It's a Wrap, Aggie!

Our time with Flat Aggie has come to a close. When Aggie arrived from Miss Holbrook's fourth grade class at a charter school, Walden Academy, in Willows, California, we welcomed him to our farm on Salt Marsh Road. We live on the Stafford/Reno County line in South Central Kansas.

Stafford County is colored orange on this map of Kansas, and the orange dot is the city of Stafford. Reno County is the big rectangular county just to the right of Stafford County. Since we straddle the county line, we have farm and pasture ground in both counties. However, we probably identify more with Stafford County. It's where Randy attended school, as did our kids. It's where we go to church, participate in 4-H and where we do our banking and much of our other business. Our farm is just a few miles from the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.

Through the magic of travel across the country, our Flat Aggie had some special properties. He arrived in his "normal" size - about 81/2- by 11 inches. But he also "morphed" into sizes 2 to 3 times his original size so that the fourth graders could see him better in some situations on the farm. (Click on the links below for more details about each of Aggie's adventures.)

Our primary crop is wheat. But when Aggie arrived, it was cold and wintery. Hard red winter wheat like we raise is dormant in the winter, so there's nothing we do with it during this time of the year. (We did have the co-op fertilize it while Aggie was here.) However, because wheat is so important to our farm and our livelihood, I wanted Aggie and the fourth graders to know more about the life cycle of wheat during the nine months it takes to get from planting to harvest. Aggie did visit a wheat field as it is beginning to green up and grow.

 

The fourth graders will have their own opportunity to grow some wheat. Randy and I sent a box to Miss Holbrook's class at Walden Academy. In it, we included some Kansas wheat postcards which had a small packet of wheat and growing instructions attached. Thanks to Kansas Wheat for providing the postcards, as well as pencils, lapel pins and book marks. Randy is on the board of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, one arm of Kansas Wheat.

We also sent a Kailey's Ag Adventures anthology, a series from the Kansas Farm Bureau. Even though it's for a reading level younger than fourth grade, we hoped the pictures and stories would help supplement Aggie's adventures from here on The County Line.

During his visit, Aggie got to experience much more on the cattle side of our farming operation. Because Randy can't do field work in the wintertime months, we schedule our cows and heifers to calve beginning in late January and continuing into March. 

When Aggie arrived, we were experiencing bitter cold, sub-zero temperatures and snow. That is not good calving weather. One weekend, Aggie went with us as we tried to save baby calves during the bitter cold and snow. Two calves died that weekend, despite our best efforts to care for them.

I asked my blog readers and Facebook friends about whether I should tell the fourth graders that part of the story. I never intended to lie and say that the calves had survived. However, I did think about just not telling that particular story. However, everyone encouraged me to tell the whole story, not just the happy parts. Many fourth graders have experienced the loss of a pet or maybe even a family member, so they already understand that life includes death. Aggie learned that, too.

But we also had plenty of success stories from our cattle adventures.

Aggie helped us round up a baby who had strayed from the pasture and helped us return him to his mama.

We looked for a beaver in one of our pastures. We found a beaver dam, but not the beaver.

Aggie became a cattle wrangler and helped us gather and sort feeder calves so that we could take them to the cattle sale. He also got to see the big semi come to haul the cattle to the sale barn.

Then, the next day, Aggie went with us to the cattle sale and watched the feeder calves sell.

Aggie liked listening to the auctioneer so much that we took him to a farm sale at a neighboring farm. Randy bought some used equipment. Aggie and I tried to keep our hands down so we weren't unintentionally bidding!

We couldn't find a hard hat Aggie's size, but he still got to go with us as we toured an ethanol plant near Pratt.

We are so glad that Aggie came to The County Line to visit us. We hope that his adventures help tell the story of life on one Kansas farm. Thanks to Nicole and her Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom blog for the opportunity to host Aggie. She makes it possible for Flat Aggies to travel the country and learn about agriculture, and we sincerely appreciate the time and effort she takes to serve as a "travel agent" for Aggie.

We also are thankful to Kansas Wheat for the goodies we were able to send for the fourth graders. Thanks to Walden mom, Sandy, for delivering the package to the school and serving as Nicole and my contact to make Aggie's visit possible. 

You can keep up with Aggie's adventures on the Flat Aggie Facebook page. Thanks for visiting us, Aggie! Hope you enjoy your next adventure. Tell your friends at Walden Academy "Hi!" from Kansas!

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I'm linked to Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom's Country Fair Blog Party. Click on the link to read other blog posts from the country.  

Good News for Aggie

When we first welcomed Flat Aggie to our South Central Kansas farm, I asked a question about how truthful to be with Aggie and a classroom of fourth graders from Walden Academy in Willows, Calif.

Aggie arrived amidst sub-zero wind chills, and we promptly lost two calves, despite our best efforts. I want to clarify: I never intended to lie to the students and tell them that the calf we had worked so hard to save had survived. I just thought about not telling the story at all. 

But, on the advice of both blog readers and Facebook followers, I decided to share the story in its entirety. Yes, we had a few calves die in bad weather, even though we worked really hard to help them and their mothers. (We had seven calves die this winter, two from birth defects and the others due to extreme cold. This was more than most years.)

As most people pointed out, many fourth graders may have already experienced the death of a pet or even a grandparent. Sometimes, we lose people and creatures that are important to us. In this case, these animals aren't our pets, but we are entrusted to care for them to the best of our ability. We don't like to have animals suffer or die. But death is a part of the life cycle. Fourth graders are old enough to know that.

For farmers and ranchers, there's an added consideration. The loss of a baby calf is also the loss of some income. When we sold feeder calves at the Pratt Livestock sale barn, new baby calves were selling for as much as $400. That is an unusually high price. So, besides it being emotionally hard to lose a creature in our care, it's also a loss to our farm income.

But I also don't want Aggie to leave Kansas without telling the fourth graders there were many more success stories than sad stories as we approach the end of our calving season.

Sometimes, the jackets - plus some straw - helped the babies warm up and thrive.

Aggie also got another experience when he helped put an ear tag in a baby calf's ear. The calf was born to a heifer, a first-time Mama.  Randy puts the ear tag in so that we can match the baby calf to the heifer.

The ear tagger is kind of like a giant ear piercer. Probably some of the fourth grade girls already have pierced ears. Aggie watched as Randy gave that particular calf the 421 tag number. The "4" tells us that the calf was born in 2014 (the last digit of the year). That's how we number our calves. Last year's calves have numbers beginning with "3" and next year's calves will have numbers starting with "5." The "21" meant it was the 21st calf born to a heifer this year.

After the baby got its tag, the mama checked it out and realized it was just fine, despite some interference from those humans who came to the cattle corral.

Aggie also helped Randy and I as we checked cattle in pastures and corrals. One cold day, he found a baby calf taking a nap in the grasses at the pasture, which sheltered the calf from the cold.

We hope Aggie liked seeing the cute babies just as much as we do.

As Aggie prepares to leave, we are close to being done with our 2014 calf crop. Now, we only have 14 out of 114 heifers and cows left to calve.  Don't know how we'll do it without you, Aggie!

Aggie Visits an Ethanol Plant

It's not every day that Randy and I tour an ethanol plant. So we were glad to share that experience with Flat Aggie. 

After being shut down and idle for more than five years, the ethanol plant in Pratt is back in business under the ownership of Pratt Energy, a partnership between The Scoular Company and Pratt Biofuel Investors (PBI). Pratt Energy is operating the plant and marketing the ethanol, while Scoular is buying the milo and corn to produce the ethanol and marketing the wet and dry distillers grains, a co-product of ethanol production.

Scoular purchased the 55-million gallon plant and adjoining 1.8-million bushel grain facility in 2011 from Gateway Plant LLC. The Gateway ethanol plant had originally opened in 2007, but an ice storm in December 2007 and other management difficulties caused the plant to go bankrupt and close.

In December 2012, Scoular sold a portion of its interest in Pratt Energy to Pratt Biofuels, which has related ownership to Calgren Renewable Fuels. Renovations were completed by late summer 2013, and the plant began grinding grain and producing ethanol in early September 2013.

Lyle Schlyer, president of both Pratt Energy and Calgren Renewable Fuels, gave us our tour at the Pratt plant. Schlyer said the Pratt plant is patterned after a nearly identical plant in Pixley, Calif. Calgren successfully renovated the Pixley plant in 2009 and continues to operate it today.

Area farmers and cooperatives are hauling milo and corn to the plant to be converted to ethanol. When they arrive, the grain is tested for quality using probes.

The truckers then take their trucks to be unloaded in the elevator. 

Two trucks can unload at one time, which we saw during our tour of the plant.The plant buys most of its corn and milo from nearby counties, with 70 to 80 trucks delivering around 55,000 bushels of grain a day. The plant plans to use about 20 million bushels of feedstock (corn and milo) per year, with most of it being sourced by truck within 30 to 75 miles of Pratt. However, if needed, Scoular can bring in grain via unit trains. The facility is located on the Union Pacific Railroad and can ship or receive 100-car trains of grain, as well as load out the same size trains of dried distiller grains or ethanol.

Right now, the ethanol blend ratio is about 60 percent corn and 40 percent milo, but the plant tries to use the grain that is most economically feasible, said TJ Mandl, Scoular’s local manager who oversees the company’s Pratt business.

Scoular also markets wet and dry distillers grains, a co-product produced during the processing. Scoular supplies the distillers grains to small and large cattle feeders, as well as feed mills. Each day, about 20 loads of ethanol and 45 loads of distillers grains go out of the plant.

We got to see inside the ethanol plant, but Aggie and I can't reveal any trade secrets for the process. (We didn't understand them anyway!)

Aggie and I thought that the office looked like Mission Control. Two workers were sitting at computer terminals with several monitors. They were watching to make sure all the processes were going smoothly and watching for the correct temperatures as the grain ferments and is transformed into fuel.

Pratt Energy sells the ethanol largely in the Wichita, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and surrounding markets. Before the Pratt ethanol plant went online, most of the ethanol sold in southern Kansas and Oklahoma came from outside the region.

While it may look like the plant is polluting the air, it's not. That is just steam - or water vapor - from the plant.

Pratt Energy employs 34, and the Scoular Co. has a workforce of eight to 10, so having the plant operational has been good for the regional economy. It has also given local and area farmers and farm cooperatives another source to sell their grain.

** Some of the information for this blog post came from a newsletter produced by The Scoular Company. It was tough to hear during the tour, so the information found in the online newsletter helped supplement the information Aggie and I learned while on the tour. 

Aggie Visits The Wheat State

Wheat is the major crop here on our farm in South Central Kansas. So, you'd think that Aggie would have had lots to do to help us with this important crop.

It's not only important to us, but it's important to Kansas agriculture. On average, Kansas is the largest wheat producing state, with nearly 1/5 of the nation's wheat grown here. All the wheat grown in Kansas in a single year would fit in a train stretching from western Kansas to the Atlantic Ocean.

However, at this time of year, about the only thing to do with wheat is to watch it grow. Since Aggie arrived when we were experiencing sub-zero wind chills, the wheat was still in the dormant stage. But, as the weather warms a bit, the wheat is starting to green up and grow. 

We planted a little more than 1,400 acres to wheat last fall during a time frame from September 23 to October 9.

Here is Randy drilling wheat last fall.

Here in Central Kansas, we plant what is called hard red winter wheat. It's planted in the fall and then goes dormant during the cold months of winter before coming out of its "hibernation" and growing again in the spring. It is then usually harvested in June.

Here's what the wheat looks like as it emerges in the fields.

This month, the co-op sprayed our wheat field with nitrogen fertilizer. (I missed the actual spraying because I was at school during that time, so this is a photo from 2010. I didn't show Aggie in person, but we still thought it was important to show you Walden Academy students!
Snow during the winter months doesn't hurt the wheat at all. In fact, the moisture helps it.

However, last spring, we had several late season ice and snow storms in April and even in May. A freeze on wheat can impact the yield, or the amount of wheat we raise. At the time, I said it looked like a slushy machine had exploded on our wheat fields. Thankfully and miraculously, it didn't ultimately affect the size or quality of the crop.

Ice & slush on the wheat in Spring 2013

 As the weather gets warmer, the wheat plant begins growing and gets taller.

A little later, the wheat head emerges from the plant.

Morning dew on a wheat head

Then, later, the wheat plant pollinates. The little yellow "flecks" on the wheat head are pollen. The pollination helps make more kernels in the wheat head.

We usually harvest in mid to late June and sometimes into early July. We can begin harvest when the wheat fields turn golden in color and the wheat kernels dry out.

 

The combine separates the wheat kernels from the straw. We then use the combine auger to put it into the trucks.

Once the truck is full, we haul the grain to a co-op elevator. When we arrive at the co-op, we pull on the scales so both we and the co-op know how much grain we have delivered. They use a probe to get a sample of the wheat to test it for moisture and test weight, a mark of quality. (You can see the probe on the orange arm hovering over the truck in the photo below.)

Then we dump the grain out of the truck with a hydraulic bed lift. 

Here's a close-up of the wheat kernels and a copy of the postcards that Aggie and I packed and sent to my fourth grade friends.

A farmer doesn't have an 8 to 5 job. During wheat harvest, we often cut long after the sun has set.

Want to keep up with the Flat Aggies who are visiting farms and ranches across the U.S.? Like Flat Aggie on Facebook. Thanks again to Nicole of Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom who arranges these visits.

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In case you've missed the introduction to Flat Aggie

Our buddy, Flat Aggie, is from Miss Holbrook's fourth grade classroom at Walden Academy in Willows, California. Flat Aggie is a project of my southeast Kansas blog friend, Nicole, and her Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom blog. Flat Aggie goes to farms all across the country to learn about agriculture. Aggie then reports back to the class with a letter (or blog posts) from the farm. Randy and I have been taking Aggie with us when we check cattle and do other things on the farm. We have enjoyed hosting him and helping him learn about life on a South Central Kansas farm.

***

Today, I'm linked to Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom's Country Fair Blog Party. Click on the link to read other blog posts from the country.  

Aggie at the Auction

Since Aggie enjoyed himself so much at the cattle auction, we decided he should go along when a neighbor's family had a farm sale this week. Our neighbor died last year, and his girls have rented out the farm ground to another neighbor. So, they don't have a need for the equipment he used on their farm.

When we got to the auction, Aggie and Randy got an auction number, 52. That is the number Randy used to make his bids.

The auctioneers usually start with the "small stuff," which is typically put on trailers. Randy wasn't interested in any of those items. But a farm sale is also a good time to visit with your neighbors, so we did some of that while the auctioneers sold tools, fencing gear and other smaller items. Aggie checked it out, but he wasn't interested either.

The auctioneer rides in the bed of a pickup truck. The bidders gather around the trailers or the equipment that's being sold. 

The auctioneer uses a microphone and does his auctioneering chant to try and get people to pay the most money possible for each item.

While they were still selling the items on the trailers, Aggie and I went with Randy to check out two pieces of equipment.

Randy wanted to bid on this chisel. If Aggie looked closely, he could see the points, the part that goes into the soil. A farmer would hook it up to a tractor and pull the chisel to break up and loosen the soil. The points also disrupt the roots of weeds in the field and kill the weeds.

 

Randy also wanted to bid on a fallow master, which is used as a conservation tool. It doesn't dig as deeply as a chisel, and it leaves some residue on top of the soil which helps prevent wind erosion and conserves moisture in the field. Still, the sweeps will cut off the weeds. 

Below, Aggie checked out the pluckers, the round teeth-like wheels that pull up the weeds and also help level the ground.

Randy quit bidding on the chisel because it went for more money than he wanted to spend. However, he got the fallow master for $22,000. That sounded like a lot of money to Aggie. It did to me, too. But a new fallow master would cost around $50,000. We purchase a few things new here on our farm, but much of the equipment we use on our farm is used, mainly because it's so much less money.

After the sale, Randy went to the auctioneer's portable office in a trailer. He told the auction clerk that his sale number was No. 52. She knew how much he had bid for the fallow master based on his auction number. So, he wrote the check and we were free to take it home.

Aggie and I didn't bid on anything, but we enjoyed watching and visiting!

***

In case you've missed the introduction to Flat Aggie

Our buddy, Flat Aggie, is from Miss Holbrook's fourth grade classroom at Walden Academy in Willows, California. Flat Aggie is a project of my southeast Kansas blog friend, Nicole, and her Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom blog. Flat Aggie goes to farms all across the country to learn about agriculture. Aggie then reports back to the class with a letter (or blog posts) from the farm. Randy and I have been taking Aggie with us when we check cattle and do other things on the farm. We have enjoyed hosting him and helping him learn about life on a South Central Kansas farm.