Pride Ag Resources 3rd Quarter

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MANAGER’S DESK

Jerald Kemmerer-CEO/GM Pride Ag Resources

I hope your summer is going well. We have had quite a mixture of summer weather with some moisture then back to the summer heat.

I hope that between the subsoil moisture and amount of rain we have received this summer, it will be enough to produce at least a normal fall crop in spite of some hail and wind damage. We will need to continue to receive more moisture to finish off the crop over the next couple of months.

Thanks to those who were able to attend and celebrate your coop’s 100th anniversary this past May. I thought Mitch Holthus, the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs, did a great job along with Mike Pearson from Market to Market with his

THIRD QUARTER 2015

commentary. I hope you were able to pick up complimentary 100th anniversary wine glasses. If not, contact your local branch or stop by the main office to get a set. The timing was off in having a local loss even though there was an overall profit in a year you would like to have been more remarkable. The board and management felt the overall best scenario for the producer instead of giving back a small patronage check was to pay down another year of deferred equity that came back to you the producer with the taxes already paid on it.

Also, instead of paying a small patronage, we were able to pass through a tax deduction of .03852 cents per bushel to be used that best

fits your farming and tax situation. More information on the tax deduction will be coming out in the next couple of months so you can preplan for your year end.

I felt like the auditor did a very good job explaining the financials at the annual meeting for the decrease in local earnings.

With the grain revenues down almost 4 million dollars due to less grain produced from half a wheat crop for the fourth year in a row caught up with us. With that four million dollar decrease, we were still down only 2.3 million locally but made money overall. That should show the diversification that Pride Ag Resources has to make up 1.7 million dollars and still have a very financially sound

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

cooperative. We are off to a better start then last year, and with better than average wheat crop over the last five years, it will help get your coop back on track.

With the wheat crop put away the employees are hard at work getting grain in position to make room for what hopes to be at least an average or better fall crop.

USDA indicates that there was an increase of 11% of grain sorghum planted this year and we would agree there does seem to be an increase in number of acres in southwest Kansas planted also.

You know summer is starting to wind down when you get through with the county fairs. Congratulations to all the youth that participated in 4-H and FFA with their fair projects this year. Pride Ag Resources is a proud to be in eight counties that we serve. It was exciting to see the accomplishments by our youth especially in the ones that our team of employees was able to help provide service for.

I hope you are able to enjoy the rest of your summer with your family before school starts up again.

We are looking forward to helping you with your fall harvest. Thanks for your business.

It is always a pleasure for the team of employees to help you succeed in production agriculture.

Safety Division

Skyler Hayes Safety Director

COVERED FARM VEHICLES If you are a farmer you probably own and use a truck to haul your crops to market, and there is a possibility that you have received comments from others (especially professional truck drivers) regarding farmers not having to comply with Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FSMA) regulations as commercial truckers do. Such comments are accurate to a point, because there are some exemptions for farm trucks and other vehicles, but there are still regulations that you must abide by.

The “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act”, better known as MAP21, gives a new definition of “covered farm vehicle” (CFV). A CFV must meet the following criteria: (1) It must be operated by a farmer or rancher, a family member of the farmer or rancher, or an employee of the farmer or rancher. (2) It must be used to transport agricultural

commodities, livestock, machinery or supplies to or from a farm or ranch. (3) It must not be used “for hire” except in the case of a tenant hauling the land owner’s products under a crop share arrangement.

(4) It is equipped with a special license plate or other designation by the state in which the vehicle is registered to allow for identification of the vehicle as a CFV by enforcement personnel. (5) The vehicle is not transporting hazardous materials requiring placards.

For vehicles of 26,001 pounds or less, the CFV designation applies anywhere in the United States. The weight, according toMAP-21 regulations, is the greater of the Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) or the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). For vehicles over 26,001 pounds the distance limits are (1) anywhere in the registration state or (2) in interstate commerce within 150 airmiles of the farm or ranch.

Criterion (4) states that the vehicle must be equipped with a special license plate or other designation. For years the state of Kansas has issued a “farm” registration. In the future, Kansas will allow farmers and ranchers, operating non-farm registered vehicles to “self-declare” they are CFVs as long as the following criteria are met: (1) The Division of Vehicles will have the CFV form on two websites. To register and print the registration certificate, the farmer or rancher can log on 2

www.ksrevenue.org or www.kcc.ks.gov, fill out the form and print the designation certificate that will be required to be carried in the CFV. (2) Kansas will require a license of appropriate class or type based on vehicle configuration. Kansas issues Class A and Class C licenses, and both licenses are available as either CDL or Regular (non-CDL). (3) The vehicle must have a valid license plate, and if fuel tax registration is required, a valid International Fuel Tax Agreement registration or trip permit.

The CFV is subject to being stopped and inspected to verify the CFV designation is valid. The CFV must follow federal and state equipment safety requirements, and they remain subject to traffic laws and size and weight regulations. The drivers must still enter Kansas inspection and weigh stations when they are open.

Commercial trucking companies must have a drug and alcohol testing program, commercial drivers must have a DOT approved physical and carry a medical certificate with them at all times, in most cases commercial drivers must fill out and carry with them a log book, the commercial motor vehicle (CMV) must be inspected annually by a qualified mechanic, and the inspection documentation must be carried in or be attached to the CMV. CFVs are exempted from these

requirements, but certain laws and regulations do apply to CFVs. Some of those laws and regulations are: (1) Loads must be secured, and loads more than four feet to the rear of the vehicle must be flagged. (2) All lights and brakes must work. (3) Kansas farmers, operating wholly within the state, are not subject to the Federal Safety Regulations, but they must comply with all applicable Kansas laws and regulations. (4) Hay loads must not exceed 12 feet wide and must have an “OVERSIZE LOAD” sign and flags on all four corners of the load.

Network in Maize lost out.

Carl and the team from Maize did a super job having a car show, an Elvis impersonator, a dance along with other festivities. A lot of time and effort but it was fun.

I would like to thank the employees from Great Bend and Maize that have been pitching in and helping out in the new store in Lyons your help has been very much appreciated and has made a location we can all be proud of. Thank you for your business and your support of all our Pride Ag Ace locations.

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ACE HARDWARE

Jack Lane, Ace Manager The new store in Lyons is coming along nicely. We are looking at a soft opening around the 17th of August with an official grand opening Sept. 25 -26-27.

Make plans to stop by and see the new store it is great.

For the people who missed the fund raiser for Children's Miracle

GRAIN DIVISION

Mike Schmidt Grain Manager Grain markets are crazy.

Up then down. Where do we go from here? Who knows?

The only thing that we know for sure is that we all need to move wheat to make room for the fall harvest and the market is full. The U.S. is overpriced in the world market so we can’t export it.

The mills are full and 3

backing up on bids everyday so that makes us drop our basis as well.

The market has allowed us to rally here and there. My suggestion is every time the market rallies up, sell some and take advantage of the rallies in the market because there is potential of it dropping more.

Milo is looking for direction as well, China has not made a decision yet if they will be using milo from the U.S. or another commodity from some other country. This scares me the most with no export business. Then we fall back to the ethanol market and that will drop basis a lot more.

Corn is wanting to gain some momentum, but it just can’t do it. They try to move it up on flooding concerns on some corn, how many acres didn’t get planted, or is there more corn and less beans or more beans and less corn. They always say rain makes grain. Sure could be a big corn crop coming.

I would like to thank everyone that delivered their wheat to their cooperative this year! It was a pretty good harvest, and for the most part, I believe it went pretty smoothly. Hopefully we can take care of your fall needs as well. We are working hard to get wheat moved into locations that have extra room, and shipping wheat out of locations we have made sales on to make room for the fall crops to come in.

It looks like we will need to have quite a bit of space to

put the milo, corn, and beans under a roof.

Again, thank you for doing business with your Pride Ag Resources facilities and we hope to take care of all your needs in the future.

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FEED DIVISION

Calvin Carey Feed Sales Specialist Creep Feeding With the nutrients in grass pastures starting to decline, producers need to look for a way to keep calves growing. Creep feeding is one way to meet the protein and energy needs of the calf.

Advantages of creep feeding are: *Provides a way to fill the “hunger gap” of the calf * Improves weaning weight and rate of gain *Compensates for low milk production *Improves calf uniformity * Enhancing merchandising program * Provides market flexibility * Leaves cows in better condition * Calves know what dry feed is * Calves are bunk-broke

Creep feed should be palatable, contain balanced nutrition including fiber for rumen microbe development and protein for muscle development. Research has showed it is more efficient to put pounds on a calf than milk in a cow.

Once a calf’s rumen is fully developed, calves can be weaned.

When weaning, producers should formulate diets from 14% to 22% protein. Protein requirements will vary with the size of the animal, expected performance and quality of forages to be fed.

Energy levels from 38 NEg to 48 NEg again depending on size and performance expected.

The concentration of vitamins and minerals may need to be increased depending on the health of the calf.

Availa-4 is a nutritional ingredient for animals that contains a combination of organic zinc, manganese, copper and cobalt. These trace minerals are required by the animals for numerous functions including: immune response, reproduction, skin and hoof integrity, growth and muscle development, milk production, fiber digestion and energy metabolism. In addition, when an animal has proper balance of trace minerals it is better able to cope with the challenging effects of stress. Avail-4 is built on a unique, patented molecule that consists of one metal ion bound to one amino acid ion – called metal amino acid complex.

Zinpro 4

Performance Minerals are the most bioavailable trace minerals on the market, which means more of the mineral is absorbed by the animal to deliver their full benefit.

Other trace minerals, such as Iron, are critical components of hemoglobin and myoglobin, two proteins involved in oxygen transport and use. Iron is also an essential component of several cytochromes and iron-sulfur proteins involved in the electron transport chain. In addition, some enzymes either contain or are activated by iron. Iron deficiency causes anemia, lowered feed intake, reduced weight gain, pale mucous membranes and a shriveling of the raised tissues on the tongue.

Iodine is another key component of thyroid hormones involved in energy metabolism rate regulation in the body. Calves born hairless, weak or dead, irregular cycling, reduced conception rates, retained placenta in breeding females and depressed libido and semen in bulls, are signs of iodine deficiency.

Selenium is also an important part of your trace mineral profile. It is a part of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, which catalyzes the reduction of hydrogen peroxide and lipid hydro peroxides, thus preventing oxidation damage to body tissue. White muscle disease in calves characterized by degeneration and necrosis of skeleton and heart muscles,

weight loss, thriftiness, reduced immune response, and decreased reproductive performance is a result of a selenium deficiency.

Thiamine should be added to reduce the chance of polio in cattle. Diamond V yeast improves palatability and helps maintain consistent feed intake. Better feed digestibility helps make more nutrients available to the animal for absorption, performance, health and production.

Stress Care tubs can be fed during periods of stress in the cow or calf. It provides a highly palatable molasses based supplement that entices cattle to taste. It provides key nutrients needed for a fully functioning immune system so cattle are prepared for the stresses of weaning, vaccination, transportation and calves starting on feed quicker. It also provides key nutrients for reproduction performance to positively impact fertility for cows.

We have a creep feed program available if you are interested in creep feeding your calves this summer give us a call.

Date

Wheat Corn Milo Soybean

04/6/15

5.32

3.97

4.41 8.94

05/4/15

4.58

3.73

4.17 8.91

05/19/15

5.00

3.74

3.62 8.61

06/19/15

4.63

3.65

3.53

8.87

Last Year –Aug., 2014 AVG.

5.91

3.91

3.34 11.65

AGRONOMY

Lawrence Baxa Agronomy Manger What a difference a year makes. It has finally decided to rain a little. We had 2 inches in the middle of July that will help the dryland crops get farther down the road to maturity and help let the irrigation systems catch up. Wheat harvest is over and our thoughts are turning to the fall season. Some options for your consideration this fall are as follows.

For Starters when you come in to have your seed wheat cleaned make sure you have it treated we are offering a couple options for your choice to help protect your seed investment good quality seed is very important step to establishing good crop potential. Contact the feed mill when you schedule your cleaning appointment or one of the Pride Ag agronomists or one of the local locations 5

personal to schedule your treatment.

Other programs we are running currently this season are deferred billing options on spraying your wheat stubble post-harvest and a fertilizer program for your summer fertilizer needs these programs are to be deferred till November 10th after fall harvest to give you some finical flexibility. Contact your local Pride Ag location, for program details.

We will be taking a look at putting together a prepay program for NH3 for fall application as well as a chemical purchase program for next year. I know we are not done with this season yet but it is time, to think about next year already.

As with any Pride Ag program, if questions should arise don’t hesitate to call, your Pride Ag rep or myself in Dodge City. The fall season is fast approaching and with it fall harvest, we at Pride Ag resources wish our customers the best and we APPREICIATE your business.

AV Energy 

Chris Klein Wow, where does the time go! It’s hard to believe that August is already here and that school will be starting shortly. Please remember to be careful around school zones and to watch out for the young drivers going to and from school.

I’m going to do this article a little different and give you some bullet points as to what’s going on in the AV Energy world and what we will be doing in the future to better serve our customers.  Propane contracts were mailed in early July and as of this newsletter we have had a great response.

Contract Prices are $1.10 for 100% prepay, $1.15 for fixed and $1.25 for budget. If you have not sent in your contract please do so as these prices are subject to change. If you are not a current propane customer and would like to be please give us a call and we would be

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happy to talk to you about your propane needs.

If you have a newer pickup, truck, tractor, combine or spray rig that requires DEF, AV Energy offers everything you need to keep your equipment running.

We have 330 gallon totes, 55 gallon drums and 2.5 gallon jugs available. We also sell DEF pumps ranging from a standard hand pump to a 110 volt pump that comes with all the bells and whistles including a meter and automatic shut off nozzle.

If you have a project coming up and need some short term portable fuel storage AV Energy has 31000 gallon fuel trailers for rent. All we ask is that you call us a few weeks in advance so we can put you on the list. These fuel trailers do not stay in the yard long as we have several different types of industries that utilize our trailers.

We have purchased a newer bulk oil truck and we would love to talk to you about taking bulk oil to your location. Bulk oil not only cost less it is also 6

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more convenient for our customers. We can setup oil totes at your location and deliver the oil directly to you.

AV Energy is in the process of signing an agreement with a fuel tank manufacture to become the exclusive dealer for their tanks in Western and Central Kansas. TOK out of Garden City has been producing tanks for the oil field for years and just recently started manufacturing UL labeled tanks for the refined fuel industry.

TOK has already made a couple tanks for us and they are currently building a 5000 gallon double walled tank for a customer in Jetmore.

TOK can pretty much make the tank or tanks to whatever specification you want.

One of the tanks TOK built for us is a 12000 gallon double walled three compartment tank.

This tank has 1-8000 gallon compartment and 2-2000 gallon compartments.

There are also shelves welded on the side of the tank to accommodate three fuel pumps and three hose reels.

Also,

attached to the front of the tank is a spill bucket that houses three fill lines for the transports.

Between TOK and AV Energy we can design and build refined fuel tanks to meet your needs. Let me know if you have any question and if you would like for me to put a quote together for you.

We at AV Energy are very excited on what we have going on and look forward as to what the future holds. We consider ourselves a progressive company and believe we are heading in the right direction to supply our customers and potential customers with the best products and services available.

Thanks for your business, and if there is anything we can do for you please give Mike Reinert (785-798-7227) or myself (620-225-4994) a call.

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 Jeff Breuer….….........Associate Director Jacob Tarman…..…..Associate Director Jerald Kemmerer………………CEO/GM Debby Kennedy….......Newsletter Editor

AV Energy, LLC O. (800)752-1580 O. (620)225-4994

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Pride Ag Resources 3rd Quarter 2015 Published quarterly by the

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Pride Ag Resources

PAID

710 West Trail, Dodge City, KS 67801

DODGE CITY, KS PERMIT #399

(620) 225-4193

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