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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
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