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September 2015 Page 5
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Page 8 September 2015
Zach From PAGE 7
about family – to stop their harvest operations, stop whatever they were doing in the field ... for several moments and pray. For me, that is a powerful testament to people’s faith and also the care that everyone has for this family.” That’s just what folks around here do: When someone is in need, they lend a hand and they pray. They prayed the night Zach coded. They prayed for his countless surgeries and every other step along the way. “The night he was dying, the whole hallway inside the burn unit was filled with family and friends praying,” Jodi said, adding,
F
Hundreds of friends and family watch as Zach Short gets a police escort through Assaria on Feb. 14. “People were waiting for the call the next morning (that Zach had died), and they never got it.” Donations pour in Fundraisers were organized across the Southeast of Saline school district, which encompasses Assaria, Gypsum and a few other rural towns in southeast Saline County. A bucket passed around at a home football game just days after the accident raised $650. Food benefits brought in thousands, as well as a GoFundMe support page, which is up to $63,000. Assaria’s Lori Blake, who is on the local school board, along with Alex Weller, owner of Exit 14 restaurant in Gypsum, and a few other school district residents, organized a spaghetti feed and auction at the school. Green Bay Packer Jordy
Photos by Aaron Anders/Salina Journal
Nelson signed items to be auctioned off at the event. But residents donated items from their hearts, as well, Blake said. “What was different from other auctions, there were real ag-centered items,” she said, adding that someone even auctioned off an hourand-a-half of hay grinding. Weller said he served more than 700 meals that night. In all, with a donation from a hospital foundation, they raised about $70,000. Weller, a lifelong friend of Zach’s, said he rented a house with Zach while attending Hutchinson Community College. “He is the only reason I passed my freshman year of college,” he said, explaining with a chuckle, “He made me go to class.”
See ZACH / Page 9
Toby Johnson, 16, waits on some big round bales while Sydney Johnson, 18, and her father, Bernie Johnson, secure the sign before the police escort.
Zach Short enjoys life back on the farm with his wife, Jodi, and his daughter Brynlee Short on Feb. 14.
“Tonight we went out to eat supper with a couple of our friends at Chili’s! We had a great time! We were getting ready to pay our bill to head home and the waitress brings this note to us! So, to whoever paid our tab, THANK YOU so very much. Have I mentioned lately how wonderfully supportive our community is?? We are in awe, that people are still being so absolutely generous to us! God bless you! We can’t wait to pay it forward someday soon!” The notes reads: Zach & Jodi, We’ve followed your journey since day 1 and Zach you are proof that God really does work miracles! Take care and best of luck in the future! Z Courtesy photo A u
Zach
Long row to hoe Zach’s journey is far from over, Jodi said. He continues to do physical therapy. Five
September 2015 Page 9
The Short family – Zach, Jodi, and Brynlee. Courtesy photo
From PAGE 8 Prayerful homecoming For months, the extended Southeast of Saline community sought news of Zach’s recovery. Zach’s mom, Lisa, along with Jodi, kept fellow prayer warriors updated daily on Facebook. That includes his continuing journey back to health. Zach spent 20 days in a coma. He underwent about 20 surgeries, which included one to partially amputate both legs. Doctors battled to save his left arm and worked to heal the burn wounds. It had been a long journey from hospital beds in Wichita and St. Louis. Finally, on Valentine’s Day, Zach came home to a crowd of family and friends, many holding “Welcome home” signs. Hundreds lined the street leading to the farmhouse, Zach said. It was what they had been praying for, said Blake. “Zach is a testament of what can happen through that collective prayer,” she said. The support through it all, whether providing meals, helping with the farm work or, of course, praying, has been amazing, Jodi said. “We are just thankful we are in the community we are in,” she said. “In a community like this, it’s like everyone is close family.”
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More photos on page 10; related coverage starting on page 12 days a week, they travel to Newton, where he goes into a hyperbaric chamber to heal stubborn wounds from the skin grafting. It’s been a rough journey, Jodi admitted. “Even when we came home, it was like bringing home a newborn baby for the first time,” she said. “You have to do everything yourself, the things the nurses did all the time.” But through every step, “I just stuck with God, kept my faith,” Jodi said. There are bad days – days where he gets more frustrated, Zach said. He can see from the farmhouse window his family rebuilding used Case combines, one of the farm’s businesses. “ ‘God, what am I going to be able to do?’ ” Zach said he has asked. “ ‘Why did this happen to me?’ ” His family is always there to bring him back up, he said. And there are plenty of good days. In August, Zach was fitted for new legs. On his first attempt, he stood up and, largely without help, walked. As the days go by and his
skin gets thicker, he hopes to wear the prostheses longer. “He is doing amazing,” said Jodi. “Nothing is stopping him. God is so good.” “I know I still have a long way to go,” said Zach. However, he said he has been told that while he will have some limitations, he should be able to again climb into a tractor. That’s the ultimate goal, he said, reflecting, that’s saying a lot “when you’re not supposed to live,” Zach said. “They said I was supposed to be on dialysis the rest of my life, too,” he said. Incredibly, his internal organs are fine, Jodi said, adding that, as T-shirts worn by community members point out, Zach is nothing “short of a miracle.” Kansas Agland Editor Amy Bickel’s agriculture roots started in Gypsum. She has been covering Kansas agriculture for more than 15 years. Email her with news, photos and other information at abickel@ hutchnews.com or by calling (800) 766-3311, ext. 320.
Zach Short walks with his wife, Jodi, in a hallway at Peeples Prosthetics during an appointment on Aug. 25 in Wichita. Zach, who just started using the prosthetic legs in mid-August, walked with the use of a quad cane and later unassisted.
Photos by Lindsey Bauman/The Hutchinson News
Steve Peeples, president of Peeples Prosthetics, follows along behind Zach Short as he walks down the hallway unassisted on his prosthetic legs during an appointment on Aug. 25 in Wichita.
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Cowboy died doing what he loved
Relatives recall kindness, expertise of former farrier who fell from horse By Tim Unruh Kansas Agland
they said, Steve Ward was unresponsive.
SYLVAN GROVE – Most folks don’t get to choose how and when they die, Mike Ward said, but tragic as it was, the setting was right when his brother Steve Ward passed away in August. “He couldn’t have bought a better way: a cowboy on his horse, doing exactly what he wanted to do,” said Mike Ward, of Denver. “He got to die with his boots on,” said Toby Meyer, co-owner of Sylvan Sales Commission, where Steve Ward, 69, died in the midmorning accident. A retired farrier and lifelong cowboy, Steve was riding one of his stud horses, moving cattle from pen to pen, as he’s done for several years. Witnesses told Meyer that Steve was thrown from the horse and landed on his head. When EMTs arrived,
He never suffered Steve’s longtime companion, Ila May Green, was at his side within seconds, said Beau Ward, Steve’s oldest son. If there was a blessing, Mike Ward said, his brother’s death was sudden and he didn’t suffer. “It was pretty quick,” Mike Ward said. Steve made a career out of shoeing horses. He worked for the famed King Ranch in south Texas and the Pitzer Ranch in north-central Nebraska. “He was born 100 years too late,” said Mike Ward, 66. His brother had a passion for horses, especially the spirited males. “He was a horse whisperer, could talk a horse into being broke. It was amazing,” Mike Ward said. “I gave up horses a long time ago. I found out they don’t have any brakes.”
Growing up, Steve, Mike and brothers Wes and Scott split time between Lucas and Denver. Their father was a mechanic and a real estate agent. Horses or cars Steve would talk cars and horses with you, Beau Ward said, and he did it a lot. He guessed the cowboy passion was instilled by both of Steve’s grandfathers. “He loved to talk, oh my gosh. Obviously, horses were his thing, and he loved to monopolize the conversation,” Beau said. “If he’d been paid for talking, he’d be a rich guy.” Steve learned how to team-rope on those ranches and “had the opportunity to ride magnificent horses,” Beau said. “Stud horses were always his thing to have – the creme de la creme. They are a little more spirited. It was almost a challenge to train them to ride and make them behave in a kind manner.”
Steve and Ila Green lived in southern Luray, where they bred and raised horses. The stud horse that he was riding sired four or more colts. Steve also raised three children – Beau, 44, of Omaha, Neb.; Eli, 43, of Kansas City, and Farah Guetter, 38, of Minden, Iowa. He has eight grandchildren. “He taught us how to work, how to communicate with people, and how to be around livestock or animals in general,” Beau Ward said. His father is remembered as a “pleasant, nice man, who always had a smile on his face,” said Jana Ward, of Lucas, a cousin. “He was a cowboy at heart,” she said. “He liked what he did.” Tim Unruh is a veteran agricultural journalist with the Salina Journal. He grew up on a diversified farm near Deerfield, the son of a grain elevator manager and a schoolteacher. Email: tunruh@salina.com.
Courtesy photo/Harris
Steve Ward is pictured roughly 10 years ago riding a horse named Dusty near Lucas. Ward died after being thrown from a horse in Sylvan Grove.
A bounty of affection shown
Scott Salem and Monte Widener work harvesting a Sittner wheat field on June 22 near Hudson.
Lindsey Bauman/The Hutchinson News
Friends take to the fields in honor of a departed farmer By Amy Bickel Kansas Agland
HUDSON – The measure of Larry Sittner’s life could be seen from the Stafford County wheat field. On a nearly 100-degree day, friends and neighbors gathered with a caravan of combines. Most had barely harvested their own wheat crop. Not that it mattered. This was their harvest vigil. Sittner had been attacked by a bull a few months earlier, leaving his brother,
Marvin, with more than 400 acres of wheat to cut. “They would do it for us,” said Linda Siefkes as she watched her husband, Stafford County farmer Dennis Siefkes, circle through the field of wheat on a June afternoon. “This is a tribute to Larry,” she said. Larry’s life Larry Sittner never had a bad word to say about anyone. He always smiled, said farmer and neighbor Monte
Widener, who was driving one of the combines. “He and his brother both enjoyed life,” Widener said. Larry loved the farm and would do anything for anyone, said Dennis D Siefkes. He taught science at PrattS Skyline, but always came home to help his brother, Marvin. Marvin and Larry were like two peas in a pod. You rarely saw one without the other, said Dennis Siefkes.
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Page 22 September 2015
Courtesy of Doug Armknecht
Doug Armknecht took this photo of the LaRosh family wheat harvest in Osborne County using an unmanned aerial aircraft. The first combine was used for just one evening – a 1959 John Deere 55 – which is the same age as Armknecht’s father-in-law, Jhan LaRosh. The finished video of the harvest was shown at the Smith Center movie theater on Aug. 9.
A tradition captured on video By Amy Bickel Kansas Agland
When it comes to wheat harvest, everyone in the LaRosh family typically has a role. Jhan LaRosh, the patriarch, drives a combine, along with daughter Kelli. Son Kenton drives the truck or tractor with a grain cart. Meals to the field are brought by Marsha, Jhan’s wife, as well as Kenton’s wife, Sarah. Hired men and friends fill in the gaps. There is also son-in-law Doug Armknecht. He makes movies. For the past four summers, Armknecht, of Smith Center, has been working to capture his wife’s family harvest in Osborne County. He treks through fields and rides on combines in an effort to showcase the LaRosh family coming together like a well-oiled machine to bring in the Kansas bounty. He has been putting the videos on YouTube since he started in 2012. “For some people, it is the only way to experience harvest,” Armknecht said, adding he’s heard from
Son-in-law’s glimpse at harvest ritual grows popular as an ag education tool people from all over the country about his videos. “They don’t know where their bread comes from at all. They can say, ‘Oh, wow. This is how it happens.’ “ As YouTube hits increased – reaching nearly 37,000 in 2014 – Armknecht decided to bring his work to the big screen. LaRosh Wheat Harvest 2015 premiered Aug. 9 at the Center Theatre in Smith Center. Armknecht showed all four of the videos to a packed house. “It’s a great way to show the family farm, how harvest works,” Armknecht said. Capturing wheat harvest Like many Kansas farm families, Jhan LaRosh’s operation is more than a job – it’s a tradition. The operation has been in existence since 1871. Jhan LaRosh is part of a long line of family members to make a living from the land. He couldn’t imagine doing anything else. “I’ve been farming all my
life,” said LaRosh. His parents suggested college. LaRosh, however, wanted to farm. Yet there wasn’t room for him in his dad’s and uncle’s operation. In 1978, at age 18, he found his own place – 360 acres. “I grew up on a dairy farm, and this place I bought had a dairy barn on it,” LaRosh said. “I started milking cows to make land payments.” He eventually took over much of the land farmed by his dad and uncle. For years, his operation included dairy and beef cattle, as well as wheat and other crops. In 2008, he sold his dairy herd. “You really have to love it to keep doing it,” LaRosh said of farming. “Our prices are dropping and our inputs are high. You better love what you do to stay with it. Nothing is given to us.” He and his wife, Marsha, raised four children on the farm: Kenton, Kevin, Kelli and Kandi.
Son Kenton farms with his father. The operation includes beef cattle, soybeans and corn, along with the largest part of the operation – 2,200 acres of wheat. Daughter Kelli married Doug Armknecht in 2011. In 2012, at the urging of Kelli, Doug began videotaping the harvest. “It’s grown,” Jhan LaRosh said of the videos’ popularity, adding he knows teachers who are using them in the classroom. “Some kids have no idea what is going on” on the farm, he said. Making the videos Each year, Armknecht and his wife, a teacher, come back for harvest. He brings his work with him, but often he takes breaks from his day job as a cartographer to videotape the family’s harvest in Osborne County. And, each year, Armknecht has gotten more serious about the annual video. “Video, in general, has
always been an interest of mine,” he said. “Harvest is a real interesting subject matter for me. While I didn’t grow up on a farm, both my parents did.” This year, he decided to make the video with the possibility he might try to get it shown in his hometown theater. So, in late June, he took to the harvest fields again, shooting the three combines that rolled through the field – a two-week process that ended around July 8. For one evening, Jhan LaRosh even brought out a 1959 John Deere model 55 combine from the shed – which didn’t have a cab. His father-in-law bought the combine the same year Jhan was born. Armknecht said he took more than 14 hours of video using two traditional video cameras – along with a GoPro and an unmanned aerial aircraft – whittling his footage down to just 13 minutes. He sees it as an education
tool, adding that only 13 percent of those who have viewed his videos live in Kansas. He has seen how YouTube videos, such as those made by the Peterson brothers of Assaria, have helped educate consumers about the work it takes to put food on the dinner plate. “I understand a litte better how these videos we make can help with the misinformation, the hostility toward agriculture,” said Armknecht. “Farming and agriculture in Kansas is really about the family farm, and the harvest videos really show that. They show a family getting out there and bringing in the crop. Videos like this and what others are producing can really show what farming is like in Kansas.” For Jhan LaRosh, watching the videos gets him excited for the next season. “Wheat harvest is one of my favorite times,” said LaRosh. “I’ll watch them whenever I have a craving to watch wheat harvest. When it is blowing snow in the winter, I’ll put one on.”
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September 2015 Page 23
Group seeks debt relief
NY-based coalition wants farming added to student loan forgiveness program By Tim Unruh Kansas Agland
SALINA – From pre-enrollment to graduation day in four or five years, higher education has never been so costly, causing loans to mount and slowing personal endeavors to a crawl. Students are often saddled with debt. Like a ball and chain, it hobbles a young person’s ability to get started in life after academia. Caleb and Jen Svaty can attest. Five years out of college, the teachers, who have a vested interest in his parents’ farming operation near Kanopolis, have felt the financial pinch, despite often working from first light to after dark. “We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to build a house, do all these things to help our family grow and succeed,” said Caleb Svaty, 29. “But when you have excessive debt from student loans, it makes it extremely difficult to improve the life of your family.” Not only is student loan debt a hindrance to individuals, some say it’s holding back an industry – agriculture – and pushing young farmers away from
the land. The New York-based National Young Farmers Coalition is out to alleviate some of that pain by pushing to have the profession deemed a public service. If farming joins a list that includes workers in the military, health care, public education and government, those who become farmers after college will see some relief after they make regular monthly payments for 10 years on student loan debt. Bill encourages more farmers The Young Farmers Success Act, HR 2590, introduced by Rep. Chris Gibson, a New York Republican, has seven co-sponsors, five of them Democrats. In a prepared statement, Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., said he would consider the proposal “in light of any larger bill that addresses reforms to the Higher Education Act as well as any impacts on our massive $18.2 trillion in debt.” Huelskamp was referring to federal law governing higher education, including student loans. Adding farmers to
the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is meant “to ensure the success of the next generation of farmers,” a statement from the National Young Farmers Coalition reads. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has expressed the need for 100,000 new farmers, said Chelsey Simpson, a spokeswoman for the coalition. “We need more farmers if we want to continue to produce food domestically. We need all of the farmers we can get,” she said. Gibson was convinced when the issue surfaced in his 19th District in New York. “If we want to be an independent nation, we’ve got to grow our own food. This is a national security issue,” Gibson said. “I think it’s important that we be a self-reliant nation.” Could be boon Whether as teachers or farmers, the help would be a boon to the Svatys, who have been making student loan payments for five years. It also would help Lindsey and Benjamin Shute, who have a diversified vegetable farm in the Hudson Valley of New York.
They also raise pigs and have 1,000 laying hens. Lindsey Shute is the executive director and co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition, which has 1,000 dues-paying members and 65,000 supporters nationwide. What the Shutes and the Svatys do in agriculture differs greatly from the massive commodity producers who are common in middle America, sporting farms in the range of thousands of acres. But regardless of how they operate, the industry is being threatened as the average age of farmers is more than 58. “Farmers are getting older. Some are ready to retire and are at the point of transition, and there aren’t enough young people out there ready to assume these positions,” Lindsey Shute said. “This legislation is intended to create a pathway for young people to become new farmers.” Could attract younger farmers There are six times the number of farmers older than 65 than those younger than 35, Gibson said. “We looked at survey
data that said 30 percent of those (young people) interested in answering the call of being a farmer didn’t become farmers because of concerns over student loan debt,” he said. “This bill is real important.” The survey, conducted by the coalition, can be found online at farmingispublicservice.org. Gibson said there might be opposition from anti-farm groups. Food production varies throughout the country. The Shutes have gotten some federal loans to improve their farm. In these parts where farms can be huge, roughly 3 percent of gross farm income is from federal subsidies, said Art Barnaby, a farm economist with K-State Research & Extension in Manhattan. If you factor in federally subsidized crop insurance, the percentage can go up, but that’s a difficult task. Taking a 20-year history, the average net claim after farmers paid premiums amounted to $12.87 an acre, he said. Some years, however, Kansas farmers paid more premiums than they collected in claims. ‘Very important issue’ The bill would require a
farmer to have more than a few tomato plants and a milk cow to qualify. “These farmers have to have been farming and paying back student loans for 10 years on this federal direct loan program,” Gibson said. Farmers making at least $35,000 a year could obtain loan forgiveness after that time, he said. “It’s a very serious bill,” Gibson said. “Young farmers want it serious.” Receiving loan forgiveness after a decade represents “a very significant commitment to agriculture,” Lindsey Shute said. The lawmaker has a strategy. “We think, later this year, the Congress will take up the Higher Education Act,” Gibson said. “When it comes time, we can offer this bill as an amendment. “I believe this is a very important issue for America.” Tim Unruh is a veteran agricultural journalist with the Salina Journal. He grew up on a diversified farm near Deerfield, the son of a grain elevator manager and a schoolteacher. Email: tunruh@ salina.com.
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September 2015 Page 29
Wheat fungus shows up again By Megan Hart Kansas Agland
Wheat flag smut has shown up in Kansas, making it important for farmers to take precautions against fungi, according to the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The fungus doesn’t harm humans or animals or affect grain quality, but it does reduce yields, according to the KDA. The main concern is that 15 countries have
some restrictions on imports that might be infected with wheat flag smut, said Jeff Vogel, plant protection and weed control program manager at KDA. Not all of those countries import wheat from the United States, but those that do could decide to restrict imports from the Midwest as a whole because it isn’t possible to track whether a given bushel of wheat originated in an infected field, he said.
“If there were no trade implications, we wouldn’t be concerned,” he said. KDA encouraged farmers to choose varieties of wheat that are more resistant to fungi and to apply fungicides to their seeds before planting their winter wheat. Wheat flag smut hasn’t developed resistance to fungicides, Vogel said, and it doesn’t seem to have had a major impact on fields where it has been found so far this year.
“The places where we found flag smut, the level of infestation was very low,” he said. Thus far, wheat flag smut has been found in Phillips, Smith, Rooks, Graham, Wallace, Logan, Trego, Ellis, Lincoln, Wichita, Scott, Ness, Rush, Barton, Pawnee, Edwards, Stafford, Kiowa, Pratt and Dickinson counties. The KDA also suggested that farmers delay planting since the fungus thrives in
warm, moist soils, and that they rotate fields between wheat and a crop that isn’t vulnerable to flag smut, such as soybeans, sorghum or corn. The fungus can lie dormant in yields for four to five years. It was first identified in Kansas in the 1930s but hasn’t been seen since the KDA started surveying for certain grain diseases in the 1970s, Vogel said. It isn’t clear why it re-emerged in
Kansas this year, he said. A group of wheat farmers met earlier this summer to encourage farmers to take precautions against the spread of wheat flag smut, but all measures are voluntary. “We’re trying to get the information out to producers so they can make the best decisions,” Vogel said. For more information, visit www.agriculture. ks.gov/ppws or www.ksre. ksu.edu/wheatpage.
Soybean yield calculator a new mobile app from Kansas State By Steve Watson
the calculator should be higher. Seed size will be ultimately determined as the crop approaches maturity, but an estimation is needed considering the importance of this factor for influencing final soybean yields,” he said. Downloads are free and can be downloaded from the Google Play link: http:// hutch.news/soybean. Go to the above link or search for “soybean yield” within the Google Play website and download the application, Ciampitti said.
Kansas Agland
MANHATTAN – A new mobile app for estimating soybean yields is now available from Kansas State University. KSUSoyYieldCalc is a native Android application that helps with yield estimation of soybeans before harvest following the conventional approach of counting or estimating plant populations, pods per plant, seeds per pod, and seed size, said Ignacio Ciampitti, crop production specialist with K-State Research and Extension. The calculator needs only four inputs for predicting the final yield. 1. Plant population. This component can be estimated by counting the number of plants in a 21inch row length for 30-inch row spacings (1/10,000th of an acre), and by multiplying that number by 10,000. For example, 10 plants in the 21-inch length of row would be the equivalent of 100,000 plants per acre. 2. Pods per plant. This factor can be obtained by counting all pods per plant in the 21-inch row length. 3. Seeds per pod. A good average number is 2.5 seeds per pod, but the range available on the app is from 1 to 4 seeds per pod. 4. Seed size. Seed size typically ranges from 2,000 (large) to 3,500 (small) seeds per pound, with an average
of 2,800 seeds per pound. Seed size normally varies from 2,400 to 3,200 seeds per pound, depending on growing conditions, Ciampitti said. “If the conditions until harvest will be favorable,
then the seed size component should be a lower number to reflect a larger seed size. If conditions are likely to be unfavorable, resulting in a short seed-fill period, the ‘seed size per pound’ number entered into
Kansas State Research and Extension
K-State’s Ignacio Ciampitti (right) demonstrates the new soybean yield estimator app to Garrett Kennedy of Knopf Farms, Saline County.
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