SVM-SS4_05132014

Ag in the air

Unmanned aerial vehicles have numerous uses – Page 2

Country auction

Hazelhurst Sale draws thousands to annual bidding wars – Page 4

Cows love it, too

Robotic milking system boosts dairy profitability – Page 11

typed in Cosmos extra bold

Submitted

Cover story: Bureau County farm family works together to invent the “tillage cart.” – Page 6 Tuesday, May 13, 2014

A supplement to Sauk Valley Media

Today’s Farm

PAGE 2

3AUK 6ALLEY -EDIA s May 13, 2014

AG TECHNOLOGY | DRONES

Agriculture takes to the air Farmers use unmanned aerial vehicles to scout crops, more

BY JESSICA BOURQUE Shaw Media

MAZON – It’s about one foot in diameter, made from white plastic, propelled by four small blades, and looks more like a children’s toy than a marvel of 21st-century machinery.

Manufacturers have named it the “Phantom,” but farmers Matt Boucher of Dwight and Dan Wilkinson of Mazon are calling it the next big thing in farming technolJessica Bourque/jbourque@shawmedia.com ogy.

Dwight farmer Matt Boucher holds the unmanned “Some people call it a aerial vehicle that he will use for crop scouting this toy,” Wilkinson said during a recent interview. “I summer.

call it a $3,500 tool.”

The Phantom is just one model of unmanned aerial vehicles – more commonly known as drones – that will be hovering above a handful of Grundy County farm fields this summer.

The drones will be scouting crops, locating tile lines, and providing thermal images of livestock – and saving farmers a lot of time and money in the process.

“It’s similar to the technology in the remote control airplanes you see at the mall,” Boucher said.

“But of course, it’s way more advanced than that.”

The drone is a small helicopter-like vehicle that can be flown manually or preprogrammed to fly autonomously.

Attached to the bottom of Boucher’s drone is a small GoPro camera, secured to the Phantom by a gimbal, which balances the camera to prevent blurry photos and shaky video.

WITH THE CAMERAequipped drone, Boucher can take high-quality video of his fields, allowing him to quickly assess crop performance and locate pest problems.

In about 20 minutes, a farmer can scout about

650 acres of farmland, a task that would take several hours by foot and cost $400 an hour by airplane.

“We can do crop scouting very quickly and very efficiently, which means we can make decisions based on that data very quickly and efficiently,” Boucher said.

The Phantom also is equipped to gather thermal imaging that can be loaded to a tractor’s GPS system within 30 minutes of flying the field.

With the data gathered by the drone, farmers can allocate fertilizers and resources more quickly and precisely, Boucher said.

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Farmers prefer to call them UAVs, not drones DRONES

CONTINUED FROM 2

Thermal imaging also will show the body temperatures of livestock within a few degrees so farmers can quickly tell whether any animals are ill.

Wilkinson, the owner of a local agricultural tile company, Precision Farm Drainage in Mazon, said he will use his drone to find and analyze tile lines when he is constructing new drainage tiles.

Boucher and Wilkinson are among the first local farmers to purchase the technology and will be putting the flying machines to work this summer.

Boucher is careful to use the term “UAV” – short for

unmanned aerial vehicle – instead of “drone” because he is fully aware of the controversy surrounding the machines.

Weaponry drones used by the U.S. military have been widely criticized, and talk of using drones domestically has sparked concerns as many people are uncomfortable with flying cameras roaming the skies.

“There is going to be privacy issues, and there is going to be trespassing issues,” Boucher said.

“Right now, legally, we can only fly 400 feet high, and we have to stay within line of sight.”

In Illinois, as in many other states, drones cannot be flown commercially, meaning they cannot be used to make a profit.

This is frustrating to

Jessica Bourque/jbourque@shawmedia.com

Farmers are using drones like the Phantom (pictured) to scout crops, find tile lines, and take thermal images of livestock. farmers such as Wilkin- regulations regarding son and Boucher who UAVs, but rules vary state have their hearts set on by state in the meantime. opening crop scouting “As with any new techbusinesses. nology – there’s good and But by 2015, the Federal there’s bad,” Boucher Aviation Administration said. “I’ve talked to my has promised to roll out neighbors, and they’re detailed and consistent not concerned about me

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drone models he looked into are so easy to fly, crashing them is rare. The Phantom in particular has an auto-landing button in case the operator does not feel comfortable landing it.

“They’ve made them pretty idiot-proof,” Wilkinson said.

Aside from being imaging tools, Wilkinson said, drones have “endless” functionality for farmers.

The thermal imaging can be used to scout out hazardous situations for rescuers or to find people lost or injured in the field.

Both Boucher and Wilkinson also are excited about using their drones as educational tools, taking and sharing video of daily farm operations to show non-farmers how a farm is run.

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spying or anything. They all thought it was really neat.”

Boucher has crashed his drone a handful of times, but aside from a cracked propeller and a few scuffs, the Phantom has held together.

Still, a drone is not the most sturdy piece of farming equipment, and there is always the risk of crashing the $3,500 gadget in a field only to have it crushed by a combine.

“If you have a drone, it’s going to happen,” he said. “Everyone is going to crash at least once.”

While there are new drone models being released every week, most – including the Phantom – are susceptible to damage from wind and rain.

Wilkinson said the Phantom and most other

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Today’s Farm

PAGE 4

3AUK 6ALLEY -EDIA s May 13, 2014

RURAL TRADITION

By the thousands they came to Hazelhurst Bidders and onlookers alike crowded into 30-acre annual country auction

BY EARLEEN HINTON Shaw Media

POLO – A perfect spring day greeted winter-weary bidders last month at the annual Hazelhurst Spring Consignment Sale.

An estimated crowd of between 5,000 and 6,000 descended on the 30-acre site.

Each visitor took the time to walk by rows of farm machinery, cars, and a miscellaneous mix of this and the occasional “What the heck is that?”

Lyle Hopkins owns and operates Public Auction Service, Polo, with his wife, Sheryl.

“We had a real good turnout,” Hopkins said.

“No one was able to get out and work in the fields yet, so we could not have asked for a more beautiful day.”

Temperatures in the high 50s, sunny skies, and a 60-year-plus tradition helped bring the crowd to the sale site on April 5.

“With all the weather we’ve had this year, we really lucked out,” Hopkins said.

The sale has been held west of Polo near the tiny

Earleen Hinton/ehinton@oglecountynews.com

Auctioneer Lenny Bryson auctions off a 1966 John Deere tractor at the Hazelhurst Sale on Aprll 5. The tractor was donated by the Bocker family. Seventy-five percent of the $22,000 sale price was donated to the Polo Lions Club, with the remaining 25 percent donated to a charity of the purchaser’s choice. hamlet of Hazelhurst ever since Sheryl’s mother and father, Ruth and Ellery Shank, hosted the first sale on their 30-acre farm site in the 1940s.

It started as a venue where local farmers could buy and sell farm machinery.

Now, in addition to farm machinery, the sale includes a variety of other items, including cars, trucks, lawn tractors, all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, snowblowers, lumber, tires, and other miscellaneous “finds.”

Vehicles, primarily pick-up trucks hauling trailers of all sizes, were parked side-by-side on last year’s corn stalk stubble in farm fields that had been transformed into parking lots for the day.

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To the northeast, tires, wheels, landscape trees, fencing, and even a sleeper compartment extricated from a semitrailer cab awaited would-be buyers.

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PAGE 5

Buyers emerged for used cars, trucks, boats, and even a rusty old Nash auto AUCTION

CONTINUED FROM 4

In the center, Polo Lions Club members were busy grilling and selling hamburgers, pork chops, bratwurst and hot dogs at the auction’s main concession stand, while on the west end, the Ogle County Beef Producers

served their specialty – ribeye steak sandwiches.

To the northwest, two rows of used cars, trucks and boats were lined up, ready for new owners.

Some came equipped with handmade signs like “New brakes, new rotors, runs great, good work car� taped to their windows.

An old rusty Nash automobile with only springs s &!2s 02/0%249 s 6%()#,% s ,)&% s #2/0 s #/--%2#)!, s (!),

left for seats drew the attention of some passersby. “Well, it is either a 1925 or 1927, and the license plate is from 1934, so,� quipped one onlooker.

Hopkins said he thought the Nash brought around $2,000. “As a whole, I think Earleen Hinton/ehinton@oglecountynews.com everything sold real Sunny skies and mild temperatures greeted bidders at the Hazelhurst Sale on well,� he said.

April 5. Here, an auctioneer and a spotter take bids on a star-wheel rake.

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3AUK 6ALLEY -EDIA s May 13, 2014

AG TECHNOLOGY | TILLAGE CART

Haul grain and till soil at the same time Bureau farm family invents ‘tillage cart’

BY DAVE FOX Special to Today’s Farm

MALDEN – If necessity is the mother of invention, Calvin Standley is the father.

A lifelong farmer, Standley saw the need for something that would save time and fuel in the fields, as well as benefit the environment.

Deep in the heart of Bureau County, between Princeton and Malden, farms cover the landscape. One of those is occupied by Standley, his wife, Beth, and their children, John and Hannah.

“Farmers are wellknown for adapting,” Standley said in a recent interview, and he felt the need to make some changes to how things are done at harvest.

That led him to develop what is likely the first and only tillage grain wagon in existence.

The implement is essentially a grain harvest wagon with a disc mounted in front and a chisel plow on the rear end. It is pulled, by tractor, alongside a combine

during harvest, much the same as a simple grain wagon would be.

The difference? It not only collects the harvest, but tills the field as well, all in one pass.

“Before this, you’d have the combine operation going with a grain cart in the field, and there would always be a grain cart just sitting there wasting time waiting,” Standley said.

“Then, too, it was frustrating that we never had enough help to keep the chisel plow going at the same time, or something would break down 10 miles away, and we’d lose time going to deal with that.”

Those frustrations led Standley to his invention.

“My son and I came up with the idea to combine the grain cart with the chisel plow, to have them married all the way across the field,” Standley said.

Daughter Hannah “gave us a lot of moral support,” he added.

Standley came up with the design, aided by his son, John, who brainstormed with him on modifications and improvements. After the design was developed, “I did a patent search, and it turned up nothing as far as other implements like this one.

TILLAGE CART CONTINUED ON 7

Submitted

Take one grain wagon, attach disc blades to the front and a chisel plow to the back, and you’ve got a “tillage cart,” as invented by the Calvin and Beth Standley family of Bureau County. Photo courtesy of the Standleys.

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PAGE 7

Invention exceeded expectations in fall test TILLAGE CART

“Our designs and plans were taken to McHenry Machine Shop in Princeton where John Williams actually put it all together,” Standley said.

“I was there pretty much all summer working on it with him.”

The machine was put to use for its first test last fall, with Beth operating the cart behind the combine.

“It’s been a family affair,” Standley said.

“She’s had so much fun

CONTINUED FROM 6

“Then we went to a patent attorney, who did a second search, which also turned up nothing,” Standley said. “We had to convince him it was worth his time, so we explained it to him, and he really liked it.”

The patent was then officially filed.

The original prototype model was built last year.

Dave Fox/Special to Today’s Farm

Beth and Calvin Standley pose with the tillage cart in their storage building. “At first it was scary,” Beth said, laughing. “Here was this brand new grain cart in the shop, and they just started cutting into it and welding it. The end product was well worth it, though.”

with it, I haven’t even gotten to operate it yet.”

The tillage cart far exceeded their expectations, and Standley grew increasingly excited as he talked of the results, plus other benefits that were discovered after the fact.

“Last year, we finished the chisel plowing the same day we finished the combining,” Standley said. “We’ve never been able to do that before in 35 years of farming, and last year was a really big year for yields.”

Use of the new cart provides potentially large savings on fuel costs.

“The tractor that pulls this cart will use slightly more fuel than just pulling a standard grain wagon,” Standley said, “but it still saves money because of its one-pass operation. You’re not running it again later on to chisel plow and disc.

“There will also be much less soil compaction, because you’re driving heavy equipment over the field only once instead of several times.

It’s better for drainage and absorption of nutrients.”

Submitted

The back end of the grain cart had to be modified several ways in order to attach the chisel plow. “We doubled everything [bolts, etc.] to make it stronger,” Calvin Standley said. “We didn’t have any breakdowns last season. It performed beautifully.” Photo courtesy of the Standleys.

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3AUK 6ALLEY -EDIA s May 13, 2014

Two companies interested INVENTION

CONTINUED FROM 7

In addition, the cart can greatly reduce fertilizer and soil nutrient costs. By cultivating at the same time as harvest, much more soluble potash and nitrogen are being put back into the soil than if cultivation took place several weeks later.

“It has three video cameras,” Beth said. With

those, the operator can watch monitors to ensure the disc and chisel are both working properly, in addition to being able to monitor when the cart is nearly full of grain, all without leaving the seat.

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The invention of the tillage cart by Calvin and Beth Standley and their children, John and Hannah, was “really a family affair,” Calvin said. “John brainstormed with me a lot on ideas for the design, Beth operated it during the first harvest season, and Hannah gave lots of moral support.” Photo courtesy of the Standleys.

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Hopeful for the future, Standley said the next step is to work on an actual production model.

So far, two different companies have come to the farm for live demonstrations, “and there will probably be more this year,” he said, smiling, “so we want to build an actual production model, and we’ll go from there.”

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PAGE 9

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SHABBONA – The brutal winter left its mark on some wheat fields, particularly in northern Illinois.

Russ Higgins, University of Illinois Extension crop sciences educator, reported significant winterkill on some commercial wheat fields.

The test plots at the U of I Northern Illinois Agron-

omy Research Center near Shabbona also suffered major winter damage. “A good portion [40 to 50 percent] of our variety trials didn’t survive the winter,� Higgins told FarmWeek.

The annual field day at the agronomy research center in June was canceled because of the loss of numerous plots.

U of I researchers plant-

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3AUK 6ALLEY -EDIA s May 13, 2014

AG EDUCATION

Need is critical for teachers

BY KAY SHIPMAN FarmWeekNow.com

Illinois faces a critical need for agriculture education graduates to instruct the state’s next generation of agronomists, animal scientists, agribusinessmen, farmers, and ag teachers.

“Unless we develop a strong supply of ag teachers, we will have problems,” said Ellen Thomp-

son, coordinator of the National Teach Ag Campaign and a former ag teacher.

Illinois boasts a healthy 322 high school agriculture programs that instruct more than 29,200 students statewide. More than 390 teachers teach agriculture and serve as FFA advisers to 17,640 FFA members.

Over the past 5 years,

the state has averaged 48 ag teacher vacancies a year, reported Jess Smithers, coordinator of Facilitating Coordination in Agricultural Education.

“Secondary agriculture education is a difficult job,” said Erica Thieman, University of Illinois agriculture education assistant professor. “It’s also one of the most rewarding.”

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PAGE 11

AG TECHNOLOGY | DAIRY

Robotic milking system boosts profitability And the cows just love it

BY DEBORAH GERTZ-HUSAR The Quincy Herald-Whig

MENDON (AP) – The cows are lined up for milking at the Shupe Dairy Farm north of Mendon.

Rod Shupe keeps watch as the cows move through, one by one, but he’s no longer doing the milking.

That’s left up to a robotic system, in place on the farm since September, that handles the job around the clock.

It’s a high-tech system for a farmer who admits he’s not a high-tech guy. “I’m pretty good at what I do, but this thing is better than me,� Rod said. “I don’t like to admit that, but with this technology, you can’t get any better when it comes to milking technique.�

The promise of feed pellets and the desire to be milked draws the cows to the milking area. A gate shuts behind the cow, then the system scans her electronic identification tag, determining whether she’s ready to be milked. “Say a cow got milked at 6 and comes back 4 hours later. Depending on production, the computer

AP Photo/The Quincy Herald-Whig, Steve Bohnstedt

Roger Shupe checks the robotic milking system he and his brother, Rod Shupe, use on their dairy farm near Mendon. The system operates around the clock, milking and feeding the herd along with tracking information about each individual cow. robot knows, ‘I kick you out because you have to wait an hour or two more to have more milk’ or ‘I keep you because you’re milking so well,’� Rod said. “That’s what makes the decision, the robot.

It’s unbelievable what it can do.�

The cow eats a ration of feed pellets as the robotic arm attaches to her udder and does the milking while tracking her milk production and feed intake. The milk

then travels through an insulated pipeline into the farm’s storage tank, which is emptied every other day. “It really changes how the dairyman manages his cows,� said Curt Heimer with Kaeb Equipment, which installed the Lely Astronaut robotic system. “It really gives him a different lifestyle.

He doesn’t have to be there at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day. There’s some flexibility in how he man-

ages his cows.� “What you’re not doing is spending what would have been 3 hours a day, twice a day, because it’s milking time,� Rod said. “When you’re trying to cut hay, you don’t have to stop and come back and do 3 hours and go back. You can get done earlier doing everything else. It frees up labor time.�

He said the system also boosts milk production. “You’ve got to have

a good feed program, a good nutritionist, to make it all like a domino.

One leads to another,� he said. “The profitability goes up. The savings of labor goes up.�

Work on the new system began in April 2013. Hesse Builders did the construction work, then Kaeb installed the system in a new building between the feed barn and the former milking barn.

A 3-week “training� period helped acclimate the cows to the new system. They walked through the new milking area for a week, then the brothers started closing the gate, pouring pellets into the feed box and simulated the milking process.

“We were using a longhandled brush and brushing the udder while she was eating,� Rod said.

The first milking with the new system meant “training� the laser for each cow, with Rod positioning the milkers. “I was in there 14 straight hours the very first milking, but on the third milking, I counted 23 cows in a row waiting,� he said. “They were pretty hip to what was going on.�

Cows generally act better with the robotic milking systems. “They get used to routine, and it’s the same every time. It’s not like there’s different people milking all the time,� Rod said.

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