Kansas Agland Quarterly - Summer 2015

June 2015 The Hutchinson News KANSAS AGLAND The Hutchinson News June 2015 KANSAS AGLAND

been to help farmers do this through efficient irrigation equipment.

Photos by Sandra J. Milburn/The Hutchinson News

John and Monty Teeter, father and son, stand by their Dragon-Line system by Teeter Irrigation, Ulysses, which they unveiled in March.



An emitter is seen in drip tubing as part of the Dragon-Line precision mobile drip irrigation system by Teeter Irrigation in Ulysses.

The details“We really believe it is a

good way to marry the two concepts between center pivot and drip irrigation,” said Teeter.

With today’s well-man-aged farms, it’s all about the precise application of water, said Teeter. Dragon-Line provides in-creased efficiency through precision irrigation by specifically delivering wa-ter and nutrients directly into the soil instead of spraying the whole can-opy and field. That means there is little evaporation.

“We bank water rather

than evaporate it,” Teeter said, adding, “You can’t afford to have water go back up” in the atmosphere.

It also helps eliminate or reduce costly wheel-track issues, said Monty’s son, John Teeter.

“Because the water goes directly into the ground, it doesn’t compact the soil,” John Teeter said, adding that there is no standing water like that of conven-tional systems.

That’s evident from walk-ing the Teeters’ farm field. As a test, they have Dragon-Line variations in every section of the center pivot. John Teeter noted that farmers have to get used to not seeing the soil wet and black like a standard irrigated field.

Because of that, farmers are able to irrigate in the

winter, Monty Teeter said. The Dragon-Line tube doesn’t freeze and Teeter has watered when it has been 10 degrees.

But where it differs from drip is the cost and the flexi-bility. Drip systems, the most efficient, cost between $1,500 and $2,500 an acre, Monty Teeter said. Some farmers don’t want to jump into such a long-term and costly ven-ture – especially not knowing how long their water supply will be available.

However, a farmer can transform a center-pivot to the Dragon-Line system for $100 to $200 an acre, he said. And, unlike drip systems, a farmer doesn’t have to replace his entire pivot. He can move the system to other pivots, if needed.

Monty Teeter talks about how beneficial the Dragon-Line irrigation system is for farmers in the cold temperatures of winter.

TeeterFrom PAGE 6

See TEETER / Page 8



Left: The Dragon-Line system by Teeter Irrigation, Ulysses, does not cause deep irrigation tracks since there is no water runoff from the irrigation system. Right: Pivot irrigation not using the Dragon-Line causes deep and muddy tracks.

By Amy Bickel

Kansas Agland

Just how thirsty is your plant?

Some farmers like Grant County’s Clay Scott are find-ing out, using sensors that tell him how much moisture he has in the soil.

For instance, in late May, Scott didn’t have a system running after his farm re-ceived nearly 4 inches of rain for the month.

“This is the first time since 2010, when the drought started,” he said of not having anything running. “We are truly enjoying the benefits of the rain right now and giving the aquifer a break.”

Scott, who is using the Dragon-Line irrigation system on some fields, said he might be able to shut off a pass or two quicker over the year, which means he saves on water.

“We are already making adjustments and cutting back and trying not to push things to the maximum,” he said, adding that in 2014, during a moderate to extreme drought, he was able to reduce water usage on his farm by 10 percent, thanks to cropping choices and moni-toring water use.

“We know the value of the irrigation on this economy in western Kansas,” Scott said, adding it is just one tool that farmers are using to help ex-tend the life of the Ogallala.

Call it precision watering.

Every drop of water counts and, as part of that effort, more farmers are taking advantage of soil moisture probes that tell them real-time data regarding a field’s soil profile.

Soil-moisture sensors report what roots are ex-periencing. A sensor helps farmers know when they should irrigate or if they can hold off on pumping.

Those details are crucial in

the Ogallala Aquifer region. It could mean an annual wa-ter savings in an area where declines continue.

“Maybe you can shut down or not start as soon,” said Jeff Kugler, chief exec-utive officer of Servi-Tech Premium Services. “The goal is to be more efficient with our water, maybe not start as soon, maybe make one less or two less passes during the growing season.”

For instance, if an irri-gation pivot makes one less pass a season, that saves an inch of water per acre – or 27,154 gallons an acre. On a 120-acre circle, the savings would be about 3.2 million gallons of water, Kugler said.

It all adds up, he said of helping the overall Ogallala. It all trickles down, too, to the end producer, whether it is a steak or bread on con-sumers’ dinner plates.

There are many systems on the market. Dodge City-based Servi-Tech Expanded Premium Services launched its own moisture probe four years ago. The Profiler includes three to four Watermark soil moisture sensors that can be installed at any desired soil depths, although the most common are 6, 12, 24 and 36 inches, Kugler said.

A telemetry control box

takes a reading every 30 minutes and uploads the data to the Web, where it is recorded in graph form. Also available is a tipping rain bucket to monitor moisture events through the growing season. If a moisture event occurs, that moisture data is uploaded in a similar manner as the soil moisture data.

These readings can be brought up on a smart-phone, tablet or home computer, Kugler said. It sends text alerts, as well, and producers can pull up the information wherever they are, even on vacation.

But it is still a relatively new but growing market. Kugler estimates that just 2 percent of Kansas farmers use soil moisture monitors.

Kugler said there’s always a curve for adoption of new technology.

“You’ll definitely see an increase in usage of this technology as it becomes more prevalent,” he said. “Some outside forces will help push the usage as well, such as increasing regulation of groundwater usage for irrigation, as well as drought-stricken areas having access to less water.”

The base cost for a unit is $2,250, with different dis-counts based on the number of units purchased.

“Technology is working – making a difference,” Kugler said.

Precision watering tech helps make each drop count

Courtesy photo

From left, Dr. Isaya Kisekka, with Kansas State University Research and Extension, watches as Servi-Tech Expanded Premium Services CEO Jeff Kugler demonstrates the usage of TheProfiler Soil Moisture Monitoring System on ground near Ulysses. Monty Teeter, president of Teeter Irrigation; Greg Ruehle, CEO of Servi-Tech; and Kenny Teeter look on.

By Amy Bickel

Kansas Agland

Agriculture is dependent on water. While a farmer can’t control when it rains, he can control how he man-ages the water he does have.

“We have seen a growing sector of farmers who are us-ing apps,” said Ignacio Ciampitti, associate professor of agronomy at Kansas State University.

Ciampitti says the best app for Kansas is the

University of Nebraska’s Crop Water app.

According to UNL, this app provides an easy way to estimate soil water status based on Watermark sensors installed at depths of 1, 2 and 3 feet. With these sensor readings, the Crop Water app will estimate the water used as well as what is still available.

You can also see historic sensor readings and graphs, create new graphs, or pin your GPS location for the fields.

The graphs feature will allow you to chart your field’s soil water status over time and show total soil water or capacity as well as levels remaining for each of

the three depths.While it is specifically

designed for Nebraska soils, it can also be of use in states with similar soils where growers are using Watermark sensors. Ciampitti noted it is a good fit for Kansas.

Here are are few other water management apps Ciampitti recommends, as well as others from ag-based universities like Texas A&M and the University of Nebraska. For a list of all agricul-ture-based apps that Ciampitti finds useful, visit http://hutchne.ws/farmapps.

Host of apps aids water management

Ciampitti

See APPS / Page 10

June 2015 The Hutchinson News KANSAS AGLAND

“It’s nervous anxious-ness,” Dane called it.

It was the same feeling Mike Dolechek has experienced for nearly 40 years. Each spring, his eagerness elevates as he and his son and their small harvest crew of five make final preparations for the trek from Texas to North Dakota.

Mike Dolechek has fol-lowed the trail of ripening wheat since he was 14 years old. Like a nomad, he and his wife, LeAnn, and their son, Dane, left their Claflin-area farm around Memorial Day to spend half the year living out of a camper.

In all, there would be 25,000 acres of wheat to cut, along with a few thousand acres of soybeans. They hoped to make it back to their Barton County farmstead in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Some wonder how they do it. Mike and Dane, how-ever, can’t imagine another occupation.

“It is a way of life – all I’ve ever known,” said Mike. “I just always went on harvest.”

Blue skySo, as most were planning

summer vacations, the Dolecheks planned to head to their first job of the season – a large farmer near the Texas town of Childress, where drought has hurt the wheat crop for 11 years in a row.

“There are a lot of farm-ers down there struggling,” Mike said of the area.

However, this season isn’t as bad as last year, when they cut less than half the farmer’s acreage thanks to the drought. Mike estimated they would cut all but about 2,000 of the farmer’s 8,500 acres.

From Childress, the crew planned to head to Sawyer, Kansas, then to their own farm to cut their small acreage of wheat. They will finish at their last stop, near Minot, North Dakota, in September.

How their other stops would fare was anyone’s guess, Mike said. Their business relies on Mother Nature.

“But we can’t insure our work like farmers,” said Dane. “There is a backstop for them. We don’t have a backstop.”

It’s not an easy lifestyle. When drought or hail or something else takes a client’s crop, that’s part of their annual paycheck. Mike begins to scramble trying to make up the acres.

That can be difficult when you have other cutters in the same situation.

“We make a lot of phone calls and you talk to a lot of people and you take what-ever you can grab,” Mike said. “You scramble like crazy to find work in other places and you hope you don’t have two (years) like that in a row because it will take you.”

Their livelihood, after all, depends on the weather – if it rains at the right time to make a crop, and whether they have blue skies when the wheat is ripe.

“When Mother Nature

steps in and you are not done with one stop and the next stop is ready, that is when stress gets high,” Mike said.

“Mother Nature rules us so much, it is not even funny,” Dane said.

Diminishing careerMike’s brother, Ed, got

started in the custom harvest business in 1965, working for another har-vester.

In 1971, when Ed Dolechek bought his first combine, there were 3,431 custom harvesting busi-nesses transporting more than 7,500 combines, accord-ing to the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains.

But, just like farming, the number of combiners in the profession has dimin-ished significantly. About 300 cutters were slated to make the trip north this summer, said Taff Hughes, an Ellinwood harvester and vice president of U.S.

Custom Harvesters.Hughes himself has been

making the trip for 20 years.Mike said he started

helping his brother on his summer vacations from high school in 1976. He missed a summer the year Dane was born. He spent the year driving a truck to be close to home.

But he missed the har-vest. He bought his first combine in 1990.

His brother called it quits about a decade ago. He died in 2012.

Continuing onMike admitted he might

have called it quits if his son hadn’t shown interest. He can’t help but be proud to work with Dane, he said.

Dane, who graduated from Sterling High School, attended Kansas State University for a couple of years but realized he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. He’s been helping his dad run the

custom harvest business for about six years.

“I could lose interest real fast if it wasn’t for him to keep my interest in it,” said Mike, adding his son knows the business inside and out. “It won’t be many years down the road it will be his baby to take care of.”

They have three com-bines, three semis and a service truck, along with a grain cart and a couple of trailers to sleep in.

They hire five men each year, and usually two or three are foreign workers. They are still looking for another employee to make the trip.

It’s tough to get U.S. workers, Mike said. Other custom cutters have the same troubles due to the long hours, the itinerant lifestyle and the fact that the job lasts just seven months.

For several years, Mike has used The Ohio Program. The Ohio State University internship training program takes skilled foreign students who have had advanced training in agriculture, horticulture and similar fields, and pairs them with U.S. mentors.

“These guys want to be over here,” Mike said. “They want to be over here for the experience.”

And for Thomas Finnerty and Brian Burke – Irish youths working toward their agricultural mechan-ics degrees – they’d get to see America from atop a combine.

“I can’t wait to see the rest of the country and get started,” said Finnerty, 20, who said his family has a cattle and sheep operation in Ireland.

Burke’s family has horses, along with a custom silage business.

But there, Burke said, everything is on a smaller scale. Mike said Irish farms typically average 100 to 150 acres.

“Everything is bigger here,” said Burke. “You have bigger farms, bigger

machinery.”They’ve already learned

a lot – from how American farm machinery works to getting CDLs. Mike and Dane put them through the training so they’d be ready for the first day of harvest.

Burke said he told his family of his seasonal plans the day before he was to leave. At that point, there wasn’t much his dad could do.

“I wanted to see what it is like at the other side of the pond,” Burke said.

Another harvestEmbarking on his 40th

harvest, Mike Dolechek could only hope the trip north would yield poten-tial.

His paycheck depends on a good harvest. He gets paid by the acre, the bushel, as well as an overage charge for every bushel over 20 bushels an acre.

Harvesters are like farm-ers – eternal optimists,” Mike said. “We always hope it is better next year.”

While it can be a tough business, what keeps him going is the people, he said.

He’s had many of his customers for decades. Some have even built places at their farms for the family to park their campers.

“We work with some re-ally great people from Texas to North Dakota,” said Mike. “It’s the friendship – that is what keeps me going. I have a lot of good friends here, but I have a lot of real special friends across the country, too. And the day I quit doing this, I’ll have a hard time not seeing those people.”

They’ll finish up wheat harvest in September and move on to soybean harvest in South Dakota, heading back to Kansas a few weeks before Thanksgiving.

“I’m ready for it to start, but I’m glad when it is over,” Mike said. “At the end, I”m ready to sit home and twiddle my thumbs for a couple months like a normal person.”

Dane scoffed at his father.“I don’t think anyone

thinks we’re normal,” he said.

“That’ why I said ‘like a normal person,’ ” Mike said with a chuckle.

No one knows how the family can leave their home for so long, said Dane.

“You hear time and time again, ‘I don’t know how you can do it,’ ” Dane said.

“We’re used to it,” Mike said simply. “It’s all we’ve ever known.”

Photos by Travis Morisse/The Hutchinson News

Mike Dolechek talks about his life as a custom harvester at his rural Barton County farm.

Dolechek Harvesting employees work on the combines on May 6.

Dane Dolechek looks for tools in the service truck to help install a radio.

CuttingFrom PAGE 21

The Hutchinson News June 2015 KANSAS AGLAND

June 2015 The Hutchinson News KANSAS AGLAND

Kansas Agland Quarterly - Summer 2015

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