Weather deals had hand John Ostradka is not one of those high< rollers you read about in the national farm magazines. He’s not one of the young tigers that is probably going to dominate agriculture over the neat few Vo lum at i clll silage distributor-unloader uu JAMESWAV Install Another reason why all ring-drive silo unloaders are not alike: Whether your silo is empty, partly empty or full,.we can install a Volumatic in silage distributor-unloader. Wide-stance hexapod 3-point suspension installation system lets ybu replace your present unloader with the ring-drive distributor unloader others can’t match in features or perfor mance. So, why wait? See us for systems and service that help make the good Ilf ©better. agri equipment ing. dependable motors rovendale supply 2754 Creek Hill Bd. R°2,Wat«nto«^PAl 7 777 Sff SKSSS 717-538-5521 hfnpv s LAPP SOS.MNBERGER SILOS naUtf o. LArr RFD2,Chambersburg,PA ■ n CAirC RDI, Cains, Gap, PA 17527 717-264-9588 I. ta. 9AIX9 717-442 ; 8134 Rt. 113, Box 200 | * cu/ftPE SSStt£ HARRY L TROOP Wm-noi Rt. 1 Cochranville, PA 19330 Myerstown, PA 215-593-6731 717-933-4758 G. HIRAM BUCHMAN, INC. ERB& HENRY „ Rte. 519 - N. off Rte. 46 EQUIP., INC. DETWILERSILO . P.0.80x 185 22-26 Henry Avenue REPAIR Bewdere, NJ 07823 New Berlinville, PA Rt. 2, Newville. PA 201-475-2185 215-367-2169 717-776-7533 GEORGE A. COLEMAN BENNETT MACHINE CO. Rt. #2, Box 216 1601 S. Dupont Blvd. Elmer, NJ Milford, DE 609-358-8528 302-422-4837 Farm Talk Jerry Webb decades. He’s just what some folks describe as a typical Illinois far mer. Eight hundred acres of flat, southern Illinois cropland devoted to com, soybeans and small grain. When I visited with him a few m any time weeks ago, he had $lB,OOO worth oi soybeans still in the field and the ground was too muddy to operate a combine a heavy snow before the ground freezes and those baans are lost. It was one of those years for John, one of many for a man who’s farmed that kind of ground all his life. He takes the possibility of such a monumental loss with the same dignity that he accepts the profits from his 50 bushel per acre beans already in the bin. It was the day befo'-e Thanksgiving and we were looking over his brand new combine, tucked safely out of the weather while he waited for the land to dry. For months John has been waiting for the land to dry. “It started last summer and it’s just never let up,” he told me. “That field was ready for soybean seeding and it started to rain." By the time it dried out, enough to plant, John had to go in and plow again, and it rained ever since all summer and fall. That one field, the one that was too wet to combine, represented a substantial-loss if the snows came before the ground froze. There was just no way John was going to get into that field without a heavy freeze. All through the wet fall harvest he slopped around in mud up to his knees, doing what he could to get several hundred acres of corn and soybeans into the bin before really bad weather came along. He was doing pretty good in the beginning, until his five-year-old combine decided to give up with a blown diesel engine. It was time to trade anyway, so he went to the very best. A $llB,OOO machine, not including the com harvesting attachment, that has just about everything you could want, in cluding 4-wheel drive. But even that didn’t solve the problem. It was just too wet, and that big machine wallowed and stuck and was pulled out time after time as John attempted to work his way through the harvest. It hasn’t been a typical season, but it’s not that unusual in that part of southern Illinois. The topsoil is not very deep and a subsoil hard pan prevents adequate drainage. Driving down those rutter country roads, you could see field after field where combines had literally been dragged down the rows in an effort to complete the harvest. Ruts so deep they looked like irrigation channels were everywhere, and the obvious mudholes where combines had been stuck and pulled out with wreckers, 4-wheel drive tractors and anything else available abounded. Some farmers were even equipping their combines with rice tires special wide tires with «raw there’s a way you can boost profits 20% or S* more. An entirely new way to feed boas, Chore- Time’s new MEAL-TIME Hog Feeding System feeds your hogs 2 or 3 programmed “meals” a day. giving them time to thoroughly digest and fully utilize their feed. The result feed conversion improved 5% or more for an additional 15 to 20% or more net profit per pig. Chore-Time offers 3 sizes of MEAL-TIME feeders with built in waterers to properly fit all hogs and minimize feed wastage. See us today and find out how you can profit from the Chore-Time MEAL-TIME System. COMPLETE: ★ SALES ★ INSTALLATION ★ SERVICE AGRI- CATTLE - HOG - POULTRY - GRAIN EQUIPMENT 2754 CREEK HILL RD., LEOLA, PA. 17540 PH: 717-656-4151 ★ SERVING PA, NJ and NY HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 7:30 to 5:00; Sat. 7:30 to 11:30 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 16,1982—D5 FEED WHY USE MORE WHEN LESS WILL DO? EQUIPMENT,me. extra heavy cleats used on com bines in the southern rice states. ' And even they were failing. In fact, the only combines that were having any success at all in those quagmires were the relatively small, lightweight self propelled machines that could skim over the surface without breaking through. And there just aren’t enough of them around anymore to get the job done. So John watched the heavily overcast sky and hoped for a cold snap. If the ground would freeze, he could finish in a couple of days. But if a heavy snow comes first, forget it. The beans shatter and lodge and are impossible to har vest. Such are the dilemmas of agriculture. John Ostradka had so much rain he could hardly plant Jus soybeans and then he couldn’t, harvest them. Here on thei Delmarva peninsula many far mers didn’t get enough rain to even make a crop. John has acres he couldn’t harvest; Delmarva farmers had acres with nothing to harvest. And it’s all because of the weather. John Ostradka is the kind of farmer that a lot of other farmers could admire. He’s successful, has a good operation, knows how to grow crops and makes money. He owns good farm machinery, has a neat farmstead and an almost new house all of the outward trap pings of agricultural success.. But it hasn’t always been that way and it hasn’t come easy. John used to farm across the road, where he milked cows for yeans. But open-heart surgery and an (Turn to Page 06)