lyons p&p - agriculture

SECTION C

LYONS STERLING LITTLE RIVER CHASE BUSHTON ALDEN GENESEO RAYMOND FREDERICK

Agriculture and Manufacturing

THE LYONS NEWS RICE COUNTY

Progressand

PlainsJanuary 31, 2012

Plains

CHASE -- Cal-Maine Foods, Inc completed $1.5 million of road improvements this past year, that has improved operations.

Utilities for the roadwork and expansion were rerouted last year by Midwest Energy.

The $1.5 million road project helped with the expansion into a new field at the Cal-Maine Foods egg-production facility northwest of Chase.

Brian Ballard, Cal-Maine general man-ager said that the new road helps the flow of increased traffic, im-proves safety and cuts down on dust and dirt.

The Rice County Commission approved plans and signed docu-ments last year for $750,000 in Kansas Community Develop-ment Block Grant-

Economic Development funding, and $600,000 from the Federal Eco-nomic Development Administration.

The asphalt pav-ing of sand and gravel roads was along 6th Road, from the U.S. 56/96 north two miles to the present facility, and along Ave. K, which is on the south side of the main complex, from 6th to 7th Roads.

Completion of the road project oc-cured last fall.

Rice County pro-vided in-kind services which allowed county workers to perform such tasks as grading.

The project called for three miles of asphalt road service, and came in conjunction with an anticipated considerable growth of truck traffic on top of already heavy truck use on roads lead-

ing to and around the Cal- Maine complex.

Cal-Maine has con-tinued to develop its organic egg production, which is completely separate from non-organic 1.25 million laying hen operation.

The new operation includes facilities for laying hens southwest of the intersection of 6th Road and Ave K. A new lagoon was construct-ed, and the feed mill was reworked to keep feed for the organic operation separate.

Kirkham Michael Associates performed the work for construc-tion engineering and design services.

The first phase building of Cal-Maine’s organic egg produc-tion facilities was completed last year.

The organic eggs come from a joint

venture by Cal-Maine Foods and Moark, but Cal-Maine is in charge of operations. The pul-let facility went into operation last year with 100,000 pullets that will eventually grow into egg layers.

Cal-Maine also operates a conventional egg-laying operation with 300,000 pullets and 1.2 million egg layers.

Full-time opera-tions began to come on line late last year.

Cal-Maine Foods

also expanded in 2008 with a $10 mil-lion expansion of its organic egg facility.

The expansion in 2008 built struc-tures for 400,000

2C Tuesday, January 31, 2012 Agriculture & MAnufActuring Lyons News • Plains & Progress

625 Ave n u e K ▪ C h a s e, K a n s a s ▪ 620-938-2300

IT JUST ISN’T BREAKFAST WITHOUT EGGS

A hen requires 24 to 26 hours to produce an egg. Thirty minutes later, she starts all over again.

The egg shell may have as many as 17,000 tiny pores over its surface. Through them, the egg can absorb flavors and odors. Storing them in their cartons helps keep them fresh.

Eggs age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator.

About 280 million laying hens produce approximately 6.1 billion dozen eggs per year in the United States.

White shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and ear lobes. Brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes.

To tell if an egg is raw or hard-cooked, spin it! If the egg spins easily, it is hard-cooked but if it wobbles, it is raw.

If an egg is accidentally dropped on the floor, sprinkle it heavily with salt for easy clean up.

During the spring (vernal) equinox (about March 21), it is said that an egg will stand on its small end. Although some people have reported success, it is not known whether such results were due to the equinox or to the peculiari-ties of that particular egg.

Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.

Yolk color depends on the diet of the hen. Natural yellow-orange substances such as marigold petals may be added to light-colored feeds to enhance colors. Artificial color additives are not permitted.

Occasionally, a hen will produce double-yoked eggs throughout her egg-laying career. It is rare, but not unusual, for a young hen to produce an egg with no yolk at all.

Egg facts:

$1.5M Road IMpRoveMent Recently coMpleted

Cal-Maine continues steady growth

See EGGS page 6C

The Cal-Maine Foods Inc. plant northwest of Chase has continued to expand its organic egg production. Recent roadwork has also helped to improve operations.

Lyons news • PLains & Progress agricuLture & Manufacturing tuesday, January 31, 2012 3c

620-2574-2822804 East Main, Lyons, Kansas

Starters ▪ Alternators ▪ Exhaust ▪ Brake Parts Belts & Hoses ▪ Batteries ▪ A/C Parts

Engine Parts ▪ Dress-Up Accessories ▪ Tools Equipment ▪ Small Engine ▪ Industrial

Proudly Serving Rice County for

over 6 years

Each year we help meet the credit needs of 200,000 farmers throughout the Midwest. Isn’t it time you give us a try?

Chase Agri-Credit System, Inc.PO Box 405, Chase, Kansas • (620) 938-2946 or 1-800-548-0132

You can count on us to make insurance simple through all stages of life. Call today to learn more.

Strength. Stability. Service. And us.

Auto I Home I Life I Business I College I Retirement

Teresa Boeken115 W MainSterling, KS

620-278-2572

Securities & services offered through EquiTrust Marketing Services, LLCSecurities & services offered through EquiTrust Marketing Services, LLCSecurities & services offered through EquiTrust Marketing Services, LLCSecurities & services offered through EquiTrust Marketing Services, LLC++++, 5400 University Ave., West Des Moines, IA 50266, 877/860-2904, Member SIPC., 5400 University Ave., West Des Moines, IA 50266, 877/860-2904, Member SIPC., 5400 University Ave., West Des Moines, IA 50266, 877/860-2904, Member SIPC., 5400 University Ave., West Des Moines, IA 50266, 877/860-2904, Member SIPC. Farm Bureau Property & CasualtyInsurance Company+*, Western Agricultural Insurance Company+*, Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company+*/West Des Moines, IA. +Affiliates *Company providers of Farm Bureau FinancialServices © 2011 FBL Financial Group, Inc. M075-ML-4 (9-11)

You can count on us to make insurance simple through all stages of life. Call today to learn more.

Strength. Stability. Service. And us.

Auto I Home I Life I Business I College I Retirement

Teresa Boeken115 W MainSterling, KS

620-278-2572

Securities & services offered through EquiTrust Marketing Services, LLCSecurities & services offered through EquiTrust Marketing Services, LLCSecurities & services offered through EquiTrust Marketing Services, LLCSecurities & services offered through EquiTrust Marketing Services, LLC++++, 5400 University Ave., West Des Moines, IA 50266, 877/860-2904, Member SIPC., 5400 University Ave., West Des Moines, IA 50266, 877/860-2904, Member SIPC., 5400 University Ave., West Des Moines, IA 50266, 877/860-2904, Member SIPC., 5400 University Ave., West Des Moines, IA 50266, 877/860-2904, Member SIPC. Farm Bureau Property & CasualtyInsurance Company+*, Western Agricultural Insurance Company+*, Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company+*/West Des Moines, IA. +Affiliates *Company providers of Farm Bureau FinancialServices © 2011 FBL Financial Group, Inc. M075-ML-4 (9-11)

Montey GomezLicensed Sales Associated

Lynnette BrownLicensed Sales Associated

Teresa BoekenAgent, LUTCF

115 W. Main, Sterling Kansas 620-278-2572

Located at 115 West Main Street in Sterling, Farm Bureau Financial Services has been serving residents of Rice County since the late 1970s. Te-resa Boeken is Sterling’s Farm Bureau Agent.

Boeken has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Kansas State University, and prior to getting into insurance had 15 years in the banking and mort-gage lending industries.

“Currently we have myself, Lynnette Brown and Montey Gomez as Licensed Sales Associates helping me on the home, auto, life and investments side of the business,” said Boeken, “Also in this office are Marcia Kepley and Sherry Jones who are both Licensed Crop Agents. The office has grown through the years from one full time agent and one full time assistant, to five full time employ-ees dedicated to meet-ing our clients needs.”

Boeken started with Farm Bureau in 2005 in the Lyons office and took over the Sterling branch in 2007 when Dee Kepley retired.

Boeken recently received her Life Under-writing Training Coun-cil Fellow designation and has earned both the All-American and Pac-

esetter awards twice.Farm Bureau has been

helping their customers for more than 60 years and was ranked one of the 100 fastest growing companies by Fortune magazine for 2011.

Agent Teresa Boeken and Sterling Farm Bureau agency staff serve Rice County residents and farmers

Sterling Farm Bureau licensed sales associ-ates include Lynette Brown (left) Teresa Boek-en, Agent (center), and Montey Gomez. They are all licensed to sell home, auto, and life in-surance, as well as investment products.


B. Z. BEE, INC.CUSTOM FERTILIZER & CHEMICAL

APPLICATIONCustom applicators • liquid fertilizer •

herbicides • insecitides • lime

Plant 257-2265 Craig Zwick Home Phone 620-257-3616

Plant - 1240 15th Road, Lyons

Check with us for all of

your fertilizer & chemical

needs!

CONTRACT MANUFACTURING & MACHINE SHOP

Craig MullinsGeneral ManaGerwww.lyonsmfg.com

[email protected]

711 East MainLyons, Kansas620-257-2331

Fax: 620-257-2334

Manufacturing Co., Inc.

Founded in 1939

By Paul Jones

While Lyons Manufactur-ing Company does a consider-able amount of work on Boeing airplanes, the recent announce-ment that Boeing is pulling out its entire Wichita operation will not have a negative impact of the Lyons plant, according to Craig Mullins, general manager,

Mullins explained that the Lyons work is for the Spirit company, which bought Boeing/Wichita com-mercial operations several years ago, and is now producing the fuse-lage and engine nacelles for the new Boeing 787 jetliner, as well as the entire fuselage of the Boeing 737.

There is actually a positive note in the announced removal of Boeing military work to Oklahoma City, Mullins said. The Lyons company has a good relationship with buy-ers in Oklahoma, and it is possible that with those contacts LMC will be able to pick up military work which it is not doing at this time.

The main work here now is for the prototype of the new Lear-75 private jet airplane, which is under development at the Lear/Bombardier plant in Wichita.

The Lyons company has a staff of 22, and work is on a full schedule of five days a week.

As they continue to build infrastructure it is evident that B.Z. Bee, Inc., is continuing to grow. The business is located at 1240 15th Road, and is owned by Craig and Kenneta Zwick. The company specializes in input products for crop production.

Lyons Manufacturing continues work for Spirit and Lear/Bobardier

By Dan newBy

Had it not been for the Civil War and the Battle of Jenkins Ferry, there would be no “Rice County,” today.

During the 1860s and 1870s, many newly-formed Kansas counties were named for notable government officials, railroad leaders and Civil War military of-ficers. The latter was the case for Rice County.

Samuel Allen Rice, state attorney general for Iowa, was named gov-ernor to com-mand the newly-formed 33rd Regiment of Iowa Vol-unteers (1862) at the onset of the Civil War.

“Although he was mar-ried and never had so much as seen a copy of the book of military tactics, he accepted the appoint-ment. He immediately fell to studying available military manuals and took command of the regiment as a colonel. (Horace Jones, Up From the Sod)

Rice’s first taste of battle was at Helena, Ark. (1863) when he defended an “entrenched fortress,” against gallant attacks by the Confederate soldiers of generals Holmes and Price. Rice was promoted to the rank of brigadier general because of his successful leadership in this engagement.

Rice received notoriety for his acts of bravery, but also met a tragic fate at the Battle of Jenkins Ferry (1864). Under the leadership of Maj. General Frederick Steele, Rice was part of the Red River Campaign (Spring 1864), which called for the ouster of all Confed-erate forces of General Smith from Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

Steele planned to march south from Little Rock toward Louisiana to meet and combine forces with Major General Nathaniel Banks, com-ing up from the south.

However, Steele ran into complications and skirmishes with the Confederate forces along the way and was forced to retreat. During this long retreat, the Union troops’ flight to Little Rock was halted at the Saline River.

“Before nightfall rebel troopers were shooting and slashing at the bedraggled tail of the [Union] column. By that time though, the vanguard had reached the

Saline at Jenkins Ferry, and the engineers were getting their pontoons launched, linked and floored, while other details worked at corduroying the two-mile long ap-proach across the bottoms giving down upon the river, beyond which these stretched another just as long and just as mean.

Such labor was too heavy for troops in this condition, faint for sleep as well as food. While they strained at cutting and placing timbers Steele’s

chief engineer afterwards reported, “wagons settled to the axles and mules floudered about with-out a resting place for their feet.”

After dark, he

added, the work continued by the light of fires and “every exertion [was] made to push the im-pediments across before daylight, it being evident that the enemy was in force in our rear. But we failed. The rain came down in torrents, putting out many of the fires, the men became exhausted, and both they and the animals sank down in the mud and mire, wherever they were, to seek a few hours repose.” (Shelby Foote, The Civil War)

Rice was selected to defend the point on the left side while the main body of troops crossed over. He and his men had their backs to a swollen river. They fought off charge after charge by vastly superior forces, sometimes engulfed in a thick morning fog.

“For six hours he [Rice] roamed the field upon his roan mount, car-rying cheer and encour-agement to his men with his coolness. At length he was struck in the foot by a mini ball which hit the buckle of the spur on his right foot and carried it into the wound. The buck-le remained there unno-ticed for a week. (Horace Jones, Up From the Sod)

While the buckle lodged in the bone of his heel blood poisoning developed. He became seriously ill and was sent home to Oska-loosa, Iowa, where he died during surgery.

It is interesting to note the peculiar incident that contributed to his death:

“The day before he

was wounded he had noticed that he was wear-ing his spurs buckled on the inside of his feet, while fellow officers buckled theirs on the outside. He mentioned this to a companion and remarked that he would follow the common practice after that. (Horace Jones, The Story of Rice County)

Rice sat down on a log and changed them then and there. Had he not done so the buckle would not have been carried into his foot, therefore avoid-ing possible infection.

“So -- you’re still asking, “How did our county get his name?

“After all, Rice was not even a Kansan, right?

“Fighting next to General Rice at Jenkins Ferry was Samuel J. Crawford of Kansas, colo-nel of the Second Kansas Colored Regiment:

“At one stage of the battle, Rice needed reinforcements and called upon Crawford, inquir-ing whether he believed his men would stand firm on the firing line. Crawford assured Rice saying, ‘Just try them.’

Rice accepted his word for it, and the men were thrown into the engagement and fought gloriously (Horace Jones, Up From the Sod)

Samuel J. Crawford became the Kansas Gov-ernor after the war. He named a newly-organized county in 1867 out of re-spect for Samuel A. Rice. Rice County was officially organized Aug. 18, 1871.

His men, officers and those who knew him held Rice in the highest esteem. After his death, he was honored as major gen-eral for his gallantry and leadership at the Battle of Jenkins Ferry and other notable skirmishes during the Civil War.

Origins of Rice County

BRIG. GEN. SAMUEL A. RICE

Lyons news • PLains & Progress agricuLture & Manufacturing tuesday, January 31, 2012 5c Barton County Business neighBors Friday, October 1, 2010 5

See Us…Sales, Parts

& Service

GREAT BEND FARM EQUIPMENTSouth Highway 281 • Great Bend, Kansas

800-817-9921www.gbfarm.com

A ServiceYou Can

Believe InCongratulations to All Rice County

Businesses on Your Success and Progress!We’re Happy to Serve the Farmers and

Agriculture Industry of Rice County

6C Friday, January 31, 2012 Agriculture & MAnufActuring Lyons News • Plains & Progress

brand you can trust.Since 1985, Zimm’s Feedlot has focused on quality care of their customers and their cattle. They are committed to details and focused on the future. You can trust your cattle with Zimm’s Feedlot.

1650 Avenue RSterling, Kansas 67579(620) 278-2862

What started as a per-sonal venture by Wen-dell Zimmerman in the 1980s has expanded into a full-blown cattle feeding operation. In the mid-1970’s, Wendell built a few pens to feed his own cattle. In the early 1980s he was encour-aged to start custom cattle feeding. So in 1985, Wendell applied for permits to start building more pens and to start custom cattle feeding.

Wendell died in 1998 as the result of an au-tomobile accident and the business was taken over by his wife Pat. She has been the office manager since Zimm’s Feedlot started and con-tinues in that capacity today. Their son Todd took over the managing of the feedlot. Several new pens and improvemnts have been added since the feedlot had its beginning. In 2008 construction was completed on a

new feed mill to help make the operation more efficient. This expansion has made it possible to meet the demand by allowing more feed grain to be stored on site.

This past year the company began and completed construc-tion of a new office building. The building features office space, a break room, a reception area, a work area and bathrooms.

Zimm’s Feedlot oper-ates with a 3,000 head capacity. They have plenty of water adja-cent to the facility and good feed. The feedlot is locat-ed one mile south of the Kansas Ethanol plant at 1650 Avenue R, Ster-ling, KS 67579. They utilize local products and services and have purchased feeding products from the Ethanol plant since it opened last summer.Zimm’s Feedlot em-ploys three full-time and two part-time and seasonal employees. Zimm’s Feedlot can be reached by calling 620-278-2862 or by email at [email protected]. and on their web-site at zimmsfeedlot.com.

Zimm's Feedlot continues to expandPersonal venture has grown into fullblown feeding operation

THIS NEW FEED MILL was built during 2008 at Zimm's Feedlot to improve the operations efficiency and feed capacity.

FROM PAGE 2

EGGSlaying hens, 100,000 pullets, and a pro-cessing facility.

Sherman Miller, Cal-Maine vice presi-dent, said the expan-sion has added more than 20 employees.

Construction of the expansion started last spring.

The 2008 expan-sion was the second

at the Rice County Cal-Maine operation since it was estab-lished in 1997.

Originally, it had one million laying hens and 250,000 pullets--young hens which are not yet of egg production age.

The first addition added capacity for another 500,000 laying hens, bringing the total to one and a half mil-lion birds, and 125,000 pullets, increasing that count to 375,000. Four layer houses and one pullet structure were added at that time.

Organic foods, including eggs, are rapidly becoming popular among health-conscious consumers. Cal-Maine said that “in this process, the layers are fed organic feed and are kept in a cage-free environment that will have access to the outdoors when seasonably adequate.”

Currently, all lay-ing hens are housed in cages in a dozen 50-foot by 700-foot structures.

Miller said the 2008 expansion paved the way for the re-cent road work.

“These new facili-ties are compliant with the Organic Food Production Act which

establishes national standards for organi-cally produced com-modities,” Miller said, “According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, ‘Growth in the specialty egg market is rapid, and organic eggs are the fastest growing part of this sector.’ ”

This is in spite of the fact that organical-ly-produced eggs will sell for approximately 80 percent more than regular eggs.

“The expansion at the Chase facility includes an organic pullet rearing facility of two new buildings with a capacity of 50,000 per building,” Miller said. “Also organic layer (houses) and a processing facil-ity were constructed. The layer facility includes four build-ings with a 100,000 bird capacity each, for a total of 400,000 layers. This facility is a state-of-the-art, cage-free environment with outside access for the birds. Nests for laying are provided and conveyor belts are utilized for ma-nure collection. Egg production from these layers is processed and packaged in the dedicated adjacent processing building for organic products.

“Other upgrades and expansion of the facilities were neces-sary to accommo-date the organic egg production. Improve-ments to the water system, addition of a new lagoon and addi-tion of separate feed mill components were all part of the plan.”

The pullet facil-ity is on the south side of Avenue K, on Seventh Road.

The four laying houses, and process-ing facility, are on the west side of Sixth Road and south of Ave. K. This loca-tion will be southwest of the current layer houses and office and processing facility, and west of the feed mill.

The locations of the laying and processing facilities were selected because they are un-broken pasture land, upon which no fertil-izer or other chemicals have been used. This is a necessity for the production of true organic products.

Cal-Maine/Chase currently em-ployees 100 work-ers on all levels.

We are proud to be a part of the

community.

Our employees support area schools & businesses. Look to us

for your shopping needs.

LYONS FOODLINER

Lyons Foodliner has been serving Rice County since 1976. It is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is locally owned by Raymond, Dorothy and Scott Gei-er. Lyons Foodliner is located at 117 S. Grand. It has 35 employees.


• Family owned and operated at this location since 1917.• Seasoned employees ride pens daily.• Cattle financing available through local banks offering competitive, convenient, innovative loans and repayment.• EPA approval for 12,000 head capacity.• Consulting veterinarian and nutritionist visit regularly.• Semi-monthly reports on your cattle’s consumption, health, movement and expenses.

“We provide the fine service of smaller feedlots withthe convenience and technology of any larger feedlot.”

Steve Sellers620-257-2611

Kevin Dwyer620-257-5005www.sellersfeedlot.com

“Six Generationsof Experience”

“Cleanest Yard IHave Seen”

A Tradition of Caring for Your Cattle

The Logical Place to Feed Your High Quality Angus Cattle

1420 Avenue N Lyons, Ks620-257-5144

For six generations, Sellers Feedlot of rural Lyons has had a hands-on approach to their feedlot operations. Steve Sellers and son-in-law Kevin Dwyer oversee the daily operations of the feedyard, making Sellers

Feedlot the logical place to feed your high quality Angus cattle. Located in the heart of cat-tle feeding country, Sellers Feedlot offers abundant water, excellent climate, innovative pen design and a close prox-imity to a premium packer. In fact, four packers call Sellers on a regular basis, as the feed-lot is strategically located between several plants. Sellers Feedlot uses a Purina impact ration consist-ing of fresh, steam-flaked corn and a small amount of silage, which produces less manure than a forage-based ration. This ration increases efficiency by as much as

seven percent over conven-tional rations, translating into cheaper grains through better conversion, and odor control due to more digestible feed. Sellers Feedlot is known throughout the industry as being family-owned and oper-ated, providing the fine ser-vice of smaller feedlots with the convenience and technol-ogy of any larger feedlot. Their feed trucks feature hori-zontal mixers delivering nutritional rations before sun-up as well as two more times throughout the day. The lot features a comput-erized bunk reading system specifying correct amounts and types of rations, strategi-

cally timed for maximum consumptions. Factor in a micro machine adding iono-phores, antibiotics, and vita-mins accurately measured and a computerized animal health system offering treatment recommendations that main-tain your animal’s detailed history, and you see why “Sellers’ Management Goes the Extra Mile.” Sellers Feedlot incorpo-rates cutting edge perfor-mance information to its daily feedlot tracking capabilities. As a member of the VetLife databank, benchmark perfor-mance levels are compared against the industry to pro-vide custom tailored implant

programs to fit the customers’ cattle. In turn, semi-monthly reports are provided to the customer to keep them abreast of their animals’ progress. Located west of Lyons at 1420 Avenue N, Sellers Feedlot, with a crew of a dozen local employees, is a year-round operation. The feedlot has been EPA approved to house 12,000 head and offers plentiful water with land for additional growth. If you, or someone you know is in need of a feeding operation with a proven record, you should consider Sellers Feedlot. For more informa-tion, contact Steve Sellers or Kevin Dwyer at 620-257-5144.

Sellers feedlot spans six generations

R I C E C O U N T Y

A E R I A L

S P R AY E R S

620-257-3399Bill Hoeffner

▪ H e r b i c i d e s

▪ I n s e c t i c i d e s

▪ F u n g i c i d e s

S e r v i n g R i c e C o u n t y a n d t h e s u r r o u n d i n g a re a f o r o v e r 3 0 y e a r s

Rice County Aerial Sprayers, located at the Rice County airport, started in Lyons in 1998 as an add-on to Bill Hoeffner’s Ellinwood Fly-ing Service, which had been serv-ing Rice County since 1981. That partnership ended in January of 2011 when Hoeffner kept Rice County Aerial Sprayers and his partner kept the Ellinwood business. Hoeffner employs his wife Evie Hoeffner as the office manager, and Spencer Maxwell as his pilot-mechanic.

RCAS owns three spraying planes; two turbines and a smaller one which can be used most eco-nomically for the smaller jobs. They added the turbine planes in 2010, which increased their efficiency by 40 percent. The bigger planes carry a payload of 500 pounds and travel across a field at 150 miles per hour.

Rice County Aerial Spraying pro-vides pasture spraying in the spring and fall, mainly for musk thistle control, and crop spraying from March through Thanksgiving. By that time, most everything is dormant.The business serves a twelve county

area from Great Bend to Marion, and from Wichita to north of Salina.

Last summer, a chance meeting with an Oklahoma cropduster who had set down in Rice County due first to mechanical trouble, then fog, led to a couple months of work in North Dakota. It was perfect timing; our drought here was balanced by extremely wet conditions up north, where the only way to put chemi-cals on fields was through the air.

Hoeffner grew up on a farm east of Salina, and was hooked on fly-ing after his first airplane ride at age seven. Local Flying Farmers did penny-a-pound flights during the holidays, and his first flight cost him 74 cents. With his ag background, and experience flying helicopters for the U.S. Army in Vietnam in ‘68-’69, Hoeffner is well-suited for agricultural sprayer flying.

Hoeffner’s fellow fly-boy, Spencer Maxwell, graduated from AgFlight school in Bainbridge, Georgia, in February of 2010, and began working for the crop-dusting company right away. He has a limited commercial

license and has accumulated around 1,000 hours flying. This will be his third summer working for Hoef-fner. “I like everything about the job,” Maxwell said. “I get to fly!”

Both Hoeffner and Maxwell have Kansas pesticide licenses and are able to reciprocate with Ne-braska, Iowa, North Dakota, and Oklahoma for a fee. They have plans to go back to North Dakota next summer if work is available.

During the winter, time is spent maintaining the airplanes. The 100-hour engine check has just been done, and Maxwell took the seat out to clean and tighten it up after a summer of use.

Maxwell said that the government-required protective gear - gloves, goggles, mask, long sleeves and pants, boots, and apron - gets pretty hot in the summer, with the exhaust coming off the airplane engine at around 900 degrees.

With more than a million acres under his belt, Hoeffner says he has never set an alarm to get up to go to work. He loves what he does, and even though he plans to retire in three or four years, that doesn’t mean he will stop flying. He recently had a visit from a former partner in a flying

service he owned in Nickerson. Wally is 85 years young and just passed his flight physical and recertified. Hoeffner says he plans to follow his example.

Rice County Aerial Sprayers pilot-mechanic Spencer Maxwell in-spects the engine compartment on the yellow cropdusting plane he usually flies.

Rice County Aerial Sprayers proudly serves local and regional agriculture


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North American Salt Company, Lyons Plant, Providing Salt for

Your Family and Mine.

North American Salt Company is a full-line salt manufacturer. We are one of the largest salt companies in the world, producing mil-lions of tons per year. Our product lines include agricultur-al, water softeners, consumer ice melters, industrial appli-cations, food grade, and rock salt for snow and ice melting.

North American SaltCompanyA Compass Minerals Company

North American Salt solution mine has been in operation in Lyons for over 100 years.

Sure SoftSafeStepWinter StormAmerican StockmanNature’s OwnNatural

Look for our brands for your salt needs:


By Paul Jones

With the fourth anniversary of the start of production only three months away, Kansas Ethanol, LLC continues on a nearly bump-proof schedule which has resulted in the production of just slightly less than 60 million gallons of the gasoline additive each year.

The operations are run-ning so smoothly that the com-pany has been able to significantly exceed its debt retirement, and should be entirely debt free the end of this year or early in 2013. This is in spite of about $1 million a year in capital improvements, and the decision to pay dividends to investors from operating prof-its, Michael Chisam, president and chief executive officer, said.

The plant three miles south of Lyons continues to employ 35 persons, and has had no trouble acquiring grain for processing, or selling the finished ethanol prod-

uct, and the distillers’ grain which is left over from production, and is in high demand for livestock feed-ing operations. For the 60 millions gallons of ethanol, approximately 21 million bushels of grain are used, with the current ration 65 percent milo and 35 percent corn. While most of the grain comes from the immediate area, a small amount is shipped in by K and O Railroad from other areas in Kan-sas and from adjoining states.

Kansas Ethanol is a lead-er in safety in the industry, finishing first for two consecutive years in a group of some 75 plants. It had a safety record from the startup which was 1,192 days until two small inju-ries, a broken bone from a fall and a cut finger, ended the streak, but by January 20, the Rice County plant had gone another 156 days without an accident. Even with these minor injuries, the plant was still among the top 10 percent in its peer group.

The capital improve-ments include the current project of constructing a flat storage bin for distillers’ grain. Galyon Brothers Construction is building the facil-ity just southwest of the plant.

The 60 million gallon annual production was adhered to to capitalize on a federal tax credit for investors in plants of such size, and resulted in $1.5 million tax credits last year for the investors. The pro-gram has been ended, and because of this, Chisam said, the plant may produce slightly more than 60 million gallons, but the increase will come not from any new facili-ties, but Kansas Ethanol’s use of experience to continue to be more efficient with the amount of grain

used and the existing equipment. The plant runs 24 hours a

day, seven days a week, but is shut down twice a year — in the spring and fall — for three days of main-tenance. Other than that, Kansas Ethanol has experienced very little unexpected outages, and its on-line time is extremely high. Operations continued on schedule this month even with two safety sessions, each four hours in length, with half of the employes involved January 17, and the other half January 19.

Staff turnover is slight, but this past year Megan Vin-cent, who has been in charge of human relations and served as office manager, was promoted to the position of controller.

After neArly four yeArs of continuous operAtion

Kansas Ethanol, LLC. still operating profitably

1310 E. HWY 56 • P.O. Box 88 • Lyons, KS

corp

QUALITY CONTROLLED HAY SERVICE

DRINKMILK!

Quality Controlled Alfalfa Service • Baled Hay • Transportation

EATBEEF!

We can

market your hay,

1 call reaches over 1,000customers!

Offi ce620-257-5088

Fax620-257-5066

Rice County Abstract & Title Company, Inc.

Rice County Abstract & Title Company, Inc.

“Since 1900”

Stacie R. Jared

Bonded, Insured and Licensed Abstracting and Title

Insurance Agency providing the following services:

Escrows Closings Title Insurance Abstracting Services Lien Searches

Stacie R. JaredPresident

(620) 257-2831Fax: (620) [email protected]

108 East Avenue South P.O. Box 6

Lyons, Kansas 67554

Central States Al-falfa, located west of Lyons on highway 56, works diligently with hay producers both local and distant to se-cure hay for their cus-tomers which are not only local but range from Texas all the way to the east coast.

Chad Pinson, owner of the operation, said that they work their connections to procure the needed product to supply their customers at a fair price.

“We’re a lot like a grain elevator,” Pinson said. “The farmers bale the hay and we

purchase it right out of the fields or the barn or they can bring it to Central States and don’t have to deal with re-marketing, and out-bound freight trucks that show up late at night in bad weather.”

During the sum-mer drought the local company was able to find hay and ship it to feeders and dairy farm-ers in drought stricken areas, which would have been hard pressed to continue their opera-tions without the ser-vice that Central States provides.

“We’re continu-

ing to meet the needs of the people,” said Pinson.

Pinson started the Lyons/Rice County operation about five years ago, and soon af-ter moved his family to Lyons. The company facilities, located about 3 miles west of town, continue to grow. They built offices a few years ago, and have added pole barns, and truck scales plus loading and stacking equipment all needed to move large volumes of hay.

centrAl stAtes AlfAlfA

Providing hay for livestock producers in Kansas and surrounding states

Rice County Abstract provides several impor-tant services for the folks of Lyons and Rice Coun-ty.

They are a bonded, and licensed abstracting and title insurance agency.

They provide several services to their area cli-ents including escrows, closings, title insurance, abstracting services and lein searches.

The owner and presi-dent of the business is Stacie R. Jared.

rice county AbstrAct Proud to be a part of area progress

The staff at Rice County Abstract and Title are ready to assist with all closing and abstract needs. They are (L-R): Leslie Steffan, Stacie Jared, and Margaret Harrower

In 2010, North American Salt complet-ed a $2.8M expansion program which consists of a 27,000-square-foot warehouse.

The new structure doubled their previous warehouse capacity.

The warehouse eliminates the past practice of storing some finished product outside as it awaits shipment by one of the many trucks which haul salt prod-ucts from NASC daily.

The plant produces more than a thou-sand tons of granu-lated salt daily.

Its most commonly known product is table salt, packaged in round 26-ounce cans, which come out of Lyons under about three dozen dif-ferent label names. The company also makes salt pellets for such use as water softeners (SureSoft), salt blocks for agricultural use (American Stockman), and packaged and bulk salt for a variety of uses.

Several years ago NASC constructed a drop-off lot for large trailers, which are loaded ahead of time and are ready when a truck tractor comes for them. Wolf said that with the improved load-ing system, 98 percent of the daily trucks are in and out within a two-hour period.

The company pro-duces its salt from 18 wells which are drilled into the underground millions-of-years-old salt formation. Water is pumped into the wells, and once it becomes a saturated salt brine, is returned to the surface where evaporation re-moves the water, leav-ing the salt. The com-pany’s wells are now

north AmericAn sAlt

Recent $2.8M expansion is working well

just south of the plant, but NASC has enough mineral rights or prop-erty already purchased to last for a few more generations to come.

The federal gov-ernment monitors the company at least once a year for purity, with a federal standard of 99.5 percent pure. NASC exceeds that, being at the level of 99.8 or above, Wolf said. Any salt which does not reach that level is sorted out for non-human uses.

The hourly and salaried staff of 150 to 160 men and women

work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on four shift schedules.

The Kansas Depart-ment of Labor officials awarded North Ameri-can Salt with an award for one million hours without having a loss-time accident in 2010.

The Lyons plant, a major industry in Rice County for many part of the parent Compass Minerals Company, has gone since Janu-ary 1, 2006, without a loss-time accident, and actually, the total now has grown to well over a million hours.


“Proud to be an active Partner in the rice county community.”

We Are PArtners In rIce county Progress

Currently the U.S. uses

approximately 13 billion gallons of ethanol yearly, about

9.5% of the total gasoline supply.

AVENUE Q • 620-257-2300 LYONS, KANSAS

• Rice County’s newest ag-related industryProcessing 21.1 million bushels of grain per year •

Producing 438,000 tons of distillers grain for feed yearly• Employing 35 area residents with an estimated•

annual payroll of $2,000,000!

80% Of all revenue

generated by an ethanol facility is spent within a 50-mile

radius of the facility.