Thunder Creek: Unmatched Quality

Thunder Creek Unmatched Quality

Keith Schick of Morton, Illinois, with the help of Michael Schmidt, a see that decrease in down time being has been farming with his family salesman that Keith is grateful to work a huge advantage this coming fall,” since he was a kid. Today, he farms with at Central Illinois Ag. Whether says Keith. An added benefit is the with his son, Kraig, who is the fifth Michael is turning wrenches in the rear utility box and tool chests which generation of the family farm. With field or providing insight on a piece are handy to store tools and other the many brands and options of farm of equipment, Keith is grateful to supplies to have available at all times equipment on the market, he and have such a hands-on salesman he while in the field. Kraig have worked together recently can always rely on. to research which machinery is the Along with the time-saving aspects best fit for their operation. This year, Ever since Michael delivered their of the trailer, Keith also likes the they were focused on finding a fuel FST 990 trailer earlier this year, it has unmatched quality of Thunder trailer that would increase their continued to impress them. With the Creek products. “The trailer has an efficiency in the field. modular design option that Thunder extremely high-quality look to it,” he Creek offers, Keith likes that he was says. “Thunder Creek did not cut any As times have changed and able to build his own trailer so that it corners.” From the aluminum wheels, equipment has evolved, they have was customized specifically for him. to the wide tires, to the diamond been hauling more fuel to the field plated trim, it is clear to see the time than ever. They travel to surrounding One of his favorite features of the and effort that Thunder Creek puts towns to get from field to field each trailer is the solar battery maintainer, into their product to make it the best year, and after last year’s harvest, which is a 30-watt solar panel on the market. they decided it was time to make mounted on the top of the trailer to a long-term investment in a safer, maintain the battery all day long. To more reliable fuel trailer than what Keith, this is one of the many features they had been using. that increases efficiency because they After comparing brands and ready when it is time to go to the weighing their options, the Schicks field. found that Thunder Creek was the can always count on the trailer being clear choice, as the quality of their Additionally, the 35-foot hose reel, products stood out. along with the electric start gas pump, They decided to make the purchase which delivers fuel at 40 gallons per minute, is sure to save on time. “I can Keith Schick and Michael Schmidt www.centralilag.com · Volume 7 Issue 2 16

Women in Ag: Dr. Penny Haase-Wittler

“N early everything we do in life is impacted by agriculture,” says Dr. Penny Haase-Wittler. “We have to keep educating others about agriculture to expose them to how important it is and how it affects their lives each day.”

Dr. Penny Haase-Wittler has become a passionate agriculture literacy advocate throughout her years working as an educator and her time spent in the ag industry, however, her story did not begin on a farm.

Penny grew up in Paris, Illinois and was always intrigued by plants and animals and loved gardening with her grandma. However, she had no background in agriculture and had not been fully introduced to farming until she visited her friend Karla’s farm when she was 11 years old. This sparked a passion in her as she began helping her friend raise and show her Chianina steer, along with doing other chores around the farm. “I fell in love with her life,” says Penny. “She is one of the major reasons why I continued down this path.”

She decided to join Karla’s 4-H club when she was in sixth grade. Penny got involved in sewing, helped her friends show their livestock, and learned more about the ag industry. “Because of 4-H, I knew that I wanted to be in this field from a very young age,” says Penny.

When high school came around, she wanted to take ag classes, but Penny remembers her counselor discouraging the idea and suggesting she take classes to prepare her for college instead. She did that for two years, but by her junior year, she and Karla decided to take ag and join FFA. They were hesitant at first because there were not many female FFA members at the time. Penny with some of her high school students. That year, Penny and her friend took their first ag class with 26 freshman boys and worked hard each day to prove themselves. One of her favorite memories as a member was delivering the FFA creed perfectly to her advisor, which earned her a free FFA jacket that she still has today. Since she joined FFA later than other members, she couldn’t be as involved as she would have liked, but being a member alone meant a lot to her.

After high school, Penny found a love for college and educating others. She obtained a two-year degree in Ag Business from Parkland College before transferring to the University of Illinois where she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Ag Science. She then began teaching at colleges in the area, including Parkland, Blackhawk, and the University of Illinois, until she decided to go back to school for her PhD in Ag Education. In the meantime, she had married her husband, Kyle, and had three children, Samantha, Catherine, and Caleb.

After graduating with her PhD in 2002, she continued teaching as her and her family moved from New York, to Arkansas, before coming back home to Illinois. She began working at the Illinois FFA Center for three years, until she decided to go back to where her love for agriculture began and try something she had not done before: teaching high school agriculture.

Penny accepted a job at Lincoln Community High School, which she says was her most challenging, but also her most rewarding job yet. “Everyone who wants to teach ag should teach high school ag first,” says Penny. “It has been the greatest experience in teaching that I have had.”

Salesman Tyler Williams with Penny and her son, Caleb, in front of their new Farmall.

At Lincoln, Penny taught a variety of classes including Ag Science, Ag Management and Production, Veterinary Science, Equine Science, Food Science, and Soil Conservation. She also focused on her students developing their own Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project in each of her classes. Penny began building up her hobby farm during this time, as many of her students used her rabbits, chickens, and more to study and take care of for their SAEs.

Some of her favorite memories from teaching high school were taking her students to FFA Conventions and contests all over the state. “We had a lot of fun,” she says. “It got them into a different academic environment, and I always wanted them to enjoy themselves so that they would remember these times for the rest of their lives.”

Over the years, Penny developed a strong bond with her students and always wanted to do more for them on top of teaching. “Every day when they would walk out of my classroom, I would yell out the door ‘make good choices!’,” she says. A colleague once warned her not to get too close or care too much about her students, but that is not what Penny believed. “The biggest thing I did as a teacher was care for my students; I did that before I even taught them,” she says.

After spending seven years at Lincoln, Penny’s husband’s health began to worsen. They decided that it was best if she took a job offer at Illinois College so that Penny could be home more often to care for him. She began her job there in 2019 as the director of the agriculture program, but just as she was getting started, Kyle passed away. “When I look back on it, everything happened the way it was supposed to,” she says. Even though it has been challenging, Penny’s faith is what has gotten her through the bad times.

Penny with a student from Illinois College.

Today, Penny is continuing to develop the agriculture program at Illinois College. She has taught ag for over 27 years now. Additionally, she is passionate about her own farm, where she raises a variety of animals and enjoys studying their behavior and breed characteristics. “I’m not done with my career; I’ll work until the day I die,” says Penny. “My passion for teaching and my faith keeps me going.”

Being a woman in the ag industry has not always been easy for Penny, however. “When I first started out, I was so young and I felt like I had to prove something,” she says. “It took years to build up my confidence.” The advice Penny would give to young girls interested in a career in the ag industry is to persevere. “I went through a lot of challenges to get to where I am today,” she says. “You must persevere and stay at the core of what you want to do and don’t give up on it. Don’t think your dreams are impossible.”

Penny with Dawn Irwin, one of her past students at Lincoln Community High School. www.centralilag.com · Volume 7 Issue 2

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Lee and Tiffany Lakosky:

BUILT LIKE A DEGELMAN

Being a farmer is a blessing. Without having a relative they met, Tiffany joined him and grew an interest in or close family member in the industry, it is not hunting as well. Around this same time, Lee began common to go to college hoping that someday you will writing hunting articles for outdoor magazines during become a farmer. Due to the demand for farmland and his free time, without any expectations of what it would the price of equipment, farming is usually a career that lead to. is passed down from generation to generation, but Lee Lee and Tiffany both grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis, and Tiffany Lakosky did not have that. He began building up contacts throughout the industry until some friends approached he and Tiffany and “Our story is one in a million: we had the opportunity suggested that they start recording their hunts for to become farmers and can now pass this way of life on Realtree’s Monster Bucks series. So, they bought a to our kids,” said Lee Lakosky. camera and did just that. “We didn’t do it for the money, we were just happy to be a part of it,” said Lee. Minnesota. Growing up in the city, they had no direct After only a couple years of filming each other, ScentLok connection to farming in their family. Instead, Tiffany reached out to Lee and Tiffany about hosting their own became a flight attendant and Lee, a chemical engineer TV show. Although it was a risk, Lee quit his stable job at an oil refinery in Minneapolis. and he and Tiffany moved to southeast Iowa to pursue their passion and begin a new career within the hunting Lee had always loved to hunt and worked at an archery industry. Tiffany soon joined him in pursuing hunting shop throughout high school and college. Soon after full time. 21 · Central Illinois Ag · www.centralilag.com

The risk that they took by leaving their old lifestyle behind turned out to be better than either of them could have imagined. After only the first season of their show, it became the highest rated show in the history of the Outdoor Channel. From there, “Crush with Lee and Tiffany” continued to take off and has turned into a much bigger business than they ever anticipated. “It was not something that we set out to do, it just fell in our laps,” says Tiffany. “God definitely had a plan.”

What many people may not know, along with filming their TV show, the Lakoskys have been fortunate enough to find the time and resources to make farming a priority in their lives as well. “We feel so fortunate that in this day and age we had the opportunity through hunting to acquire land to farm,” says Lee. After they moved to Iowa and built up their farm ground, they rented it out for a while before eventually taking over and farming it all themselves.

The way Lee and Tiffany see it, hunting and farming are linked; they need one to have the other. The food plots they plant and the crops they grow each year are food for the deer. Lee does not view faming as work, but rather as preparation for hunting season. Ever since adding in the farm work, he says that hunting has gone from a seasonal activity that he looked forward to, to a year-round process that he loves.

Since moving to Iowa and beginning to farm, the Lakoskys have seen how their simpler lifestyle has benefited their family as well. In a world full of distractions and technology, they are blessed that their children, Cameron and Raygen, enjoy being outside tagging along with them, whether they are riding in the tractor, sitting in the blind, or on the boat learning to fish. “I love how farming is a simple analogy for life,” says Tiffany. “We see what valuable things it is already teaching our kids.”

Lee and Tiffany’s son, Cameron.

As every farmer knows, in order to have a successful year, dependable equipment is necessary. Earlier this year, Lee and Tiffany met Michael Schmidt who introduced them to the Degelman Pro-Till. Michael believed that the Pro-Till would be beneficial to them to till up farm ground and food plots this spring to prepare for planting.

“It’s nice having someone to talk to who has a lifetime of experience in the industry and will always be honest with you. Michael has become more of a friend than a business partner.” -Lee Lakosky

Immediately after their 17-foot Degelman Pro-Till was delivered, Lee was impressed with how compact it was. When folded up, Lee likes that the Pro-Till is no wider than the tractor hauling it. The narrow transport makes going from field to field much simpler, especially in the fields that he has to go through creek crossings and ditches to get to. “It doesn’t matter where. If I can get my tractor through it, the Degelman is going through it too, no question,” he says.

This year, Lee used the Degelman primarily to break up sod on his food plots. He says that in the past, he would have had to go over the same ground multiple times to break it up, whereas the Degelman got the job done after only one pass. Additionally, they ran the Degelman with a seeder on it to till and plant simultaneously, which was crucial to saving them time throughout planting season. “Now that I’ve got more fields to plant, time is of essence to me: it is what I run out of, so I need stuff that works and is not going to break down.”

The Otico furrow roller on the end of the Pro-Till is another feature of the unit that Lee is happy to have. While running with the seeder, Lee says that having the roller is a must. It breaks up clumps of dirt and does a great job packing the soil down to get a good seedbed to work with.

Not only has the Degelman increased his productivity, but Lee has also seen how much stronger and more durable it is than other tillage units he has used in the past. He finds it convenient that each disk is attached individually, rather than being all together in one piece, making them more accessible and easier to remove and replace if necessary. Between the weight of each disk and the sturdy frame, he is confident in the longevity of the machine, and has seen why the brand has coined the phrase ‘built like a Degelman.’ “My kids will be using this same equipment when they are my age; they are built to last you a lifetime,” says Lee.

Lee and Tiffany with their children, Cameron and Raygen.

It is clear to see that to Lee and Tiffany, having the best and most reliable equipment is extremely important, not only for their farming and hunting operation today, but also to benefit their children, who they hope will continue the operation in the future. “Every family farmer should realize how lucky they are to be able to farm,” says Lee. “It is no secret why they want to keep passing this great way of life down to their children.”

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THE NEXT GENERATION OF PERFORMANCE

Introducing the all new Pro-Till by Degelman. Available in 4 new sizes, we’ve raised the bar on what you should expect out of your tillage equipment. Built heavy with a “drop the pin and go” mentality, this is next generation tillage as only Degelman can do. Featuring a narrower transport size, true greaseless technology throughout the entire machine, and versatility that includes the optional Scorpion Hitch and upcoming Pro-Cast Granular applicators.

The Pro-Till 30 is under 15’ in transport position.

ENGINEERED TOUGH

www.degelman.com HORSEPOWER REQUIREMENTS

12 to 15 hp per foot at 2” or less working depth to achieve

8-12 mph with 20” blades (will vary by soil type)

15 to 20 hp per foot at 2” or more working depth to achieve

8-12 mph with 20” blades (will vary by soil type)

Horsepower Per Foot

12hp 15hp 20hp

PRO-TILL 30’

PRO-TILL 36’

360 450 450 550 600 600

PRO-TILL 41’

500 600

600+ PRO-TILL 45’ 550 600+ 600+ www.centralilag.com · Volume 7 Issue 2 24