Soilless Media Manufacturer
Begins Production
QUARRYVILLE (Lancaster
Co.) In the early 1980 s, Frey
Brothers, Inc. started producing
bulk hardwood mulch products,
a by-product from their timber
and log-sawing operations.
Their mulch was mostly chan
neled to independent garden
centers within a 100-mile radius
of Lancaster County.
By 1987, Frey Brothers, Inc.
was offering bagged product in
their brand names of Twin Oaks
and Four Corners. Later in
1998, with the addition of a
36,000-square-feet bagging facil
ity, processing of bag product at
Frey Brothers, Inc. had reached
the fully automated stage.
Frey Brothers, Inc. has just
added a highly accurate mixing
facility complete with a compu
terized formulating and delivery
system. On Aug. 1, Frey Broth
ers, Inc. processed its first cubic
yard of professional growers mix
at its Quarryville plant.
Unverferth’s Earthquake disk ripper.
Unverferth Introduces
Earthquake™ Disk Ripper
SHELL ROCK, lowa Un
verferth Manufacturing Com*
pany, Inc. announces the
introduction of the Earth
quake™ disk ripper to its lineup
of Brent* .tillage products. Its
combination of front disk gangs,
deep-tiU shanks and rear disk
gangs cuts and mixes crop resi
due four to six inches deep;
shatters hardpan 12-18 inches
deep and smoothes the soil for a
level, uniform surface that re
sists wind and water erosion and
makes an easy-to-prepare
seedbed.
The Earthquake disk ripper’s
heavy-duty mainframe with
self-leveling hitch is constructed
of five inches by seven inches
high-strength, special-alloy steel
for maximum durability.
The front disk gangs feature
heavy-duty trunnion-mount
bearings and 24 inch, shallow
concave blades that cut at an 18-
degree angle for ideal residue
sizing and mixing. The 24-inch
Schick Enterprises
Improves Hog Raising
KUTZTOWN (Berks Co.)
Headed by Company President
Paul Schick, Schick Enterprises
has developed a revolutionary
method of raising hogs, called
the Sortaii Building.
Lowering labor requirements
Lancaster Fi
Karl Frey, production mana
ger, was impressed by the accu
racy and consistency of this new
equipment. This new mix is one
of four basic mixes being offered
to growers in 2.8 cubic feet bags,
60 cubic feet returnable bulk
bags, and in bulk trailer loads.
Ernie Frey 11, bagging plant
manager, will be packaging the
2.8 cubic feet bags in pallets of
40 bags each. This will reduce
the handling weight of pallets
being unloaded at the grower’s
location. Frey Brothers, Inc. will
provide delivery and offers a
pallet unloading option at no
additional cost.
Each Frey Brothers, Inc. for
mula includes a starter nutrient
charge, a pH adjuster, a wetting
agent and a secondary nutrient
addition. The grower will
quickly notice that each bag of
mix will include processed coco
nut coir fiber, which assists in
mix wetting and rewetting char
acteristics.
blades on the rear disk gangs
can be set from 14 to 16 degrees
for a soil surface finish to meet
the individual needs.
The VA inch by four inch
thick, parabolic-style deep-till
shanks are easily adjustable in
one-inch increments. The Ultra-
Flex™ shank arms feature six
inch lateral movement for con
sistent, uniform soil penetration
and easy movement around
buried obstacles. Winged points
are also available if even greater
shattering action is required.
The shanks are set for 4,380
pounds of trip pressure for opti
mum penetration and the trip
mechanism is also shear-bolt
protected for operation in severe
conditions.
The Earthquake disk ripper is
available in a seven-shank
model with a shank spacing of
30 inches, nine-shank model
with shanks spacings of 30
inches and a 10-shank model
with shank spacing of 24 inches.
and increasing profits can now
be achieved through the use of
this highly researched, newly de
veloped, and patent-pending fa
cility.
Designed to allow two large
pens of hogs to sort themselves
using only one scale, the Sortall
e it
LOUISVILLE, Ky. Re
cently, three local FFA members
won third place in the sixth
annual Chevron Texaco Lubri
cants Tractor Competition for a
gas-powered 1949 Farmall M
series tractor they restored.
Jesse Bitler, Ben Mast, and
Brian Peifer from Oley Valley
School District were given their
prizes, including a plaque and
$l,OOO to split between the team,
during the FFA Convention in
Louisville, Ky.
Judges for the competition,
provided by Chevron Texaco,
evaluated three main categories:
overall appearance, mechanical
operation, and safety compo
nents of each tractor. The con
testants were split into two
categories: individual and chap
ter competitors. Bitler, Mast and
Peifer won second runner-up in
the chapter competition.
Bitler said, “We impressed
ourselves. We were the only win
ning team that did not have any
prior experience in the competi
tion. We placed over teams that
had won in the past.”
The competition encourages
students to learn the intricate
operation of tractor mechanics
and to work successfully in
teams. Participants were re
quired to track their progress in
a workbook specially developed
by Chevron Texaco to aid the
students with record keeping,
expense management, and
project coordination, according
to Chevron Texaco’s Website.
Eby Introduces
All-Aluminum Livestock Trailers
BLUE BALL (Lancaster Co.)
M.H. Eby, Inc. introduces the
Maverick LS Series, a line of
versatile livestock trailers de
signed to provide small to mid
size farm, ranch, and livestock
operations with benefits of Eby’s
all-aluminum trailers.
The new Maverick LS models
feature a reduced width of 6 foot
5 inches for improved visibility
and handling. They are designed
to be pulled with lighter duty
trucks or SUVs.
The Maverick LS product line
Tillage Device Tackles No-Till Yield Limits
RACINE, Wis. Farmers
can now have the best of both
worlds. They can gain consistent
yield benefits of conventional til
lage and have the surface
residue retention of no-till with
the introduction of the new DMI
ecolo-strip’r™ 2500.
The ecolo-strip’r” 2500 man
ages subsurface and surface
yield barriers such as com
paction and cold, wet seed beds
Building uses specially engi
neered feeding and holding
areas, in addition to a unique
gating and fencing system,
among other features, to make
hog raising more efficient and
cost-effective.
Growers can achieve higher
sort bonuses through Schick’s
extremely accurate sorting
method. The building design
also allows for the isolated wa
tering of electrolytes, as well as
market group feed withholding,
which, together, result in lower
carcass shrinkage and higher
yielding carcasses with greater
tenderness.
The Sortall’s large pen config
uration also eliminates the dom
inant hog, thus reducing death
lo^sfromfig^ing.
FFA Members Finish Third
In National Competition
FFA students did well in recent national competition.
From left, Jesse Bitter, Ben Mast, Brian Peifer Jr. and Gary
Demyen, Chevron market manager.
Besides their work restoring
the tractor and tracking their
progress in the workbook, the
three students had to give a 20-
minute Power Point presentation
and answer 10 minutes of ques
tions about their restoration ef
forts. Local computer enthusiast
Jerry Weidner helped the stu
dents get the Power Point pres
entation running on school
equipment.
The gas-powered 1949 Far
mall M series tractor was ac
quired from a retired farmer
who had used it heavily for 25
years and then stored it for an
includes bumper hitch trailers
with floor lengths of 13 foot or
16 foot and inside heights of 6
foot 6 inches or 7 foot. All Mav
erick LS models can be pur
chased at Eby Dealers
throughout the U.S. and
Canada.
Engineered for durable per
formance for a wide range of
livestock, Maverick LS trailers
are built to Eby’s rugged all
aluminum construction. The
design includes aluminum
while protecting Highly
Erodable Land (HEL). In a
single pass, the ecolo-strip’r”
2500 fractures compacted soil
while building and conditioning
the “strip” that settles level,
ready for planting.
“Tackling the year-over-year
yield deterioration of no-till
without disturbing the majority
of the soil surface is a difficult
task,” says Kent Senf, DMI
marketing manager, tillage.
“But, the ecolo-strip’r” 2500
does it with ease.”
By shattering compaction and
reorienting the soil aggregates,
the ecolo-strip’r 1 " 2500 creates a
healthier soil profile that allows
roots to explore a greater
volume of soil and obtain more
nutrients. The right balance of
soil (minerals and organic
matter) and pore space (air and
water) in the root zone also im
proves potential water infiltra
tion and utilization.
The ecolo-strip’r™ 2500 comes
equipped with heavy-duty berm
build’rs™ that catch loosened
soil and fill grooves left by the
shanks, while raising the seed
bed to an ideal level. This im
proves the seed bed drainage, re
su r lt‘n& »n increased soil
MaaaH
other 25. The students spent 896
grueling hours in the tedious
process of restoring the tractor.
“It was nice to see all our hard
work paid off,” Bitler said.
The project received support
from Hoober, Inc. Hoober sup
plied free technical advice and
discounted parts support. Be
sides entering the tractor in the
national competition, the stu
dents showed the tractor at the
Oley fair last September and has
offered it to Hoober to be used in
hayrides and displayed in the
showroom.
crossmembers, top and bottom
rails, side posts and slats, center
partition, aerodynamic front
end, side door, rear frame, and
rear door.
Included as standard is a .125
inch thick flat aluminum dia
mond plate floor. Other stan
dard features include a one
piece .040 inch aluminum roof,
electric brakes, tire carrier, full
width rubber dock bumper, two
skid plates at rear, inside sealed
beam dome light, and exterior
lights per DOT requirements.
No-till farmers face the
difficult task of creating an
optimum seed bed, while
also avoiding disturbing the
majority of the soil surface.
The DMI ecolo-strip’r™
2500 shatters compaction
and reorients soil aggre
gates in the tillage “strip”
to create a healthier soil
environment.
temperature within the seed
zone, while disturbing only ap
proximately one-third (row
width) of the surface. Addition
ally, this improved seed bed
allows more uniform plant
stands that utilize sunlight,
water and nutrients more effec
tively, while leaving the traffic
area sturdy and preventing ero
sion.