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 This year, the guest of honor was George Allspach along with his
son David and other family members and friends. Among the family
present was one of George’s three daughters and a number of
grandchildren.
George and son David farm the Allspach operation together, and
David is the seventh generation to do so on the land located
south of Mount Pulaski.
George has a great respect for the history of his home
neighborhood and enjoyed talking about how and when the area was
settled. He shared stories about the Copeland Church, and how
the Lake Fork Creek used to be a marshy area in this corner of
Logan County, and how it was also occupied by Native Americans
before being sold and developed as farmland.
Asked how much ground they farm, George responded, “Well
sometimes I think we farm too much, and sometimes not enough!”
The Allspach’s produce corn and soybeans and also have cattle
and sheep.
Asked about their harvest this year, the men said it is ongoing
right now. They have been shelling corn, but on Thursday
afternoon, they were going to switch and cut some soybeans.
George said that the soybean crop on his farm is looking really
good. He thinks there is a possibility it could be a record
harvest.
Recalling the crop estimates done recently by the Logan County
Farm Bureau Young Leaders, David said that he felt the corn was
doing as well or better than those estimates. The Young Leaders
estimated corn yields at 200 to 219 bushel on the average in
Logan County this year.
Though the two men are feeling good about the harvest, they are
not feeling all that great about the price of grain. Corn is
down into the $3.15/bu range, while soybeans are trending in the
$9.50 to $9.75 range.
On the bright side, the corn is coming in pretty dry, testing at
about 16 percent moisture, which will lower the drying costs on
the farm this year.
As a large group gathered at lunch time grace was offered by a
local pastor, then a meal consisting of fried chicken, mashed
potatoes and gravy, corn, and fruit pie for dessert was served
by the staff of the Farm Credit Services.
George stayed busy taking meals to some of his guests and said
that for himself, he could munch on his chicken later in the
combine.
The Allspachs' have a combine with a GPS guidance system
installed making it a ‘self-driven’ vehicle. While George joked
about sitting back and eating chips and dip in the combine, he
also noted that in all seriousness, the self-driven combines do
make the long hours of the day a lot easier, and much less
tiring on the operator. He said that the combine has all the
monitoring systems, and he does spend time paying attention to
those as he allows the guidance system to do the lion share of
the work. He said in addition to being safer; he also feels the
automated combines do a better job of driving, thus increasing
efficiency in the field.
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George said he is a strong believer of promoting safety on the farm and is
hopeful that the guests at his picnic, which included many local farmers, would
be reminded that safety is an issue they all need to be concerned about.
At the same time, he feels like farmers do operate more safely today, and that
equipment on the whole is also safer.
John Hartman of Farm Credit Services agreed. Hartman said that FCS has worked
for several years now to raise awareness of the dangers involved in farming, and
to encourage farmers to take that half-hour break out of the combine in the
middle of the day. He believes the message is paying off.
Both men also agreed that today, one of the biggest safety concerns that still
exists for farmers involves the time they spend on public roadways. Though
today’s ‘road gear’ on farm tractors and combines is higher than what it used to
be, these vehicles are still driving quite a bit slower than cars. Automobile
drivers who are not familiar with the speed constraints of farm vehicles need to
be reminded in the spring and fall to slow down when they are approaching a farm
implement.
After everyone had enjoyed their lunch, Hartman took a few minutes to remind
everyone of the purposes of the feed in the field program; to promote safety
during harvest, and encourage farmers to take breaks.
The FSC each year gives out safety or first aid kits, generally to members of
the host family. This year George had added additional kits to the stack and
asked that instead, the kits be given to the guests. Hartman started by giving a
kit to each person who was driving a combine later in the day. With one kit
remaining, that one went to one of a couple of guys who said they were
responsible for running the auger.
FCS is also celebrating an anniversary year. To commemorate, George was given a
special FCS Anniversary Cutting board, gifts were given to the two youngest
grandchildren, and everyone got a free can opener with the FSC identification on
it.
On another note, Hartman shared that he will be retiring from Farm Credit
Services at the end of this year. On hand, meeting the folks from Logan County
was Andrew Alton, who will replace Hartman beginning the first of the year.
[Nila Smith] |
