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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

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Milk is mixed in the vat to begin the process of separating out the whey and develop the cheese curds as part of the cheese-making process at Dimock Dairy on Feb. 25 in Dimock.

Say cheese From cows to curds: How Dimock Dairy cooks up its products By CANDY DENOUDEN The Daily Republic

DIMOCK — At 5:30 a.m., Paul Voelker has already been at it for a while. The cheese-making process is well under way for him and the other cheese makers at Dimock Dairy. Troy Thelen, who has worked for Dimock Dairy for 14 years, said he usually gets to work around 2:30 a.m. In business since 1931, Dimock Dairy sells 23 flavors of hard cheese, eight flavors of processed cheese spread — ranch flavored is its most recent concoction — as well as butter and cheese bites. Voelker said Dimock Dairy makes about 250 pounds of butter each week, and 2,600 pounds of cheese each day of cheese production, which is three to four days a week. Those products then get sold all over the five-state area of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. As a co-op, Dimock Dairy is farmer owned — there are about 60 stockholders for the business — and gets all of its milk from the farmers in the cooperative. But from cow to counter, the cheese Dimock Dairy is known for across the region takes several steps and stages before it hits the shelves. Office Manager Tina Roth said there are seven full-time and five part-time employees who handle the many facets of Dimock

Dairy, from taking in cheese orders to making the cheese to paying the producers who provide the milk. A tour of the building shows the many steps of the cheese-making process. At the front of the building is the store and office, where people can step in and buy the products for sale. Coolers are lined with boxes, bags and slices of all the varieties finished cheese. And in the back, the facility houses everything from milk trucks to milk silos to cheese-making equipment to the machines and tools to package and sell the cheese, butter and spreads once they are made. But, as with the proverbial chicken and the egg, before the cheese comes the milk.

Slices of cheese wrapped in plastic are pictured inside the freezer at Dimock Dairy.

The milk As the sun begins to fade behind the horizon, a line of mostly black and white cattle makes its way toward a red barn. Two men and a group of children, bundled against the cold, herd the cows into a small pen, then usher them into the milking stanchion, eight cows at a time. Marty Neugebauer and his brother, Darin, are partners in their rural Dimock dairy operation. They milk around 90 cows, and are one of the 11 farms that provides See CHEESE, Page A9

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

High hopes for plant as viable cash crop in SD Yellow pea processor sharpens market focus By MIKKEL PATES Forum News Service

HARROLD — Harlan Smith hopes the new South Dakota Pulse Processors LLC plant, expected to begin operation this summer, will make yellow peas a viable cash crop in central South Dakota. “They’re good for the soil, and for cow feed,” says Smith, a shareholder who farms west of Harrold. “With the pea processing plant, we hope to have a good market for them.” Construction on the Harrold facility started in 2013 on seven acres of land Smith sold for the plant. South Dakota Pulse Processors will be a significant new development in the pulse business for South Dakota. Officials initially considered handling chickpeas and other products, but this summer hired Steven L. Brown as a new CEO. Brown helped put the company’s initial focus on one pulse crop — yellow peas. Brown owns Grace Management Services, which has the management contract and owns a small share in the plant. Brown, 64, says the plant’s staff will start at about 12 and increase to about 20, after anticipated expansions.

to the Caribbean, Central America and Africa. Brown says the company also is looking to participate in a $10 million pilot program for the school lunch program. Brown says the $4.5 million project is funded by 86 investors, primarily South Dakota farmers. Tom Young, of Onida, is board president. The first phase will be a 12,000-square-foot structure, standing about 30 feet tall. So far, five hopper tanks are up. The company has assembled some equipment for later erection and installation this spring and summer. Brown says a second phase of construction would focus on products such as pea protein, starch and fiber. “I’d like to do that within two years,” he says. Within five years, Brown thinks the plant will handle about 50,0000 tons of yellow peas. If realized, that would involve 45,000 acres at yield of about 2,400 pounds per acre, or about 40 bushels per acre. Most of that likely would come from a 100mile radius. Initially, the plant will buy peas on the spot market but eventually it will be fed by a mix of spot, cash markets and contracts. The company initially isn’t specifying particular yellow pea varieties.

The markets The company will be served by Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern railway, and is focused on a southern market for its peas, including the pet food industry in Missouri and Kansas, and destinations including Mexico and Central America. The company will also seek U.S. food aid contracts, which ship out of Gulf of Mexico ports. The government contracts will take peas

Good soil builder Smith is anxious for all of this to get going. He and his wife, Sharon, farm in association with their son, Travis, and his wife, Natasha. Smith is optimistic about the prospect of a new crop. “It builds your soils better than soybeans, with nitrogen and nutrients,” Smith says. The Smiths have been raising field peas for the past two years.

Forum News Service photo

Harlan Smith, of Harrold, is one of the members of South Dakota Pulse Processors LLC and sold land for the processing plant. Builders have done dirt work and put in concrete unloading pits this winter and expect to process the 2015 crop.

In 2013, he raised his first 152 acres of the crop and had a yield of 44 bushels an acre. In 2014, he raised 440 acres and got more than 50 bushels an acre. “You plant them a lot earlier, like spring wheat, and we harvest them the same time as spring wheat — July 20 in 2014,” he says. “That’s way ahead of the game.” Ruth Beck, a South Dakota State University Extension agronomy field specialist, in a news release

related to the Harrold development, says field peas and other pulse crops have been grown with success in central and western South Dakota for more than 20 years, and often work well with winter wheat rotations. She says the crop can save on input costs. “Because pulse crops are legumes, which means when they are inoculated properly, they can

fix most of their own nitrogen,” she says. They also have a lot of potential salvage value if poor weather at harvest affects their marketability. Beck explains green peas are typically for the human edible market while yellow peas are for the feed markets and manufacturing. She says farmers can go to www.sdpulsegrowers.com for a list of qualified seed producers.

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Uneasy temps making a mess Farmers seeing sloppy lots, respiratory issues in cattle from weather swings By ERIN BECK For The Daily Republic

Cattle are still maintaining performance, handling the thermometer as it has peaked near 60 and dipped down into the negative teens while Mother Nature has flaunted her temperamental side this winter. Cory Eich, who runs a commercial operation of 450 head near Canova, said his cattle have performed well this winter considering the variability in temperatures. Pen conditions, though, have been worse for the wear. A cycle of hard freezes giving way to several days of thawing have left pens muddy. “It’s the messiest lots I’ve ever seen for January and February this year,” Eich said. Sloppy pens have made maneuverability more difficult for feedlot cattle. Eich said the mud has been tough on cattle’s feet in the feedlot, a condition that usually isn’t an issue until the spring thaw in March and April. While feedlot cattle are feeling the effects from the pendulum swing of the thermometer, Eich hasn’t noticed any respiratory problems that can be associated with the stress of warmer temperatures. His beef herd has been holding its own performance-wise. “I’ve been quite pleased with the appearance of our cattle,” Eich said. SDSU beef feedlot extension specialist Reid McDaniel agrees that pen conditions have been an issue for feedlots. He’s also heard from producers that lice have been a bigger struggle than usual this winter. McDaniel feels warmer weather has been a contributing factor to that problem. McDaniel also pointed to rumen acidosis as another implication feedlot cattle face during fluctuating temperatures, especially

Matt Gade/Republic

Cattle feed and lay around on March 2. on a farm south of Mitchell.

during extreme cold. As with any cold snap, cattle have to meet a higher maintenance energy requirement to support basic metabolism. The arrival of cold temperatures sends cattle to the feed bunk more often, but severe cold stress causes cattle to huddle together instead of visiting the bunk. With fewer trips to the bunk, cattle deviate from their normal eating patterns and end up eating more at each trip. Variability in feed intake is a recipe for rumen acidosis, particularly for feedlot

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cattle on a high concentrate diet. “They get acclimated to a certain temperature,” McDaniel said. “All of a sudden that changes, and it comes as a shock to them.” Respiratory problems become a bigger issue during temperature swings. Cattle under the stress of oscillating temperatures are more susceptible to BRD, especially feedlot cattle. McDaniel said that previously sick cattle are also at a greater risk for relapsing. “Temperature swings can

put them over the edge,” McDaniel said. While unsteady temperatures are expected, South Dakota state climatologist Dennis Todey said that the large variability South Dakota has seen this winter isn’t the norm. Stats from the National Weather Service show November temps in the Mitchell area usually ranging from the teens to 50 degrees, but November 2014 temps spanned a high of 70 to a low of minus 3. While it’s common to see the thermometer drop down to the single digits during the

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September,” Todey said. Even with the cold spells taken into account, Todey said this winter will be warmer than average. He doesn’t think cattle producers have been hit too hard by the temperature fluctuations, but he is concerned with eastern South Dakota’s soil conditions. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, eastern South Dakota is rated as abnormally dry. With enough rainfall in the spring Todey said this won’t pose an issue unless dry soil conditions persist.

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

US Department of Agriculture extends deadline on farm bill Program sign-ups drawing attention; officials optimisic about process By JONATHAN KNUTSON Forum News Service

The U.S. Department of Agriculture extended until March 31 the Feb. 27 deadline to update yields and reallocate base acres. The final day to apply for farm bill safety-net coverage also is March 31, USDA says. The extension was announced Feb. 27. “This (the yield update and base acre reallocation extension) is an important decision for producers, because these programs provide financial protection against unexpected changes in the marketplace,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack says in a news release. “Producers are working to make the best decision they can. And we’re working to ensure that they’ve got the time, the information, and the opportunities to have those final conversations, review their data, and to visit the Farm Service Agency to make those decisions.” Farm Service Agency officials and others who talked with Agweek before the Feb. 27 extension say the signup process was going smoothly.

“It’s gone well,” says Diane Beidler, executive director of Turner County FSA. Debra Crusoe, executive state director of Minnesota FSA, says her impression is that many landowners signed up. Even with the extension, most attention is on the March 31 deadline to sign up for the farm bill safety-net provisions. FSA officials say they’re optimistic that sign-up for these complicated provisions also will go well, but they stress that farmers shouldn’t wait until the last minute to sign up. “If you’re 99 percent sure of what you’re going to do, come in and sign up. If you change your mind (before the March 31 deadline), you can always come back in,” says Aaron Krauter, executive state director of North Dakota FSA.

Big differences There are two important differences between the two sign-ups. Landowners are the ones to update yields and reallocate crop base acres, while farmers are responsible for the safety-net

sign-up. The other big difference is the yield update/base allocation signup decision is relatively clear-cut, while the safety-net provision sign-up decision is murky at best. Regional extension economists and other experts say allocating crop base acres, authorized by the new farm bill approved in 2014, merits careful consideration. Crop yields help determine the size of potential farm program payments, so updating them could mean more money for farmers. “It’s a no-brainer to update yields if you can,” says Howard Person, veteran Pennington County, Minn., extension agent. Improving crop practices had pushed up yields overall, he and others note. Reallocating base acres, in turn, could make more acres on a farm eligible for farm program programs, which also could mean more money for farmers. Soybeans are increasingly common in northwest Minnesota, prompting many farmers there to reallocate, Person says. The popularity of both corn and

soybeans has risen across much of the Upper Midwest, often at the expense of wheat, increasing the incentive to reallocate, ag officials say. Dan Weber, with Weber Insurance in Casselton, N.D., in the east-central part of the state, says many of his clients have reallocated to reflect increased corn acres on their farms.

Safety-net options But the decision on the farm bill safety-net programs is more complicated. Farmers need to choose between Agricultural Risk Coverage, which protects against falling revenue, and Price Loss Coverage, which provides payments when crop prices fall. To complicate matters, ARC comes in two versions: the county level and individual producer/ farm level. FSA offers these reminders for farmers who still need to sign up for the farm bill program: • Signatures: Using the correct signature when doing business with FSA can save time and pre-

vent a delay in program benefits.

The following are FSA signature guidelines: • Spouses may sign documents on behalf of each other for FSA and CCC programs in which either has an interest, unless written notification denying a spouse this authority has been provided to the county office. • Spouses shall not sign on behalf of each other as an authorized signatory for partnerships, joint ventures, corporations, or other similar entities. • Power of attorney: FSA has a power of attorney form available that allows producers to designate another person to conduct business at the office. • Farming operation changes: Producers who have established a trust or other entity, bought or sold land, or added or dropped rented land from their operation must report those changes to the FSA office as soon as possible. A copy of the deed or recorded land contract for purchase property is needed to maintain accurate records with FSA.

SD grain companies plan to merge North Central Farmers Elevator, Wheat Growers set to unify after careful consideration By JONATHAN KNUTSON Forum News Service

Two South Dakota-based grain companies announced Tuesday they want to merge. North Central Farmers Elevator and Wheat Growers plan to unify into a new cooperative, subject to a vote of the full membership of both cooperatives. The boards of directors of both cooperatives already have unanimously approved a letter of intent to merge.

The proposed merger has been carefully considered, analyzed and evaluated over 10 months, according to a new release from the two cooperatives. “This is not a move that we have entered into lightly,” Wheat Growers Board President Hal Clemensen said in the release. “We have been focused on ensuring a long-term pathway of success for our members and customers. This is the right decision at the right time for our stakeholders.”

North Central Farmers Elevator Board President Richard Osterday said, “We are committed to generating member value. We believe this long-term strategic decision will strengthen and enhance the locally owned cooperative system. We want to continue delivering quality products and services, innovation, growth and profitability for our members and customers.” Growth is essential in the increasingly competitive global marketplace, officials of the two

cooperatives said. A vote on the proposal currently is planned for June. In the next several weeks, North Central Farmers Elevator and Wheat Growers will work to finalize the plan and communicate with members and other stakeholders. Several local member meetings are being planned in addition to other communications. North Central Farmers Elevator is a full-service, farmer-owned cooperative with prod-

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Surprise, its almost spring By JARED A. HOFER Mitchell Technical Institute

It seems like just about every year there is this crazy phenomenon around the end of March or early April where the days get longer, the snow disappears and it gets warmer. I believe some of the old-timers call this spring. Okay, I know that this doesn’t sound like a big epiphany to most of you since it’s kind of an annual thing, however, for some of you, spring comes as a surprise every year. Instead of using some of the above factors as an indicator, many of you may use the sight of your neighbors switching from planting corn to planting soybeans as your cue to get the planter out of the shed and begin assessing what maintenance needs to be done. This is when you get surprised that your local implement dealership is out of the parts that you need, because apparently others had the same timing as you. But let me share a little secret with you. You could actually work on your planter during the summer or fall before you put it away for the year, or, at a minimum, assess maintenance needs and have the parts ordered and on-hand. Having this done should alleviate some of the normal spring rush. Similarly, it is good advice to meet with your agronomist about seed selection prior to sitting at the end of the field with the planter hooked up. By waiting too long to purchase your seed, you tend to miss out on the best prices, as well as availability of the in-demand varieties. Fertilizer is no different, if you wait too long you may have to deal with supply issues, as well as being on the bottom of the list to have it applied. These frustrations can all be avoided with a little planning. I know this is kind of a stretch, but I am going to

also make the assumption that if you are one of the farmers described above, you probably don’t have HOFER any new crop grain priced either. I have seen too many farmers either lose money or leave a lot on the table that they could have earned by not having a marketing plan. You don’t want to get the cart too far ahead of the horse with your marketing, but if you know your approximate acres and yield history, you can estimate your production. I realize that there is risk of not growing the crop, but there are several options to lock in a price without being committed to delivering bushels. This would include using the futures market, options or hedgeto-arrive contracts with your elevator. Once the crop is in the ground and insurance has attached, you can safely market additional bushels, making sure that your total sales do not exceed your total dollar guarantee with your multi-peril insurance until the commodity is in the bin. I apologize for the bluntness, but there are enough factors that you cannot control in farming, so please control the ones you can. Have your equipment ready for spring, have your input decisions made and have a marketing plan in place for the year so you can limit the surprises on your operation. At the South Dakota Center for Farm/Ranch Management at Mitchell Technical Institute, we have dedicated instructors to help you track your numbers and use them to make decisions on your farm. We can be contacted at 9957196 or sdcfrm@mitchelltech.edu.

RMA might cut corn rate, increase spuds sizes RMA is officially in the study mode and hasn’t yet proposed a rule. Any eventual rule would not go into effect in 2015, the agency says. The entire report is available online at www.rma.usda.gov/pubs. Submit comments to rma. pp.lah@rma.usa.gov or mail them to Director, Product Administration and Standards Division, Risk Management Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Box 419205, Kansas City, Mo., 641336305.

By MIKKEL PATES Forum News Service

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking comment by March 30 on recommendations that eventually could lead to changes in its prevented-planting insurance coverage levels. If approved, the changes would cut corn prevented-planting payment levels and increase rates for potatoes and green peas, among other things. Prevented-planting insurance has been a key and often controversial factor in agriculture, especially in prairie pothole areas of North Dakota and South Dakota in recent years. Minnesota and Iowa also have prairie pothole country, but have more field tile drainage, so the policies are used less frequently. Crop values have increased dramatically since 1995 when prevented-planting coverage was added to the policy and USDA’s Risk Management Agency began insuring more highly valued, identity-preserved crops. Tim Hoffmann, RMA director of product administration and standards division in Kansas City, Mo., tells Agweek he personally took the recommendations to national commodity organizations, but empha-

Consultant’s review The RMA contracted for an independent evaluation of its prevented-planting provisions following a recent Office of Inspector General audit. The contractor, Agralytica, a food and agricultural consulting company in Alexandria, Va., reviewed the production costs for all crops eligible for prevented-planting coverage and estimated the share of costs incurred in a prevented-planting situation. Some RMA critics say the agency has no prevented-planting loss adjustment procedures that are definitive, repeatable or scientific. “No two adjusters will get the same answer,” in part because of

individual experience and understanding of the prevented-planting procedure, says one crop insurance industry consultant who talked to Agweek on condition of anonymity. Tom Lilja, executive director of the North Dakota Corn Growers Association, says premiums need to be addressed in the report. “Higher PP frequency is already reflected in our (premium) rates,” he says. “Barnes and Stutsman County growers pay $26 to $27 an acre for 70 percent coverage (with payout values of ) $296 to $330. Growers in Boone and Carroll counties in Iowa pay $4 to $6.47 per acre for $508 in coverage.”

Losing on corn Reed Ihry, an insurance agent with Ihry Insurance Agency in McVille, N.D., notes the policy study comment period comes at a time when farmers and insurance officials are busy with farm program and spring insurance sign-up. On an initial reading, Ihry says it appears with the new, lower compensation formulas and at current prices, a hypothetical farmer in Steele County loses $40 to $50 an acre on corn, depending on the buySee PLANTING, Page B3

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Why Midwestern farmers want to break the Cuban embargo Sanctions causing major trading partner of US to look elsewhere By NICK MIROFF The Washington Post

ANALYSIS

HAVANA — Cuba policy sometimes makes strange bedfellows, which is how a man like Thomas Marten, a burly Illinois soybean farmer with a bushy red beard, had come to Havana to make a statement about the principles of free enterprise. “As a Republican, I believe in trade for the betterment of all people,” he said, as he rushed to another business meeting with communist officials. “Prohibiting it is something that hurts us all.” Printed on Marten’s business card was a large, undulating American flag, and his title: Zanesville Township GOP Committeeman. Marten is the kind of American whose views about Cuba may ultimately lead to the undoing of the so-called Cuba embargo, 54 years after the United States first imposed trade sanctions on the Castro government and two months after President Obama announced plans to normalize diplomatic relations with Havana. Over the years, no country in the world has triggered more U.S. government penalties and fines on private businesses than Cuba, and Marten had come to Havana with nearly 100 other American farmers, farm lobbyists and former U.S. agriculture officials looking to throw a little weight behind a new push against those sanctions. Calling itself the U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba, the group isn’t shy about its interest in selling more American food to the communist government, but its members also appear sincerely interested in helping the island’s small farmers after decades of technological isolation and the disastrous legacy of state-run agriculture. The group met with Cuban government officials Monday, then planned to visit local farmers and “get

our boots directly in the mud,” said Devry Boughner Vorwerk, the coalition’s leader, a Cargill executive. The Cuba effort isn’t a new one for the farm lobby. But after Obama’s announcement, it had produced a new enthusiasm, said the group, telling foreign reporters and television cameras from Cuban state media that supporters of the embargo in Congress were “a minority.” Lawmakers have offered new proposals to lift U.S. trade and travel restrictions on Cuba, but it’s unclear whether Republican leaders will allow the measures to come up for a vote. “Obama has set the tone for the termination of the embargo,” said Mike Espy, former agriculture secretary under President Bill Clinton. Joining him was John Block, who held the job under President Ronald Reagan. “This is a two-way street,” Block said. “We want to help Cuban agriculture and we want to

“

This is a two-way street. We want to help Cuban agriculture and we want to sell corn and soybeans to Cuba. John Block, former agriculture secretary under President Ronald Reagan

” sell corn and soybeans to Cuba.” American food sales to the island peaked at more than $700 million in 2008, according to trade figures. That made the United States one of Cuba’s largest trading partners at the time, despite the sanctions. But because the U.S. sanctions limit the sales to a cash-only basis and bar U.S. banks from financing the sales, Havana has

Washington Post photo

The U.S. and Cuba began historic talks, aimed at ending more than five decades of official estrangement, Jan. 22 in Havana. That morning, wholesalers lined up before sunrise to sell and buy vegetables at El Trigal, a cooperative agricultural market in Boyeros, on the outskirts of Havana. Many Cubans complain about the high cost of food and are hopeful that improved U.S. relations will bring imported goods and lower prices to Cuba.

increasingly looked elsewhere to cover its import needs. Last year the Castro government spent less than $300 million on U.S. food, mostly frozen chicken and soybeans. Cuba has stopped buying U.S. wheat entirely, and rice shipments have plunged as well, the farm group said. Instead Cuba has turned to Brazil, Argentina and other nations whose banks can finance the food sales. Despite the country’s ample land and favorable climate, Cuba imports some 60 to 70 percent of its food, costing the cashstrapped government some $2 billion a year. Much of what the island’s 11 million residents consume through the govern-

ment’s ration card system consists of imported chicken, oil and rice. “People think of Cuba as a tiny market, but as recently as 2010, it was the fifth largest market in the world for U.S. food exports,” said Mark Albertson of the Illinois Soybean Association. The new Cuba regulations put in place by the Obama administration do not allow the island’s farmers to export to the United States. Albertson said one way to make American food sales to Cuba more competitive would be to have “two-way” commerce, in which international shippers wouldn’t charge extra for returning empty. The inability to offer financing will continue to

2015 Auctioneer Directory

hurt American producers, Albertson said. “Nowhere else in the world are we forced to do business without being able to offer credit, so that will be the main problem,” he said. With its benevolent winter climate, economists say Cuba could one day export tomatoes and other vegetables all across the eastern United States during the cold-weather months, along with traditional crops like

sugar, coffee and tobacco. Agriculture is one of the few sectors of the Cuban economy that has seen significant liberalization under Raul Castro. But the government still doesn’t allow farmers to freely import tractors, trucks and other modern equipment, and Cuban growers say they won’t be able to significantly boost output until the state gets out of the way.

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

US farmers turn to equipment leases, cope with profit slump By P.J. HUFFSTUTTER and TOM POLANSEK Reuters

CHICAGO — U.S. farmers nervous that slumping grain prices will crimp profits are increasingly leasing equipment instead of buying it, creating new risks for manufacturers like Deere & Co. that could suffer from declining values for leased machinery. Farmers, facing weak markets after years of cashing in on soaring crop prices, are readjusting to a new normal in which they scrutinize every expense, particularly high-ticket items like massive shiny tractors and planters. The shift toward leases is the latest ripple effect from the downturn in the farming economy, which the Agriculture Department predicts will cut net farm income by more than 30 percent this year to $73.6 billion, the lowest since 2007. Deere, the world’s largest maker of farm equipment, on Friday reported a 43 percent drop in first-quarter profits due to reduced demand. Last year, the company known for its signature green and yellow vehicles saw a small increase in leases versus purchases, said Tony Huegel, director of investor relations, on a call to discuss earnings. A company spokesman declined to provide data. Deere has said in regulatory filings that its estimates for the value of its leased equipment on the used market, after leases expire, jumped 66 percent in recent years to $2.78 billion as of Oct. 31. An increase in the size of its leased fleet is the main driver of the growth, documents show. Analysts have noted the shift to leasing. “We’re seeing some farmers even probably liquidate some of their fleets and move towards that model” of leasing, Lawrence De Maria, co-head of global industrial infrastructure at William Blair & Co., told Deere executives on the earnings call. Switching to equipment leases allows farmers to take advantage of historically low interest rates and frees up capital for other financial needs, such as buying

Daily Republic file photo

Farmers, facing weak markets, are readjusting to scrutinize expenses, particularly high-ticket items like tractors and planters.

seed produced by companies like Monsanto Co and DuPont Pioneer, along with fertilizer and paying farmland rents. Equipment leases began gaining in popularity last year, when corn prices fell 6 percent after a decline of nearly 40 percent in 2013, said Andy Huneke, director of leasing and trade credit for AgStar Financial Services ACA. AgStar, one of the nation’s Farm Credit associations, works with dealerships for equipment manufacturers, including Deere, Agco Corp and Case IH. At one typical U.S. dealership

last year, 17 percent of equipment was leased, up from 6 percent in 2013, Huneke said. “It gives producers a lot more flexibility, where they’re not committing long term to equipment during a challenging time,” he added. Agco Chief Executive Martin Richenhagen has seen an increase in leasing but said interest started years before the recent softening in the farm economy. Case IH, a brand of CNH Industrial, did not respond to a request for comment. Deere’s Huegel said there are

“very aggressive leasing programs that are rumored to be in the market,” but the company is not participating in them. Leases make up only about one-tenth of Deere’s equipment portfolio, Chief Financial Officer Rajesh Kalathur said, adding the company will “continue to manage our residual values very conservatively.” Growth in leased fleets of tractors, combines and other equipment could impact earnings per share in the future, particularly if weakness in the farm economy accelerates the decline in the

value of machinery, market analysts said. Deere projects that if future market values for the fleet of equipment it leases to farmers falls by 10 percent from current estimates, it would increase annual depreciation for the fleet by $125 million, according to regulatory filings. That would reduce Deere’s earnings per share by close to 25 cents — a near 5 percent hit to Wall Street’s consensus earnings estimate of $5.49 per share for fiscal year 2015, according to JP Morgan.

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Matt Gade/Republic

Cheese maker Jordan Young pours curds into horns that will be pressed to get the rest of the whey out as part of the cheese making process at Dimock Dairy on Feb. 25 in Dimock.

CHEESE

Continued from Page A2

milk to Dimock Dairy. Marty describes milking as his way of getting into farming — his mom, Anita, milked, and he got started while still in grade school. When he graduated from high school, he got 60 milk cows; the number rose to 90 in the mid-1990s. Now 45, Neugebauer estimated he is one of the youngest people in the area still milking cows. He’s been selling to Dimock Dairy since 1986 — his mom started with the co-op — and Dimock Dairy picks up the milk every other day. In a recent interview with The Daily Republic, Neugebauer and his four children described the process of milking. It’s hard work, he said. They milk twice a day, once in the early morning — they start around 5 a.m. — and once in the early evening. Neugebauer said his brother typically handles the feeding while he does the milking. The feed is a complex mix meant

to provide the best possible nutrition for the cattle and keep their protein levels high enough for dairy production. “The quality of feed makes a big difference,” he said. Before milking, Neugebauer said everything must be carefully sanitized, including the cows’ teats on their udder. They use a special dip during cold weather so the teats don’t freeze, he said. Once the milk is delivered, Neugebauer said he watches the white cell counts recorded by the dairy to maintain certain levels. In the years since he started, the requirements have gotten more strict, requiring lower cell counts than were previously allowed. Achieving that standard relies heavily on cleanliness, Neugebauer said. “You want a quality product, you have to send quality milk,” he said.

Making the cheese Once the milk arrives at the Dimock Dairy, it goes from the trucks to the holding

BOB’S FARM SERVICE

silos. From there, the milk gets pasteurized. Voelker said federal law dictates the pasteurizing requirements, which says the milk must be heated to 165 degrees for at least 15 seconds. A stainless steel machine with a layered system of pipes does that, Voelker said, and every step of the pasteurizing process is recorded on a chart by that machine. The milk is then pumped from the pasteurizer into a vat. There are two in Dimock Dairy, both large, gleaming stainless steel rectangle vats large enough to make 1,300 pounds of cheese apiece. Voelker said they start pumping the milk into the vats a little after 3 a.m. “It seems a little earlier when it’s below zero,” he said with a smile. Once in the vat, the cheese makers start to separate the cheese and whey, the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It’s a tightly watched process, and different types of cheese require different temperature regulations while in the vat. “We have to have the exact temperature

to get the acid right,” Voelker said. While first in the vat, Voelker said the milk temperature must be at 90 degrees. Then, the heat goes up to 100 degrees to expel the whey from the curds. The whey drains from the vats through a small spout on the side. At the same time, the cream gets separated and pumped into a 10-gallon cream can sitting nearby. As the whey begins to drain, an agitator — which looks similar to a giant hand mixer used in everyday cooking — slowly moves up and down the length of the vat, constantly stirring the contents of the vat. Voelker said it helps separate the whey, and also makes it easier to keep a uniform temperature throughout the vat. There are multiple things to keep track of at once, from the nutritional aspect to the federal regulations, but Voelker said much of it is routine. “We do the same thing every day, so we

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L.E. Scott (1st Generation) founded Scott Supply Company, an International Harvester dealership, in Mount Vernon in 1915. In 1936, Wally (2nd Generation) joined his father in business. Scott Supply moved to Mitchell in 1962. Wally’s sons, Bob and John (3rd Generation), started in 1963 and 1973. Wally’s daughters, Janet & Marge, have also worked in the business. Chris (4th Generation) joined his father and John in business in 1994. Scott Supply received Farm Equipment magazine’s Dealership of the Year in 2007 and the Prairie Family Business Association Mitchell Area Excellence in Family Business Award in 2012.

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A10 THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

C M Y

THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

CHEESE

From cow to curd See more photos of how Dimock Dairy makes cheese on Page B2

Continued from Page A9

get practiced up at it,” he said. It takes about three hours for the cheese to separate, solidify and be ready for the next step. Once the curds begin to solidify, Thelen, Young and Voelker use shovels to keep stirring the contents of the vat at the same time as the agitator. After the agitator is removed, the cheese makers make a path down the middle of the vat for the whey to flow out. Once the whey is drained and only the curds remain, the cheese makers add salt. Some of the curds are bagged immediately, ready for sale. The rest are packed into horns or blocks. For the colby cheese, Voelker, Young and Thelen scooped the cheese by hand into 13-pound horns. Other cheeses might be scooped into blocks, which Voelker said usually weigh around 42 pounds. After the horns are full, they are stacked onto a horn press, which Voelker said presses the remaining whey out and helps form the cheese into nice, firm blocks. Thelen said the cheese needs to stay on the press for at least an hour.

on to the second vat of cheese for the morning.

To the shelves Once the cheese is pressed, the cheese makers vacuum seal it in plastic, weigh it, box it and put it in the cooler. From there, it may be distributed in blocks, or it could be cut into smaller portions and packaged for sale. Voelker said cheese can get cut into 5- or 10-pound blocks, slices or bites. Other Dimock Dairy employees handle that part of the process, using the scale, cryovac and assortment of ready-made stickers and labels that occupy a portion of the facility. Roth said in the 2014 fiscal year, the business took in about 5 million pounds of milk, and made almost 500,000 pounds of cheese in that year. She said that means “you can pretty much count on” that they sold almost 500,000 pounds of cheese last year. Once packaged, the cheese is finally ready for sale and delivery. Bigge said a delivery van travels three different routes, Rapid City area, Aberdeen area and the Sioux Falls area. Dimock Dairy’s products are available in grocery stores, gas stations and even a couple of wineries, Bigge said. Voelker said some of the hottest sellers are just that — hot. Jalapeno pepper, for one, and their hottest variety: ghost pepper. “We can hardly keep it on the shelf,” he said. “People love the spicy cheeses.” Roth added the business is known for its colby, but there are varieties for everyone — cheddar, monterey jack, bacon and onion or pepperoni. Gift baskets are also a popular item, particularly during the holidays, which Voelker said get shipped all over the world. It keeps the packaging employees busy, Roth said. Just a couple of years ago, she said Dimock Dairy sold about 1,300 gift boxes. During the 2014 Christmas season, the business sold about 1,800 gift boxes — in about a three to four week time frame. Employees also mailed about 700 packages during a three-week time period over the holidays. “It’s a little busy,” she said with a chuckle. They get visitors from all over, too. She mentioned people from other states and countries who have stopped in, including Italy, Hawaii, California — even Wisconsin. “You’d think, the cheese state, they’d buy their own cheese — but they visit us,” she said.

Cleanliness The room where cheese is made gleams with stainless steel, from the sinks to the vats. Dimock Dairy manager Darren Bigge said the stainless steel has proven best for durability and sanitation. “There is a constant, tremendous amount of cleaning that goes along with the process,” he said. Voelker agrees. Cheese makers wear hair nets during the process, and Voelker said they like to wear clean, white T-shirts so they can easily spot if they’ve gotten dirty. Everything, from the vats to the shovels, is washed with strong chemicals and sanitizer before any food product touches it, and again after. “You can’t be too clean,” he said. Immediately after the vat is emptied, Thelen and Young move in with cleaning supplies. The facility uses a steam water system, which helps get water very hot temperatures. That high heat is essential for the pasteurization and sanitation processes, according to Dimock Dairy employees. “The boiler is very important,” Voelker said, going out of his way to point out the piece of equipment that might otherwise be forgotten. Using that steam, employees hose down the empty vat with hot, steamy water before anything has a chance to dry on. A combination of heat and scrubbing soon returns the vat to its pristine state — just in time for the cheese makers to move

Photos by Matt Gade

Cheese maker Jordan Young pulls out curds to be bagged up for packaging after separating out the whey in the vat as part of the cheese making process at Dimock Dairy.

A variety of cheeses sit on the shelves inside the cooler at Dimock Dairy.

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C M Y

THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Photos by Matt Gade/Republic

ABOVE: Marty Neugebauer connects the suction hose before the cows are brought in to be milked on Feb. 26 at his dairy farm west of Dimock. LEFT: Slayton Neugebauer disinfects a cow’s nipple after milking on Feb. 26 at Marty Neugebauer’s dairy farm.

ABOVE: Cheese maker Jordan Young tests the PH levels in the vat as part of the cheese making process at Dimock Dairy on Feb. 25 in Dimock. RIGHT: Kash (8), left, and Porter (9) Neugebauer hop off the gate as the calves are fed while the other cows are being milked on Feb. 26 at Marty Neugebauer’s dairy farm.

Avera Queen of Peace Hospital welcomes Darren Manthey, MD, who will start in the Emergency Department on Tuesday, March 17. Dr. Manthey is board certiﬁed in emergency medicine, and joins a team that provides top-quality, 24-hour physician coverage for Mitchell and the surrounding areas.

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C M Y

THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Lawsuit seeks to stop agency from killing protected wolves By LAURA ZUCKERMAN Reuters

Conservation groups sued a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday, accusing its agents of violating a federal environmental law when they killed a protected female breeding wolf in Washington state. Groups represented by the Western Law Environmental Center say the USDA’s Wildlife Services agency indiscriminately shot, trapped and poisoned animals to benefit the agricultural industry, and failed to conduct in-depth analyses of its actions as

required by U.S. law. Conservationists are asking a federal judge to stop Wildlife Services from conducting further missions like the one last year in Washington state in which its agents erroneously shot and killed the female leader of a wolf pack after mistaking it for another wolf marked for death for attacking livestock. The wolf that was killed in eastern Washington was one of just three breeding females in the state, where there are 13 confirmed packs, according to U.S. wildlife managers.

Wolves have rebounded in Washington state after government-sponsored eradication efforts pushed them to near extinction early last century. Wolves in the western twothirds of the state are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, but the population in eastern Washington was stripped in 2011 of federal, but not state, protections, along with wolves in Idaho and Montana. The lawsuit comes just weeks after conservationists asked a federal judge in Idaho to find Wildlife Services violated federal law while

U.S. District Court in Seattle, conservationists pointed to a photograph they said was taken by a Wildlife Services agent in 2012 and posted on his Facebook page that shows his dogs savaging a coyote unable to defend itself while caught in a leg-hold trap. John Mellgren, attorney with Western Law Environmental Center, said the picture was included to demonstrate to the court what it described as egregious behavior of some agents while on the job and as evidence of “a broader institutional problem.”

killing wolves, foxes and other predators in that state. The legal actions are part of a broader campaign by conservationists to shed light on a little-known agency that culls millions of animals each year at taxpayer expense to aid farmers and ranchers. Wildlife Services said it has a policy of not commenting on pending litigation. On its website, the agency says it provides “federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist.” In the legal complaint filed in

Gray wolves, once decimated, rebound Oregon’s population up to at least 77 after recovering from eradication campaign By COURTNEY SHERWOOD Reuters

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon’s once decimated gray wolf population has rebounded to at least 77 animals, and the wolves are now pairing off and breeding across a wide region, state officials with the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife said recently. Gray wolves, native to Oregon but wiped out in the state by an eradication campaign in the early 20th century, first returned there

PLANTING Continued from Page A6

Ihry says the prevented-planting program is often criticized for its potential abuse. The government should consider breaking completely away from the multi-peril

in 2008 and have now spread out to multiple parts of the Pacific Northwest state. “The wolf population continues to grow and expand, and for the first time we’ve had wolf reproduction in southern Oregon,” said Michelle Dennehy, spokeswoman for the state wildlife department. “And we had eight breeding pairs last year. We also documented six new pairs of wolves, and 26 pups.” But as population growth trig-

gers a review of state Endangered Species Act restrictions on harassing or killing wolves that threaten livestock, conservationists cautioned it remained too early to celebrate the species’ recovery. “The population remains fragile,” Steve Pedery, conservation director at environmental group Oregon Wild, said in a statement. “You’ll struggle to find a credible scientist willing to say a couple dozen wolves in the northeast corner of the state is a real recov-

ery.” The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association has been pushing for revisions to state laws that would allow its members to shoot wolves when livestock are threatened, perhaps by removing state endangered species protections. Wolves killed at least 30 sheep and cows in Oregon last year, according to a state tally, and ranchers have been lobbying for more freedom to kill the predators. “Until the laws change, the

base policy and making it a separate option, he says. “That would be a benefit to the producer that doesn’t need the coverage.” Ihry says prevented-planting has been a more important option in North Dakota and South Dakota because of the shorter cropping

season and fewer crop options. “When we end up with an insurable (weather) event, we might be very far away from our planting deadlines,” Ihry says. If the recommendation is followed in its current form, RMA could change the rules so prevented-planting doesn’t reduce a farm-

er’s Actual Production History. But if a farmer chooses to plant an insured crop in the late planting period, that yield would go into his cropping history, which could reduce APH. Agralytica says corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton accounted for 80 percent of prevented-planting

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cow people in northeast Oregon are going to suffer,” rancher Roger Julick said in a statement issued by the Cattlemen’s Association. Wildlife officials will review the gray wolf’s Oregon endangered species status at a hearing in April, and Dennehy said that even if statewide protections were lifted, federal Endangered Species Act safeguards would remain in place in the western two-thirds of the state.

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Reuters photo

A combine drives over stalks of soft red winter wheat during the harvest on a farm in Dixon, Ill., in this file photo. Across the U.S. Midwest, the plunge in grain prices to near four-year lows is pitting landowners determined to sustain rental incomes against farmer tenants worried about making rent payments because their revenues are squeezed.

Rent walkouts point to strains in United States farming economy By J.O. WINTERBOTTOM and P.J. HUFFSTUTTER Reuters

CHICAGO —- Across the U.S. Midwest, the plunge in grain prices to near four-year lows is pitting landowners determined to sustain rental incomes against farmer tenants worried about making rent payments because their revenues are squeezed. Some grain farmers already see the burden as too big. They are taking an extreme step, one not widely seen since the 1980s: breaching lease contracts, reducing how much land they will sow this spring and risking years-long legal battles with landlords. The tensions add to other signs the agricultural boom that the U.S. grain farming sector has enjoyed for a decade is over. On Friday, tractor maker John Deere cut its profit forecast citing falling sales caused by lower farm income and grain prices. Many rent payments — which vary from a few thousand dollars for a tiny farm to

millions for a major operation — are due on March 1, just weeks after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated net farm income, which peaked at $129 billion in 2013, could slide by almost a third this year to $74 billion. The costs of inputs, such as fertilizer and seeds, are remaining stubbornly high, the strong dollar is souring exports and grain prices are expected to stay low. How many people are walking away from leases they had committed to is not known. In Iowa, the nation’s top corn and soybean producer, one real estate expert says that out of the estimated 100,000 farmland leases in the state, 1,000 or more could be breached by this spring. The stakes are high because huge swaths of agricultural land are leased: As of 2012, in the majority of counties in the Midwest Corn Belt and the grain-growing Plains, at least 40 percent of farmland was leased or rented out, USDA data shows. “It’s hard to know where the bottom is

on this,” said David Miller, Iowa Farm Bureau’s director of research and commodity services.

Signs of trouble

Jon Sparks farms about 1,400 acres of family land and rented ground in Indiana. His nephew wants to return to work on the farm but margins are tight and land rents high. Sparks cannot make it work financially. “We can’t grow without overextending ourselves,” Sparks said. “I don’t know what to do.”

Grain production is, however, unlikely to be affected in any major way yet as landowners will rather have someone working their land, even at reduced rates, than let See RENT, Page B5 it lie fallow. But prolonged weakness in the farm economy could send ripples far and wide: as farms consolidate, “there would be fewer machinery dealers, fewer elevators, and so-on through the rural economy,” said Craig Dobbins, professor of Tony Wolf - Owner/Mechanic agricultural economics at Over 30 years experience, Purdue University. Possibly also fewer new Jordan Helma - Mechanic farmers. 14 years experience

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

‘Ready for a rough road for the next year or two’ Farmers need to tighten belts, watch costs as strict margins emerge By TRACY FRANK Forum News Service

FARGO, N.D. — It’s time to tighten belts and push the pencil a little harder. That’s the message farmers received at the Northwest Farm Managers Association meeting held here recently. Paul Ellinger, University of Illinois Agricultural Economics Department chairman, talked about financial management after the golden era of crop production. “We’ve got to work that a little harder than we did in the past,” to conserve cash, he said. “When you have extra cash, you don’t really need to work quite as hard, but when you have tight margins, you’ve got to push the pencil a little bit.” Cutting costs isn’t something farmers like to think about,

RENT

Continued from Page B4

Landowners are reluctant to cut rents. Some are retirees who partly rely on the rental income from the land they once farmed, and the rising number of realty investors want to maintain returns. Landlords have also seen tenants spend on new machinery and buildings during the boom and feel renters should still be able to afford lease payments. “As cash rent collections start this spring, I expect to see more farm operators who have had difficulty acquiring adequate financing either let leases go or try and renegotiate terms,” said

Ellinger said, but it’s an important issue to consider. Resources like University Extension Services can help producers maintain profitability, he said. Mike Clemens is a corn and soybean farmer near Wimbledon, N.D. He’s also on the Northwest Farm Managers Association board of directors. “It’s easy to keep working and doing what you’ve been doing and servicing your equipment and hauling grain, but these are big numbers that we run on our farms, into the millions,” he said. “It’s all equity. It’s not cash. It’s equity. You’ve got to preserve your equity.” Grain market outlooks, Clemens said, are getting to be a sobering thing. “Through the ’80s we had grain reserve programs put in place because the markets got so poor

and a lot of people just couldn’t make it on what the grain prices were. I see a lot of history repeating itself,” he said. “We came off a very nice four-year run of good grain prices and you kind of get

Jim Farrell, president of Farmers National Co, which manages about 4,900 farms across 24 states for land-owners. Take an 80-acre (32 hectare) farm in Madison County, Iowa, owned by a client of Peoples Company, a farmland manager. The farmer who rented the land at $375 an acre last year offered $315 for this year, said Steve Bruere, president of the company. The owner turned him down, and rented it to a neighbor for $325 — plus a hefty bonus if gross income tops $750. There are growing numbers of other examples. Miller, of the Iowa Farm Bureau, said he learned about a farmer near Marshalltown, in central Iowa,

who had walked away from 650 acres (263 hectares) of crop ground because he could not pay the rent. Just days later, he was told a north-central Iowa farmer breached his lease on 6,500 acres.

“

It’s all equity. It’s not cash. It’s equity. You’ve got to preserve your equity. Mike Clemens, North Dakota corn and soybean famer

” complacent thinking that this could be a new plateau. It really isn’t. It’s probably getting back to reality of lower grain prices and tightening our belts. We could

Courts or loans Concern about broken leases has some landlords reviewing legal options, according to Roger A. McEowen, director of the Iowa State University Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation. His staff began fielding phone calls from nervous landowners last autumn. One catch is that many landlords never thought to file the paperwork to put a lien on their

be ready for a rough road for the next year or two.” Andy Braaten, Northwest Farm Managers Association president who raises corn and soybeans near Barney, N.D., said he tends to be skeptical when it comes to grain market outlooks. “They kind of change with the wind,” he said. “Our stocks are rising, the dollar’s strengthening. It’s probably going to cool our markets down, but if we have a drought, they’ll pop right back up.” Bill Biedermann, senior vice president of Allendale Inc., an Illinois-based proprietary market research, risk management, consulting services and futures brokerage firm, talked about the grim grain market outlook and what farmers can do. “The first take-home is to have a plan and to put a plan together

that you can stick with during the volatility of the market,” he said. “The second take-home is to take advantage of the volatility of the market because we might be moving into an era of one or two years where we have low volatility and prices just stay really stagnant. If you can get sales made now while the markets are jumping around, that’s a good idea.” Biedermann also said once you put a plan together and your bank is behind it, stick with it. “If you’re forced out in the middle of a plan, that’s usually not a good thing,” he said. Computer programs can test plans against high and low price rallies and calculate the cash flow needed to sustain it, Biedermann said. “It’s not really affecting your checkbook as much as it is managing your risk,” he said.

tenants’ assets. That means landowners “can’t go grab anything off the farm if the tenant doesn’t pay,” McEowen said. “It also means that they’re going to be behind the bank.” Still, farmers could have a tough time walking away from their leases, said Kelvin Leibold, a farm management specialist at Iowa State University extension. “People want their money. They want to get paid. I expect we will see some cases going to court over this,” he added. To avoid such a scenario, farmers have begun turning to banks for loans that will help fund operations and conserve their cash. Operating loans for farmers jumped 37 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 over a year ago

to $54 billion, according to survey-based estimates in the Kansas City Federal Reserve bank’s latest Agricultural Finance Databook. Loans with an undefined purpose — which might be used for rents, according to the bank’s assistant vice-president Nathan Kauffman — nearly doubled in the fourth quarter of 2014 from a year earlier to $25 billion. Total non-real estate farm loan volumes jumped more than 50 percent for the quarter, to $112 billion. “It’s all about working capital and bankers are stressing working capital,” said Sam Miller, managing director of agricultural banking at BMO Harris Bank. “Liquidity has tightened up considerably in the last year.”

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Trek from turf to table delays cheaper beef in commodities

Metro Creative photo

Angus cattle graze in a field in this file photo from Feb. 14, 2014.

Cattle ranchers expanding herds for first time in a decade; government still expects 2015 output to drop to 22-year low By MEGAN DURISIN Bloomberg News

CHICAGO — There’s little relief ahead for record U.S. steak and burger prices. While cattle ranchers like Brenda Richards are expanding herds for the first time in almost a decade, it can take two years to get more meat on the plate. After shrinking supply sent beef costs surging last year, the government still expects output to drop to a 22-year low in 2015. While ranchers are starting to breed more cows, calf gestation is nine months, with as much as 20 more before they are big enough to slaughter. Richards says she may increase her family’s 600-cow breeding herd to as many as 650. “It’s a little bit of an expansion,” said Richards, who has been farming in Reynolds Creek, Idaho, with her husband for three decades. “We’ve held steady for quite some time.” With supplies remaining tight, restaurant operator Ruth’s Hospitality Group and Bloomin’ Brands, owner of the Outback

ANALYSIS Steakhouse chain, are forecasting gains in 2015 beef costs. Retail prices will jump 5 percent to 6 percent this year, more than any other food group and double the rate for all foods, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The cattle herd on Jan. 1 in the United States, the world’s largest beef producer, was 1.4 percent bigger than a year earlier at 89.8 million head, the first increase for that date in eight years, USDA data show. The herd began last year as the smallest since 1952, after droughts from Texas through the Midwest dried pastures and pushed the price of feed corn to records in 2012. Even as herd expansion starts, meat output probably won’t rise right away. As of Jan. 1, ranchers increased the number of beef cows for breeding by 2.1 percent from a year earlier, rather than send them to slaughter. Commercial beef production

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will drop 0.1 percent in 2015 to 24.22 billion pounds, the fifth straight decline and lowest since 1993, the USDA said Feb. 19. “Lower prices are coming, but it’s going to be some time yet,” David Anderson, a livestock economist at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, said in a Feb. 3 interview. “We’ve kicked off some expansion. It doesn’t really change anything for 2015 in terms of our expected beef production.” The cash price for steers sold to slaughterhouses will average $1.57 to $1.67 a pound this year, up from $1.5456 in 2014, the USDA forecasts. Ruth’s Hospitality Group, based in Winter Park, Flo., will see beef costs jump 5 percent to 8 percent in 2015, Chief Financial Officer Arne Haak said in a Feb. 13 earnings call. Tampa, Florida-based Bloomin’ Brands said Feb. 19 it expects a 10 percent increase, while Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. said Feb. 13 its ground-beef costs will jump about 12 percent. A drop-off in demand may

undermine the beef rally. Pork and chicken production will surge to records this year, which may “take some of the edge off” beef, said John Anderson, deputy chief economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation in Washington, D.C. Cattle futures that reached a record $1.7275 a pound in November are down 9.7 percent this year on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Wholesale beef that touched an all-time high of $2.6381 a pound on Jan. 14 have since dropped 6.6 percent. Prices are 14 percent higher than a year earlier. “There are other meats out there that compete aggressively for the same consumer dollar,” Anderson said in a Feb. 12 interview. “It’s going to be difficult for beef prices to go up at the pace we’ve seen the last couple years.” Even with cheaper chicken and pork, beef demand may remain strong, especially after the plunge in U.S. gasoline prices, said Chris Hurt, a livestock economist at Purdue University

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in West Lafayette, Indiana. The average household will save $750 this year, the Energy Information Administration estimated, after retail pump prices tumbled 32 percent in the past year and in January were the lowest since 2009. U.S. spending at food service establishments rose 13 percent in January compared with a year earlier, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Grocerystore purchases climbed 3.7 percent. Cattle rancher Ryan Sharrock says he’s spending about $100 less per week to fill up his pickup truck than he did in June. After he cut back on beef buying last year, Sharrock is using some of his fuel savings to almost double the weekly spending on the meat for his family of five, to as much as $60. They eat it about three times a week. “It sure makes it easier to put it on the table,” said Sharrock, 33, who raises about 160 cows and calves in Patton, Miss., 100 miles south of St. Louis.

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THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Wessington Springs farm shows regional decline in sheep reports

Forum News Service photo

Rick Tobin, Woonsocket, farms and raises sheep along U.S. Highway 281, between Wessington Springs and Plankington. He said his 100-ewe sheep operation was to be mostly finished with lambing by the end of February.

By MIKKEL PATES Forum News Service

WOONSOCKET — Rick Tobin, of Woonsocket, farms along State Highway 281. His 160-head cattle herd is his main enterprise, but he farms and has 100 white face ewes. He sells market-ready sheep either in Platte or Chamberlain. “There’s not a lot of people getting into them,” Tobin says. “It ain’t real exciting to be a sheep man, but they’re not a lot of work. When you’re lambing, it’s work.” A Jan. 30 report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service says South Dakota had 255,000 sheep and lambs, down 6 percent from last year and ranking seventh among the states in sheep numbers.

Forum News Service photo

New lambs are shown on the Rick Tobin farm near Woonsocket in this photo taken Jan. 29 at his farm to the east and south of Wessington Springs.

The biggest states in sheep numbers are Texas, 720,000; California, 600,000; Colorado, 420,000; Wyoming, 345,000; and Utah, 290,000. Mike Caskey is a lamb and wool program instructor for the Pipestone, Minn. Lamb and Wool Program of the Minnesota West Community and Technical College. He says though Minnesota numbers have dropped 4 percent in the past year, he thinks the biggest declines have come in the northern third or half of the state, and in the southeast, where producers have competed with predators. “In my part of the world (southwest Minnesota, eastern South Dakota), I’d say the numbers

4 percent from 2014; breeding sheep numbered 92,000, down 6 percent; market sheep, 38,000, up 3 percent. The state had 73,000 ewes, down 8 percent from 2014. Ram numbers were unchanged at 4,000 head. Replacement lambs were at 15,000.

would be up 1 percent to 2 percent — maybe higher,” he says. There is probably a decline in smaller or mid-sized producers, who tend to jump in or out because of input costs, he says. Here are NASS report details for this region:

South Dakota

Montana

255,000 sheep and lambs, down 6 percent from 2014; breeding sheep, 200,000, down 5 percent; market sheep, 55,000, down 8 percent; ewes, 162,000, down 6 percent; rams, 6,000, down 14 percent; replacement lambs, 32,000, up 3 percent.

215,000 sheep and lambs, down 2 percent from 2014; breeding sheep, 73,000, up 1 percent; total market sheep, 22,000, unchanged. Montana had 153,000 ewes, down 1 percent from 2014; rams were constant at 6,000 head; replacement lambs, were 34,003 head, down 8 percent.

Minnesota 130,000 sheep and lambs, down

Ron’s Market

Excavation Inc.

Ritchie Waterers - Tire Tanks - Septic Systems

Call Carl at 605-770-2957 Emery, SD

White Lake, SD 249-2314

United States 5.28 million sheep, up 1 percent from 2014; breeding sheep, 3.935 million, up 1 percent; market sheep, 1.345 million, unchanged. The nation had 3.11 million ewes, up 1 percent. There were 175,000 rams, equal to 2014. Replacement lambs had increased 2 percent to 650,000.

Income Tax Preparation & Accounting

Utility Construction - Digging Geothermal Loop Installation

Stickney, SD 732-4448

64,000 sheep and lambs, down 3 percent from 2014; 50,000 breeding sheep, unchanged from a year earlier; market sheep, 14,000, down 13 percent. The state had 42,000 breeding ewes, up 2 percent; a constant 2,000 rams; and 6,000 replacement lambs, down 14 percent.

Presuhn Agency Inc.

CMC

113 N. Main St. Plankinton 942-7595

North Dakota

251 N. Main, PO Box 46 Bridgewater, SD (605) 729-2381

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Predators, other opportunities influence numbers, contribute to downward trend in market

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Clint Street

THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Canadian farmers store fertilizer to fight dealers’ pricing power Trend seen on smaller scale in South Dakota, other Midwest farms to gain control over costs By ROD NICKEL Reuters

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Canadian farmers are plowing profits from bumper crops into fertilizer storage facilities to mitigate the pricing power held by major retailers and producers. Having their own storage lets farmers buy nutrients more cheaply during the off-season and creates fewer transport bottlenecks in the spring planting season. Over time, the practice might erode the steep premiums farmers pay in the spring to retail businesses owned by Agrium Inc., Richardson International and Cargill Ltd., while shifting distribution patterns of producers Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Mosaic Co. and CF Industries. The trend is part of a wider shift by North American farmers to gain more control over both costs and the prices they collect. In the U.S., farmers are building silos and bins to store grains and oilseeds until crop handlers entice them to sell. Canadian farmers produced record-large harvests of wheat and canola in 2013, boosting their net income to C$6.4 billion, the fourth straight year of gains, according to the most recent Statistics Canada data. After diammonium phosphate prices spiked in 2008 to $1,200 per ton, compared with less than $500 a ton today, Saskatchewan farmer Kevin Hruska spent about C$400,000 in 2010 to build storage for about 6,000 tons of blended fertilizer. “We want to store it all — we don't want to be held hostage by the logistics of springtime and the games the fertilizer companies play,” said Hruska, who grows wheat and canola and uses about 6,500 tons of fertilizer a year on his sprawling 45,000 acre farm. “It gives you a lot of security knowing your fertilizer is in place out of season.” The difference between harvest and spring fertilizer prices has been almost enough for farmers to pay the cost of storage within one season, said Lyndon Carlson, senior vice-president of marketing at Farm Credit Canada, the country’s biggest agriculture lender. Fertilizer prices have been higher in April, the month when demand soars just before most planting gets underway, than in the previous October eight times in the last decade, according to a survey of Alberta prices by the provincial government. The price of urea, for example, was C$529 per ton in October 2013 and C$721 six months later. Sales volumes of epoxylined bins — designed to withstand fertilizer’s corrosiveness — have climbed 20 percent since 2010 at Westeel, Western Canada’s second-largest seller of farm storage, said president Andre Granger.

Reuters photo

Farmer Lenard Kidd fertilizes the grass under a blanket of snow near grain elevators in Mossleigh, Alberta, in this file photo. Canadian farmers are plowing profits from bumper crops into fertilizer storage facilities, reported Feb. 27, to mitigate the pricing power held by major retailers and producers. Having their own storage lets farmers buy nutrients more cheaply during the off-season and creates fewer transport bottlenecks in the spring planting season.

caught on with much smaller U.S. Midwest grain farms. Farmers there lack the same scale to buy storage facilities or fertilizer spreading equipment and rely on local co-operatives to do the work, said Peter Trebuschnoj, Iowa-based director of U.S. operations at Meridian Manufacturing, which makes bins for the farm, industrial and energy sectors. U.S. hog farmers are avoiding high retail prices for spring fertilizer by cashing in on their own endless supply of free manure. Iowa grain farmer Chuck Souder said the ability to produce and store excess fertilizer was a

deciding factor when his family built a hog barn last fall that can hold about 2,500 animals at a time. He estimates the hogs will produce at least $37,000 in fertilizer a year. North of the border, bumper crops and the strength of multi-generational farms allow some farmers to pay cash for storage, while others borrow, said Randy James, manager of agriculture in Manitoba for Bank of Montreal. The growing size of Canadian farms also makes building storage affordable. In Saskatchewan, the average farm is 1,668 acres, five

times the average in Iowa. The benefits go beyond dollars and cents. The farm input distribution system often becomes congested during spring, with fertilizer in high demand during farmers’ narrow planting window. For that reason, farmers’ move to build fertilizer storage and buy off-season is positive for retail sellers, even though they might sell less product at premium spring prices, said

Tom Hamilton, vice-president of Richardson Pioneer. To be sure, the more fertilizer farmers store, the more price risk they take. In 2009, retail dealers incurred heavy losses on inventories when prices collapsed. “Bottom line, the risk of inventory change will always overshadow the desire to store up,” said Potash Corp Chief Executive Jochen Tilk.

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US farmers Farmers in North and South Dakota are also building storage for fertilizer, like their Canadian neighbors, but the trend has not

Farmers Elevator of Mt. Vernon Mt. Vernon, SD

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605-236-5233

17 YEARS OF TESTING • Supported bale off the ground gives (90 to 99%) efﬁciency! • Advantage of remarkable solid rod and chain design allows for inﬁnite hay restriction along with robust strength • Heavy 14 gauge sheet metal that doesn’t break from a bull pushing, or bale spear piercing • Robust manufacturing to withstand the harsh winter environments • Reduces the hay sorting animals do that wastes hay

50 Year Warranty Traditional Fence Styles without the traditional maintenance. Free Estimates!

Bulk Feed Bins

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The Common Sense BALEFEEDER • QUALITY • PORTABLE • UNIQUE DESIGN Common Sense Maufacturing Specializes in the Quality Manufaccturing of: • Balefeeders • Calf Shelters • Wire Winders • Feed Bunks • Buildings BLAIR GADES • LYNN GADES • BRANDON GADES 1921 S. Wisconsin • Mitchell, SD 57301 605-995-6000 • Fax 605-995-6002 • www.dls-bbbb.com

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www.fultonstatebank.com Fulton 996-5731 • Mitchell 996-1000 Serving the area since 1924 Member FDIC

001207704r1

THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

Down and Out

Electricity is the proven home energy safety leader, but you still have to be careful around it. Never go near a downed power line and keep others away from it too. Be on the lookout for damaged poles, insulators and power lines. Call your electric cooperative immediately to give them the location of any downed or damaged power lines or equipment.

BOB’S FARM SERVICE 605-724-2105 www.bobsfarm.com

800-477-2892 • 605-996-7516

FARM SAFETY is your best insurance policy.

An unexpected accident on your farm could destroy everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve. Help prevent accidents by following these basic farm safety tips: 2800 W. Havens • Mitchell, SD 996-7704 1-800-952-2308 www.scottsupplyco.com

MITCHELL IRON & SUPPLY CO. 1884 - 2014

217 West First Mitchell, SD 57301 996-2447

BUY, SELL, TRADE NEW & USED FARM EQUIPMENT

T.K. Electric Farm • Residential • Commercial

419 E. Juniper Mitchell

995-0595

• Remember to use and replace machinery guards and shields.

GOLDAMMER, INC.

• Get plenty of rest and eat hearty, nutritious meals in order to maintain energy and stay focused.

Bill Goldammer, Jr.

• Inspect farm machinery and correct any hazards before operating it. •Before approaching equipment, always shut it down, turn off the engine, remove the key and wait for moving parts to stop.

We pave the way for you!

• Keep chemicals in secure storage areas that are safe from bystanders and children, and label the area appropriately.

COMMERCIAL ASPHALT 996-4711

• Use a roll-over protective structure and safety belt on tractors.

Riverside Road Exit Mitchell

P.O. Box 327 • W. Hwy. 16 Mitchell, SD 57301 Bus.: 605-996-7621 Fax: 605-996-2480

Farm Tire Service 720 N. Main, Mitchell 996-7709 • 1-800-529-0061 www.grahamtire.com

• Let somebody know where you will be working during the day and carry a cell phone for emergencies. • Avoid wearing loose-fitting clothes or dangling items when working with machinery.

A&G DIESEL TRUCK REPAIR Complete Diesel Repair

123 E. Spruce

996-4137

• Check for power lines before operating equipment. Always stay at least ten feet away from power lines.

A&G II, SERVICE & TIRE REPAIR I-90 & Hwy 37

•Never allow “extra riders” on equipment, especially children.

996-3536

Terry Moody & Toby Moody, Owners

Paintless Dent Repair, Frame Repair

W. Hwy 16, Mitchell

996-9607

• Before moving equipment, check behind you for bystanders or obstructions. • Develop a schedule for conducting routine safety checks around the farm.

Construction Services and Building Materials

• Protect your ears around loud machinery and equipment.

“Job done right, quality, price, expert advise”

400 North Ohlman • Mitchell • 996-9175

Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30 • Sat 7:30-1:00

These businesses would like to take this opportunity to salute and show their appreciation to the area farmers and ranchers for their business.

Meyerink Farm Service www.meyerinkfs.com

1-800-658-2293 • 605-337-2621

TRANSMISSION FLUSH

Call or stop by today!

2 Locations: PO Box 77 • Fulton, SD • 996-5731 115 E. Havens • Mitchell, SD • 996-1000

includes filter, pan gasket, & complete flush

1100 S. Burr Mitchell, SD 57301 605-996-7102 • Cell 999-5485

221 S. Jessica Ave. Sioux Falls, SD 605-332-4144 800-456-1746

1001 Hot Rod Rd. Mitchell, SD 605-996-1200 877-996-1200

Your top Ag Sources 1520 N. Garfield Ave. Pierre, SD 605-224-1676 800-427-1676

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Member FDIC

Interstate Tire & Auto Center LLC Business Hours M-F 8am-5:30pm Sat 8am-12noon

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visor

C M Y

B10

THE DAILY REPUBLIC MARCH 2015

See you at our 100th Anniversary Open House March 23-27th! As of January 1, 2015, the Section 179 limit as been reduced to $25,000 and no bonus depreciation is available for the 2015 tax year.

VISIT US TODAY FOR GREAT LEASE PRICES ON NEW CASE IH TRACTORS! JUST ANNOUNCED!

FREE LOADER with new Maxxum or Puma purchase.

Lease a new 2015 Magnum 180 (155 PTO hp)

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Lease a new 2015 Puma 150 (125 PTO hp) with L765 Loader 3 years, 300 hours per year†

15,49500 $ 13,25000 no loader

16,250 $ 13,95000 00

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Lease a new 2015 Steiger 620 Quad Trac (620 hp)

3 years, 300 hours per year†

22,29500

3 years, 300 hours per year†

34,79500

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Lease a new 2015 Magnum 310 (265 PTO hp)

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Lease a new 2015 Steiger 420 Row Trac (420 PTO hp)

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Lease a new 2015 Puma 200 (170 PTO hp) 3 years, 300 hours per year†

+ tax per year

Lease a new 2014 Magnum 280 (235 PTO hp)

Lease a new 2015 Puma 185 (155 PTO hp) with L765 Loader 3 years, 300 hours per year†

29,99500

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Lease a new 2015 Puma 165 (140 PTO hp) with L765 Loader 3 years, 300 hours per year†

3 years, 300 hours per year†

Lease a new 2015 Magnum 250 (205 PTO hp)

Late 2015 Maxxums will be Tier 4B. Beat the 8% price increase!

3 years, 300 hours per year†

+ tax per year

Lease a new 2015 Steiger 370 Wheeled (370 PTO hp)

+ tax per year

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51,99500

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At the end of 3 years, BUY IT, TRADE IT, or RETURN IT ... NO QUESTIONS ASKED! All leases include $0 deductible extended powertrain warranty.

Scott Supply’s 100th Year Anniversary SALE on New 2015 Case IH 1255 Early Riser Planters We have 2 new 2015 1255 16-row 30-inch front-fold planters and 1 new 2015 1255 24-row 30-inch front-fold planter in inventory at old 2014 prices! All our new 1255 Early Riser planters are equipped with bulk fill, AFS Pro 700 display, in-cab pneumatic down pressure, hydraulic variable rate, cable AccuDrive, electric AccuRow clutches, auxiliary PTO pump, markers, and floating no-till residue managers with depth bands. IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING UPGRADING YOUR PLANTER BEFORE THIS SPRING, NOW IS TH TIME TO TRADE! THE

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BEST BUYS IN USED EQUIPMENT

2014 Case IH Magnum 235 CVT MFD, 9 hours to 266 hours, 480/80R46 Rear Duals, 380/85R34 Front Tires, 4 Valves, 540/1000 PTO, Autoguidance Ready, Factory Warranty

2013 Case IH Steiger 350 4WD, 512 hours, Powershift, 480/80R46 Duals, 4 Valves, PTO, Autoguidance Ready, Factory Warranty

2013 Case IH Farmall 95C MFD, 80 PTO hp, 61 hours, 12x12 Power Shuttle, 18.4x34 Rear Tires, 14.9x28 Front Tires, 2 Valves, Factory Warranty

2006 Case IH 1020 30 ft., 3 in. Cut 2005 Case IH 2208 8R30, Hyd. Deck Plates, Field Tracker 2003 NH 98C 8R30, Hyd. Deck Plates, Field Tracker 2010 Case IH Steiger 435 4WD, 555 hours, Powershift, 710/70R42 Case IH 1000 Series 12R30, Poly Duals, Luxury Cab, 4 Valves, Autoguidance Ready Used Balers 2010 Case IH Magnum 215 MFD, approximately 1,450 hours, 0% for 5 Years! 18.4x46 Duals, 14.9x34 Front Tires, 3 Valves, 540/1000 PTO 2012 NH BR7090 Specialty Crop, Net Wrap, Endless Belts, 2009 Case IH Magnum 275 MFD, 1,777 hours, 18.4x46 Rear 21.5Lx16.1 Tires, 1000 PTO Duals, 14.9x34 Front Duals, 4 Valves, 540/1000 PTO 2009 NH BR7090, Net Wrap, Endless Belts, XtraSweep Pickup, 2009 Case IH Farmall 80 MFD ROPS, 18.4x30 Rear Tires, 18L-16.1SL Tires, 1000 PT 12.4x24 Front Tires, 2 Valves, 540 PTO, Canopy 2005 NH BR780, Auto Wrap, Laced Belts, 1000 PTO 2007 Case IH Magnum 215 MFD, approximately 4,500 hours, 480/80R46 Duals, 380/85R34 Front Tires, 3 Valves, 540/1000 PTO, 2004 NH BR780, Auto Wrap, Laced Belts, 1000 PTO With Case IH L780 Loader, 102 in. Bucket, 5-Tine Grapple, Joystick 2004 NH BR780, Auto Wrap, Laced Belts, 540 PTO 2003 NH BR780, Bale Command, Laced Belts, 1000 PTO 2005 Case IH MXM190 MFD, 160 PTO hp, 3,338 hours, 18.4x46 2003 NH BR780, Net Wrap, Laced Belts, 540 PTO Rear Tires, 14.9x34 Front Tires, 4 Valves, Suspended Cab 2003 NH BR780, Auto Wrap, 1000 PTO 1946 IH Farmall M, Wide Front, With Farmall F11 Loader 2002 NH 688, Bale Command, Laced Belts, 540 PTO 2002 NH 688, Auto Wrap, Laced Belts, 540 PTO Used Combines & Heads 2001 NH 688, Bale Command, Laced Belts, 540 PTO Interest Free to July 1, 2016! (2) 2001 NH 688, Auto Wrap, Laced Belts, 540 PTO 2011 Case IH 3020 30 ft. 2000 NH 688, Auto Wrap, Laced Belts, 540 PTO (2) 2010 Case IH 2020 30 ft., 3 in. Cut 1996 NH 664, Auto Wrap, Laced Belts, 1000 PTO 2009 Case IH 2020 30 ft., 3 in. Cut 1986 Case IH 3650, 540 PTO 2007 Case IH 2020 30 ft., 3 in. Cut

2012 Case IH Steiger 550 4WD, 568 hours, Powershift, 800/70R38 Duals, 4 Valves, Autoguidance Ready, Factory Warranty

2010 Case IH 7120, 1,490 Engine hours, 1,170 Rotor hours, 20.8x42 Dual Drive Tires, 28Lx26 Rear Tires, Field Tracker, Rock Trap, Stone Drum, AFX Rotor, Chopper, Chaff Spreader, Yield Monitor

Used Tractors

Used Mower Conditioners & Windrowers

100+ hp & 4WD – 18 Months Interest Free or 1.9% for 3 Years!

0% for 4 Years on Used Mower Conditioners! 1995 NH 2550 SP Windrower, 3,023 hours, With NH 2218 18 ft. Head 2009 NH H7150 16 ft., 1000 PTO 2005 NH 1441 16 ft., 1000 PTO 2003 NH 1475 16 ft., 1000 PTO (2) 2002 NH 1475 16 ft., 1000 PTO 2001 NH 1475 16 ft., 1000 PTO 1994 NH 116 16 ft., 1000 PTO 1990 Hesston 1160 14 ft, 540 PTO

2012 Sunflower 1435-40 40 ft. Disk, Cushion Gang, 3-Bar Mulcher 2013 Case IH Patriot 3330 Self-Propelled Sprayer, 437 hours, 90 ft. Boom, 1,000 gal., 380/90R46 Tires, Active Suspension, Pro 700 Monitor, AIM Command, Autoguidance Ready, Factory Extended Warranty 1995 Patriot Self-Propelled Sprayer, 2,983 hours, 75 ft. Boom, 750 gal., 12.4x42 Tires, EZ-Guide 500 Controller, EZ-Steer Autoguidance, 3-Section Shutoff 2004 NH/Flexi-Coil SF110 Sprayer, 90 ft., 1,000 gal., 14.9x46 Tires, SP655 Controller 2013 Schaben Sprayer, Trailing, 110 gal., 18 ft. Boom, Electric Controls

Used Crop Production Equipment 6-Month Interest Free on Used Crop Production 2001 Kinze 3200 12R30 Econo-Fold Planter, KPM II Monitor, Double V Closers, Markers, Double Down Pressure Springs, Liquid Fertilizer Pump, Corn and Soybean Meters 2005 JD 2700 7-Shank 17.5 ft. Disk Ripper, 30 in. Spacing, Individual Front Disks JD 2700 9-Shank Disk Ripper, 24 in. Spacing, Individual Front Disks, Spring Reset Shanks, Rear Disk Leveler, 3-Bar Mulcher 2009 Case IH 330 42 ft. Turbo, Double Fold, New Earth Metal Blades, Rear Flat Bar Baskets

2006 Case IH 8010, 2,385 Engine hours, 1,720 Rotor hours, 20.8x42 Dual Drive Tires, 540/65R30 Rear Tires, Field Tracker, Rock Trap, Stone Drum, AFX Rotor, Chopper, Chaff Spreader, Yield Monitor, Crary Grain Tank Ext.

Used Miscellaneous

2012 NH C238 Compact Track Loader, 90 hp, approximately 400 hours, 18 in. Tracks, Pilot Controls, Cab w/Heat & A/C, High-Flow Hyd., 84 in. LPE Bucket 1977 Bobcat 610 Skid Steer Loader, 30 hp Gas, 1,000 lb. Lift Westfield MK130-71 Plus GLP 13 in. x 71 ft. Auger, Low Profile Swing Hopper, Hyd. Power Swing Koyker Super 85C 8 in. x 71 ft. Auger, Swing Hopper Brent 672 650 bu. Grain Cart, Scale, Tarp, 24.5x32 Tires Unverferth HT25 25 ft. Header Transport – JUST TRADED!

“Where Service Means More Than The Sale Itself”

www.scottsupplyco.com

2800 W. Havens Mitchell, SD

001207667r1-030615

605-996-7704 1-800-952-2308 C M Y