building site and the 120 acres to the north, while Elai got the
home place and Olga got the section of bare ground.
At that time, the pre-dominant crops were oats, barley, flax and corn, with most of the grain feed for the animals that included, horses, cows, chickens and pigs.
“We got our first tractor in the 1930s,” Ardith said. “It was a Farmall, but we kept the eight horses we farmed with too. When we moved here in 1948, we still had horses. And Grandpa Egge had horses he called his.”
Having been involved in farming for more than 100 years, the Frederickson family and those who have gone before them obvi-ously experienced a lot of changes.
“Herb and I married in 1947,” Ardith said. “We moved here in 1948 after Dad had a heart attack that year and he had asked Herb to consider moving here to farm. Herb started here with cows — Holstein cows.”
Karl and Bonnie are the third generation of the family to live on the farm and operate the family business. Since they took over running it in 1990 when Karl’s dad, Herb, died, changes have con-tinued to come — some slowly, others fast. The land continues to be owned by Ardith.
“Other changes have been in equipment,” Bon-nie said. “We don’t work out in the elements now and are away from the sprays, wind and protect-ed from the sun, and the
equipment is more com-fortable.”
“What would Tollef Egge think?” Karl said. “He would be surprised with all the technology and big equipment, along with the cost of everything. He would also be pleased that the future for the Freder-ickson farm looks pretty good going forward.
“Our family formed an LLC to keep the land that Tollef originally owned in our family well into the future,” Karl said. “Our daughter, Beth, and son-in-law, Mark Bents, are now partners in our farming operation. At some point, they will be running the farm operation as Bonnie and I will retire so the fam-ily farming operation will continue.”
“Tollef would be proud of the farm as it is today,” Ardith concluded.
Ardith Fredrickson
at her 90th birthday
celebration.
Submitted photoSKarl and Bonnie Frederickson’s’ daughter, Krista Kopperud, with husband Andy and their children, Annika and Elysa.
Karl Frederickson checks his wheat field.
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JCC student teacherMichaela Bengtsonis looking forwardto career in ag ed
by MARIE ZIMMERMANStaff Writer
Michaela Bengtson grew up on a Kandiyohi County dairy farm, and she’ll al-ways be a farmer at heart.
But Bengtson’s future in the industry is not in the parlor with cattle. It’s in the class-room with kids.
The Uni-versity of Minnesota s e n i o r i s majoring in agricultur-al education and spent the spring semester student teaching at Jackson County Central High School un-der the mentorship of Jeff Voss.
“I’m a huge advocate for agriculture, and the class-room is a big part of that,” Bengtson said.
Starting in February, Bengtson gradually took over teaching duties for
each of Voss’ courses until she was teaching all the courses for four weeks. She was also able to accompany the JCC FFA members to the Minnesota State FFA Convention before finish-ing her tenure at the end of April.
A county dairy princess, finalist for Princess Kay of the Milky Way and active FFA member while attend-ing New London-Spicer Schools, Bengtson espe-cially enjoys talking about agriculture with people who aren’t involved at a hands-on level.
Agricultural education has also embraced the idea of reaching out to these audiences with classes in a variety of areas that appeal to more students, she said.
“Now all of the students can be comfortable in an ag ed class. It’s really become applying the skills to real life in the future,” Bengt-son said.
Classes she taught this year at JCC include explor-ing agriculture, metals, ag economics and agri foods. Her agricultural educa-tion coursework at the U of M combined with life experience has helped her relate to students and plan
lessons on wide-ranging subjects.
“I love it because I can give them real-life stories. Having been on a farm and had a lot of those experiences, I’m able to share that with my students,”Bengtson said.
An adviser at the U of M encouraged Bengtson to apply for a student teach-ing position at JCC, say-ing “’I think JCC would be a great place for you, and I think you’ll love it,’” Bengston said.
And she has.“I’ve loved the students,
being able to see the differ-ent talents and skills that they have. … Mr. Voss and Mrs. (Laura) Bidne have done a phenomenal job of building an awesome pro-gram down here,” she said.
Back at the U of M, Bengtson will work on li-censure paperwork and preparing a portfolio for her job search. She gradu-ates May 16 and antici-pates possibly ending up back in southwestern Min-nesota.
“This area of the state is huge for looking for teach-ing positions for next year,” she said. “It’s a booming time to be in ag ed.”
Over the summer, she hopes to return to her fam-ily farm to help. Her par-ents sold their dairy cattle last year, but they continue to raise dairy and beef steers, as well as corn, soy-beans and hay.
“I always hope that I can farm a little on the side,” Bengston said. “Once it’s in your blood, it’s really hard to get out of it.”
Michaela Bengtson
An exciting time to enter agricultural education
by MARIE ZIMMERMANStaff Writer
M a r y Po p p e h a s worked at her family’s business — Poppe’s Pumpkin Patch and Park — her whole life.
Her parents, Joel and Dory, started the venture 17 years ago, the same year she was born. While Poppe’s experience in running a small business earned her this year’s South-west Star Concept FFA Agribusiness Award and has helped her de-velop management and people skills, she wants to take her future in an-other direction.
Poppe’s small business experience leads in an entirely new direction
The SSC senior plans to attend Southwest Min-nesota State University and major in elementary education.
“Math really isn’t my thing, so I knew business wasn’t my calling,” Poppe said. “I just love kids too much, so I can’t see myself doing anything else.”
But Poppe’s involvement at the patch will be a valu-able foundation for her fu-ture. Having contact with employees and customers has built her confidence and fine-tuned her people skills.
“I used to be really shy,” she said. “Now I’m com-fortable talking to people I don’t know.”
During the pumpkin patch’s five-week run each fall, Poppe often works in the café managing the wait staff, making sure everyone gets helped and running the till.
She obtained her food manager’s license, though it’s not typically available to people younger than 18, and has experience cook-ing both at the café and at the Horse Barn and Hunt Club in rural Lakefield.
“I love to cook and I love to bake,” Poppe said.
While local restaurant kitchens don’t allow for a lot of culinary imagination, this year Poppe and three other SSC FFA members
had the chance to get cre-ative as part of the food science career develop-ment event. It was the first year SSC participated in this CDE.
“We had to make three prototype versions of piz-zas for Tony’s. They had about 50 ingredients, any-thing you can imagine. We picked our best one, and the judges tasted it,” Poppe said.
Along with coaches Lisa Fest and Dory Poppe and teammates Sarah Madsen, Sarah Schmid and Kaylan Untiedt, Poppe practiced creating unique combina-tions like healthy grilled pizza and pizza mac ‘n’ cheese and hot dog pizza, which was “actually pretty good,” she said.
At regional competition, only three toppings could be used and the team de-cided to go with a “steak-tastic” grill-out pizza fea-turing barbecue sauce, beef jerky, peppers and cheese. The team also had to take a written test and complete a food safety and quality practicum and a sensory evaluation practi-cum.
“We ended up getting sixth overall as a team, so, for our first year, that was pretty good,” Poppe said.
As much as she’s enjoyed working at the pumpkin patch and her forays into food, Poppe is confident her decision to study el-ementary education is the right one.
“I just see how much stress we go through as a business and we’re only open one month, so I can only imagine what it would be like all year long,” she said.
Currently, Poppe volun-teers as an aide for Judy Stenzel’s kindergarten class at SSC Elementary one hour a day and en-joys time with the stu-dents. After graduating from SWMSU, she’ll be licensed to teach kinder-garten through sixth grade, but would like to teach third-graders or younger.
photo by marie ZimmermanMary Poppe (second from left) is awarded the Star Agribusiness award at the 2014 Southwest Star Concept FFA banquet for her work at Poppe’s Pumpkin Patch and Park, her family’s small business. Other 2014 star award winners are Ashley Hendrickson (from left) and Kristin Liepold.
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JACKSON•Livewire Printing Co.
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•The ExpressWay•Sunshine Foods
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LAKEFIELD•Lakefi eld Standard
•The ExpressWay•Lewis Family Drug
•Maynard’s Food Center
HERON LAKE•P&J’s Mini Mart
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Submitted photoSThis marching band was one of 12 that marched down Main Street in the 1954 Lakefield Lamb Day celebration.
Above: The 1954 Lakefield Lamb Day celebration also marked the 75 th anniversary of Lakefield, with a commemorative button honoring both celebrations.
by MIKE JORDANStaff Writer
Back in the mid-1950s, when lamb was the king of agriculture in Lakefield and the surrounding areas, the town became known as the “Lamb Capital of Min-nesota,” in large part due to the efforts of the Thorn-berg family, the primary promoters of the lamb in-dustry locally.
In 1953, in an attempt to draw even more attention to the industry, a summer celebration of lamb was planned and appropriately named “Lamb Day.”
“The primary reason a Lamb Day celebration was started here was to recognize and promote the lamb industry,” said Mike Kirchmeier, director the Jackson County Historical Museum. “At that time, it was a predominant indus-try for Lakefield, as well as the area around Lakefield. The first Lamb Day cel-ebration was to take place the summer of 1953.”
But the actual event didn’t happen until Sept. 30 of that year.
According to the Novem-ber issue of the Milwaukee Railroad Newsletter, L.B. Horton, commissioner of the agricultural and min-eral development depart-ment; M. T. Sevedge, su-perintendent of the I&SM Division; and George Neu, division freight agent of Minneapolis; were among the several Milwaukee Railroad officers on hand to help celebrate the first Lakefield Lamb Day.
“That city, (Lakefield), only a few miles west of Mr. Horton’s hometown of Fairmont, is one of the country’s most important lamb feeding areas,” the newsletter stated. “Jackson County, in which it is locat-ed, has the largest enroll-ment of 4-H Club boys and girls and Future Farmers of America boys in lamb feeding projects of any county in the United States. One company located on the Milwaukee Railroad tracks at Lakefield handled 97,000 lambs last year.”
The following year, the Lamb Day celebration in Lakefield was combined with the city’s Diamond Jubilee and took place on Sept. 15. That celebration was followed by a Lamb Day celebration the next year in September and again on Sept. 12, 1956.
“The Lamb Day celebra-
Lakefield’s Lamb Day celebration popular, but short-livedtion grew a little every year,” Kirchmeier said.
By 1956, a Lamb Day queen and princesses were chosen and a pa-rade marched down Main Street with some 56 units taking part, including 12 marching bands, beauti-fully decorated floats and visiting queens crowned for 12 other city celebra-tions.
“A Lakefield Standard article of Sept. 13, 1956, carried the headline: ‘6,000 Attend Lamb Day Here Yesterday; Name New Queen,’” Kirchmeier said.
But as those 6,000 people jammed the city’s streets for the fourth annual Lamb Day celebration, little did they know there would be no Lamb Day in Lakefield ever again.
“At the celebration, a new queen was crowned for the following year’s Lamb Day,” Kirchmeier said. “But Lamb Day 1957 Queen Helen Matasovsky and her two princesses never reined over that year’s Lamb Day as it never happened.”
And Kirchmeier can only guess why.
“Perhaps it was the deci-sion by area farmers that their land could be better used and more productive raising other things like soybeans and more corn, as well as other livestock possibly,” he said. “I don’t really know, but Lakefield didn’t have another cel-ebration of any kind for several years following the Lamb Day celebration’s demise.”
All locals were surprised as well, considering how huge the annual Lamb Day celebration had be-come with not only a big Lamb Day parade and the crowning of a queen and
her royalty, but additional attractions such as the Brewster Drum and Bugle Corps performance that preceded the crowning, as well as the performance of the Lakefield Men’s Quar-tet along with four acts provided by the Hal Gar-ven entertainment troupe, all of which were enthusi-astically received by the record crowd that year.
That year, the throng of 6,000 also filled Lakefield’s town hall lawn to enjoy beef and lamb barbeques served with either milk or coffee. And the reigning Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Barbara Jean Bossus of Brainerd, served 1,200 half-pints of milk supplied free by the Lakefield Dairy through the courtesy of
the Oak Grove Dairy, as reported in the Lakefield Standard article of Septem-ber 1956.
Following dinner that day, 14 local children raced their handcrafted cars down the south Lakefield hill in a friendly competi-tion that many also enjoyed and races of another kind took place at the Lakefield Athletic Fields, where more than 200 competed for $70 in prize money on foot.
The other winners in the last Lakefield Lamb Day celebration included Dale and Bonnie Bennett’s pen of lambs donated for the event by the Thornberg Sheep Co. and Mrs. Ed Brandt’s winning a $40 wristwatch donated by
Bisping Jewelry.“Gwen Fleace was a ro-
deo queen back then and rode in one of the parades, she recently told me,” Kirchmeier said. “The event was possibly sup-ported by the Lakefield Chamber of Commerce at that time, but other busi-nesses like Thornberg were involved, too, I am pretty certain.”
So the annual event that
grabbed the attention of many locals as well as sev-eral thousand others annu-ally for a number of years abruptly ended. It was years later that Lakefield celebrated Pork Days, but the memories of the Lamb Day parades, from the kiddies parades to the big 50-unit, 12-band parades of the mid-1950s, along with the Lamb Day queen, were not soon forgotten.
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C6 Thursday, May 8, 2014
Local state Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mt. Lake, is one of eight inductees into the Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame.
The longtime legisla-tor was inducted during a ceremony April 28 dur-ing the 85th annual Min-nesota FFA Convention in St. Paul.
In addition t o H a m i l -ton, the 2014 Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame Class includes Val Aarsvold of Altura, Kevin Dahlman of Cokato, Greg Gosen of
Albert Lea, Joel Larsen of Savage, Allen Levine of Minneapolis, Jim Mo-lenaar of New London and Dr. Deane A. Turner of St. Paul. These inductees join the more than 160 mem-bers inducted into the Min-nesota FFA Hall of Fame over the past 10 years.
The Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame is a collaborative effort between the Min-nesota FFA Association, alumni and foundation.
The 85th Minnesota FFA Convention took place April 27-29 in St. Paul and drew 3,000-plus FFA mem-bers, advisors and guests from across the state.
Rod Hamilton inducted into Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame last month
Rod Hamilton
to conduct a quick records check inspection at sites that, according to previ-ous inspections, have not been maintaining manure management records, and perform detailed records inspection reviews as part of any compliance inspec-tion conducted at non-Na-tional Pollutant Discharge Elimination System per-mit sites with greater than 300 animal units.
Grages said a quick re-cords check is the mini-mum type of inspection conducted for routine site visits. This level of review involves a quick look at re-cords to ensure producers are using the right tools
for nutrient management. “For producers with
less than 300 animal units, this review is primarily a check to see if manure is being tested and enough records are kept to prop-erly credit nitrogen from manure,” Grages said.
For those with more than 300 animal units, this inspection includes checking to see that ma-nure and soil are being tested, required manure management plans are available and records are kept of rates and dates of application.
A detailed records in-spection is a more in-volved review of records
to ensure the tools are used correctly to meet specific rule and per-mit requirements, Grages said, adding this level of review is conducted in high-priority geographic areas and NPDES sites. This type of inspection requires more time than a quick records check, Grages said, and includes an evaluation of rates of nitrogen application, soil phosphorous management and more. In some cases, parts of the manure man-agement plan need to be reviewed during this type of inspection, Grages said, in order to better under-stand the basis for the ap-
plied rates. Grages said he is not
too concerned about the heightened expectations, especially the recommen-dation to increase the inspection rate. His role in the four-year feedlot inventory required as part of the West Fork Des Moines River Total Maxi-mum Daily Load Imple-mentation Project being coordinated by the Heron Lake Watershed District has him inspecting well more than 10 percent of the feedlots in the county per year anyway. That project ends in August 2015.
INSpECTIONS: Minnesota raises the barContinued from C1
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FCA Coop Grain Division – 7 locations give the customer fl exibility in delivery:JACKSON • SHERBURN • TRIMONT • LAKEFIELD • OKABENA • WILDER • ROUND LAKE
FCA offers a wide variety of grain contracts . . .• Cash Contract (Fixed Price Contract)• Forward contract (Cash Forward Contract)• Price Later Contract (No Price Established, Delayed or Deferred
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We’re proud to salute you!FARMERS
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AGCOUNTY DIRECTORIES
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If a pole is knocked over, farmers are urged to stay away from downed lines and damaged electric equipment, as they may still be charged with elec-tricity.
If a powerline is clipped with farm equipment and the pole or powerlines fall on the tractor or vehicle, or if a tractor becomes en-tangled in downed lines, farmers are asked not to leave the tractor until Fed-erated’s linemen give the all-clear. Even if a power-line is on the ground, poten-tial exists for the area near the tractor to be energized.
Farmers are urged to call Federated or 911 so linemen can de-energize
the lines. Those without a phone are encouraged to stay put until someone stops to call for help. Step-ping in or out of the tractor or vehicle with energized, downed powerlines nearby could result in electrocu-tion.
If a farmer must get out due to fire, Federated rec-ommends jumping clear of the tractor without touch-ing it and the ground at the same time, then hopping with feet together until away from the danger zone. Hopping with feet together prevents a voltage differ-ence between them, which could give electricity a chance to flow through the body.
pOLES: Use cautionContinued from C1
C7 Thursday, May 8, 2014
AGCO: New tractorsContinued from C1
Challenger track tractor in the entry-model range.
The Stealth package in-cludes a matt black livery and numbered units 1 to 28 — one to celebrate each year of track tractors — with matching decals.
Currently rolling off the production line in Jack-son, all 28 units will be
shipped to Europe and will start arriving there in late June, ready for post-harvest work.
The Stealth joins last year’s “Outlaw” as an ex-ample of AGCO’s ability to build customized tractors for customers and special occasions.
www.sanfordjackson.org
We appreciate your efforts.
Producers!&
Lakefi eld507-662-6611
Jackson507-847-2420
7033
Area farmer Richard Peterson, a member of the Jackson County Corn and Soybean Growers Associa-tion, has been inducted into the inaugural class of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association Recruiter Hall of Fame.
Peterson has recruited 412 members to join MCGA and advocate on behalf of Minnesota’s corn farmers.
MCGA created the Recruit-er Hall of F a m e t o recognize high-vol-ume grow-er-recruit-e r s w h o work tire-lessly at the grassroots level to recruit new mem-bers and amplify the voice of Minnesota corn farmers. The inaugural Hall of Fame class has five inductees.
“The voices of corn farm-ers are louder when we unite and speak as one in-stead of only speaking as individuals,” said MCGA President Ryan Buck. “I want to thank Richard for working tirelessly over the years to recruit new mem-bers and help make MCGA the strong grassroots orga-nization that it is today.”
Nominees for the MCGA Recruiter Hall of Fame must have recruited more than 300 members and been an active recruiter for at least five years. MCGA’s Producer Services team selected inductees via se-cret ballot.
Each inductee receives $500 cash, an MCGA Hall of Fame jacket and a plaque.
MCGA has nearly 6,900 members and works to identify and promote op-portunities for corn farm-ers while enhancing quality of life.
Richard Peterson
Area farmer inducted into inaugural class of MCGA Recruiter Hall of Fame
richard peterson has been re-elected to serve an-other three-year term on the minnesota Corn research & promotion Council.
the 11-member mCr&pC administers the investment of minnesota’s corn check-off, which is a way for corn farmers to voluntarily invest in their own industry through a self-imposed fee paid at the first point of sale for every bushel of corn sold. Check-off funds are used to help corn farmers create new markets, increase productivity and profitability, improve water quality and environmental stewardship and build a positive image for corn farming in minnesota.
“i’m looking forward to serving on the board for another three years,” said peterson. “minnesota’s corn check-off dol-lars have helped move corn farming forward, and there is still plenty of room for growth. Whether we’re talking about how we grow our crop, ethanol or environmental steward-ship, minnesota’s corn farmers have a great story to tell.”
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C8 Thursday, May 8, 2014
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