SVM-SS4_05122015

Extreme weather Twister took aim at Ogle agriculture – Page 2

Agriculture club

Sterling High students learn more about farming – Page 4

An app for that

New ag software emerges for smartphones, tablets – Page 9

typed in Cosmos extra bold

Dave Fox/Special to Today’s Farm

Cover story: Black Angus cattle are king at the Sandrock farm near Rock Falls – Page 6 Tuesday, May 12, 2015

A supplement to Sauk Valley Media

Today’s Farm

PAGE 2

Sauk Valley Media • May 12, 2015

EXTREME WEATHER

Twister took aim at Ogle agriculture Schabacker family farm devastated

BY ANDY COLBERT Shaw Media

ROCHELLE – In much the same way Ogle County is noted for the natural beauty of its state parks and the Rock River flowing through it, there is also a bucolic charm from an abundance of family farms.

One of the most immaculate of those farmsteads

was devastated by the April 9 tornado.

Taking a direct hit was the 260-acre Schabacker family farm, located at Hemstock and White Rock roads, about 2 miles northwest of Skare Park.

It is also one of the oldest, dating back to preCivil War. TORNADO CONTINUED ON 3

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Farm buildings on the Schabacker farm were destroyed by the tornado that struck on April 9.

Many friends and neighbors helped with the cleanup.

Chris Johnson/Shaw Media

Today’s Farm

May 12, 2015 • Sauk Valley Media

PAGE 3

Farmer: Twister’s timing Providing insurance coverage ‘could not have been worse’ for local homes and farms since 1869 TORNADO

CONTINUED FROM 2

“It was a pristine farm,” said Todd Schabacker, 51, the fifth generation to farm at the location.

“Over the years, we had so many compliments on its appearance.”

Schabacker showed a visitor a large framed aerial photograph taken in 2013. In the perfectly manicured yard, there were two newer large Morton buildings, five other buildings, and a pair of adjoining silos.

The tornado, with wind speeds estimated at 200 mph, demolished those buildings and damaged all implements needed for planting.

Inside were five tractors, two planters, grain and corn headers, sprayer, auger, grain wagon, and semi, among other farm equipment.

“The timing could not have been worse,” Schabacker said.

Late in the afternoon of April 9, Schabacker was coming home from Rochelle when golf-ballsized hail began to pound his vehicle.

“There was stuff blowing

‘‘

I saw the tornado. It was so close, like a big wall of dirt.

Todd Schabacker, fifth-generation farmer

’’

around,” said Schabacker, sensing that a major storm was about to hit.

Little did he know that he would be encountering the strongest storm ever to hit Ogle County.

Instead of going to his own residence, Schabacker went to the farm at Hemstock and White Rock, where his parents, Jim and Bev, live.

“I ran inside the house and got my parents into the basement,” he said.

“I saw the tornado. It was so close, like a big wall of dirt.”

The house received only minimal damage (siding, roof), while the farm implement buildings, located about 100 feet south of the house, were torn apart.

The value of the equipment lost promises to be substantial.

“The tractor and planter are worth more than the house,” Schabacker said.

Jim Schabacker was an avid collector of antique farm vehicles and had two Farmall tractors, a John Deere tractor, and a 1931 Ford pick-up stored in another building just east of the house. Though that building was hit by the tornado, the antiques appeared to survive intact.

While the Schabackers surveyed the damage, neighbors stopped by to offer assistance.

One farmer offered the use of a piece of equipment to help with the planting.

Two days after the twister, the FFA, church groups, the Boy Scouts, and the members of the relief organization helped with the cleanup.

“There must have been 75 to 100 people,” Schabacker said.

Besides helping the Schabackers clean up their property, heavy equipment began tearing down what remained of the farm structures – a sad sight for the Schabackers, though they were thankful the house remained.

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Today’s Farm

PAGE 4

Sauk Valley Media • May 12, 2015

AG EDUCATION

Farming is ‘more than corn and beans’ Sterling High School’s first-year Ag Club offers educational opportunities

BY JERMAINE PIGEE jpigee@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5525

Students at Sterling High School want to bring more of an agriculture presence to the area.

“We are in an ag community without an ag presence in the school,” said Broc Colville, a junior.

Because of that, a group of students has come together to help create a new agriculture club at the school. The program was started last fall with about 20 students.

‘‘

Most kids don’t know what a tractor is, and I’d like to inform people about it.

’’

James Rahn, senior, Sterling High School

James Rahn, a senior at SHS, said he wanted to get the program started mainly because he wants to help educate his classmates about the world of agriculture.

“Most kids don’t know what a tractor is, and I’d like to inform people about it,” Rahn said. “I want to figure out ways to educate our fellow students on ag because the kids are interested.”

Joie Roddy, the club’s adviser, said the ag program is still getting off the ground, so activities have been limited.

“Right now, we don’t have a set purpose and a set thing we come to meetings for,” Roddy said. “A lot of the kids in the school don’t understand there is so much

more to agriculture than just corn and beans.”

Another goal of the group is to get enough presence to form a Future Farmers of America program, a studentled leadership development organization for agricultural students.

Tad Everett, superintendent of the Sterling

School District, said the discussion about an FFA program has taken place for years.

“With our new online curriculum that we have been looking at, it has the potential of offering some ag courses for the students,” Everett said.

“Based on that, it provides a possibility of

revisiting this conversation once again.”

Students also want to build a hydroponics display in the school.

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil.

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Today’s Farm

May 12, 2015 • Sauk Valley Media

PAGE 5 Today’s Farm celebrates agriculture in the Sauk Valley and beyond. It is published by Sauk Valley Media six times a year – in January, March, May, July, September and November.

We welcome story ideas about interesting local people who are involved with agriculture. Call Jim Dunn at 800-798-4085, ext. 5511, or send an email to jdunn@saukvalley. com.

typed in Cosmos extra bold

typed in Cosmos extra bold

Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com

A group of students started an Agriculture Club at Sterling High School last fall, with hopes of starting a Future Farmers of America program. “Most kids don’t know what a tractor is, and I’d like to inform people about it,” said senior James Rahn, one of about 20 students in the club.

Group members hoping to take field trips as well AG CLUB

CONTINUED FROM 4

“They want to build a hydroponic set-up so we can have something tangible in the school so

students can see there is more than just corn and beans in agriculture,” Roddy said. “We are just now getting to the point where we want to put this up and get it going.”

Members of the group

are also preparing a list of places to visit.

“We want to go to someone’s farm, or we may go to a dairy farm or hog farm,” Roddy said. “We are just a young group that is just starting.”

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Today’s Farm

Sauk Valley Media • May 12, 2015

COVER STORY

Angus king at Sandrocks’ farm

Photos by Dave Fox/Special to Today’s Farm

Angus cattle give a photographer their rapt attention at the Sauk Valley Angus farm south of Rock Falls, as they eagerly await feed time.

Brothers, family involved in Sauk Valley Angus operation

BY DAVE FOX Special to Today’s Farm

Beef – it’s what’s for dinner.

And in southeastern Whiteside County, the Sandrock name is easily associated with beef, specifically the Black Angus variety.

During a recent interview, Matt Sandrock, of rural Rock Falls, talked about what he and his brother, Ben, do together to make their large-scale cattle operation work from one year to the next.

Fifth-generation farmers and cattle ranchers, the two brothers have been in the beef business Ben and Matt Sandrock take a break after a recent Black Angus bull sale to dis- together since shortly after they graduated from cuss prices and other aspects of their livestock farm.

college. Ben completed his studies in 1998 and Matt in 2000; both have degrees in agriculture from the University of Illinois in Champaign.

Owners of the operation known as Sauk Valley Angus, Matt pointed out that he and his brother also farm together with their parents, Gary and Kathy Sandrock, and their grandfather, Jay King.

“Our family has consisted of substantial farmers south of Rock Falls for a number of years now,” he said.

“On any given day, you can walk onto this farm and find at least four generations of us here doing one thing or another.

We’re very blessed.”

Other types of cattle have been raised here in the past, Matt said, “but over the past 20 years, Black Angus has taken over. It’s all we raise now.”

Why just limit the herd to one breed?

“Well, for one thing, it’s the best-tasting beef there is,” he said. “Black Angus are some of the best as far as the highest marbling cattle, which creates a really highquality product.”

Their herd is such high quality, he said, that they have only certified Angus beef, as designated by the American Angus Association, which are raised under strict guidelines.

ANGUS CONTINUED ON 7

Today’s Farm

May 12, 2015 • Sauk Valley Media

PAGE 7

‘Highest end of the genetics line possible’ ANGUS

CONTINUED FROM 6

“They have many stringent quality guidelines that have to be met,” Matt said.

For example, strict attention is paid to genetics of the animals raised in their herd.

“There’s a massive amount of paperwork involved in tracking and maintaining genetics in our animals,” he said.

“Everyone we work with is either a longtime Angus friend or longtime Angus cooperative of ours,” he said, “and they also pay strict attention to the genetics. With the cattle and cooperatives we use, we are on the highest end of the genetics line possible.”

Matt mentioned his grandfather, Jay King, is a past president of the American Angus Association, “which is a very prestigious place to be in the cattle industry.”

Sauk Valley Angus was also awarded the 2006 Top Purebred Producer of the Year title.

“It’s the highest award in the nation anyone in our business can receive, and the biggest honor anyone around here has ever had, so when we won, it was really exciting,” Matt said.

Sauk Valley Angus is physically a much larger operation than meets the eye. The family farms in four different counties. It chops its own corn silage for feed. Dry distiller grains, purchased from area ethanol plants, are also used.

All of the farm’s cattle are artificially inseminated, Matt said, “and we have an extensive embryo program.

“We use satellite ranches for raising the embryo cattle,” he said, citing locations in central Illinois, western Colorado, southern Missouri, and Kentucky.

SANDROCK CONTINUED ON 8

Dave Fox/Special to Today’s Farm

An Angus bull stands in a pen during the recent Sauk Valley Angus auction as the auction crew watches the crowd for bids.

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Today’s Farm

PAGE 8

Sauk Valley Media • May 12, 2015

‘Raising best of the best in the beef industry’ SANDROCK

Sauk Valley Angus

CONTINUED FROM 7

“They basically help raise our cows due to the amount of pastureland they have,” he said. “We pull a fertilized egg out of our cows, so they’re 100 percent our genetics, and they implant them into other cattle.” Such operations are overseen by state-certified veterinarians to ensure the genetic lines.

The local operation sports about 300 head of cattle at any given time, including 150 to 200 mother cows.

Consumers can’t find Sandrock cattle for sale in just any butcher shop.

“We have one annual production sale at our farm where we sell

Ben and Matt Sandrock “Home grown natural Angus beef for the healthconscious consumer.”

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“We also have a boxed beef program under the same name, where we sell quarters and halves of our cows to some very loyal local customers,” he said. No sales are made to wholesale markets.

The brothers also grow a number of row crops

each year. Corn, soybeans, seed corn, peas, sweet corn and lima beans are commonly grown.

Even though they work closely together, Ben generally heads up the cattle operation, while Matt generally takes care of the crop side of things.

“I’m sure any farmer would agree that it really helps when you can diversify in agriculture,” Matt said.

Both brothers are married and have three children each. Matt’s wife, Amanda, is a CPA in Dixon, and the couple are parents of Grace, Denver and Hope.

Ben’s wife, Traci, is a long-time employee in a Tampico school, and together they are parents of Brianna, Shawn and Connor.

Speaking of the children, Matt expressed hopes that the tradition of a family operation would continue for years to come.

“We would sure hope they stay in it,” he said, smiling. “We have every hope to keep it a family farm for all generations, God willing.”

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Dave Fox/Special to Today’s Farm

Field hands discuss preparation for a black Angus bull sale held recently at the Sauk Valley Angus farm south of Rock Falls. we’re raising the best we’re doing everything of the best in the beef that we can to be good industry, that we’re pro- stewards of the land God viding a very high quality has provided us with,” product to our custom- Matt said. ers, makes it worthwhile, “That makes it all worthalong with knowing that while.”

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Today’s Farm

May 12, 2015 • Sauk Valley Media

PAGE 9

AG TECHNOLOGY

Mobile, tablet farming apps a ‘game-changer’ of tractors working rows on the ground.

A Sauk Valley Media online search for farming apps listed several top-tier agriculture companies that produce companion programs for mobile and tablet use. While most of those share similarities in function and goal, the wide spectrum available

spans simple calculators to feature-rich suites.

Encirca, a division of DuPont Pioneer, pushed last year to bring field and crop scouting information to the hands of farmers and service providers, an indicator by the Des Moines, Iowa-based leader that shows real-time management of field data is a positive trend.

Under the Encirca umbrella are two powerful apps: Encirca View, which provides market data, crop conditions and weather forecasts, and Encirca Yield, which analyzes seed irrigation and Nitrogen levels, according to its website.

APPS CONTINUED ON 10

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In this screen shot from a promotional video online, a farming app is displayed that shows a few of the options available to farmers and service providers.

DuPont, Precision Planting, John Deere leaders of the pack

BY ANGEL SIERRA asierra@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5695

Emerging applications for smartphones and tablets don’t just make a farmer’s field work a little easier.

They also enhance the producer’s ability to track and adjust to problems, and make sense of critical farm data on-the-fly, area experts say.

Adam Henkel, 35, is a seventh-generation Lee County farmer who helps on 1,600 acres of a homestead near Sublette that dates back to 1843.

And as an independent contractor for DuPont Pioneer, Henkel specializes in transitioning farmers to equipment and software that can seamlessly integrate and they measure, monitor, and extract vital information.

The technology is a welcome, helping hand, Henkel said, because a lot of the work that once required manual adjustments, such as variablerate changes on the field, have become automated, and guidance systems

and monitors, which previously were available only on combines, now are connected to almost every machine.

Today’s farmers are highly educated and apt to using the technology on the market, said Danelle Burrs, 29, manager of the Lee County Farm Bureau. Tablets such as iPads have made their way into the cabs

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PAGE 10

Sauk Valley Media • May 12, 2015

Deficient, underperforming crops exposed APPS

CONTINUED FROM 9

“It’s an amazing tool, [and] I’ve had a very positive reception,” Henkel said, adding that mobile apps like Encirca have become the go-to for farm management, increasing efficiency.

“We’re only using what we need, when we need it.”

Farmers now can precisely record downforce or diseased crop locations with pinpoint accuracy, all with the help of global positioning. Some apps are even cloudbased, and can securely back up data off-site for ease of mind.

“Field360 Tools” by Pioneer offers precipitation and growth stage estimators, and “Field360 Plantability” is a seed/planting calculator.

Precision Planting, a company purchased by Monsanto in 2012 and one of Encirca’s primary competitors, produces a tablet-only service called “FieldView” and “FieldView Plus.”

The apps are similar to other high-end programs in that they provide detailed scouting reports and highlight deficiencies, but also display color-coded terrain in high-definition, and offer remote management and collaboration, a popular add-on with the premi-

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A subscription might be required to use the variety of apps available, but some have free or basic versions after an account is established.

Burrs has seen a transition in her 7 years with Farm Bureau, to a point where farmers now have mountains of information and data about their fields, and some businesses exist simply to

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Mobile farming apps for smartphones and tablets “are a game-changer,” Burrs said, because the more information a farmer has about his farm, the better he can grow his crop and become a better steward of the land.

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May 12, 2015 • Sauk Valley Media

PAGE 11

AGRICULTURE HERITAGE

Bringing agriculture’s past into the present his tractor’s gasolinepowered engine into an electronic fuel injection (EFI) system that runs on modern unleaded gasoline.

The modern technology touch to his vintage tractor allows it to run pretty much like “a new pickup truck,” he said.

It’s an idea that has

Kepner modifies older tractors to run on no-lead

BY GOLDIE CURRIE Shaw Media

Dave Kepner of Walnut has always had a knack for all things mechanical.

He admits to being called a “gear head” when he was in school.

“I was that kid who would rather tear his bike apart than ride the dang thing,” he said.

Kepner started his career in mechanics in 1959, right after high school, when he went to work at the John Deere dealership in Walnut.

With 56 years of experience under his belt, he’s developed a reputation as being a “go-to” guy

when a piece of equipment isn’t running properly.

Oftentimes, Kepner can be found in his machine shed tinkering around with tools and old trac-

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With a mechanical background, Kepner had the idea for the conversion.

He said the automobile industry had found a way to convert old vehicles to EFI systems, and he wanted to incorporate the same idea for his tractor.

CONVERT CONTINUED ON 12

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Goldie Currie/Shaw Media

Dave Kepner of Walnut stands near his latest mechanics project. Kepner found a way to put an electronic fuel injection (EFI) system on his 1965 John Deere 4020’s gasoline-powered engine. The new system now allows his old tractor to start just like a brand new pickup truck, Kepner says.

yet to really make it into the agricultural scene, according to Kepner.

“I’ve never heard of anyone who has done this yet,” he said. “But the need is out there to use these old tractors.”

With this conversion, he added, farmers can transform their old gasolinepowered tractors into a

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Today’s Farm

PAGE 12

Sauk Valley Media • May 12, 2015

New twist gives engines more horsepower on less fuel CONVERT

CONTINUED FROM 11

His first step in coming up with the method was calling a company in Memphis, Tennessee, that works on conversions for old vehicles. Kepner was able to get in touch with a company engineer who was willing to give direction, via the phone, with the EFI retrofit system hookup. The engineer happened to be a farmer from Mississippi and had a good idea of what Kepner was trying to accomplish.

Kepner said once he was able to get direction from the engineer, the project didn’t take much time to complete.

A tad bit of remodeling to parts on the tractor had

to be done to incorporate the new system, but the modern touch has barely touched the vintage look of the John Deere 4020 model.

“It’s just awesome what it does [to the tractor],” Kepner said, referring to the conversion. “It doesn’t smoke. It starts easily, and it’s really like driving a new pickup truck.”

Kepner said the new twist gives his tractor 10 percent more horsepower than when it left the dealership, while using 20 percent less fuel.

“It’s just correcting a lot of mistakes made when they were first built,” he said.

When Kepner took his project to a corn pickers show this past fall, he received a lot attention from fellow farmers inter-

Goldie Currie/Shaw Media

Dave Kepner explains his work and technique in hooking up an electronic fuel injection (EFI) system on his old gasoline-powered tractor engine. According to Kepner, this is an idea that has yet to make it into the agricultural scene, but the demand is out there. ested in his conversion.

Today, he keeps busy doing the same conversion to four tractors people have asked him to complete.

Kepner said he is more than willing to share his idea. He said he doesn’t care who does it; he just thinks it needs to be known that it can be done

so farmers can utilize the older gasoline-powered tractors.

“The country is just full of them, and they’re just sitting around not being

used,” he said, adding there is still a good market for the small tractor that’s capable of doing those little projects around the farm.

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