the same ol’ grind - tennessee farmers cooperative · lifesavers large animal rescue ... chairman...
TRANSCRIPT
July 2012Presorted Standard
U.S. POSTAGEPAID
GREENVILLE, MIPERMIT NO. 527
Visit our official website at ourcoop.comFollow us on
Also insideNo-Till Field Day returns July 26 - p. 5
Special group of Co-op interns focus on tissue-sampling services - p. 10
Large animal rescue expert shares tips on how to handle emergencies - p. 26
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The sameol’ grindAfter 200 years of existence,Readyville Mill is experiencing a resurgence of popularity and a new generation of customers
July 2012 3
Haslam signs bill to kill ‘death tax’ Tim Luckey’s Humboldt farm is the site where this landmark legislation is made official.
‘Tis the season It’s the most wonderful time of year for Trenton and Shaylyn Melhorn — sheep show season.
Summer samplers A special group of Co-op interns focus on tissue-testing tasks to identify plant deficiencies.
Forage fix Roundup Ready alfalfa is helping Kevin Griffith preserve his land and generate farm income.
Nothing fancy Dwight Watson manages his Pulaski beef farm with forages, feeds, genetics, and common sense.
Lifesavers Large animal rescue expert Rebecca Gimenez shares tips on how to safely handle emergencies.
Cover StoryJuly 2012
TenneScene 4 As I Was Saying Vintage postcard is link to grandparents Jerry Kirk never had the chance to meet.
4 Our Country Churches South Harpeth Church of Christ in Davidson County.
13 New at Co-op Learn about eight new products available at your hometown store.
14 Neighborly Advice Controlling tough weeds, feeding deer.
30 What’s cookin’? Simplify summer with pasta salad recipes.
34 Every Farmer Has A Story Meet Roane County’s Travis Tilley, who is fulfilling his childhood vow to farm.
In every issue
Saved from the ravages of time and neglect, 200-year-old Readyville Mill is once again
the centerpiece of the tiny town of Readyville and the “crown prince” of historic Middle Ten-nessee gristmills. Restored by entrepreneur and Bell Buckle resident Tomm Brady, the mill and adjoining restaurant, The Eatery, are attracting hundreds of visitors every weekend for break-fast, music, and mill tours.
News and features
ON THE COVER: Visitors stroll the grounds near the four-story Readyville Mill’s millhouse where organic, Tennessee-grown grains are ground with vintage, turn-of-the-century equipment and sold on site as packaged flour and cornmeal or used as the ingredients for fresh-cooked breakfast. — Photo by Mark E. Johnson
18 The same ol’ grind
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Stress management by nutrient management — that’s what growers learned at a tour of First Farmers Cooperative’s corn test plot on Highway 45 near Pinson on May 30. The plot is unique because visitors can tune into radio station 87.9 FM to hear an audio tour of the plot, which includes SFP’s Avail & NutriSphere tests along with hybrid trials. A field day will be held July 31, and the narration can also be heard online at www.plottour.com. — Photo by Allison Morgan
7
4 July 2012
As I Was Saying
The Tennessee Cooperator is distributed free to patrons of member Co-ops. Since
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through the local Co-op. When reporting an address change, please include the mailing label from a past
issue and send to the following address:
Tennessee CooperatorTennessee Farmers Cooperative
P.O. Box 3003LaVergne, TN 37086
Phone: (615) 793-8339E-mail: [email protected]
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Farmers Cooperative, its affiliates, subsidiaries, and member Co-ops are not
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subsidiaries, or member cooperatives.
TFC Board of Directors:Chairman — Wayne Brown, Chuckey, Zone 3
Vice Chairman — Donald Jernigan, Christiana, Zone 2
Larry Paul Harris, Wildersville, Zone 1Amos Huey, Kenton, Zone 1
Richard Jameson, Brownsville, Zone 1Clint Callicott, Only, Zone 2
Kenneth Nixon, Carthage, Zone 2Johnny Brady, Riceville, Zone 3
George Smartt, McMinnville, Zone 3Chief Executive Officer — Bart Krisle
Published by Tennessee Farmers Cooperative in the interest of better
farming through cooperation and improved technology, and to connect the Co-op
community through shared experiences, common values, and rural heritage.
TFC’s website:www.ourcoop.com
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Jerry Kirk
Contributing Editor
July 2012Volume 53, Number 7
Our Country Churches
In May 2012, South Harpeth Church of Christ in Davidson County celebrated its 200th anniversary and is likely the second-oldest Church of Christ in the nation. The church sits on a one-acre plot with a meetinghouse and a burial ground. The first log church was built on this site with bricks presumably made by slave labor. The original building was left to become an essential part of the present structure, and a new auditorium and classrooms have been built over the years. The preacher is John Cantrell.
— Photo by Claire Sellers; information provided by Elaine Lane 208th in a series to show where our rural Co-op friends worship
South Harpeth Church of Christ in Davidson County
Postcard is loving link to grandparents
Mama had a special “picture box” in which she kept photos, newspaper clippings, letters, and other “treasures” she cherished. From as far back as I can remember, I was intrigued by many of the things that had
been tucked away in that old wooden box.One of my favorites, though, was an age-yellowed postcard that pictured the
imposing Galbraith Springs Hotel near Mooresburg on its front. On June 6, 1900, my maternal grandfather-to-be paid a penny for the stamp to mail the card to his sweetheart, who would be my grandmother.
Even as a child, I recognized this vintage postcard as a loving link to grand-parents I would never get to meet in this life. Christopher and Maude Brooks died way too young — she at age 34 and he at 36 — never to see any of their 21
grandchildren who were to follow in rather rapid succession. I don’t even know what we would have called them had they lived, but “Grandpa” and “Grandma” sound good to me.
As for the postcard, I speculate that Grandpa, while visiting Galbraith Springs, was thinking of his beautiful Maude, who lived on Cloud’s Creek, “on up the road from Mooresburg toward Rogersville.” So he paid a penny to let her know just that. And she obviously held on to that card, which was ulti-mately passed on to my mother.
Hopefully, after they married my grandparents were able to spend some time together at Galbraith Springs. From all accounts, it was a favorite destination for folks who wanted to escape the heat to enjoy the cooler Short Mountain breezes. And according to the late Selina Gill, a wonderful writer whose “Passing By” column was wildly popular with Morristown Citizen Tribune readers for years, the old hotel was a destination for couples in love.
“The stories this old hotel could tell,” Selina wrote. “The romances that were cosummated on the wide porches and the girls who recklessly got kissed down at the spring.”
In 1969, Mama loaned Selina the postcard Grandpa Brooks had sent to Grandma. She used it to illustrate a lengthy, spirited article on the vaunted Galbraith Springs Hotel. And Selina pulled a real coup as a columnist by featuring Thurman and Vennie Davis, a Morristown couple who worked at Galbraith Springs for years. Thurman was one of the treasured cooks at the resort.
“We had breakfast from 7:30 to 9 [the later hour for those ‘late courters,’ Selina interjected], dinner at 11:30, and supper at 6:30,” he said. (Note that the noon meal was “dinner” and the evening meal “supper.”) “That was seven days a week.
“From April to October, we averaged 200 guests,” Thurman continued. “I know I made over 1,800 biscuits a day then.”
While the food and hospitality of the old hotel were indeed star attractions, they were rivaled by the resort’s mineral springs that attracted hordes of visitors looking for relief from a myriad of maladies — from rheumatism and erysipelas to sore eyes and sick headaches.
A classic 1893 brochure distributed by Galbraith Springs promised that “mail is received at the hotel and dispatched there daily during the season” and that “a good telephone line connected with the W.U. [I take that to be Western Union] telegraph at Whitesburgh, Tenn. [Whitesburg is my hometown, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen it spelled with an ‘h’ at the end].”
And the brochure gives this rousing rhyming tribute to East Tennessee as a whole:“East Tennessee! ... Enchanting land ... Of gentle hills and mountains grand ... Where healthful
breezes ever blow ... And coolest springs and rivers flow ... Thy summers mild and grateful heat ... From sweltering suns give cool retreat.”
I hope Grandpa and Grandma savored joys like those and more during their earthly time together.
July 2012 5
News brief
It’s a No-Till yearPopular Milan field day returns July 26
High-Yielding Corn Crops Meet Fall Phosphorus Fertilization Know it. Apply it. Grow it.
Adequate fertilization is always an important issue, especially in high-yield environments. With the use of modern hybrids along with other innovative agricultural advances, yields continue to rise and plants suffer less under extreme precipitation and temperature conditions..
Advancements of high-yielding corn production bring the expectation of superior quality and increased yield. To help achieve high yields, nutrients must be applied at optimal levels to avoid deficiency while maintaining manageable input costs. Even short-term deficiencies, especially early in the growing season, can result in significant yield reductions.
Why’s P so important?Phosphorus (P) is a vital component throughout the plant growth process – for ALL plants. Adequate P directly correlates with increased root growth and leaf expansion – all necessary for healthy, early-season growth. Uptake of applied P fertilizer can be low during the year of application; often plants use as little as 25 percent of the total application due to P tie-up in the soil. For farms across Tennessee, AVAIL® Phosphorus Fertilizer Enhancer, a P-efficiency product from SFP, has shown to increase uptake by reduc-ing P tie-up in the soil.
“Since we started adding AVAIL to our phosphorus fertilizer, tissue and soil samples are showing more phosphate uptake in the plant,” says Corey Trout, who farms corn, grass hay, wheat hay and alfalfa in Holts Corner, Tenn. “We used to cut 26 inches of alfalfa every 30 to 32 days; now, with the AVAIL technol-ogy, we can cut 32 inches of alfalfa every 26 days; we’ve experienced better leaf retention, and disease seems to be a lot less severe.”
Fall P Fertilization + CornFor most, spring is a busy time on the farm; that, paired with the season’s unpredictable weather, can make it difficult to apply fertilizer. Applying P in the fall helps ration the workload throughout the year and AVAIL helps to ensure P is available for corn crops the following spring.
“In this part of the country, it’s tough to predict what Mother Nature has in store for us. Anything we can do to protect our fertilizer investment is worth investigating,” says Trout. “Our corn crop has a higher drought tolerance due to better root penetration from using AVAIL.”
In many environments, fall fertilization is an advantage to corn cropping systems. Modern agricultural innovations continue to give growers the ability to produce higher yields while maximizing resources and nutrients. Despite weather variables, efficient applied-nutrient use can save a crop. In bad years or good years, adequate essential elements – if made available to the crop – will help the grower stay ahead.
About AVAILAVAIL is a water-soluble additive for dry or liquid P fertilizer; AVAIL acts as a shield, protecting the fertilizer from elements like aluminum, iron, calcium and magnesium that would normally tie-up the P and render as much as 95 percent unavailable to the plant.
Learn how AVAIL can help protect your phosphorus fertilizer investment. Call 1-888-446-GROW or visit sfp.com.
45540TFC_clmn2.indd 1 6/1/12 3:10 PM
Election of pork producer delegate candidates for the 2013 National Pork Producers (Pork Act) Delegate Body will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 7, in the Ed Jones Auditorium at El-lington Agricultural Center, 440 Hogan Road, Nashville.
The election is in conjunction with an Executive Committee meeting of the Tennessee Pork Producers Association.
Any producer age 18 or older who is a resident of the state and has paid all assessments due can be considered as a delegate candidate and/or participate in the election. All eligible produc-ers are encouraged to bring with them a sales receipt proving that hogs were sold in their name and the checkoff deducted.
For more information, contact the Tennessee Pork Produc-ers Association, 13994 Versailles Road, Rockvale, TN 37153; 615-274-6533; or [email protected].
Pork delegate election is Aug. 7
When the 27th Milan No-Till Crop Produc-tion Field Day rolls
around on Thursday, July 26, most visitors to the University of Tennessee AgResearch and Edu-cation Center will be familiar with no-till practices — which were pioneered at this site — but the highly popular event is about more than no-till educa-tion. It’s about helping farmers determine the best methods for agricultural production.
“The Milan No-Till Field Day features some of the brightest minds in agricul-tural research,” says Dr. Blake Brown, director of the UT AgResearch and Education Center at Milan. “We think producers can greatly benefit from the research findings that will be presented on these tours, whether it be through in-creasing production, reducing expenses, or improving market-ing skills.”
The first No-Till Field Day was held in 1981 to teach farmers about what was then still considered new technology. Nearly 1,700 visitors arrived to learn about this “ugly farming,” and, as they say, the rest is his-tory. Since that first field day, some 125,000 visitors have par-ticipated in the event, which is now held every other year and has grown to be a must-attend agricultural attraction.
This year’s program has been expanded to include 17 re-search tours that focus on im-portant agricultural issues such as weed control, seed treat-ments, precision agriculture, and irrigation as well as specific tours for each of the major row crops grown in Tennessee.
“First-time No-Tillers” can attend a back-to-the-basics presentation that will cover key concepts like residue manage-ment, planter setup, and pest management.
In addition to the array of educational tours, visitors can also enjoy a large trade show or a walk through the West Ten-nessee Agricultural Museum. Tennessee Farmers Cooperative will be among the organizations exhibiting at the event.
The Milan No-Till Field Day begins at 7 a.m., and the last tours are given at 1 p.m. Most
tours take 1 hour and 30 min-utes, so visitors are encouraged to arrive early if they want to take multiple tours. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, includ-ing directions to the site and a complete program, visit http://milan.tennessee.edu/MNTFD, email [email protected], or call 731-686-7362.
On Thursday, July 26, the nation’s largest field day devoted to no-till practices returns to the University of Tennessee’s AgResearch and Education Center at Milan. Thousands of visitors are expected to attend and hear the latest agronomic research during 17 tours, like this one at the 2010 event.
Three tours are on tap at the Tobacco and Forage Field Day on Thursday, July 19, beginning at 3 p.m. at University of Ten-nessee AgResearch and Education Center at Greeneville.
The free event features a tobacco tour, which will explore burley production research, and two separate programs on forages. One will cover cool-season pastures and UT variety recommendations, and the second will focus on establishing, maintaining, and grazing native warm-season grasses.
A trade show featuring private vendors and educational and informational displays will also be available for visitors to browse. A sponsored dinner will be served at 6:45 p.m.
For directions and more information, visit online at http://greeneville.tennessee.edu or call 423-638-6532.
Tobacco, forage field day is July 19
6 July 2012
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July 2012 7
Story and photos by Claire Sellers
With six generations of agricultural history, the Luckey farm in
Gibson County was a logical location for Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam to ceremoniously sign legislation that phases out the state’s inheritance tax — or “death tax” — that has threat-ened the ability of heirs to carry on their family’s farming tradition.
“This couldn’t be a more appropriate time or place to sign this bill,” said Haslam as he emphasized the importance of this tax reform to Tennes-see farmers. “The Luckeys are the perfect example of what we are trying to do — encourage farmers to keep agriculture in the family. It’s who we are as Tennesseans.”
His sentiments were echoed by Tim Luckey, who currently runs the family’s Humboldt farm that was established by his great-grandfather, John Henry, in 1908.
“This is a big day for the state of Tennessee,” said Luckey, a Gibson Farmers Cooperative member. “From family farms to small business-men, this legislation affects us all. Property values are ap-preciating so fast in this area that farmers are land-rich and money-poor. This will really help those who have accumu-lated something to pass it on to the next generation.”
Tennessee is among only eight states that impose a separate tax on a deceased person’s property that has to be paid by the heirs. This “death tax” often hits farm families the hardest, said Haslam, since agricultural investments are usually in land and equipment rather than large amounts of cash.
With the final passage of the bill by state legislators in April, Tennessee’s inheritance tax will be phased out over the next
four years by increasing the ex-emption level to $1.25 million in 2013, $2 million in 2014, and $5 million in 2015 and eliminating the tax altogether in 2016.
“This bill isn’t just about protecting a few wealthy people who have assets,” said Haslam. “It’s about protecting the family farms that we want to leave here in Tennessee. This piece of legislation is long in coming, but I’m so glad that it is finally here.”
Local officials on hand for the bill-signing ceremony were also appreciative of the tax reform measure, which will impact many residents of the agriculture-rich area. In fact, Gibson County paid more in inheritance tax last year than nearly any other West Tennes-see county due to its abun-dance of family-owned farms.
“Having grown up on a farm, I know how important it is to protect the integrity and sover-eignty of the family farm,” said Gibson County Mayor Tom Witherspoon. “We can explore
other options to create revenue that make more sense than tax-ing the dead.”
“It’s a great thing for agricul-tural landowners to be able to keep what they have worked their lives for,” added Shawn Wortman, Gibson County Farm Service Agency director. “It means their heirs won’t have to sell the prop-erty just to pay the tax.”
The governor added that phasing out the death tax not
only benefits farmers but also the state’s economy as a whole.
“The inheritance tax is caus-ing Tennesseans to take their capital to other states as they grow older, but businesses and farms can’t pick up and leave,” said Haslam. “Ending the inheritance tax will encourage capital to stay in Tennessee and ease the burden on family busi-nesses and farms that are left to other generations.”
Haslam signs bill to kill ‘death tax’Governor visits Gibson Farmers Co-op member Tim Luckey’s farm to make legislation official
lHumboldt
State and local dignitaries applaud Haslam’s ceremonial signing of the so-called “death tax” bill on a makeshift table in the Luckey family’s farm shed. The bill starts phasing out Tennessee’s inheritance tax in 2013.
Gov. Bill Haslam addresses the crowd June 6 at the Humboldt farm of Gibson Farmers Cooperative member Tim Luckey, right, before officially signing new legislation that phases out Tennessee’s inheritance tax, which has been a huge burden on heirs to family farms. Among those on hand to witness the occasion were Tim’s brother, Sam Luckey, seated, local farmer Johnny Robinson, standing left, and Gibson Farmers Co-op Manager Tommy Townsend.
8 July 2012
T renton Melhorn’s in-troduction seven years ago to the world of
livestock-showing was a drag. Literally.
At the Putnam County Fair in Cookeville, a then-7-year-old Trenton led his Suffolk ewe out to the ring while keep-ing in mind the instruction grandfather Bob Melhorn had given to him.
“I told him that whatever he did, not to let go of that sheep,” recalls Bob, known as “Papaw” by his grandkids. “He didn’t, but the sheep spun around and took off running. There was little ol’ Trenton with a head-lock on this sheep, holding on
for dear life. He had a cowboy hat on, and it got smashed. I never will forget that; we got a big kick out of it.”
Looking slightly embar-rassed at the memory, with — of course — a sheepish grin on his face, Trenton, now 14 and sturdily built, says the excited animal “dragged me all over the ring” during that unforget-table debut. But since then, he and his 12-year-old sister, Shaylyn, who’s been showing for the past five years, have established themselves as top
competitors at the annual Ten-nessee Junior Livestock Expo-sition, several area fairs, and other exhibitions. The talented siblings raise a flock numbering 80 head of purebred registered Suffolk and Tunis sheep on the 70-acre farm of Bob and wife G.G. in Morgan County’s Oakdale community. Last year alone, Trenton and Shaylyn participated in some 16 events each, winning $2,000 apiece in prize money and nearly sweep-ing the top awards in the Suf-folk division at Expo’s Breed-ing Ewe Show with the grand champion, champion bred-by-exhibitor, reserve champion bred-by-exhibitor, and cham-pion flock.
The schedule gets so hectic from June to September each year that their mother, Bretta — Bob’s daughter — says the family sometimes shuttles im-mediately from one event to the next with as many as 20 sheep in tow.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into showing animals … a lot,” explains Bretta, who, like her father, showed livestock as a youngster. “We were at the Lincoln County Fair [in Fay-etteville] last year, and when we finished showing and loaded up, it was almost 1 a.m. We immediately drove from there to the state fair in Nashville to get the sheep ready for a show at 8 a.m. We wound up getting two hours of sleep in the horse trailer before the show.”
But each Melhorn agrees that the hard work and heavy eyes are worth the end result, and the excitement of show season and hearing their names called as winners rivals that of
opening presents on Christmas morning.
“A lot of times, I’ll win one division, and Trenton will win the next one,” says Shaylyn, who also shows Hampshire hogs at 4-H shows, as does her brother. “There’s a lot to do to prepare for a show, but I enjoy all of it. Shows are so exciting, fun, and cool. And I like win-ning ribbons and money!”
Trenton says he, too, en-joys the perks that come with being a top exhibitor, adding that there are also intangible benefits to be gained.
“I just like going out there, having fun, and making friends,” he says. “I get a kick out of helping other people show their sheep. I showed for about three different people at the Tennessee Valley Fair [in Knoxville] last year.”
Shaylyn stresses that one of the keys to doing well at shows is knowing what the judges are looking for.
lOakdale
It’s the most wonderful time of year for Trenton Melhorn and his sister, Shaylyn — sheep shows have begun
Trenton Melhorn shows good form in positioning a Suffolk ewe as he and sister Shaylyn practice at grandfather Bob Melhorn’s farm in Oakdale for this year’s sheep-showing exhibitions. Both won numerous honors last year showing both Suffolk and Tunis sheep.
Bob Melhorn, left, talks with Scott Morgan Farmers Cooperative Manager Jeff Yancey about the docile temperament of the Tunis sheep Trenton and Shaylyn show. The Melhorns purchase feed and animal health products from Co-op.
Shaylyn, on the winner’s podium with Bob, hopes she and Trenton can repeat their success from 2011 at this year’s Tennessee Junior Livestock Exposition, to be held July 16-19 in Cookeville.
By Chris Villines
July 2012 9
“With a breeding ewe, they’re looking for how much meat is on them, how clean they are, and how they walk,” she explains. “You have to be calm and patient when you’re teaching [the sheep] how to lead. You have to realize that they’re babies and that it’s their first time to do this.”
Brother and sister often show against each other in the same division. And as would be expected from two athletes — Trenton plays on Oakdale School’s baseball team while Shaylyn is on the middle school basketball squad — the com-petitive juices can start flowing.
“We’ll be telling each other, ‘I’m gonna win,’” says Trenton.
“He likes to talk smack sometimes,” counters Shaylyn as she grins at her brother.
They may not agree on how they’ll place, but one thing the Melhorns don’t quibble over is the top-notch care they pro-vide to their flock. The Scott Morgan Farmers Cooperative customers use Co-op’s complete line of sheep and lamb feed products to provide the ani-mals with optimum nutritional quality. Their feeding program includes Co-op 13% Pel-leted All-Purpose Sheep Feed (#93303), Co-op 16% Coarse Lamb Grower-Finisher (#359), Co-op Sheep Goat Mineral with Zinpro (#683), and Co-op Show Lamb Feed (#93531), which is designed specifically for compe-tition animals. The show feed is a fully fortified ration with selenium yeast and vitamin E to help support the immune system, steam-rolled corn and barley as energy starters, and multiple sources of high-quality protein to aid lambs in reaching their genetic potential.
“You’ve got to have the right mixture and the right amount of fiber, vitamins, and protein for sheep to do well in East Ten-nessee,” says Bob, who also has a small-scale Angus cow/calf operation on the farm. “Typi-cally, there’s too much humidity for them to do well here. With sheep, you have to have the fiber and a good-quality hay. They like a leafy hay the best. You don’t want them to get too big because that can work against you.”
“And I like the Co-op mineral better than any I’ve ever fed,” he adds. “It gives them the look that
they need. I feed 50 pounds of the mineral every three weeks.”
While “Papaw” handles the purchasing of the flock’s feed and animal nutrition products, the kids pay him back by doing well in the shows, grooming the flock, and performing various other duties around the farm. The Melhorns all agree that be-ing around this agricultural envi-ronment is the greatest learning tool a young person could have.
“My grandkids care for their sheep, have their own chickens and sell the eggs, and have their own garden,” says Bob. “I can trust Trenton to run any piece of machinery on this farm. And 4-H has been a big help to them, too. I praise it 100 percent and wish more kids would get involved.”
Trenton and Shaylyn each say that farming is foreign to most of their friends. At many of the shows they attend, they are the only participants from Morgan County.
“My friends are interested in playing video games and watch-ing TV,” says Trenton. “I do that some, but not a whole lot. I would much rather be up here riding my horse, putting hay down, or helping Papaw around the farm. I love it. Hopefully, one day I’ll get to run it.”
Shaylyn, who recently won first place statewide in her age division for her 4-H sheep proj-ect, says most of her classmates know little about her sheep-showing passion.
“They know that a sheep goes ‘baaaa,’ and that’s about it,” she says, shaking her head.
Shaylyn’s true feelings about
her sheep and her life on the farm are best summed up by this excerpt from a paper she wrote as part of her 4-H project:
“I am so grateful for my sheep and what they have taught me through being kind and gentle. I will forever be grateful to have the responsibilities of helping my animals, working with what God provides, and growing new
life on this land. This is some-thing I will always honor and hand down to my children and grandchildren.”
For more information on Co-op’s sheep and lamb feeds, talk with your local Co-op live-stock experts or visit online at www.ourcoop.com and click on “Animal Nutrition Brochures” under the “Programs” tab.
As the sun sets on a warm summer day at the Melhorns’ farm, part of their Suffolk flock makes its daily trek from the barn to the cool, dewy comfort of the pasture. At present, Trenton and Shaylyn care for some 80 Suffolk and Tunis, roughly half of which are lambs.
10 July 2012
Story and photos by Allison Morgan and Mark E. Johnson
The technology of tissue-sampling crops is based on a complex system of
laboratory science and ad-vanced agronomic information. But the results are only as good as the sample taken in the field.
That’s why a specialized team of Co-op interns are focused on tissue-sampling corn, soybeans, and cotton in West and Middle Tennessee this summer. As part of WinField’s NutriSolutions® program, these interns are working with Tennessee Farm-ers Cooperative and member Co-op agronomy specialists to help build interest in the program and ensure that plant samples are carefully and accu-rately collected, prepared, and submitted for analyses.
“We’ve been offering tissue-sampling services for a couple of years, and we’ve recognized the tremendous value it can bring to growers who want to correct in-season nutrient deficien-cies,” says Alan Sparkman, TFC agronomy marketing manager. “However, pulling samples can be a labor-intensive, time-sensitive process, so we deter-mined that one way to expand the program was to have interns dedicated to this task. These in-terns are all agriculture majors, so they get valuable, hands-on field experience as well.”
Before they began their assignments, the group of 10 interns received classroom in-struction by WinField and TFC experts, gained hands-on train-ing in the field, and toured A&L Laboratories in Memphis, where the tissue samples are analyzed. David Cook, a senior agriculture business major at the University of Tennessee at Martin who is interning with Gibson Farmers Cooperative, says the informa-tion prepared him well for sam-pling corn, cotton, and soybean fields for Co-op customers.
“We learned that it’s critical to get the samples at just the right time and that it takes more than just a one-time-a-season sample to get the most out of it,” says David. “We try to make sure growers know that when we’re explaining the program.”
Though most tissue-sampling is taking place in crop-heavy West Tennessee, Courtney Col-lyer, a senior plant and soil sci-ences major at Middle Tennessee State University, says the growers she’s working with through her internship at Rutherford Farmers Cooperative are “excited to have tissue-sampling as a service.”
“It’s gratifying to be able to do something that benefits the farmers in this area while I’m working toward a career,” says Courtney. “It’s a lot of fun, too.”
While the interns say the sampling process isn’t difficult, it does require concentration and attention to detail. They must get a good representation of the plants in each field, with a goal of pulling from 30 to 50 samples — enough to make a “softball-size” pile of leaves. Using a NutriSolutions smart-phone “app,” they then capture the GPS coordinates of a field, scan the barcode on the sample bag, and enter data ranging from weather conditions to the
crop’s growth stage. With the tap of a button, all this infor-mation is sent to the lab to await the arrival of the sample.
The analysis provided by the NutriSolutions Tool is usually returned to the Co-op the next day, which means a grower could be making critical correc-tions to plant nutrients within 48 hours. The report provides the crop’s nutritional profile and specific recommendations
Co-op interns focus on tissue-testing tasks
Summer samplers
that may include Max-In foliar nutrient applications.
“By the time you see deficien-cies, it’s usually too late to do anything about it,” says Alan. “This allows us to be proactive and get ahead of those problems before they impact yield. It’s the next step in serving our farmers.”
For more information on tissue-sampling or the NutriSo-lutions Tool, talk with your Co-op agronomy specialists.
Rutherford Farmers Cooperative intern Courtney Collyer, a senior plant and soil sciences major at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, pulls tissue samples of corn in Rutherford County. She is a member of a specialized intern team tasked with tissue-sampling in Middle and West Tennessee this summer. They are among some 150 interns participating in the nationwide NutriSolutions program.
LEFT: David Cook, a senior agriculture business major at the University of Tennessee at Martin and intern for Gibson Farmers Cooperative, pulls cotton tissue samples in the Trenton area. ABOVE: Interns use a smartphone “app” to enter information related to the sample contained in a bag that’s printed with a special barcode. When the app reads the barcode, the data is instantly uploaded to A&L Laboratories in Memphis.
July 2012 11
12 July 2012
Friday, July 13, is the dead-line for nominations for the 2012 Tennessee Small Farmer of the Year awards to be given by Tennessee State University at its Small Farms Expo on Thursday, Aug. 30, at the university’s Ag-ricultural Research and Educa-tion Center in Nashville.
The expo will also feature educational workshops, a free lunch, and field demonstrations.
In this Eighth Annual Small Farmer of the Year Award Pro-
‘Small Farmer of Year’ nominations due by July 13gram, six farmers will be cited in two categories, based on gross annual sales: three in less than $50,000 and three in the $50,000-$250,000 range.
Winners in each of the two gross sales categories will be chosen for achievements in three separate areas: best management practices, innova-tive marketing, and alternative enterprises. Program organizers are urging each county to nomi-nate contestants.
The overall winner in the competition will be deemed “Tennessee Star Small Farmer of the Year.”
Recognition of the outstand-ing farmers is only a part of the Aug. 30 Tennessee Small Farms Expo for which the theme this year is “The Changing Face of Tennessee Agriculture.”
Educational workshops will include small farms diversifica-tion and farm financial plan-ning. Field demonstrations
will focus on 21st century greenhouse technology, organic vegetable research, commu-nity gardens, benefits of safe pesticide use and handling, small-flock chicken production, and Equipment 101 for small farms.
To preregister for the Expo, reserve a vendor space, or nominate an outstanding farmer, contact Chris Robbins at 615-792-5744 or [email protected].
Big doings are scheduled for three straight Saturdays in Au-gust as the West Tennessee Cot-ton Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary in Crockett Mills.
From the roaring excitement of a truck and tractor pull to the pageantry of the Miss West Ten-nessee Maid of Cotton competi-tion, organizers are promising “something for everyone” at the silver anniversary of the popular Crockett County festival.
Events will be at the Crock-ett Mills Community Center, and they’re all free. With more attractions to be added during coming weeks, these are already on the schedule:
Saturday, Aug. 4 — Beauty pageants with children’s division beginning at 10 a.m., and older girls — ages 13 through 19 — vying at 2 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 11 — Action in the annual Ken-Ten Truck and Tractor Pull will rev up at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 18 — A rous-ing Family Fun Day awaits visi-tors who are anxious to share in the excitement of the festival’s 25th anniversary celebration. A wide array of activities and attractions for children — in-cluding a petting zoo, dog show, and Kiddie Tractor Pull — are planned. Grown-ups, meanwhile, will enjoy gospel singing and browsing various booths featuring the handiwork of area artists and craftsmen. Several area businesses will have exhibits, too.
For additional information, call 731-677-4170.
Cotton festival to celebrate25th birthday
July 2012 13
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14 July 2012
Neighborly Advice Crop Protection
Every year seems
to bring new challenges to production agriculture. Recently, one of the biggest concerns has been
controlling tough weeds. This is due in part to a growing num-ber of weeds, such as pigweed, that have developed tolerance to glyphosate, but not all these issues are caused by resistance. Lambsquarter, giant ragweed, and velvetleaf are a few examples of weeds that are just tough to control. Most hard-to-kill weeds have natural physical attributes — hairy or waxy leaves or aggres-sive growth — that help them fight all types of herbicides.
Extreme heat and drought the last two summers have also made it more difficult to control
Tough tactics for hard-to-kill weedsweeds. In hot, dry weather, weeds tend to produce leaves with thicker, waxier cuticles that inhibit many chemistries from penetrating, thus reducing the amount of active ingredient that gets into the weed. These situ-ations make a hard-to-control weed even harder to control.
Just looking at the season so far, I believe we will have some unique challenges this year. The very early spring and continued warm temperatures have allowed some weeds to get a head start. These weeds will continue to emerge throughout the summer, so even if adequate control has been obtained, there are likely more weeds to come. Also, the lack of rainfall through much of Tennessee and the region has made it difficult for residual herbicides to activate.
There are currently no more silver bullets like glyphosate to make weed control easy. How-ever, there are a few tactics we
can take to get tough on weeds in post-emergence applications.
One of the most commonly overlooked factors in post-emergence applications is weed size. Most hard-to-kill weeds are much easier to control when they are small and before they have established those natural defenses. In a perfect world, we would push back our post ap-plications until most weeds have emerged and then try to kill everything at once. But this is not a good practice because we lose the best opportunity to kill the early-emerging species.
Another key is using the ap-propriate chemical rate for the weed size and spectrum in each field. No matter what product is used, a lethal amount must be delivered to the weeds to expect sufficient control.
Finally, it’s critical to use the correct adjuvant at the correct rate. Adjuvants are spray tank additives that help defeat envi-
ronmental barriers. Nearly all crop protectants call for spe-cific types of adjuvants to help them work better. For example, glyphosate needs ammonium sulfate and surfactant for the best efficacy. Class Act NG by WinField is a fully loaded ammonium sulfate product that contains additional surfac-tant. It’s formulated with the unique CornSorb Technology, which has been proven to allow more glyphosate across the leaf cuticle. Other chemistries want crop oils or methylated seed oils for best results. Superb HC and Destiny HC by WinField are both high surfactant oil concen-trates that fulfill those require-ments. They both also contain CornSorb Technology.
Most importantly, remember that none of these tips are as good alone as they are together. Rate, weed size, and adjuvants are all pieces to the puzzle of controlling hard-to-kill weeds.
Darrin Holder
WinField Agronomist
Client: WINFIELD Proof #: 2Client Code: WINF02 Print Scale: NoneJob #: 50047 Version: None
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July 2012 15
Neighborly Advice Wildlife
Visit your Co- op, or call Tru-Test at 800-874-8494 .
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• 2 year warranty (including lightning)
These days, more
and more emphasis is placed on buying or leasing recreational land, which provides
the opportunity to manage that property to enhance wildlife populations. One simple, effec-tive way to both attract deer to an area and improve their tro-phy quality is through the use of supplemental nutrition.
Deer browse and graze on the trees, shrubs, bushes, briars, and grasses that are available in their home range. Likewise, deer are opportunists and will go to lengths to consume tender vegetation. They’ll jump fences and defy scarecrows to eat gar-den plants, and they love to visit corn and soybean fields for easy
Make nutrition part of deer managementmeals. This is not by accident. The tender new growth of plants and their grain are often the most nutrient-dense.
Nutrition is a major limiting factor of body size and trophy status in white-tailed deer along with health and genetics. While genetics in wild deer popula-tions are not easy to change, we can provide extra nutrition to allow deer to express their devel-opment potential and to help assure overall health.
Before exploring supplemen-tal nutrition methods, think about this. In most cases, the largest white-tailed bucks harvested each year, in terms of body weight and antler score, come from states with a strong agricultural presence. In other words, those bucks had access to superior nutrition. Further-more, I was excited to learn from a retired wildlife biologist that many of the whitetails in Tennessee are descendants of
released deer from Michigan and Texas. So our local deer herds likely carry some strong genetics for trophy potential!
There are several ways to provide supplemental nutrition to deer in your hunting area. Growing food plots is a great way to accomplish this if you have enough time and the right equipment to devote to the proj-ect. Planting food plots involves at least some soil preparation such as disking, harrowing and/or cultipacking. Likewise, fol-lowing soil test recommenda-tions to determine soil pH and fertilizer needs is key to estab-lishing and maintaining a good stand of vegetation.
Food plots provide much flexibility as to forage type and time of year when plants are lush, growing, and attractive to deer. Seed blends for fall/winter food plots consist of specialized cultivars of wheat, rye and oats, clovers, and specific brassicas. Spring/summer food plots uti-lize clovers and unique strains of corn and soybeans. These plants mature at different times, providing a consistent source of supplemental nutrition. Clo-ver, chicory, and alfalfa can be established as perennial plots that do not require reseeding each year. All of these forages are very palatable and provide deer with an excellent source of high-quality protein and addi-tional energy. Check with your Co-op for a great selection of food plot seed and site prepara-tion supplies.
While food plots can be custom-tailored to provide nutrients at times when native forages and browse may be lack-ing, it is best to provide them throughout the year. Not only does this keep deer frequent-ing your hunting area, it also provides needed nutrients for all stages of their life cycle. With-out growing forage, whitetails will soon leave the areas that you have worked hard to bring them to.
Using a commercial deer feed and a purchased or homemade feeding station is another viable option to attract and hold white-
tails in a specific area. Co-op offers several feeds to provide protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals in a convenient, pel-leted form that is very palatable to white-tailed deer. Using a portable feeder also adds flex-ibility to your deer management program because it allows your feeding stations to be moved as seasons change and/or whitetail travel patterns vary.
Manufactured feed blocks are also an option for remote areas, land where you may not have feeders, or property you may not visit much except during hunting season. These blocks contain most of the same nutrients in deer feed and will last for several days or weeks, depending on the density of deer populations in the area.
A mineral mixture consisting of salt, calcium, phosphorus, vitamins and trace minerals should be the cornerstone of any quality deer management program. These products are convenient to use and re-quire no specialized feeders or equipment. Deer minerals act not only as an attractant but also provide nutrients that are necessary to maximize body size and antler growth and are often lacking in forages and browse alone. Minerals are involved in all phases of a deer’s life cycle and affect weight, reproduction, health, and antler growth.
Using nutrition as a part of management can improve the number, size and trophy quality of the deer in your hunting area. For more information on these products, visit with the folks at your Co-op.
Paul Davis, Ph.D.
TFC Nutritionist
Food plots are an effective way to provide supplemental nutrition to deer.
16 July 2012
A newly implemented EBT (electronic bank transfer), debit- and credit-card payment method is a hit at the Ruther-ford County Farmers’ Market according to farmers, consum-ers, and market officials.
“This is going wonderfully,” says Janie Becker, the market’s manager. “It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for years. Our producers are experienc-ing a lot of economic impact and making sales they wouldn’t have seen before.”
Becker adds that the re-sponse from customers with EBT payments, which include Supplemental Nutrition Assis-tance Program benefits former-ly known as food stamps, has been especially rewarding.
“Many people came in the first day saying they always wanted to buy produce from local farmers, but there was nowhere to buy it [with EBT cards],” says Becker. “Being the first farmers’ market in the county to accept EBT has been worth the effort.”
The initiative, dubbed “Grow Healthy Rutherford,” was made possible through a U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers’ Market Promotion Program grant obtained by Middle Tennessee State Uni-versity’s School of Agribusiness and Agriscience. The system allows customers to swipe EBT, credit, and debit cards to obtain
tokens that they, in turn, use to make purchases at the market. Usually in less than a week, MTSU Accounting Services reimburses the farmers by direct deposit or check.
Ben Jones, assistant director for accounting services, says his office “is excited to be part of it” and credits Dr. Justin Gard-ner, MTSU agribusiness and
agriscience professor, for spear-heading “a great program.”
“He has done a fantastic job,” Jones says of Gardner. “The farmers were used to a cash transaction. We try to turn around these [card] transac-tions as quickly as we can so they can get their payments.”
Becker said the grant also helps fund a free “seasonal-eat-
ing” demonstration at 10 a.m. on the last Tuesday of each month through Oct. 30.
The Rutherford County Farmers’ Market is located at Lane Agri-Park on John R. Rice Boulevard in Murfreesboro and is open from 7 a.m. until noon each Tuesday and Friday until the end of October. For more information, call 615-898-7710.
Gabby Starr, a Middle Tennessee State University senior ag education major from Hendersonville, assists customers as they use credit, debit, and EBT payments to obtain tokens for purchases at the Rutherford County Farmers’ Market. — Photo by MTSU News and Media Relations
Rutherford Farmers’ Market implements new EBT payment system for consumers
July 2012 17
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18 July 2012
A rthur “Rat” McFerrin had an idea: Let the chickens turn
on the lights.Having purchased Ready-
ville Mill some 20 years earlier — in 1887 — from previous owner Sam Hayes, Rat was constantly “tinkering” with ways to make the four-story Cannon County structure and its sister buildings more ef-ficient and productive. Known for his inventiveness, Rat had already devised a method for convert-ing the energy created by the mill’s waterwheel into electricity. While most of the world was still lit by gas lantern, kerosene lamp, and candlelight, Rat was using electricity to illuminate his facility, which included a flour mill and sawmill along with his own addition: a newly finished ice plant. To his delight, Rat discovered that he had more electricity than he needed.
As the story goes, the miller shared his “wealth” by personal-ly installing light bulbs into each of the small homes and busi-nesses that comprised Ready-
ville in those days. He then ran the wires back to a room in the mill where a lever engaged the dynamo that received its energy from the waterwheel’s 350-horsepower turbine.
But someone had to be present to lower the lever each evening before dark.
“I guess Rat got tired of doing it himself,” laughs Tomm Brady, the mill’s current owner. “He solved the problem with good ol’ American ingenuity.”
Rat built a chicken coop in the dynamo room and at-tached a small platform to the
arm of the lever, creating the only available roosting spot for the poultry, explains Tomm. Every evening at dusk, the chickens launched themselves, one by one, onto the platform. Eventually, their combined weight gently lowered the lever and engaged the dynamo.
On came the lights in Readyville.
The next morning, as their own internal wiring instructed, the chickens hopped down.
Off went the lights in Readyville.
Thanks to an unlikely combination of a Rat and his chickens, the tiny town — not much more than a smattering of homes and a business or two — enjoyed electric lights before Murfreesboro or even much of Nashville, says Tomm, a de-voted customer of Rutherford Farmers Cooperative.
“It seems that creativity and entrepreneurship have been a part of this mill’s existence since
the beginning,” the owner says as he relaxes in the garden beside the granary, which is among the facility’s collection of buildings along with the mill, icehouse, miller’s house, and smokehouse. “It’s a wonderful institution to be associated with.”
While it may not hold the importance to the community that it once did, Readyville Mill is now enjoying a resur-gence unlike anything in its fabled past. The former owner of a candle company, Tomm purchased the mill in 2006, restored it, added a restaurant — The Readyville Eatery — and opened it to the public in April 2011. Though it only operates for breakfast and tours on Saturday mornings, thousands have nonetheless visited the Eatery and mill over the past 15 months.
“I just love the atmosphere — it’s a step back in time,” says Jan Girard, an Anchor-age, Alaska, resident and Cannon County native, as she strolls the grounds with
lReadyville
Readyville Mill is tucked into the woods just off Murfreesboro Road in Readyville, a town that literally formed around the commerce provided by the mill. The first and largest gristmill in Cannon County, the Readyville Mill was also the longest-lived, having ceased operations in 1979. After a five-year renovation, the mill reopened in 2011 and has quickly become a popular attraction for tourists, diners, and photographers.
By Mark E. JohnsonPhotos by Mark E. Johnson and Allison Morgan
After 200 years of existence, Readyville Mill is experiencing a resurgence of popularity and a new generation of customers
LEFT: Madison, Ala., resident Amanda Shepherd and her 4-month-old son, Wesley, sample the food and atmosphere of The Eatery, a restaurant located in the mill’s former granary. ABOVE: While visiting with current mill owner Tomm Brady, right, Readyville native Irving Stroup recounts stories of growing up near the landmark.
gThe same ol’ grind
July 2012 19
her sisters, Kathryn Freeze and Joy Lowe. “We came here when we were little to get flour and cornmeal, and it brings back memories of my father and brothers. It’s won-derful to see it restored.”
By all accounts, Jan is not alone in her assessment. Be-cause of the demand for Eatery breakfasts, call-ahead seating is usually required, thanks largely to chef Margo Riser’s whole wheat pancakes, biscuits, and grits made with organic Tennes-see grains produced by Robert-son Cheatham Farmers Cooper-ative member Alfred Farris and ground on site.
After dining and listening to live music in what was originally an ice-processing facility, visi-tors can choose from a variety of packaged flours, meals, grits, and other goodies or simply take a stroll around the grounds, which are extensively landscaped with native Tennessee flora.
With its booming popular-ity, it’s difficult to imagine that Readyville Mill — the
first and largest gristmill in the area — had nearly faded from the collective memory of Middle Tennesseans prior to 2011. Closed since the late 1970s, the buildings were being reclaimed by the ele-ments, with each high wind peeling back a little more tin roof and every heavy rain invading the broken widows and washing more of Cannon County’s history into Stones River, once the source of the mill’s formidable energy.
Before Tomm, a Bell Buckle resident, first visited the site at the suggestion of a friend, he had never been to Readyville or heard of the mill. As he explored the overgrown, six-acre property in search of discarded mill-stones, Tomm was struck by the architecture of the mill-house and still-solid “bones” of the buildings. Like Rat a century before, Tomm had an idea. For a candle-maker with no background in carpentry, it was improbable at best.
“I decided to bring the place back to life and do the work myself,” Tomm says with a wide grin, adding that he relied on skills he learned from his high school ag teacher in Texas. “Everybody I know thought I’d lost my mind, but I had recently sold my previous business, retired at age 42, and needed something to do. When I looked at the mill, I saw potential, and I thought [restoring it] would be a worthwhile project.”
After purchasing the property from its Nashville-based owner, Tomm began his “adventure” by digging into the mill’s rich his-tory. He learned that it was built in 1812 by Charles Ready, one of Cannon County’s first settlers, over an excavated mill pond in a bend of Stones River. The mill ground the community’s flour and meal for the next 30 years — a respectable lifetime for many similar operations.
But Readyville Mill was just getting started.
In 1842, Charles, now a prominent businessman, built a new millhouse on the spot where the current structure is located and commissioned a channel or mill “race” to be dug from a dammed portion of the river approximately 1/4-mile up-stream. With more concentrated
water power at hand, Charles then installed an “undershot” water wheel — turned by the flow of water at its base rather than over the top — to improve efficiency. The enhancements undoubtedly attracted more business and settlers to the area.
“As you would expect by its name, the town of Readyville essentially formed around the mill as time went by,” says Tomm. “It was a thriving opera-tion and might have continued without interruption were it not for the Civil War.”
As with many businesses in Middle Tennessee — where Union and Confederacy loyal-ties were often divided — sus-picions about the mill, a com-munity gathering spot, led to its destruction. It’s unclear, Tomm says, which side is responsible, but the mill was nonetheless burned to the ground. Within five years, though, it was rebuilt, and by the mid-1870s, Ready-ville Mill and more than 850 other gristmills were operating in Tennessee.
“Gristmills were the basis of commerce in those days,” Tomm points out. “Towns couldn’t survive without them.”
By the 1890s, Readyville Mill, which by then included a sawmill, had passed into Rat McFerrin’s ingenious hands. With his newfangled electricity (and trained chick-ens), Rat added the icehouse around the turn of the century, pro-viding yet another valuable service to the community that would con-tinue for another 50 years.
Readyville na-tive Irving Stroup recalls frequent visits to the mill’s icehouse in his fa-ther’s Model-T Ford in the 1930s.
“They had a big saw they’d use to cut 300-pound blocks of ice,” says Irving, 87, now a Murfreesboro resi-dent. “They would saw it up right there on the street, and us kids would eat the shavings.
There was no flavoring, but it was a treat just the same.”
As a teenager, dental prob-lems necessitated Irving’s em-ployment at the mill’s granary for one memorable week.
“I spent the whole time cleaning grain bags and inspect-ing them for rat holes,” Irving says with a chuckle. “At the end of the week, I was able to go have two teeth pulled with the money I earned from the mill.”
As the 20th century aged, more and more gristmills closed as supermarkets came into fash-
Readyville Mill is tucked into the woods just off Murfreesboro Road in Readyville, a town that literally formed around the commerce provided by the mill. The first and largest gristmill in Cannon County, the Readyville Mill was also the longest-lived, having ceased operations in 1979. After a five-year renovation, the mill reopened in 2011 and has quickly become a popular attraction for tourists, diners, and photographers.
(See Mill, page 20)
Armed only with carpentry skills learned as a high school agriculture student in Texas, Brady has done nearly all the renovation work on the mill singlehandedly. The buildings were “falling in” when he purchased them in 2006.
Kyle Smith, a student of entrepreneurial business at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, runs the mill Saturday mornings. Visitors can purchase products ground
on site, including grits, cornmeal, and a variety of flours.
20 July 2012
(continued from page 19)
Mill
ion and the range and efficiency of automobiles increased. By the 1970s, nearly every mill in the state had ceased operation — with one notable exception.
“I guess people couldn’t bear to see Readyville Mill go away,” Tomm theorizes. “A man named Leslie Justice and his son, Paul, owned the mill for about 40 years, through about 1970, before selling it. In the mid-70s, it changed hands again and became sort of a hippie commune, but they still ground meal. These folks had a school bus with all but the driver’s seat removed and a hole cut in the top. They’d drive to a wheat silo in Kansas, fill the bus up, and drive it back.”
The times finally caught up to the mill, and the operation shut down in 1979. Although the task of successfully renovat-ing it would eventually fall to Tomm, other individuals and groups attempted to purchase and revive the facility through-out the ensuing years.
“The [Readyville] community actually pulled together an or-ganization some years ago to try to buy it, but it didn’t work out,” says Irving. “I think everybody around here is glad to see Tomm purchase and renovate it.”
Tomm spent five years level-ing, siding, flooring, roofing, and painting the five structures of Readyville Mill before it was ready to accept visitors. Although he has no plans to open the restaurant for addi-tional days or meals, Tomm has one major goal left for the mill: repair the mill race.
“Some years ago, the dam was damaged by vandals and the water ceased to flow into the mill race,” he explains. “Al-though we’re using turn-of-the-century stone mills to grind our corn, they are powered by elec-tric motors. I’ve been talking to the state for more than four years to have the dam repaired so we can power the mill by water as was intended. We’ve had state senators, representa-tives, and even [then-Tennessee Ag Commissioner] Ken Givens here to look at the operation, and I’m hopeful the project will someday be funded.”
In The Eatery, diners enjoy live music by “Johnny B & Friends” and fresh breakfasts prepared by Laura Hanna, Regina Coley, and head chef Margo Riser. The restaurant and mill are open Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
In the meantime, Tomm adds, he will continue to help Readyville Mill add to its re-markable timeline.
“Not many businesses can say they’ve survived for 200 years,” he says. “I’m sure ol’ Charles Ready and Rat McFerrin would be amazed but proud!”
To learn more about Ready-ville Mill, visit online at www.readyvillemill.com. To make breakfast reservations at The Readyville Eatery, call 615-563-6455. The Eatery and mill are open Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
July 2012 21
22 July 2012
When Kevin Griffith began looking for vaca-tion property in 2002,
he had two rather restrictive requirements: “enough water so I wouldn’t get bored and enough woods to get lost in.”
He found both perched on the Chickasaw Bluffs near Dyersburg with a secluded 110-acre lake surrounded by 2,500 acres of woods and farmland. He and wife Diana bought the property in 2004, built a house in 2006, and began splitting their time between Tennessee and their home in Clearwater, Fla., where Kevin owns and operates Depco Pump Compa-ny, a distributor of marine and industrial pumps.
“We wanted a peaceful place where there was a change of season and was within a day’s drive of our home in Florida,”
says Kevin. “I wanted water, and Diana wanted a cabin in the woods. As we looked, my vision just kept expanding, and when I saw this place, I knew it was what I’d been looking for and a whole lot more.”
After seeing an aerial view of the lake, Kevin noticed that its shape resembled a fern leaf and named the property Fyrne Lake Farm in honor of his late grandmother, Fyrne Taylor, who was instrumental in de-veloping his love of fishing and the outdoors. Continuing a tradition started by the previous landowner, a large portion of the farm’s income comes from selling annual memberships to people who want to fish on the
lake, which was built in 1978 by the West Tennessee River Basin Authority for erosion and flood control. Year-round, from dawn to dusk, members and their guests are allowed to fish for the lake’s stock of bass, crappie, bream, and catfish.
With enterprises like the fishing club, Kevin says his goal is to make the farm sus-tainable while protecting its natural beauty. In doing so, he’s balancing the need for profit-able agricultural pursuits with his desire to conserve the farm’s fragile, easily erodible land. Rising some 250 feet above the Mississippi River floodplain, Fyrne Lake Farm’s bluffs and ridges are made of a very fine soil called loess, created from deposits of wind-blown dust and silt over many centuries.
Because years of traditional
farming methods by prior landowners had worsened the erosion, Kevin has been sowing cover crops, perennial grasses, and forages that can be harvest-ed for hay to help keep the land intact. While researching the options, he sought the advice of Spence Lowry, outside salesman for Gibson Farmers Coop-erative, where Kevin purchases most of his farm inputs.
Spence recommended Roundup Ready® alfalfa — which received clearance to be re-released to the market in January 2011 — as a forage that would be productive and easy to establish and maintain. Roundup Ready alfalfa is the first perennial crop to offer glyphosate-resistant technology, which simplifies stand establish-ment, makes weed control more flexible, improves forage quality
LEFT: A few weeks before its second cutting this spring, this Roundup Ready alfalfa field is thriving on Kevin Griffith’s Fyrne Lake Farm in Dyersburg. The crop is helping him preserve the highly erodible land while providing a viable income source. He was among the first growers in Tennessee to plant Roundup Ready alfalfa after its re-release to the market in January 2011. RIGHT: Kevin and wife Diana bought the farm as vacation property in 2004 and now spend the majority of their time there with son Andrew.
Built by the West Tennessee River Basin Authority in 1978, Fyrne Lake covers 110 acres with nearly 8 miles of shoreline and is surrounded by some 2,000 acres of woods. The lake’s fern leaf shape inspired Kevin to name it after his grandmother, Fyrne Taylor. He sells annual memberships to people who want to fish on the lake. — Photo courtesy of Kevin Griffith
l Dyersburg
By Allison Morgan
July 2012 23
by reducing weed content, and increases yield and hay quality. In Tennessee, it can be planted in the fall or spring, with recom-mended dates of Aug. 15 to Sept. 15 and March 1 to May 1.
“We wanted income sources for the farm that are kind to the land,” says Kevin. “This is a product that will achieve that goal. Alfalfa offers more value per manhour than other types of hay, and Roundup Ready has great yield potential and is easy to take care of. We’ve got a lot of projects on this farm, and anything I can do to make production easier gives us more time to do other things.”
Roundup Ready alfalfa was introduced in 2005, but sales were halted in 2007 after a federal lawsuit was filed by the Center for Food Safety, citing the U.S. Department of Agricul-ture’s failure to prepare an En-vironmental Impact Statement. That study was completed in December 2010, with USDA determining that Roundup Ready alfalfa is as safe as con-ventional alfalfa. The product was allowed back on the market in January 2011.
In March 2011, Kevin was one of the first growers in Ten-nessee to plant Roundup Ready alfalfa after its reauthorization. At Spence’s suggestion, he sowed 12 acres of Farm Sci-ence Genetics 425RR Alfalfa from Allied Seed, a forage seed company owned in part by Ten-nessee Farmers Cooperative. Developed with the Genuity Roundup Ready technology, 425RR Alfalfa produces top yields, recovers quickly after cutting, and performs well over a wide range of environmental conditions. It is also highly re-sistant to the common diseases and insects that affect alfalfa.
“Weed management in conventional alfalfa can be complicated, requiring different products and strategies depend-ing on the season and stage of production,” says Roger West, TFC Farm Seed Department manager. “Roundup Ready alfalfa lets you produce cleaner, higher-quality alfalfa with the convenience of using one herbi-cide. Fewer weeds in every bale results in better feed.”
As it was getting established last year, Kevin was only able to harvest the alfalfa once, but starting in late April of this year, he’s been harvesting every 28 to 30 days and says he’s pleased with the yields so far.
“We only got six round bales off the fields last year, but it came in strong this spring,” says Kevin, whose main customer for the hay is currently the Tennes-see Safari Park in Alamo, home to some 400 exotic and domestic animals. “We put up 16 five-foot round bales on our first cutting this year, and the second cutting made 18 round bales. We cut for the third time June 15 and made 338 square bales.”
The alfalfa production is an important step toward making Fyrne Lake Farm both self-sustaining and environmentally sound, says Kevin. For addi-tional income, he’s growing 40 acres of soybeans in the bot-tomland and producing honey from some 25 beehives that are managed by his brother, Kris Griffith, who moved to the farm in 2008. With help from other farm employees Tommy Criswell and Richard Cathey, he’s also meticulously implementing conservation measures to stop or slow erosion and fighting a fierce battle against the highly invasive kudzu vine that has claimed many of the hillsides.
It’s a lot of work and quite a change from his office job in Florida, Kevin admits, but he and Diana are enjoying their dream-come-true property so much that they are spending the majority of their time there. When he’s not working on the farm, Kevin can be found fish-ing with their 7-year-old son, Andrew; visiting the family’s newly built cabin in the woods; planting orchards of apples, per-simmons, peaches, plums, and pears; or just experiencing the solitude of the surroundings.
“I love it, absolutely love it,”
he says. “My vision for the farm is to develop it to the point where it pays its own way, improve the property to the standards of a public park, and maintain it as a pristine, private farm that we share with family and friends. Our dream is to keep this in the family forever.”
For more information on Fyrne Lake Farm, visit its Face-book page or website at www.fyrnelake.com. To learn more about Roundup Ready alfalfa’s benefits and planting recom-mendations, talk with the crop experts at your local Co-op.
LEFT: On June 15, Tommy Criswell runs the tedder after Kevin’s alfalfa fields are harvested for the third time this year. The 12 acres yielded 338 square bales on this cutting. With glyphosate-tolerant technology, Roundup Ready alfalfa offers better and more convenient weed control, resulting in high-quality hay. — Photo courtesy of Kevin Griffith RIGHT: Kevin, right, inspects the alfalfa stand with Spence Lowry, outside salesman for Gibson Farmers Cooperative, where Kevin purchases most of his farm supplies.
24 July 2012
lPulaski
A former director of associate member Limestone Farmers Cooperative, Dwight has produced beef since 1979.
As much-needed late-spring rains fall on his Giles County farm, beef
producer Dwight Watson relaxes on a porch swing under a wood pavilion. Constructed by his own hands with lumber cut from his 500-acre family farm, the pavilion is strong, sturdy, and sensibly built.
In fact, the same could be said of Dwight’s beef operation.
“I don’t try to do anything fancy,” says Dwight, a longtime member and former director of Tennessee Farmers Cooperative associate member Limestone Farmers Cooperative, which purchased Giles Farmers Co-operative in 2010. “I do my homework with genetics, provide good feed and forages, and keep an eye on herd health. I just do the best I can.”
Dwight’s quiet demeanor doesn’t diminish the fact that he is known as one of Giles Coun-ty’s more progressive cattleman and is one of the founders of the Giles County Beef Marketing Alliance (GCBMA), which, since its creation in 1999, has expand-ed into the Tennessee Beef Mar-keting Alliance (TBMA). The
alliance was originally formed to allow beef producers with small herds the marketing advantage of putting together a uniform group of cattle in a size large enough — usually a tractor-trailer load — to attract top buyers and garner premium prices.
“I’m proud of what these alliances have accomplished over the past decade or so,” says Dwight, currently serving as secretary-treasurer of the GCBMA, which retains its own identity within the larger state-wide alliance. “It’s still a work in progress, and there are things we can improve, but I think we’ve essentially achieved our goal of creating better marketing opportunities and results for our members.”
With around 120 commercial mama cows — mostly Angus and Angus/Hereford “black baldy” crosses — Dwight says his Pu-laski operation is typical of many Middle Tennessee beef farms in number and composition.
“Our herd has evolved over the years,” he explains. “We started out in 1979 with Beef-master and Brangus but then switched to all-black bulls when people started wanting black-hided cattle.”
A proponent of careful genetic selection, Dwight admits that
he studies bull EPD (expected progeny differences) guides “obsessively.”
“It’s part of what I enjoy about beef cattle farming,” says Dwight, who regularly uses the genetics component of the Tennessee Agricultural Enhance-ment Program to help achieve his desired herd makeup. “I’ve lately been selecting smaller-framed bulls in hopes of down-sizing my cows because when they get too big, they’re hard to keep. I’m looking for a little less frame and a little more gut.”
Dwight says he’s nearly as obsessive about his forages as he is his genetics and uses quality grasses as the cornerstone of his feeding program. He rotates his cattle among 15 to 20 pastures and stockpiles fescue for the colder months, usually only feeding hay during the latest few weeks of winter.
“I take a lot of pains trying to have decent pastures,” he says. “I’ve worked with [Giles County Extension Agent] Kevin Rose and [University of Tennessee Exten-sion Forage Specialist] Dr. Gary Bates for several years on ways to improve my pasture, and we’re always trying something new.”
It’s been a challenge, he says, to improve the fertility of his pasture ground over the years.
“Years and years ago — way before my time — this land was mostly in cotton,” Dwight says. “Well, they about wore out the soil. By soil-testing and then liming and fertilizing accordingly, I’m gradually getting the fertility back up, and I can really tell the difference. For years, you could hardly grow any grass on some of these hills, but now they are do-ing great. It all works together to improve our herd nutrition.”
Dwight credits Co-op miner-als for helping to correct nutri-tional deficiencies and provid-ing excellent conception and breedback rates. Feeding Co-op 18% Beef Supplement with Rumensin (#456) to his weaned calves and replacement heifers,
Story and photos by Mark E. Johnson
Beef producer Dwight Watson uses good forage, sound genetics, Co-op feeds, and common sense as a management strategy
Nothingfancy
These “black baldy” replacement heifers are among the cows Pulaski beef producer Dwight Watson will market through the Tennessee Beef Marketing Alliance this year.
July 2012 25
Dwight says he prefers to provide “smaller quantities of a higher-quality product.”
“This works well, I think, when you pay close attention to your forages,” he adds. “I use a combination of grass varieties including fescue, Bermudagrass, sudan grass, and teff grass to have a warm-season component. Because my land is very rocky and hard to work up, some of the smaller-seeded varieties like teff are not as attractive to me, although they make beautiful hay.”
Dwight says his pasture systems improved “dramati-cally” in 2000 when he used the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program to install on the farm a water network that includes Ritchie and custom concrete waterers.
“That made all the difference in the world,” he says. “Fifteen years ago, I couldn’t wean calves without hauling water to them, which kind of takes the fun out of weaning calves! I plan on replacing the concrete waterers with Ritchies over the next few years.”
Weaning, he adds, is one of the main requirements of the TBMA sales. Calves must be weaned a minimum of 45 days prior to a sale. Using the “fence-line” method of weaning, Dwight places cows and calves together in a new pasture for several days before separating the two in adjacent fields.
“This works very well for us,” says Dwight, who uses CIDRs (controlled internal drug re-lease) to synchronize calving for December and January. “By the time we split them up, the calves know where the waterers are and have a good feel for the pasture. Within three days or so of sepa-rating them, I’ll have the cows completely moved away, all the bawling will be over with, and the calves are good to go. We’ve never had any health problems at all related to weaning.”
The Alliance sales also call for calves to be bunk-broken, provided with two rounds of vac-cinations, and born out of bulls that meet minimum EPDs for growth and carcass traits.
“I think that sets our sales apart from typical precondi-tioned sales,” he notes. “It
provides even more unifor-mity to the group.”
Working his cattle, Dwight says, has been much easier since he purchased a Priefert chute two years ago through Lime-stone Farmers Co-op. The equipment has even “made a believer” out of Dwight’s wife of 33 years, Cherie, who admittedly is not a fan of work-ing cattle.
“Oh, I love that chute,” says Cherie, who is responsible for giving the vaccinations. “It holds them tight, and they can’t budge either way, up or down. It’s great.”
Now in his 33rd year as a full-time cattleman, Dwight says his career is as rewarding as ever.
“I have just always enjoyed being around cattle,” he says. “It’s really neat to see that calf
hit the ground, and it’s interest-ing to find out if your breeding decisions are working, trying to improve them a little each year, and weed out the problem cows. I’m never going to get rich doing it, but that’s OK. Cherie and I are happy with this life.”
To learn more about Co-op cattle feeds and minerals, visit with the professionals at your lo-cal Co-op. For more information about Tennessee Beef Marketing Alliance sales, visit www.tennes-seelivestockproducers.com.
Dwight discusses his Priefert chute with Limestone Farmers Co-op livestock specialist Jody Grace. The cattleman credits the Co-op as being an “integral component” of his operation.
26 July 2012
Story and photos by Allison Morgan
T raffic accidents, barn fires, tornadoes, and floods are disastrous
enough by themselves, but add large animals to the mix and the situation quickly becomes even more dangerous.
That’s why Dr. Rebecca Gimenez has made it her mission to educate emergency respond-ers, veterinarians, and producers about the safest, most effective ways to rescue large animals such as horses and cattle. In February, the Macon, Ga., resident brought her Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue presentation to Savannah, Tenn., to share what could be lifesaving information with Hardin County fire and rescue workers, Co-op and Extension personnel, and animal owners.
“We’re not talking about ‘res-cuing’ neglected or abused ani-mals — although many of these techniques may be used in those types of situations,” explains Rebecca, whose parents, Mike and Carolyn Durak, have a beef operation near Savannah and are Hardin Farmers Cooperative members. “We teach people how to safely extricate large animals,
mainly cattle and horses, from entrapments like trailer wrecks, ditches, floods, and fires in local emergencies and disaster areas.”
Rebecca and her former husband, Dr. Tomas Gimenez, whom she met while working on her Ph.D. in animal physiology at Clemson University in the late 1990s, founded the train-ing program together in 2000 and published an accompanying textbook in 2008. They continue to collaborate as business part-ners, and the Savannah program was a condensed version of the multi-day, hands-on course they teach worldwide.
“We’re trying to bring more safety and sanity to these res-cues,” said Rebecca. “One of the hardest things to get people to understand is that what you see in the movies and at the rodeo is not what you do at a rescue scene. The wrong meth-ods can get you or the animals killed. If we can make you a little smarter about some of the approaches to take in these situ-ations, then we’ve accomplished something.”
Even though Hardin Coun-ty’s fire and rescue crews work in an area filled with cattle and horse farms, they have little ex-perience with large-animal res-cue, said Melvin Martin, Hardin County fire chief and emergen-cy management director, who
joined some 15 members of his department at Rebecca’s Febru-ary program.
“Our workers don’t get a lot of training in this, but it’s a serious subject we need to know more about,” said Martin. “Thankfully, we don’t see a lot of these situa-tions, but when we do, we need to know how to handle it for the safety of our firefighters and the animals.”
One of the most important things rescue personnel must realize, Rebecca emphasized, is that large animals cannot be handled like humans.
“A firefighter can easily drag around people in an emergency, but they don’t understand that 1,400 pounds of horse or cow
cannot be moved the same way,” said Rebecca. “You cannot make it do anything. That’s why we make handling skills one of our top priorities.”
Rebecca’s presentation mainly focused on trailer wrecks and barn fires, the most common emergencies involving horses and cattle. Safety is always the first concern, she said, warning that no one should start trying to rescue animals until the scene has been properly assessed and a solid plan formulated for extri-cating and handling those that are dead, injured, and intact.
It’s also a good idea, she added, to get a veterinarian on the scene to sedate the animals, treat them for injuries, or eutha-nize them if needed.
“Under duress and stress, these animals can do amazing things,” said Rebecca. “They follow their instincts of fight or flight. If you are in the way, somebody is going to get hurt.”
In the case of a barn fire, there’s often not much time to formulate a good plan for saving the animals inside. That’s why, Rebecca said, prevention and preparation are critical.
“Data shows that most barns are going to be fully involved after seven minutes,” she said. “In other words, no one can go into that facility after that. It requires us to do our homework to make our barns safer and prevent those problems in the first place.”
Fire kills more horses an-nually than any other type of nonmedical emergency, Rebecca said, pointing out that the same causes of house fires are respon-sible for barn fires: faulty wiring, overloading electrical circuits,
Firefighters in Florida’s Miami Dade Fire Rescue division pull a horse out of a ditch with a sideways drag. The technique is one of the safe, effective methods that Dr. Rebecca Gimenez advocates in her Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue training, which she recently presented to Hardin County fire and rescue personnel and local producers. — Photo courtesy of Rebecca Gimenez
Rebecca shows photos of how quickly a barn fire can consume a structure, making it impossible to rescue animals inside unless there are exterior stall doors. Barn fires are the No. 1 nonmedical cause of horse deaths, she told the Hardin County crowd.
l Savannah
July 2012 27
smoking, lightning, and arson. Rebecca advocates having an evacuation plan for animals housed in barns and designing the structures so that stalls have exterior as well as interior doors.
“It really comes down to ac-cess points,” she explained. “If you can only get your animals out the center aisles, you’re not going to get them out. Stall doors on the outside are nice because firefighters are not go-ing to let you inside the barn.”
But the best way to deal with a large animal emergency is to prevent it in the first place, she emphasized.
“Really, a lot of our emergen-cies are manmade,” she said. “We do dumb things.”
Rebecca said animal owners can help avoid emergencies by following a few simple, com-mon-sense practices:
• Keep trailers well main-tained and inspected
• Properly hitch trailers, en-suring chains are in place and brakes are functional
• Use the correct towing vehicle for the size of the trailer and its load
• Make sure the trailer lights work and reflective strips are installed for visibility
• Ensure that drivers have proper training in how to oper-ate a truck and trailer
• Design farm facilities with fire prevention in mind
• Consider installing sprin-klers in barns and stables
• Install an appropriate smoke detector in the barn that sounds an alert in the house
• Take precautions to mini-mize fire hazards in the barn
• Equip barns, stables, and trailers with a fire extinguisher and know how to use it
Equine owner Marion Mar-tin, who has 13 horses on her Walnut Grove farm, described the program as “eye-opening.”
“I don’t know as much about trailer safety as I need to, and I haven’t been very alert to dan-gers in the barn,” she said. “I don’t even have fire extinguish-ers, and this reminded me that I should. It’s been very helpful.”
For animal owners and emer-gency workers alike, Rebecca noted that putting together a resource list identifying people who could help in an animal emergency is a smart step to-ward preparedness.
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“Part of your job tonight is to start coordinating with the people around you,” Rebecca told the Hardin County group. “Who is your fire chief? Who is your Co-op person? Who is your vet? Who is your Extension agent? Find those people. They have expertise, and they can help you come up with a plan. Set up those relationships ahead of time so you don’t have to worry about it when disaster strikes.”
More details on Rebecca’s training program are available online at www.tlaer.org.
Addressing both the fire and rescue workers as well as cattle and horse owners in the audience, Rebecca stresses that resources throughout the community must work together to prepare for emergency situations involving large animals.
28 July 2012
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By Jerry Kirk
Tennessee Farmers Coopera-tive’s Communications Depart-ment and its staff brought home a trove of trophies — 24 in all — from the 2012 Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) Institute held at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Ariz., last month.
Led by “I’m Co-op,” a cleverly conceived, perfect-score entry that was tapped as best-of-show
in the programs and projects division, the array of awards they won reflect the versatility of TFC communicators.
In one writing category — corporate public relations — Tennessee Cooperator writers Mark Johnson, Chris Villines, and Allison Morgan made a clean sweep of the awards, tak-ing all four that were awarded.
“CCA is the premier profes-sional organization for coopera-tive communicators,” says Mor-
gan, manager of TFC’s Com-munications Department and editor of the Cooperator. “This competition is a valid measuring stick to see how our efforts rate with those of other cooperatives in the U.S. and Canada, many of which are much larger than our system here in Tennessee.”
If the final award tally from Tucson is an indication, Co-op in Tennessee stands tall as far as effective cooperative com-munication is concerned. And
the two dozen awards captured by TFC staffers — in writing, photography, and publications as well as programs and proj-ects — is testament to their commitment to teamwork, says Morgan, who just completed six years on the CCA board by serv-ing as president in 2011-12.
TFC’s Communications De-partment’s talent and team ap-proach was reflected in the “I’m Co-op” campaign that topped all other entries in the CCA programs and projects contest. The materials were used to pro-mote TFC’s 2011 annual meet-ing, in displays, in advertising and promotional items, and in an eye-catching informational/promotional publication.
According to CCA reports, the “I’m Co-op” campaign “im-mediately caught the eye of the judge” given the responsibility of choosing the best-of-show winner in the programs and projects division. The judge said, “The use of real people and real stories in all elements were reasons the campaign stood apart from others.”
“I’m Co-op” also took a first place in the campaigns and pro-grams category of the programs and projects division.
Here are the other awards captured by TFC communica-tors in the CCA competition:
WritingFirst place, news story —
Mark Johnson, “Why don’t we have a show?”, a June 2011 Cooperator article on the 40th anniversary of the Tennessee Junior Livestock Exposition.
First place, corporate pub-lic relations — Johnson, “Pig Whisperer,” featuring Kristen Clements of Hermitage Springs and her champion show hogs; December 2011 Cooperator.
First place, headline writing — Chris Villines, “Chattanooga Chew Chew,” a feature on Bea’s Restaurant, a longtime favorite Chattanooga eatery; January 2012 Cooperator.
Second place, corporate pub-lic relations — Johnson, “Candy Kin,” a profile of Helms Candy Co. in Bristol, Va.; December 2011 Cooperator.
Second place, headline writ-ing — Morgan, “Grinning ear to
‘I’m Co-op’ leads parade of 24 CCA contest awards
July 2012 29
ear,” a statewide Croplan corn testimonial; October-November 2011 Cooperator.
Second place, speechwriting — Johnson, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative, “I’m Larry Rice, and I’m Co-op,” 2011 annual meeting speech for TFC’s board chairman.
Third place, informative/in-vestigative feature — Johnson, “Walls of Time,” featuring a Revolutionary War-era home in Smith County; October-Novem-ber 2011 Cooperator.
Third place, entertaining feature — Morgan, “Sacred Grounds,” spotlighting Joyner’s camp meeting that for more than 118 years has provided a week of worship and fellowship; July 2011 Cooperator.
Third place, news story — Morgan, “Flooded rivers change farmers’ course,” details how record-high waters dampened a promising spring for producers; June 2011 Cooperator.
Third place, speechwriting — Morgan, “The Good Steward,” 2011 annual meeting speech for TFC’s chief executive officer.
Honorable mention, news story — Johnson, “Wings of change,” tells how Andy Sc-neider advocates for backyard poultry in urban areas, February 2012 Cooperator.
Honorable mention, corpo-rate public relations — Morgan, “Dolly’s Flying Circus,” an-nouncing Co-op’s sponsorship of Dollywood’s Barnstormer ride; May 2011 Cooperator.
Programs and ProjectsFirst place, print advertis-
ing — Shane Read, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative, “This Land is your land. This brand is your brand. Herdsman.” (see ad on page 25).
Second place, broadcast advertising — Johnson, “I’m Co-op,” a promotional spot on the University of Tennessee’s Vol Network.
Third place, print advertis-ing — Read, “Bonide: Captain Jack’s Deadbug Brew,” introduc-tion of a new Co-op product.
Photography Second place, feature photo
— Johnson, “Mustang buddies” shows Kimber Goodman and her wild mustang; October-No-vember 2011 Cooperator.
Second place, photo illus-
tration — Johnson, “Avocado Shake,” illustration for the Cooperator’s September 2011 “What’s cookin’?” column.
Third place, feature photo — Villines for a shot of basket-ball player Casie Cowan on the “lofty” court of her father’s barn; February 2012 Cooperator.
PublicationsFirst place, words and
pictures — Villines, “Double Scoop,” featuring Cruze Dairy Farm and its new venture of making ice cream; June 2011 Cooperator.
Second place, words and pictures — Morgan, “Planned Escape,” showcasing Roy Weaver’s vintage village in Chester County; August 2011 Cooperator.
First place, pamphlets and one-time publications (budget more than $5,000) — TFC Communications Depart-ment, “I’m Co-op,” TFC’s 2011 annual report/corpo-rate brochure.
Third place, member news-paper/tabloid — TFC Commu-nications Department, Tennes-see Cooperator.
This CCA poster showcases the “I’m Co-op” campaign’s Best of Show win.
30 July 2012
What’s Cookin’?
Clip, save, and serve
For a simple summer supper, try this “Zesty Pepperoni Pasta Salad,” a flavorful combination of veggies, mini pepperoni, and Italian seasonings tossed with bow-tie pasta. The colorful recipe was created by our July Cook-of-the-Month, Shelia Jolly of Byrdstown. — Photo by Mark E. Johnson, food styling by Allison Morgan
In the heat of August, chilled, make-ahead dishes like pasta salad are the ultimate sum-mer survival foods. They’re popular menu
choices for all types of warm-weather gatherings because they’re easy to make, transport, and serve. But they also help cooks keep their cool, not having to slave away over a hot stove in the kitchen when temperatures are blazing outside.
Whether made as a meal or served on the side, the pasta salad recipes featured this month are versatile enough to entertain a cookout crowd or simply feed the family at home. A good choice for any occasion is Shelia Jolly’s “Zesty Pepperoni Pasta Salad,” which gets its lively flavor from her own unique blend of spices.
“I love pasta salad, but could never find a recipe that had the Italian flavor I was looking for,” says Shelia. “So I created my own. It took a lot of adjusting spices, but finally I have a salad that is often requested at dinners and cookouts.”
Other recipes featured are Orzo Vegetable Salad, Cucumber and Dill Pasta Salad, Peach Vinaigrette Veggie Spirals Salad, Frog Eye Salad, Southwest Pasta Salad, Spinach-Chicken Pasta Salad, and Sweet-Sour Salad with Pasta Wheels.
Enjoy!
What you will need: Directions:
Orzo Vegetable Salad1⁄2 cup uncooked orzo pasta3 plum tomatoes, chopped1 can marinated quartered
artichoke hearts, chopped1 cup coarsely chopped fresh
spinach2 green onions, chopped1⁄2 cup crumbled feta cheese1 tablespoon capers, drainedDressing:1⁄3 cup olive oil4 teaspoons lemon juice1 tablespoon minced fresh
tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons rice vinegar1⁄2 teaspoon salt1⁄4 teaspoon pepperCook orzo according to pack-
age directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine tomatoes, artichokes, spinach, onions,
SuMMER
July 2012 winning recipe
Simplify
Cool off kitchen chores with light, lively pasta salads
• 1 (16 ounce) box mini bow-tie pasta• 1 (16-ounce) bottle zesty Italian salad dressing• 1⁄2 teaspoon crushed red pepper• 1 teaspoon salt• 1 teaspoon black pepper• 1⁄4 teaspoon thyme• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried dillweed• 1 teaspoon celery seed• 1⁄4 teaspoon oregano• 1 teaspoon sugar• 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and
chopped• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped• 1⁄4 cup sweet onion, chopped• 1 (2.25-ounce) can sliced black olives, drained• 11⁄2 cups frozen green peas, thawed and drained• 1 (5-ounce) package mini pepperoni• 1 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
Cook pasta according to package di-rections; drain and rinse with cold water until pasta is cold. Set aside to drain.
In a medium bowl, whisk together salad dressing, spices, and sugar. Toss vegetables into salad dressing mixture. Place pasta in a gallon-size bowl. Add pepperoni. Pour salad dressing mixture over pasta. Toss until pasta is coated.
Cover and refrigerate for eight hours or
overnight. About one hour before serving, toss in the Parmesan cheese.
Yield: 16 servings.
Shelia Jolly, Byrdstown, Overton Pickett Farmers Cooperative
Zesty Pepperoni Pasta Salad
July 2012 31
What’s Cookin’?
Rice will be nice for SeptemberSeptember is National Rice Month,
honoring America’s rice industry and its important contribution to the economy and the environment. We’re joining in the celebration by featuring your favorite rice recipes in our September “What’s cookin’?” column. The person submit-ting the best recipe will be named Cook-of-the-Month and receive $10. Others sending recipes chosen for publication will receive $5.
Monday, Aug. 6, is the deadline for submitting rice recipes.Don’t forget: Only recipes with complete, easy-to-follow instructions
will be considered for publication. Several recipes are disqualified each month because they do not contain all the information needed to prepare the dishes successfully. Recipes featured in “What’s cookin’?” are not inde-pendently tested, so we must depend on the accuracy of the cooks sending them. Always use safe food-handling, preparation, and cooking procedures.
Send entries to: Recipes, Tennessee Cooperator, P.O. Box 3003, LaVergne, TN 37086. You can submit more than one recipe in the same envelope. You can also e-mail them to: [email protected]. Be sure to include your name, address, telephone number, and the Co-op with which you do business. Recipes that appear in the “What’s cookin’?” column will also be published on our website at www.ourcoop.com.
Facebook exclusive!We receive so many great recipes each month, we can’t print them all! But visit us on Facebook for more recipes available only to fans of our page. Visit www.facebook.com/TennesseeFarmersCooperative and click on “Notes” to get the recipes.
cheese, and capers. In a small bowl, whisk dressing ingredients together. Drain orzo and rinse in cold water. Add to vegetable mix-ture. Pour dressing over salad; toss to coat. Chill until serving.
Glynn ClarkWartrace
Bedford Moore Farmers Cooperative
T
Cucumber and Dill Pasta Salad
2 cups macaroni noodles1 cup thinly sliced cucumber1⁄2 cup thinly sliced sweet
onion1⁄4 cup thinly sliced red
sweet pepper1 small minced garlic clove1⁄4 cup sugar1⁄2 cup water6 tablespoons cider vinegar11⁄2 teaspoons prepared
mustard1⁄4 cup fresh dillweed3⁄4 teaspoon pepper1⁄2 teaspoon saltCook pasta according to pack-
age directions. Drain and rinse in cold water. Place pasta in bowl and add cucumber, onion, and red pepper. Combine remaining ingredients in a jar and shake well. Pour over salad pasta, toss, and chill for one hour.
Katherine A. HankinsClifton
Perry Farmers Cooperative
T
Peach Vinaigrette Veggie Spirals Salad
1 package “Wacky Mac” veggie spirals
3 hard-boiled eggs, cut up1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper1 cup chopped sweet pickle1 cup chopped raw onion1⁄2 cup chopped sweet bell
pepper1⁄2 cup diced celery3 medium peaches, peeled
and coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
3⁄4 cup chopped pecans1⁄2 cup orange juice3 tablespoons red wine vinegar2 teaspoons honey mustard1⁄4 cup canola or extra virgin
olive oilCook pasta according to pack-
age directions; rinse and drain. Transfer to a large bowl. Add eggs, black pepper, pickles, onion, bell pepper, and celery.
Spinach-Chicken Pasta Salad
Salad:5 cups cubed cooked chicken
(about 3 whole breasts)2 cups halved green grapes1 cup snow peas2 cups packed torn spinach21⁄2 cups sliced celery7 ounces corkscrew pasta,
cooked and drained1 (6-ounce) jar marinated
artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1⁄2 large cucumber, sliced3 green onions, slicedLarge spinach leaves, optionalOrange slices, optionalDressing:1⁄2 cup canola oil1⁄4 cup sugar2 tablespoons wine vinegar1 teaspoon salt1⁄2 teaspoon dried minced
onion1 teaspoon lemon juice2 tablespoons minced fresh
parsleyIn a large bowl, combine
chicken, grapes, snow peas, spinach, celery, pasta, artichokes, cucumber, and onions. Cover and refrigerate.
Combine dressing ingredi-ents in a jar. Shake until well-blended; refrigerate. Just before serving, pour dressing over salad and toss. If desired, serve on spinach leaves and garnish with orange slices.
Marie DelffsNormandy
Bedford Moore Farmers Cooperative
Sweet-Sour Salad with Pasta Wheels
1 (8-ounce) box pasta wheels1 purple onion (Bermuda),
chopped1⁄2 cup red or green pepper,
chopped2 stalks celery, sliced2 carrots, sliced4 tablespoons chopped chives2 tablespoons chopped
parsley1⁄2 cup olive oil2 tablespoons white vinegar1 teaspoon sugar1⁄2 cup mayonnaise1 cup sour cream2 teaspoons saltFreshly ground pepperIn a medium pot, cook pasta for
five to six minutes or until done. Drain well. Transfer to a large bowl; add vegetables and herbs. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine olive oil, vinegar, sugar, mayonnaise, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Whisk until creamy. Pour over pasta salad. Cover and refrig-erate for a few hours for the flavors to blend. Remove 30 minutes before serving.
Yield: Eight servings.Carolyn Devers
SouthsideMontgomery Farmers Cooperative
In a medium bowl, combine peaches, pecans, orange juice, red wine vinegar, honey mustard, and oil; stir until well blended. Pour over pasta mixture.
Yield: 10 servings. Kathye Jackson
CharlotteDickson Farmers Cooperative
T Frog Eye Salad
1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple
1 tablespoon flour1 beaten egg3⁄4 cup sugar1⁄2 teaspoon salt1 tablespoon lemon juice1 cup acini de pepe pasta1 (15-ounce) can mandarin
oranges, drained3-4 cups mini marshmallows1 tub whipped toppingDrain pineapple, reserving 2⁄3
cup juice. Cook juice with flour, egg, sugar, and salt; stir until thick. Add lemon juice. Set aside to cool.
Bring 3 cups water to a boil in medium pan. Add pasta and cook for three minutes; remove from heat and let stand for three min-utes. Drain pasta and place in a large bowl; add pineapple juice mixture. Add pineapple, manda-rin oranges, and marshmallows. Fold in whipped topping. Chill one to two hours before serving.
Yield: Six to eight servings. Katherine Young
HuntingdonCarroll Farmers Cooperative
TSouthwest Pasta
Salad8 ounces dry rotelle (wagon
wheel) pasta, uncooked1 (15-ounce) can ranch-style
black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (10-ounce) can Ro-Tel tomatoes, undrained
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream1⁄2 cup chopped green bell
pepper1⁄4 cup chopped red onion1⁄2 cup shredded reduced-fat
Cheddar cheeseCook pasta according to pack-
age directions. Drain; rinse under cold water until cool. Set aside. Meanwhile, stir together beans, undrained tomatoes, sour cream, pepper, and onion in large bowl. Add pasta and cheese; toss to com-bine. Serve at room temperature.
Jeana OwensCumberland Gap
Claiborne Farmers Cooperative
32 July 2012
Story and photos by Claire Sellers
Nothing can take the place of milk. At least that’s what Randy
Davis of Philadelphia, presi-dent of the American Dairy Association of Tennessee, said as he hosted the state’s annual June Dairy Month luncheon on June 1.
“A glass of milk will provide all of the nutrients and vita-mins that you need,” said Da-vis, who operates a 520-head Holstein dairy on the Loudon/Monroe county line. “We have the perfect product.”
Proof of milk’s nutritional value was sitting in the audi-ence — the Grainger County High School Lady Grizzlies girls’ basketball team, who proudly shared that chocolate milk was how they “fueled up” before practices and games. They made it their beverage of choice after local dairy farmers pointed out the scientific evi-dence of chocolate milk’s post-workout replenishing abilities.
“This spring, these girls had a 28-game winning streak, and they give credit for a lot of that
success to drinking chocolate milk,” said Davis. “They really took our product to heart.”
The Lady Grizzlies joined dairy producers, university per-sonnel, Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) officials, agribusiness representatives, and 4-H’ers from across the state to take part in the June Dairy Month kickoff event at Ellington Agricultural Center in Nashville. Julius Johnson, Tennessee agriculture com-missioner and luncheon guest, emphasized the importance of the dairy industry.
“Dairying is one of our state’s backbone industries,” said Johnson. “This is a day that we highlight dairy production and the quality of products that our farmers produce.”
Keynote speaker Bill Cody, host of his popular morning show on WSM Radio in Nash-ville, found a way to connect his career in country music to farming by mentioning several songs that referred to dairy, including “Milk Cow Blues,” an old-time tune most recent-ly recorded by Tim McGraw.
“Songs like that are some-where between culture and agriculture,” he said.
Cody, who also told the crowd he was fulfilling a lifelong dream by working for WSM, shared these words of encouragement to the young people in the audience: “Dream your dreams; other-wise they can’t come true.”
During the luncheon, some 43 creative and enterprising 4-H’ers who served as county June Dairy Month chairpersons were recognized for their lead-ership. Also receiving special recognition was Kaylee Penick of Cheatham County, state winner in the 4-H dairy project.
Winners of the June Dairy Month Poster Contest were honored for their creations that carried out the theme, “Dedi-cated to Dairy: Make Mine Milk.” Taking first place was Samantha Bussell from Macon
‘The perfect product’June luncheon emphasizes nutrition, importance of dairy
WSM Radio’s Bill Cody, Tennessee’s 2012 June Dairy Month luncheon keynote speaker, addresses 4-H’ers, dairy producers, university personnel, Tennessee Department of Agriculture officials, and agribusiness representatives at the June 1 event .
Henry County youth are honored for taking both top awards in the 2012 Dairy Quiz Bowl senior level competition, which was held prior to the June 1 luncheon. There were no junior competitors this year. TOP: The first-place team members are, from left, Brooke Rose, Ashton Thompson, Jack Paschall, and Mavis Ward. BOTTOM: Second-place team members are, from left, Brigitte Passman, Brooke Williams, Melinda Perkins, and Emily Rose. Pictured with the teams in both photos are Steve Erickson of Dairy Farmers of America and coach Laura Moss.
July 2012 33
County, second place went to Abigail Ferguson of Claiborne County, and Gwen Todd of Dyer County captured third.
In this year’s Dairy Quiz Bowl competition, Henry County teams took home both first- and second-place awards in the senior division. First-place team members were Brooke Rose, Ashton Thomp-son, Jack Paschall, and Mavis Ward. Taking second place were Brooke Williams, Brigitte Passman, Melinda Perkins, and Emily Rose. Both teams were coached by Laura Moss. There were no junior division com-petitors this year.
Davis also recognized two retiring TDA employees, John Sanford and Hugh Wilson, and praised their contributions to the state’s dairy industry. Sanford was a leader in the state’s food safety efforts for 35 years. Wilson, retiring after 40 years, set different standards for milk grading programs not just in Tennessee but nationally as well.
“These two gentlemen are prime examples of how you should spend your career,” said Davis. “They worked hard to represent the agency in which they served, and they are two reasons why we have such a great relationship with TDA in working with our industry.”
The first-ever lifetime achievement award was pre-sented in honor of the late Mac Pate, a Maryville dairyman for more than 62 years before his death in March. Members of the Blair family, who took over Pate’s dairy operation this past January, were on hand to ac-cept the award on behalf of the revered dairyman. (See related story, “Lifetime opportunity,” in the June Cooperator).
“This is the first time we have given this award, and I wish the man who is getting it could be here,” said Davis. “Mac Pate was a lifelong dairy farmer, a friend, and a men-tor to his peers and the dairy industry alike. He was always a big supporter of 4-H and the dairy at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and he helped the dairy promotion of Tennessee get the funding it needed to educate the youth of the state. He has truly left a legacy.”
For creative use of the “Dedicated to Dairy: Make Mine Milk” theme, Macon County’s Samantha Bussell, left, took first place in the Dairy Month poster contest with Abigail Ferguson of Claiborne County coming in second. Dyer County’s Gwen Todd, not pictured, won third.
34 July 2012
True to his wordEvery Farmer Has A Story Travis Tilley
Many adults’ career choices differ greatly from their childhoodaspirations, but cattleman Travis Tilley is an exception
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question that Travis Tilley could always answer with certainty, even as a youngster in Miss Jones’ first-grade class at Midway Elementary School in Roane County.
One of his most vivid memo-ries is the teacher asking her students that very question early in the school year, and he recalls that his classmates provided some lofty longings — fireman, race car driver, superhero, and astronaut to name a few. When it came Travis’ turn to share his dream career, he didn’t hesitate.
“I said I was going to have cattle and be a farmer like my dad,” he says. “I never even considered anything else. That’s what I always knew I wanted to do. And I think I’m about the only one in that class who went on to do what was said that day.”
Now 36, Travis is fulfilling his prophecy by practicing agricul-ture in the same community where his parents, Larry and Mary Ann, raised him. He’s still farming with his father on some 1,100 owned and leased acres where they raise hay and have one of the area’s top cow/calf op-erations with 210 head of Angus and Angus-Hereford cross cattle. The Valley Farmers Cooperative members instituted a rotational grazing program for their herd four years ago to complement a feeding regimen that includes a custom blend for their heifer calves and Co-op Supreme Cattle Mineral (#678).
“I expect a lot out of my cows, and I know they expect a lot out of me to keep them happy and healthy,” says Travis, a past Co-op Leadership Advance Tour participant who’s in his first year as a Valley director and serves
on the local Soil Conservation and Farm Service Agency boards. “So I give them plenty of good mineral and hay. I try to meet them halfway because I don’t have a payday coming from any-where else.”
For as far back as he can remember, Travis admits he’s been “fascinated” by cattle. As a curious youngster, he would seize every opportunity to be around them, even though he knew it could lead to trouble afterward.
“I always wanted to go where my dad was and where the cows were,” explains Travis,
who began full-time farming immediately after graduating from Midway High School in 1995. “Well, I learned that Mama was sort of scared of cows, so when I was little I would sneak away from her and go under the fence because I knew if I got under there, she wouldn’t come and get me. I’d act like I was counting cows, knowing that sooner or later I’d have to go back to the other side of the fence. Needless to say, I got a few whippings out of that!”
Laughing at this snapshot of youthful mischief, Travis says that while he didn’t fully realize the amount of hard work and the sacrifices his parents made back then, he can certainly appreci-ate them more now as a young
father. He and wife Whitney have four children — Charli, 14; Cole, 10; Stella, 8; and Silas, 6 — who are also learning the simple pleasures of farm life and chipping in during their time off from school.
“Mom and Dad made grow-ing up on the farm enjoyable,” says Travis, the youngest of three children. “They had their struggles but did an excellent job of hiding them from us. We all helped each other to make things work, and that’s the way our family is today. Farm life teaches you to just settle down and take things as they come.”
As he grew, Travis adds, he learned a lot of life perspectives from his great-grandfather and “best friend,” Edgar “Spur” Col-lier, who passed away in 2000 at the age of 94. Even as Spur reached his 90s, Travis says his great-grandfather still helped out in the hay field and doled out daily bits of wit and wisdom.
“It was amazing to watch him at 92 years old out there throw-ing hay,” says Travis. “And ev-erytime we would stop at a gate, he would get out and open it, and he wasn’t going to get back in the truck — he was going to walk to the barn or out to the field. Through his work ethic, how he carried himself, and how he was eager to help others … he taught me to take pride in
everything you do and take what you have and make the best of it. Plus, he was always a big cutup and talker. You couldn’t help but like him.
“If everybody had an op-portunity to spend time around their great-grandparents, then this world would be a whole lot better off in my opinion. I sure don’t take it for granted, and not a day goes by that I don’t think about him. I hope I’ve made him proud.”
These days, Travis hopes to make a similar impact and impart what he’s learned to his own children as they — when not in school — work alongside him and his father. The kids stay busy bottle-feeding calves or, as was the case last year, helping to put up the more than 17,000 square bales the Til-leys harvested. With Whitney working a part-time job off the farm, the youngsters, while on their summer break, get to see firsthand how their father ap-proaches his profession.
“They’re learning about responsibility,” he says. “Each of them has their own chores, and even when they’re not helping me in the field they’re always close by where I can see them; they’ll be running around catching bugs or picking at each other. They love being around the farm. It’s where they’re content to be most of the time, just like I was. And Whitney is the same way.”
The love for farming is already evident in the Tilleys’ children. Case-in-point is soon-to-be first-grader Silas, who keeps up with Travis stride for stride as they feed calves on a summer after-noon. When asked the same question his father answered in first grade some 30 years ago, Silas responds immediately:
“I’m gonna be a farmer,” he says with wide-eyed exuberance. “I already am.”
lMidway
Travis Tilley fills a bunk feeder during evening feeding time at his and father Larry’s beef cattle and hay operation in Roane County, which encompasses some 1,100 acres.
Story and photos by Chris Villines
July 2012 35
Every Farmer Has A Story
The Tilley family — from left, Travis, son Silas, 6, wife Whitney, and daughters Stella, 8, and Charli, 14 — stands in front of their farm’s distinctive “See Rock City” barn that fronts Highway 58 in Midway. Not pictured is son Cole, 10. The Tilleys are members of Valley Farmers Cooperative, where Travis serves as a director. They purchase feed and other supplies for the farm at the Co-op’s Harriman location.
