Second Quarter Newsletter 2017

Visit us @ www.prideag.com

MANAGER’S DESK

Jerald Kemmerer-CEO/GM

Pride Ag Resources Hope your spring is going well.

The recent rains have been helpful, but of course, more is needed to keep the wheat crop moving forward and to allow us to plant for fall crops, as you all know. But no doubt about, it has helped get the spring started off right.

The auditors have completed their task in reviewing your cooperatives’ financials. With the increase in bushels, we are ending the year on a positive note. But just like the farm economy, we are seeing the margins at the lowest levels, which the likes have not been seen in about a decade, making it very difficult

SECOND QUARTER 2017

to get over excited.

This financial situation seems to be the same pattern for most cooperatives throughout Kansas.

Our auditor will review the audit with you at our 102nd year Annual meeting on May 16th. So come and enjoy a nice meal, good speaker, and pick up your checks. Even though financial targets were not good as they could have been, I believe the numbers will at least indicate the positive impact and strength of our balance sheet.

The staff is busy with several different projects at multiple locations that will enhance our dumping times and assist you in getting back to the field faster. New projects are in progress at Kalvesta, Ford, and Hanston and all are expected to be in before wheat

harvest. The improvements, I believe will greatly be felt during the fall harvest time period.

We have also up graded some agronomy equipment that will also aid in better efficiency in field application.

During the past year, our teams of employees have been engaged with our customers with informed information to help you in assist in making decisions regarding marketing of grain, feed, and livestock care.

One of the most important set of series of meetings we held was “Land as your Legacy”. This seminar was presented with the help of Nationwide Insurance and CHS. Family farms make up 97% of all the US farms and yet only 11% of those farms have some type of transition plan in place.

Inside This Issue 2 Safety - Ace Hardware 3 Grain - Feed 4 Feed 5 Agronomy - Turf 6 AV Energy 7 IT - Board of Directors

That means 89% have nothing and it is estimated that over the next 20 years, 70% of the family farms will change hands. I hope you were able to attend one or all of the meeting that was offered.

I hope you have a great rest of your spring. Thanks for your business, because we never take it for granted and we take Pride in serving our communities and customers.

See you at the 102nd Pride Ag Resources Annual meeting!

Jerald S. Kemmerer CEO Pride Ag Resources

Safety Division

Skyler Hayes

Safety Director POWER LINE SAFETY ON THE FARM Without electrical power, farming as we know it today could not exist. It would be difficult to find anybody who does not think that electrical power has made profound and beneficial changes to the face of agriculture over the last 100 years. The electrification of rural America has also brought the dangers of electricity with it, such as fires, electrocution, and arc flash. High voltage power lines present hazards that are sometimes overlooked by agricultural workers, because they

are taken for granted due to the fact that they are relatively trouble free and out of the way. Every year there are incidents involving agricultural equipment contacting electrical power lines. Most of the time there is property damage only, but sometimes there are injuries, or even death. Spray rigs are sometimes involved in incidents involving power lines.

The best way to prevent an incident between a power line and a spray rig is to avoid power lines altogether. Before you use a spray rig, try to plan a route that avoids power lines or make certain that you adjust your the spray rig before you reach power lines.

Even if one takes precautions to avoid contacting power lines, there is the possibility that an incident will occur when a spray rig hits a power line. When that happens, you must assume that the spray rig and the area around the vehicle are electrified. If there is not a fire you should stay in the vehicle, as the vehicle and the ground may be electrified. Call 911 and the power company. Even if you do not have a phone, the power company will probably be out to check on the power disruption. Be aware that if you try to pull your rig from the power line or pole you will probably cause more damage to the line.

If the vehicle you are in catches fire, you will have to escape the vehicle safely and quickly. To escape the burning vehicle, you should stay seated and open the door completely and make certain that there are no wires exposed. While standing in the door frame with your feet together and your arms crossed, jump from the vehicle as far as possible, keeping your arms crossed and feet together. Do not touch the ground and vehicle together at the same time, because electricity can flow through you from the rig to the ground. Keep your feet together,

as separating your feet can result in electricity flowing from one foot through your body to the other foot, resulting in injury or even death. Hop at least 30 feet from the accident, and slide your feet apart. If you feel tingling hop farther away until you are a safe distance from the accident. If for some reason you cannot hop, shuffle your feet slowly while keeping both feet on the ground.

After you have reached a safe distance from the accident call 911 and the power company.

ACE HARDWARE

Jack Lane,

Ace Manager Ace has a strong inventory in Toro mowers. Everything from walk behind mowers to the 30 inch time master mower. We have zero turn radius riders with dual sticks and the new steering wheel models. Sizes range from 33 inch to 50 inch cuts. We also have several string trimmers and even rear tine tillers in stock.

Now is the time to apply Pride Turf fertilizers such as the maintainer or weed and feed.

There has also been reports of several people having grub damage so you should think about Pride Turf grub guard.

Stop by and pick up all your lawn and garden needs from plants to yard art and everything in between.

2

GRAIN DIVISION

Mike Schmidt

Grain Operations Manager At the time of writing this article, the fiscal year has come to an end, and the auditors are here finishing up with the audit. This is a good time to look back and reflect on the past year. First of all, what a year it was!! It was a record year for the wheat crop.

“The best yields ever,” we heard from guys that have been around for a long time. This led to your Coop handling the largest wheat harvest in the history of Pride Ag Resources. With that being said, your Coop never had to put wheat on the ground and deal with big discounts because of quality issues.

This is due to the hard work of the employees getting grain moved out in time, and working long, hard hours to make it all happen. For this I would like to say thank you to all of them for the hard work they put in for Pride Ag Resources.

After wheat harvest, the rains just kept coming. What a great thing as it made for a great fall harvest as well. Your Coop had a very good corn and soybean crop, and another all-time record milo crop. We didn’t just have a record crop but excluding last year’s crop, we broke the old record by double.

This was huge for your Coop.

While still trying to move the wheat crop and make enough room for fall, there were very trying times as well. With hard

work and long hours the employees did an outstanding job getting trucks dumped and back to the field. We did end up with almost 4 million bushels of milo on the ground by the end of harvest, but we got it all picked up and shipped out without any discounts before the rain.

Everyone here at Pride Ag Resources would like to say thank you for your business and being part of a great team that we all have here at Pride Ag. Starting this new year, I would like to give you an update on the improvements for handling your crops in the future.

At Hanston, we are enhancing the drag from the outside receiving leg.

This will allow us to hit the top drag directly and will give us the ability to dump two commodities at the same time.

This improvement should also speed up the dumping time as well. This project is finished and ready to go.

The second project at Beeler, is replacing a return drag from the steel bins to the main house. This was just worn out and needed replaced and is nearly completed.

Third is a new outbound scale at the Kalvesta location. This will speed up the time of getting out of the facility and back to the field by not having to wait on the one scale. This project will deal with the congestion of inbound and outbound trucks using the same scale. Along with this, we are putting in a new approach onto the highway with a straight shot from the scale. This will allow the trucks entering the highway to see clearly for oncoming traffic, which has been a safety concern we have had for a long time. This project has not been started, but will be up and operational by wheat harvest.

The last project is the largest. At our Ford location we are putting in a new outside dump pit with a 20,000 bph receiving leg and new top drag to the west. This will increase the speed of dumping

trucks by at least double the speed. This will allow a very short turnaround time for your trucks.

The project is in full swing and will be complete by wheat harvest.

With the recent rains that we have received lately, it looks like we could see another very good wheat harvest and great conditions to start off the fall crops. Again, everyone at Pride Ag Resources would like to say thank you for doing business with us. It has been an honor and a privilege. We hope you continue to choose Pride Ag.

Date Wheat 01/6/17 3.09 02/3/17 3.26 02/17/17 3.46 03/16/17 3.35 Last Year –Feb. 2016 AVG. 3.87

Corn 3.03 3.15 3.18 3.11

Milo 2.58 2.65 2.68 2.61

Soybean 8.85 9.17 9.23 8.82

3.54 3.03 7.79

FEED DIVISION

Calvin Carey We finally got some much needed moisture. Hopefully we won’t have any more damage from all the fires that were in the area.

We are thinking about producers that had loses. Pastures are starting to green up so we will have some green pastures to turn cattle on. Things that producers need to look at is what mineral they need for the summer.

The summer mineral program that we will be offering is: Pro Phos 6 Mag with altosid. Feed Pro Phos 6 Mag mineral free choice 3

two to three weeks before turning cows out and 2 -3 weeks afterwards. It will provides 6 % phosphorus, vitamins and other trace mineral. Pro Phos 6 Mag contains high levels of magnesium (10%) to support fertility and immune functions and DDG to help intake levels.

We are recommending using altosid for fly control this summer. Altosid is (S)methoprene insect growth regulator to prevent the emergence of adult horn flies from manure not treated.

Pro Phos 8 with altosid is formulated to provide essential mineral and vitamins. It has an 8% phosphorus and trace minerals such as zinc (3600 ppm), iodine (60 ppm), copper (1200 ppm), selenium (27ppm) and vitamins.

We have Pro Phos 8 with altosid and availa-4. Availa-4 is a combination of organic zinc, manganese, copper and cobalt.

These trace minerals are required for numerous functions including: immunity, reproduction, skin and hoof integrity, growth and muscle development, milk production, fiber digestion and energy metabolism. In addition, when an animal has the proper balance of trace minerals it is better able to cope with the challenging effects of stress. Availa-4 has a unique, patented molecule that consists of one metal ion bound to one amino acid ion – called a metal amino acid complex. This allows over 90% rumen protection so the mineral is more effectivity transported through the rumen and into the bloodstream of the cow. By using it as an alternative to standard minerals, producers can expect enhanced performance as long as the overall level of supplementation is maintained. So producers can expect to see improvements in milk yield, production, fertility, hoof, and udder health. These Pro Phos minerals can be fed to cows, replacement heifers, calves and

bulls grazing on grass pastures or range. Optimum intake level is 4 ounces.

We have 225 pound mineral tubs with altosid or mineral tubs with altosid and availa-4. Cows should consume 6 to 8 ounces / head / day. Feed one tub for every 20 to 25 head. Locate tubs where cattle congregate such as close to water to increase intake and move tubs farther away to decrease intake. Tubs are a convenient supplement delivery system for producers with time commitments and labor shortages. They aids in disease prevention, improve fertility and promotes fetal development. Less product is wasted due to weather, wind and feeders being tipped over. It results in increased suckling calf and stocker weights. Reduces biosecurity risks are associated with non- returnable tubs. Mineral intake is delivered by moisture from air and saliva from licking that softens a thin layer on the surface of the tub. This intake method keeps cows from over eating tubs but still enhances the cow consumption.

We have a Hi-Fat / Hi-Energy tub for producers who need a convenient way to increase the body condition of the replacement heifer or cow. Consumption level of Hi Fat blocks are approximately 1.0 to 3.0 pounds / head / day.

These blocks come in convenient 200 pound tubs. They should be fed at the rate of one tub for each 10 to 15 head of cattle. Do not offer this product in fields where crops are grown that are known to contain high levels of urease enezme. Do not feed in conjunctions with other urea feeds.

Stress Tubs are another free choice supplement designed for young calves prior to or after stress and breeding animals. This product is recommended for use in preweaning situations, receiving and hospital pens, as well as to the

breeding herd 60 days prior to calving and through the breeding season. Stress tubs are a highly palatable molasses based supplement that entices cattle to taste. It provides the key nutrients needed for a fully functioning immune system so that cattle are fully prepared to face and /or recover from the stresses of weaning and transportation, respond to the vaccination program, start more quickly, go on feed quickly and return to home pen. It also provides key nutrients involved in reproduction performance to positively impact fertility, estrus, as well as sperm quality and quantity.

Stress tubs are also an excellent supplement to include in feed yard hospital or sick pens. Place tubs within 100 feet of where cattle congregate to ensure adequate intake by younger or timid animals.

Fed one tub per 20 head of cattle.

Cattle will consume 1/3 to 1/2 pound of this supplement/ head / day.

We also have 25% or 30-13% protein tubs with altosid and availa-4 if your pastures need protein to help utilize your grass more efficiently.

We will be having our Creep Feed program again this year. If you need a creep feeder we will have them available to rent. Just let us know what you needs are.

4

AGRONOMY

Lawrence Baxa Agronomy Manager In most cases when I sit down to write this news article I think of a relevant topic to the season in which this will be published. This particular circumstance will be no different with the Annual meeting for Pride Ag fast approaching. This will be the 102nd annual meeting for Pride Ag and though we are in the new century for the coop we are seeing the end of an era at our Richland Valley Agronomy location.

Ron Kenton branch manager at Richland Valley announced his retirement earlier this year after a long and lustrous 44 years of employment. I have only worked with Ron these last few years but it was evident working with him, he had a wealth of knowledge based on a lot of experience some good, and some bad but it will be that knowledge and wisdom of years that will be missed.

Ron started his coop career with Pride Ag under the Dodge City banner in 1972 at the Howell location as an equipment operator and maintenance man. During the span of Ron’s tenure he has had many responsibilities. Including everything from being a fertilizer field man and agronomy advisor to branch manager at Ensign and finally manager at the Richland Valley location from where he will retire next month Please join me in wishing Ron all the best as he moves on with the next chapter in his life. There will be a come and go reception for him from 2 to 4

pm on Thursday May 11th at the Richland valley location.

I will close with a couple of Agronomy related issues however.

Remember to discuss with your field man all your chemical needs, as we are stocked up. Jasyn and the crew out of Ensign are ready to deliver to your farm. Lastly we have added a dry fertilizer row crop machine to our application fleet. This will allow us to apply dry fertilizer in a layby application in crop if circumstances and timing permit.

As with any agronomy questions if they should arise don’t hesitate to call, your Pride Ag rep or myself in Dodge City. The next growing season will have many challenges and with that, many opportunities as well. We at Pride Ag Resources welcome the opportunity to work with you our customers.

We APPREICIATE your business. We want to be your stop for chemical and fertilizer needs. Let us know how your Co-op can be of service to you.

Pride Ag Resources“Augusta Green” Turf Shed

“Turf Talk” For being dry so long during the winter months, we have seemed to caught up a little bit on the rainfall amounts after a few “Seattle” feel weeks. Along with the roller coaster of temperatures, the rainfall couldn’t have come at a better time! Many areas needed it, including my yard, and I am

hopeful it will provide new plant growth and crops to the farmers and ranchers that were affected by the wildfires.

As we finish up a mad dash for spring fertilizer needs, the turf fertilizer plant has been very busy making products for our homeowner line as well as our Professional turf line. This spring really kicked off faster than normal only to have a stall in soil temperatures during the end of May and Early April. If you applied PreEmergent out earlier than normal, remember that a follow up application may be needed to ensure your summer control is covered for all of the summer weed months.

Normally depending on the percentage of active ingredient and when you apply the product, the life of the barrier it provides only lasts for a specific period. To give you a perspective, our All Seasons Crabgrass Control with .13 Dithiopyr will normally prevent for up to 16 weeks. So if you applied this in February, you will run out of protection come Mid-June, early July. Our Preventer P product has a different active ingredient and will last a little bit longer in normal years. Our products are just like any other homeowner lineup and in most cases superior products, without catchy phrases on the product bags.

A question I have heard about is “will a preventer keep the dandelions away”? The answer is no, unless you treat for them all year.

Normal weeds like this require a fall application before the dandelions pop up in the fall and over winter to then popping out in the spring. If you’re fighting spring weeds, I would recommend an application of Weed and Feed+ or picking up a bottle of Weed Killer at one of our Pride Ag Ace Hardware stores and spot spraying your weeds as you see them.

Another question came up with “why do we recommend 5

the April 15th date to get your PreEmergent out”? In short it is Kansas’s last frost on average. I’m not sure what average is in terms of KS weather anymore though!!

Ultimately as we saw the temperatures drop to right around freezing, the chance of frost and cold nighttime temperatures will kill any germinated crabgrass, that’s the luxury of putting it out a little bit later, you will make it through the summer months under the barrier and prevent the troublesome and normally keep the much hardier weeds away.

For the months of May through June, I would recommend an application of our “Weed and Feed +” (19-2-7) or if weeds have been treated and are easily manageable, use our “Maintainer” (25-0-5).

The “Maintainer” is considered our Allseason fertilizer as it can be used in replacement of many other varieties that we offer. It has a good supply of Iron and Sulfur. Also it contains 20% Controlled Slow Release Nitrogen providing a steady growth for up to 6 weeks.

The month of July we will have our “Summerizer +” (20-0-10) in all of our retail outlets. This will be an application that will strengthen the plant for the remainder of the summer without excessive growth with the 25% Slow Release Nitrogen.

The 10% Potassium will make your plant stronger so it will survive the duration of the hot months in the summer and defend against certain diseases. We have also included our 6% NonStaining Iron in it to provide your soil with a good source of Iron and Sulfur.

Another item I would like to discuss would be our Grub Guard (0-00). This application should be made before the July 4th weekend. With a very warm winter and no “hardfreeze”, the industry is projecting higher than normal insect activity. This application will provide a good source of Gypsum to your lawn and will provide great control of white grub activity, billbugs, mole crickets and Green June beetles.

I like this application during the month of June to get through the activity season.

One question I have heard just recently was I already have grubs in my yard… These grubs that you may see during the month of April and May can

be disruptive mainly due to the borrowing predators but in terms of grass eating, these grubs will not be as aggressive as they are adults and will be ready for the pupae stage very soon and will soon emerge as the pesky “June Bug”. Once in flight, they then lay more eggs and this is the stage we want total control of the new grubs in their active growth period that do the most damage in the fall. If not treating in the spring…definitely get an application out mid-June to early July!

For the Warm-Season turf growers, I have had many discussions with industry professionals regarding the proper fertility and application timing of certain products. A few things to make note of when growing warm season grasses: An early spring application before the grass is growing really is just feeding the weeds. A late season application hurts the root system more than you would believe going into fall dormancy.

What others have recommended to me was the use of a fertilizer applications in May/June/July.

I have decided to keep our products flexible and easy to remember so we have had a new name change of our original Summerizer to “KickStarter” (20-2-8). This product really is a great one to get the warm Season turf kicking off in high gear, for some turf that seems to be waking up you could start the application very soon then followed up with the last application sometime in the month of July with our “Summerizer +” (20-0-10).

A maximum of 1-2 lbs. of total Nitrogen have provided many benefits to the Buffalograss stand.

As you can see, an understanding of what you want the product to achieve and with proper application, we are able to provide many solutions to both the warm and cool season grass growers. The great thing about our program is that they can be altered in many ways to allow you flexibility during the year. We have provided many of our branches with information guides and I will continue to provide information so as a company we can make a well informed recommendation to our customers. If at any time you have a question, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me via email as I would be happy to answer any lawn question you may

have. I can easily be reached at rbourne@prideag.com.

AV Energy

Chris Klein AV Energy, LLC O. (800)752-1580 O. (620)225-4994 Well, it took a while but we finally got some much needed moisture. Now, we can only hope the rain continues throughout the summer.

Most of you had a busy winter preparing your equipment for the grueling summer months of field work, wheat harvest, and irrigation. While you’re preparing your equipment are you giving much consideration to what oil and grease you are using? There are a ton of lubricant dealers in our area, but are the lubricants they sell good for your equipment?

Cenex is the only lubricant brand in our area that is confident enough in their products to back them up with the best warranty in the business.

With the Total Protection Plan, Cenex will pay for costs, including installation and labor, to repair or replace parts that fail during normal use, as long as you use Cenex® lubricants exclusively.

The Total Protection Plan provides coverage for up to nine years or 9,000 hours, for exclusively using Cenex® lubricants in your machinery.

By combining Cenex® lubricants and diesel fuels, you qualify for up to 10 years or 10,000 hours of coverage. That’s a 6

great deal for simply using quality products that already work to protect your engine and transmission.

Superlube TMS diesel engine oils are engineered for Tier IV and newer diesel engines with advanced emission control systems. These systems use exhaust gas recirculation, diesel particulate filters and SCR catalyst, all of which are sensitive to the wrong oil. High TBN and outstanding TBN retention give Superlube TMS reserve qualities that provide excellent, backwardcompatible engine protection in the most severe service conditions for both newer and older diesel engines.

Superlube TMS engine oil combines proprietary additive chemistry, including an enhanced anti-oxidant package with select base oils and a unique VI improver to provide premium protection that has been proven in many engine types and extensive field service.

Superlube TMS is proven to shield diesel particle filters (DPF) against ash build up. In addition it provides improved engine protection from soot, deposits, varnish, wear, acid accumulation, viscosity shear loss and oil consumption.

Expect excellent performance in these applications:  Four-stroke naturally aspirated and turbocharged diesel engines.  Tier IV and newer low emission engines with exhaust after-treatment devices.  Pre-2007 engines specifying older API or OME oil performance categories,  When using ultra low sulfur diesel fuel and bio diesel fuel blends.  OME listed by Volvo, Mack, Detroit Diesel and Cummins

Superlube TMS 15W40 is one of our most popular oils and we are now able to offer Superlube TMS 15W40 and many of the other oils we sell at a discounted rate. Please give me a call and I will give you some great pricing on your oils!

Chris Klein

IT Department

Please visit: www.facebook.com/Prideagace www.facebook.com/PrideAgResour ces We will be posting special events, sale and other information on these pages. Please like our Face Book page and follow us.

Richard Broz rbroz@prideag.com IT Manager Pride Ag Resources would like to invite you to browse our websites www.prideag.com.

And www.prideagace.com these sites are updated daily with local and national news.

We try to inform you what is happening at our local branch, and Ace Hardware stores.

These websites will provide you information on our departments, coop news, product information, and employment opportunities. Use it to look at your local Grain and Overnight cash bids. (These prices reflect a 10 minute delay).

Our feature this month will be our Social Media Pages.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Scott Mac Nair ........................ Chairman Jeff Reinert…………….....Vice-Chairman Clint Hamilton ......... Secretary-Treasurer Jeremy Derstein ........................ Director Butch Irsik ................................. Director Tony Bleumer ............................ Director Toby Whipple ............................ Director Jacob Tarman…........Associate Director Weston Vogel …..…..Associate Director Jerald Kemmerer………………CEO/GM Debby Kennedy….......Newsletter Editor

7

Pride Ag Resources

Published quarterly by the

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE

Pride Ag Resources

PAID

2nd Quarter 2017

710 West Trail, Dodge City, KS 67801

DODGE CITY, KS PERMIT #399

(620) 225-4193

8