Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1988)
* - J í i f 'ÜL HH’ n iiil m n i in " , • ,'C ? <i* i.i .x- m ' ■— ’-c-i.ar « ^ * < MORROW Heppner Oregon 97836 Phone (503) 676 54 52 PO Box 127 1988 Annual Report Supplinu-nl to the lleppner (>a/ette-limes, October 5, I9HH™- Morrow County Leads State in Conservation Frank ansi lavonne Mader family this spring featured Neil (ioldschmidt along with Mm guests vs ho | mh I tribute to the conservation winners The Mailers have done an excellent |oh ot managing soil and water res«Hirers on their farm, noted the governor The state winners will now vie for the title ot National Soil and NN .itcr Conservation Farm I he Mailer's feb Kanih. located near Butter Creek Junction has live miles of the Oregon frail passing through the ranch I he farm was first honored as 1987 Morrow Coun tv Conservation larm before rcceiv ing state honors The f>b Kaiich is operated by Frank and FaVonne along with daughter and son in law Shannon and Tun Kust, son. kirk and Frank and LaVonne Mader with Oregon’s Governor Neil employees. Chad Startin and Harry Goldschmidt at Conservation Day. honoring the Maders- 1987 (ieer Chcy larm 20.1(MJ acres of ir Oregon Winners and dry cropland and pasture A Morrow County family, the coniplishment has earned them the rigated tor 170 head of cattle ITvey raise tall Maders. have turned barren ground title "1987 Oregon Conservation and spring white wheat and hard red into rieh productive land for future harm of the Year" spring wheat lentils and peas are generations to farm Their as A M ate-wide la w honoring the also grown on the larm The Conservation winners first began employ ing good tanning prac tices nine years ago when they pur chased the fami The land then averaged 17 bushels per acre with blowing dust a nuior problem coup! cd with weeds, overgrazed pasture and abandoned wheat ground Frank set out to tac kle these pro blems with conservation in mind He used i hemic als to control weeds and employed tanning practices that minimize disturbance of the soil, conserving both the moisture and reducing erosion (her the years Mader combined a "minimal till" system, with ihcmuai tallow and "no till" In the spring, chemical tallow is used followed by a tillage operation In the summer, rod weeding is done to control weeds 17ns allows for trashv tallow (tiat leases I 5 Ions ot residue on the surface at seeding time Most of the bf> Kattih is seeded with a no n il drill, a drill which has proven to be effective for the Mailers I he drill minimizes trips with as little disturbance to the soil is to spray weeds in the spring with as possible while trying to retain Round up and then to chisel plow moisture Bob initiated a program of He keeps a close check on problem minimal till to leave crop residue on weeds that spring up such as the surface for erosion control fhe goalgrass and morning glory At seeding lime Bob has good practice includes the use of chemical residue cover He prefers to seed herbicides and "chisel and rod" weeding to leave as much residue as possible Bob has found the moldhoard plow a disaster and disc ing is done as a last resort only Kmdsfather has tried his luck with a no till drill which he built himself The results were not satisfactory since (he drill was built on too light a frame Weeds are another problem that faces the Social Ridge farm and Bob has found chemical herbic ides an ef fective control Bob s usual practice with disc drills on a 7" base rather than using a deep turTow drill A county wide tour honoring the conservation winners was held in June In November. Bob and Josic Kmdsfather will be competing for the state award in conservation 1988 M. C. Conservation Winner Versatility comes second nature to Bob and Jostc Kmdstather. owners and operators of the Morrow Coun ty'* 1988 Conservation Farm of the Year After selling their cattle ranch in Montana in 1979. the Kindstathers took to farming when they pun has ed a dryland farm near Irxington, a challenge which has been very rewarding and successful The Kmdsfather farm consists of 2.400 acres plus an additional 1.355 acres which they lease on Social Ridge The farm presented many problems when Bob started farming, with erosion the chief enemy The farm is predominantly hilly and the toil is silt k>am. both features mak ing it vulnerable to soil erosion The first year of farming Bob con tacted the Still Conservation Service and. with technical assistance, over 12 miles of terraces were installed "W e started in the fall and finished in the spring." stated Bob Existing terraces were also upgraded The next step was to farm the land £ Kindsfather farm a fine example of conservation in creasing productivity. Bob Kindsfather. 1988 Morrow County Conservation Man of the Year across the fields by permitting the applications'! fertilizer at the same tune seeding is done This also in sures the prec ise placement s*f fer tilizer just below the seed Today, with these conservation practices, the Mader farm averages 47 bushels per acre on dry land and blowing dust in no longer a problem The irrigated circles raise a variety ot crops including wheat, peas, and lentils The circles run on a low pressure system which saves water during winds conditions Another tool to effectively use water is a ncutn>n probe which measures water availability to plants fhe Maders are careful not to overgraze, using stubble to pasture in winter and grass stubble in spring During the summer month*, the cows are on mountain pasture The most highly erodihle ground on the rrfi Ranc h has been (nil into the Con scrvation Reserve Program Maders ninth state win ners from Morron County. MSWCD Meets First Tuesdays Regular meetings of the Morrow Soil & Water Conservation District are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 8 p m except during thr winter months when the meetings arc held at I R) p m Special meetings will be held as need antes Agendas are available one week before scheduled meetings Meeting locations rotate between north and south Morrow County Meeting notices are published in the Itical newspaper one week poor to meeting dates WHAT'S INSIDE •Conservation Compliance •Hlk Tagging Study •Karth Team •lone Flood Control •Weed Control Up-date ]
