 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
By
Richard Thomas
This was one of the best harvests I’ve ever participated in and one of the largest. What a great year to retire as your manager. We handled just under 20 million bushels of corn and 4.7 million bushels of soybeans. Good planning and a wonderful work force made it all happen. At one time during harvest we had 104 people on the payroll. With only 44 full time employees that means we counted on a lot of part timers. We were able to receive almost 25 million bushels of grain, transfer 2.5 millions bushels from one location to another, and ship out 6.3 million bushels in 58 days. Believe me that take’s a lot of planning and coordination. We ended up with 2.1 million bushels of corn on the ground, 650 thousand in emergency storage, and 1.45 million in temporary storage. Emergency storage is on the ground with no cover while temporary storage is on asphalt, lime, or concrete with a cover.
This year the trains came on time or before. The rains came when we needed a break and stayed away while we pilled corn on the ground and got it tarped. We had 22 to 23 trucks plus our own that stayed with us through harvest. The only major breakdowns were at the beginning of harvest and we got them fixed and were back operating before it created any problems.
We had 17 locations open during harvest and I’ll be the first to admit we did some stupid things to keep them open. We trucked grain from one location to another when it made no economic since but we did it to stay open. Several of our employees worked 90 hour weeks to help get this accomplished. ADM and Staley were a big help to us this fall because they stayed open longer hours and some weekends which were a real benefit to getting the grain we had sold delivered.
Now that harvest is over we are working on improvements and expansion plans for the coming year. We need to add more receiving capacity and storage space at Cisco plus improve and speed up the unloading capabilities at Monticello. With the added volume at Emery after the merger of Maroa we need to seriously consider more storage at that location also. Pierson is on the list for more storage so we can eliminate the ground piles there and a faster unloading system for Atwood is also on the drawing boards. All it takes is money.
On the home front Bonnie and I made a quick trip to Nashville Tenn. on Oct. 26th & 27th to see our grandson play football. Thomas is a sophomore and plays defensive end for the Father Ryan High School in Nashville Tenn. We got to see him sack the quarter back of the opposing team causing a fumble. Of course Grandpa was real proud, but couldn’t help but give him some pointers after the game. Our son, John, moved into his new house in Tuscola late summer and our youngest son Todd and his wife are expecting another baby in December. That will give us 6 grandchildren.
We’re looking forward to being together with family and friends for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanks for your business and have Happy Holiday season and a Prosperous New Year.
By
Chuck Bentley
If you are like me, I shop mostly at local stores. The other day I went to a large grocery store in Champaign to pick up a few things. I wanted some multiple flavored suckers that the local store doesn’t carry. I ended up not only buying suckers but about 3 other kinds of candy that I didn’t need. You know the same thing happened when I went to buy some meat. I got 2 or 3 different cuts that I didn’t need. It happened again when I went to buy cheese. So many choices that I bought more than I needed. The whole trip through the store was the same. When I left the store my wife said that’s what happens when you go to a big store. We both thought that was a pretty good saying and are using it every time we go to a big store now to buy things.
And now for some financial news. Volume was up on corn and down on soybeans. Drying income was down somewhat from projections. Storage income is down substantially due to increased sales at harvest time. It should prove to be a challenging year due to so much grain being sold with not much carry in the market. Lets hope basis improvement will offset the storage downturn.
Until next time, have a great holiday season.
HARVEST AT MILMINE
By Louie Tieman
Sept.5:
Laplace got the first load of corn for topflight at 27.1%. Way to go ‘Ness,
you’re a leader, we’ll follow.
Sept.8: The three master minds bring in a hand corn sheller to grind a sample for a moisture test.
Rob Flavin brought in the first load of corn at 29.4%
Sept10: Dave Thompson first load of beans at 12.5%.
Sept.11: Teri says, “Sell beans across the scales at $6.20. No, your Dad will want $6.25 and will settle for $5.89.
Sept.17: As usual the rumors start flying - stalk quality is bad and it’s going down.
No-Till’s brakes locked up on the truck and we are just getting started.
Sept.18: Duane got started, tired of section farming. And by the way, S.S. paid for the new kitchen and not him. I learned that pretty fast. He did buy some of the appliances though.
Kim says,”WE ARE HAULING CORN FROM PILLAR TO POST”.
Sept.19: Have to check on the humming bird. It fell on the ground, and I have to be nice to her talking on the phone cause she has to drive for me through harvest.
Sept.20: First combine fire of the harvest season and no one was hurt; that’s the main thing.
Sept.21: Sue Hendrix enjoys the chiseling part of the farm work, but will drive the truck when needed. She always gets out of the truck and comes in and tells us where they will be moving to the next field; that way we put in the CODE for the next load they come in with and we are good to go. It makes it sooooo much easier for the people working the scales. CODE ,CODE CODES - Can’t explain how easy it is for all of us at Topflight when you pull in with the code in the window. Thanks to all of you who do this ,it makes our job easier. And less chance of us making a mistake.
Sept.22: OH NO, both trucks quit within a ½ hour of each other.
On this day in 2003, K.J. got his new nickname, “SKITTLES”.
Sept.23: Chile is the way to spell the country, not the food chilli. This is the day that L.B. got her new nickname, “SPELLCHECKER”. Every year she checks the spelling on our food list that we are having for that day. I think she has a Webster’s dictionary in that tractor.
Mark wanted to know if we took in Indian corn?
Also on this day JIM B.(RELATION TO CISCO manager), just about got me splattered. He was behind his driver honking his horn and his man thought it was time to go, so he started pulling off the scales with me trying to dump my corn bucket on the side of his truck. I got off in a hurry; looked back and Jim was laughing his B ___ off. His driver came back and said he thought maybe we switched from the bell to a horn.
Ken Gregory told me they had brownies and ice cream today.
Sept.25: “””” special day that I will not forget. Teri is trying to probe the truck and I look at the scale weight and I told her that truck is empty. So I go out and tell the lady she’s empty. “I can’t be.” I said, “Well you are.” “Oh no, I got the wrong truck. Bud J. probably parked it in the wrong place.” Well, the next load when she came back she told me if this made the newsletter she would take the rest of their grain to the HORSE AND BUGGY elevator to ‘NESS. That was the only time in my 26years at Milmine that I got threatened. I told her I would not put her name in the newsletter. But I didn’t say I wouldn’t put her picture in it.
Sept.25: R.H. said “sell’em”. BEANS were $6.43.Told me he’d give me 5 bushel. I told him I wanted $6.50 plus my storage.
Laddie Wright asked Jim Burns what he was doing hauling into Milmine, thought he’d haul to Cisco. Jim said you get wrinkled tickets at Cisco.
Sept.26: Sue Hendrix tells me she likes Milmine tickets cause they must have an iron there; they are not wrinkled.
Sept.27: Charlie, (COOKIE), Jack Gallivan’s hired man, said Brian Tieman and Bill Benson were the only ones who could open the tailgate on that truck, including “MURPH”.
Ask Jeff G. about his popcorn????
Sept.29: Market for D.B. and R.H. - beans up 21 and that makes $6.62. I want $6.75; no I want $7.00 plus my storage.
J.J. (Stuart’s better half) says you can buy the magnetic signs for your codes at Lowe’s. They are vent covers. Janet and L.B. always put last load when they come through with it. We can then run a proof of yield and give it to them usually on their next load.
Bill Cornwell didn’t teach his driver to weigh back empty and get a ticket. BUD Shonkwiler, I won’t let you forget it, ask W.F.
Sept 30: I asked Myrna if she was going to drive a truck this harvest,”YEA SHE SAID, PICKUP”.
W.F. after a 1 year layoff, decided not to weigh back mt again. Who forgot to take their ticket with them after they got done eating? It’s ok, WILMA, it wasn’t you.
Thanks, KATIE B. I got the hot pumpkin pie and cool whip.
Tom ,Duane Robson’s hired man, jumps out of the truck comes in and hands me the code for the field they are on. I typed it in and we were ready to go. I can’t explain how easy it is if you have the code for us. Tom does this every year, so Thanks, Tom, we appreciate it.
I just found out why Aaron B. used to like to come to Milmine; that’s the only time he asked to drive the trucks to the elevator.”lol”.
Oct.1: mkt update for D.B. and R.H.- $6.70 tonight and praying for frost tomorrow.
Oct.2: Thanks to Ray Baldwin on his final load. He knows!!!
Whoops, Duane R., got some corn left out in the field via a unlocked tailgate. Gave me some time to go out and talk to them and Kurt. Had to talk about the price of my beans. I told them they were going higher, have I ever been wrong? Don’t answer that.
Oct.3: After all these years, B.W. talked DAD into a GREEN machine.
I think ole’ Dick W. likes the green,I could tell by the way he smiled.
My mkt advisor tells me beans will be $7.00 by Dec1. I told Les and R.H..
Randy said sell ‘em.
Oct.4: DICK says we are quitting early cause I have a 45-year class reunion to go to and I may not be here for the next 45 year one - same guy who likes green now better than red.
3:24 p.m. D.B. says it’s too late to shuck corn.
Oct.5: Thanks, Stason, new customer in Mark Bennett. Also Wilbur Blacker’s hired man said they really liked Milmine. Good elevator to haul into.
Oct.6: Milmine was the RED CROSS station for ole’ C.S.
Good thing we had extra bandages. Send them to the field, patch ‘em up and keep on working.C.S. Right,Shirley?
Oct.7: Whoops, dropped Bob’s popcorn, way to go Benny. I won’t tell him. Well at least you still have Bill’s.
Planting early (MARCH23), cost us 20 bushel to the acre, A.F. said.
Oct.8: My mkt advisor said if I wanted to make 50 times my amount take them out and plant them.
This is for Ann. Your husband, THE WOODSCROLLER , says he doesn’t get out of bed until he can smell the coffee. I wonder what Bruce and Josephine think about that? You are too good to him, Ann. You can’t believe how many candy bars he sneaks when he’s down here.
Oct.10: WDT 37 brought in biscuits and gravy. That’s his license plates number. He also drives a red pickup. He has a key to HARDEES.
Oct.11: This is for Chad B. and Derek A. and the 3 wheelers - years ago. There is no clay dirt between Babcock’s and Burn’s. Our well is shallow. Can I wash my 3 wheeler here? Papa Jim knows best, CHAD.
Raymond brought in a fresh jug of apple cider from the Amish. He took apples down there. It was great. THANKS, Raymond Howland. Won’t be long and he’ll be making peanut brittle.
Shirley S. says I’m the reason she can’t go to the covered bridge festival. I told her if that’s the problem, we’d just close.
Steve Walsh comes in and say’s, “You get rid of your beans yet?”(laughing).
Zach Hillard,says he lives in Wriggleville, needs a new radio for the truck if they expect him to haul again next year.
John Auer’s great nieces were really impressed with Louie. Well I think it was the popcorn and candy that they were impressed with.
Oct.13: ole, ED GULLIFORD, driving for Chuck Hendrix, headed back to the field loaded, mind you, L.B. loaded. He got across the tracks before he figured it out. Should make L. B. happy and not LINDA BOWLBY.
Raymond Beery likes the net bushels on the ticket. Better thank PAM.
Shari Schable taught me about earmuffs, for Grandkids, if you have to say something BAD. Come on Shari, you tell your grandkid to hold their ears like earmuffs, so they can’t hear you. Collin will be holding his ears a lot. Thanks, to MRS. Schable, he won’t hear a thing.
Ask Jim B. about his shock pen. Man, can that guy jump. Your Dad, Chad.
Oct.17: Dean Ritchie can’t hear the bell. Need to buy him a hearing aid or get lights like they have at the HORSE and BUGGY elevator. Need to update Milmine with lights also.
Oct.19: Deano got to the horse and buggy elevator in the next day or two.
Oct.20: I think working for DAVE R., would be a good deal because the front seat of his trucks seems like they are always packed with food and coolers.
Oct.21: Dave Bales told me, “THAT RED IN THE FIELD PUTS GREEN IN YOUR POCKETS”. Dan Moore say’s it’ll put corn in the bin for sure.
L.B. playing vacuum tag with the beetles that Bob bought for her.
Dave ,(LINVILLE FARMS) hired man, says we are almost done with beans. Now all I have to do is count each bean in these two wagons. Well there was 431.00 bu on those two wagons so my guess is that Dave is still counting beans. How many were there, Dave? I was just wondering.
Nov.10: Last load of corn for the followers. We had a safe harvest and that means a lot to everyone in the farming community and surrounding small towns.
Nov.17: 7:00 A.M. 2 of 3 cell phones are ringing in the coffee group. They all look at each other –you? No you. No you.
HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY SEASON.
By Sandy Davenport
HOLY COW!!! That is what I have to say about both the
Cubs GREAT season and my first harvest at Emery! I know that Denny had to be chuckling to himself all summer just
thinking about what I had in store for me.
I did make it
through harvest, but I really had my doubts the first week. John McCabe came from Cisco to work outside
and we hired Pete Greathouse for the outside during the harvest season. With Charlie running the dryer, doing
maintenance work and overseeing all outside activities, I knew I didn't have to
worry about the outside operations. We
only had to shut down early one time (at 5:00 p.m.) because of a mechanical
problem. We were ready to take corn
again at 7:00 a.m. the next morning.
Most everyone delivering grain was impressed on how fast they could get
in and out. That is a real compliment
on how the outside men were working. We
also got the new scales up and running just a couple of days before harvest
began. We received a lot of good
comments on those.
I want to thank
Roger Lewis and Lindsey McCool for the great job they did. I didn't have to worry about the scale or
grain testing. I knew they had it all
covered. I really wished I could have
been out at the scale more often so I could have met more of the people, but,
just like the Cubs, maybe next year.
People thought that
I was attached to my office chair. Seems like I was in that chair staring at
the computer all the time. I even had
one person ask if I was going to need help prying myself out of my chair after
harvest was over. He thought that the
two of us were permanently attached! I
do want to thank all of the farmers who would call me and tell me which farm
their next truck was coming from. I know that it took up their time, but it
helped me tremendously. I have almost
all the delivery sheets mailed out, so I feel that I officially did make it
through harvest without too many problems.
I also want to thank Denny for all his help. I know he was busy getting used to his new surroundings, plus
keep an eye on me. There was even one
day that I think that he thought I hadn't showed up for work, because I hadn't
called him for help!
We had to put
around 575,000 bushels of corn on the ground.
I believe that is the most ever at Emery. The pile sure did attract a lot of attention. I had a man from Chicago stop by and ask why
we had put the corn on the ground. On
October 30th, we started picking up the pile. Men from Cisco and Maroa have been helping
run the augers and trucks. Charlie has
put in many extra hours getting grain in the elevator moved so that we can bring
the corn in. As I write this, I would
say we have another 3 days of working and the pile should be history.
All in all, this
was a good harvest for everyone. The
bean yields, especially the early varieties were disappointing, but I think the
prices and the corn yields were a good surprise. Everyone made it safely through harvest and that is what counts.
Doesn't seem
possible, but I am beginning to think about the holidays. I would like to invite everyone to our
Christmas Open House at Emery on December 22 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Stop in a enjoy refreshments and visiting with
your neighbors.
I think that brings
you up to date on business. As for me,
nothing too much to report. I am having
carpal tunnel surgery done on November 21st and will be on vacation the following week. If I feel like it, Jerry and I might go
somewhere for a couple of days before Thanksgiving. I'm sure that I will still manage to over eat at Thanksgiving
even though I will be doing it one handed. We will keep busy this winter watching our grandson Devvon play 3rd grade
basketball and our nephew for the Maroa-Forsyth High Trojans.
Again, I would like
to thank everyone for their help and patience this harvest.
By
Vanessa Stinson
Could we have asked for a better harvest? I do not think that we had
one day that anyone could not work. A few times we closed early because of
afternoon rains but the next day you were all back out there going to town.
Your LaPlace facility took 2.4 million bushels of corn and 572,420 bu
of soybeans. This is both beans and non-gmo beans. I want to say that this was
one of the smoothest harvests I have been through.
Scot and I would like to take
this time to thank all of the part-time help and the truckers who made this
such a great harvest: in the office Nancy Clarkson, Sue Crawford, Tonya Tenney
, Nicolle Stinson and Kate Kirkland; outside Roper, Russ Durham, and Jesse
Wood. All of you did great jobs this year.
We also want to say congratulations to the Cisco crew for winning the
most dumps award again this year. We gave it our best but you still got us.
Our family would like to wish
your family a very happy holiday season!
PIERSON HAPPENINGS
By Russel Wright
Another harvest season has come and gone. All our bins are full, including both outside rings. We got our first load of corn around the middle of September, soon followed by the first load of beans several days later. The corn yield was better than what we predicted at the crop tour. However the bean yields were not the best.
I want to thank all our part-time help we had at harvest. Jean Kistler weighed and sampled the grain that we received at Pierson. Steve Hutchcraft, and later Jesse Wood helped Fred Thompson in the dump pits. This was Fred’s first harvest with us, and he did a fantastic job of running the big dryer and keeping the grain going to the many different bins.
The Lanton crew was Steve “Jake” Jacobs, dumping the grain and filling bins, while Sam Dick weighed and sampled the grain. Sam retired from farming a couple of years ago and he wanted something to do this harvest, so we hired him as the office manager of Lanton. On the last day of harvest he called me and said he retired a second time, now he has time to ride his Harley.
At Burrowsville, Jeremy Wood dumped the grain; Tonya Huggler weighed and sampled all the grain that came in. This year we decided that “B-ville” would take corn from the farmer, this worked out great, we didn’t have to transfer much from Lanton or Pierson, however the corn had to be 16 percent or below.
I also want to thank the many truckers we had hauling for us. One Saturday we were on the verge of getting full, and we had several trucks show up to haul out corn. We had them going to ADM, Staley, Lake City, topped off the bins at Lanton and Burrowsville, and going to Shacks. That Saturday was our busiest day of the year. Thanks, Eric, for sending those trucks. Our customers appreciated it.
Brock was really busy at harvest time, making sure the grain went in the right bins, and that if there were any breakdowns, the repairs were made. He also found time to dump trucks at Lake City and Smith’s binsite. Willard was always running between, Laplace, Lanton, Burrowsville, Atwood, and Pierson, repairing spouts, motors, fans, and anything else that needed to be fixed. Gloria was really busy with all the paperwork and getting tickets from Lanton and Burrowsville. She also spent time at the scales, then United Prairie fertilizer season started. Myself, I was busy with paperwork, settling with customers and weighing trucks. This was my thirty-second harvest and I must say every one is different.
Now that harvest is over, everyone at Pierson wants to extend holiday greetings to everyone. Please come by and visit and have coffee or popcorn with us. We also want to say thanks for your business.
By
Derrick Bruhn
This harvest couldn’t have been much better. Monticello took more corn than Bement this year. This area had a good corn harvest and disappointing beans. Monticello shipped out 1,034,922 bu of corn during harvest. This is the most corn moved during harvest since I have been here. Our largest corn day was 121,099 bu. The outside crew did an excellent job of keeping trucks dumped this year. I have had a lot of positive feedback about the outside operation and how trucks got dumped and we have Bob Boughton to commend for this. Bob did an excellent job of operating this facility this fall. He had Jason Reilly, Rick Leckner, and Tom Owen helping him dump trucks and keep things operating smooth. Scott and I were kept busy buying and selling grain and trying to make sure trains showed up when they were supposed to. Scott does one of THE BEST jobs in the industry at logistics and making sure we have enough grain sold to keep the doors open. Eric Clements needs to be commended for a job very well done keeping all of the trucks moving out of the locations, on farm jobs and keeping all of the facilities running. While Scott and I were busy, Sherryl helped to run the scales and make sure all of the purchases were accounted for. We set a record on the number of pages of purchases that we had in a day. There were some late nights making sure everything balanced before we went home. Sherryl did a great job and continues to learn more each day. For office help, we had Ashley Stinson who helped after school during the week, Mike Bailey helped in the morning after his shift as a prison guard, Serge Docherty on day that he didn’t have dialysis, Denise Docherty, and Lynne Bruhn. Denise and Lynne wanted to see Scott and I so they had to come to the elevator and then we put them to work. A great thanks to all of the part time crew that made thing work this year.
Scott has gotten moved to Monticello and he and the family really like the new house. The kids have adjusted to the new school and have made new friends. Dillon and Annie have been doing some ice-skating and Dillon has decided to try speed skating competitions. Scott said he just watches when he takes them to practice. Sherryl and Roger were able to get one more camping trip in after harvest and have everything put away for winter. Lynne and I have been busy working on our new house. I have learned to work with lights a lot better since it gets dark so early. Lynne has 10 kids in her class this year and just loves it.
Lodge needs to have a paragraph. Jim Shaffer amazes us once more and does a great job of running his little elevator. I hope that I am capable of working that many hours when I get to be his age. Jim took in 47,210 bu of corn in one day. I think he told me he was tired after that day. He had Nancy Sansare helping him run the scales when he got busy. Jim Stayed many nights late getting in corn from other facilities so that they could stay open. Even after all of his busy days he still had enough energy to talk a little bit.
That’s all from the Monticello are and we want to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas.
By
Brock Casteel
Put another harvest in the books. Harvest 2003 is over and our new operators at La Place and Pierson did an outstanding job of keeping traffic moving and getting your grain unloaded in a timely manor. I would also like to thank all of our seasonal employees for all of their hard work; we couldn’t do it without them.
As for post harvest work, we will start the tasks of running aeration fans, checking bins for quality assurance, and servicing unloading equipment. We want to be ready for all of those big sales that Scott and Derrick will make this year. I am looking forward to a good shipping season with several safety meetings already in the works. Until next time, take care.
MAROA NEWS
By
Denny Hill
The harvest came to a close here the first week of November after an excellent corn crop and a disappointing bean crop, the opposite of the 2002 harvest. After August turned off hot and dry, the soybeans were unable to fill the pods, but fortunately the corn crop was far enough along that yield loss was kept at a minimum.
Based on past records here at Maroa and yields we were expecting, we were projecting a corn crop of 2.094 million bushels to be delivered during harvest and we ended up taking close to 2.2 million. Corn started rolling in here around the middle of September and with the excellent weather we had there were few breaks until the finish the first week in November. On the 12th of October we had our biggest day of 144,396 bushels of corn delivered to us, which turned out to be the biggest day for any Topflight elevator this fall.
Our soybean projection was not quite as accurate with the disappointing bean yields that were common in this area. We anticipated a crop of close to 500,000 bushels to be delivered this fall and ended up about 50,000 bushels short. Traders were caught by surprise also, as beans went from $5.65 on Labor Day to a current price of $7.65.
Everything considered, I feel this harvest went very well as we were able to truck 500,000 bushels of corn to the bin site to fill the bunker there in a week’s time before the main rush of corn harvest took place. Including the 2 rings we filled and the bunker, we have 650,000 bushels of corn in temporary storage but it was all tarped before any significant rainfall.
The outside crew of Gary Wood, Gary Liggett, and Ronnie Miller did a fine job of getting all the temporary storage and flats filled in a timely manner. Being my first year up here I needed to rely on their previous experience with harvest and go with their suggestions and everything seem to fall in place.
Shannon Pennypacker helped Jill and me inside this fall and did a wonderful job weighing trucks and helping answer the phone during one of the busiest falls in a long time. With the market trading wildly for the most part, we were buying grain as fast or faster than it was coming in. Probably one of the biggest changes I’ve seen in my 28 years in the business is that everyone has a cell phone now and they use them during harvest quite often, especially when the market is rallying like it did this fall. It seems like you have a phone in your ear 90% of the time.
Sharon Brown was hired to run the Waller facility this fall and Chris Wood maintained the outside duties. They were able to fill it with both corn and beans, which helped take a little pressure off of Emery or the pile would have been bigger down there.
We will be having our Christmas Open House on December 22nd and we would like to invite you to stop in and enjoy some treats with us and celebrate the holidays and the first harvest here as Topflight Grain.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
FAMILY TO FAMILY
By Rodd Runyen
I am writing my first article for
“The High Flyer” newsletter because I want you to know all about Topflight
Grain Co-operative. Oh yes, it is made up of 19 elevators, but it is made up of
so much more! Topflight Grain Co-operative is also composed of a great staff
and wonderful customers – family and friends to me. I want you to know why I
feel this way. Here is my story…
My name is Rodd Runyen. I joined
the Topflight Grain staff in March when I was hired to work in the Bement
office. I have lived in Cerro Gordo for 8 years, grew up in Oreana, and
graduated from Argenta-Oreana High School in 1983 – so I am familiar with some
of the farmers in the Oreana, Argenta, and Cerro Gordo areas. I have also met
many of the Bement area farmers over the past 8 months. I have been married to
my wonderful wife Tera for 10 years. We have three children – Sara 14, Bailey
8, and Autumn 6. We have been active in the Cerro Gordo community through many
activities – Youth League President, former PTA President, Cub Scout Treasurer, Cerro Gordo
ambulance dispatcher, youth league concession stands, and other activities. Our
children have been active in sports and many extra-curricular activities
through church and school. We have lead a life that has kept us busy with our
children’s lives. It has been a great journey that none of us would
change.
Unfortunately, our journey through
life hit an unexpected roadblock on October 6th when Tera was
diagnosed with a brain tumor. Tera had surgery on October 15th to
have part of it removed. The tumor is in the part of the brain that controls
her speech, so they were unable to remove all of it. The doctors and Mayo
Clinic both confirm that it is cancer – a stage 3 to 4 on a 4 stage scale. This
means that it is an aggressive cancer. The doctors say it will be a tough
battle, but Tera is a fighter. She has vowed that she will win this battle.
Tera began the battle on November 17th when she began chemotherapy
and radiation treatments. The radiation treatments will continue past New Years
and the chemotherapy will continue well into next year. Our family will make it
through this trial and we will come out stronger when it is over.
So this brings me back to Topflight
Grain. They have been wonderful during all of this. They have allowed me to
take time off to be with my family during this time. For this, my family is
very grateful. Also, the employees have provided so much support as our family goes through this difficult time. They have sent us cards,
e-mails, gifts, offered words of encouragement, and been compassionate. Several
have shared their experiences of surviving cancer and being a spouse while
going through the battle. And many employees have been there for me even when
they didn’t realize it. Just conversation with them helps to get through it.
The employees of Topflight Grain are truly giving and loving people and that is
why I look to them as “family”.
And then there are all of the friends. So many
customers have stopped by the office to offer words of
encouragement. You tell me that we are in your thoughts and prayers, and many
of you have added us to your prayer chains at church. This means a lot to our
family, as we believe in the power of prayer and the miracles that God can perform. Topflight Grain has wonderful customers that are
compassionate and caring. You have made a big difference in our lives.
I cannot thank you or tell you
enough how touched we are by the outpouring of love and kindness we have
received from the Topflight Grain community. We just wanted to thank all of you
from the bottom of our hearts for all you have done for us. Please keep us in
your prayers as we still have a long battle ahead of us. But we know that with
God’s help and the help of family and friends we will make it through this. So
again, thank you from our family to the Topflight family and friends.
P.S. As the holidays approach, remember to keep your loved ones near and enjoy these precious moments and memories. You never know what tomorrow is going to bring and how fast your lives can change. Merry Christmas to you and best wishes for a bigger and better new year!
HARVEST 2003 IS
HISTORY!!
By Mikki Burns
You know – I have never really cared for history. My husband Jim, however, loves history and the history channel!! (That’s another story). But I really think this harvest should go down in the books as one of the best in our Topflight history. The weather really cooperated, and we didn’t have any major malfunctions. Everyone worked together well, and we feel that it went very smooth. We had four days that we took over 100,000 bushels of corn; for a total of over 2,500,000 corn and 598,000 beans. Obviously, a big ‘thank you’ goes to our very good part-time help and employees. So to Joyce Bennett, Jon Sago, Meaghann Reeves, Courtney Turner, Heath Conover, Garold Hilligoss, Rick Stone, and Roger Clymer, I want to say thanks for making this harvest a good one!!
We have to bid farewell to Roger Clymer. He has taken a job with the Decatur Junction Train crew. His family decided they could not move to the area at this time, so we had to say ‘good bye’. Roger did a great job for the Cisco location, and we hated to see him leave. We wish him the best in his new career.
We welcome Russ Durham to our location. Russ, his wife and three children live in LaPlace. Russ worked this harvest for Topflight and will now be here at Cisco. We are glad to have him with us.
As every year, now the Holidays are upon us. Our family is having our Christmas the first weekend in December, so we can all be ready for our new baby! Andréa is due between December 16th and 20th. I have been busy trying to get Christmas organized and am not done yet.
Cisco will plan to have our Christmas Open House on Monday, December 22nd. Come and join us for lunch—hope to see you then.
We want to thank you, our customers, for your business and a successful harvest. We would like to wish everyone a very safe and happy Holiday Season!!
ATWOOD NEWS
By Jeremiah Osborne
Well the fifth harvest as Topflight Grain went well here at Atwood. Being my first harvest I was a little nervous at first, but I think we did a pretty good job. We had a great part time crew here this year that consisted of Steve Griffith, Pete Eveland, Travis Mundy, and Kim Smith. Bill and I, and I know all of the farmers appreciated the help here this fall. We learned soon after harvest was over that Travis was in a car accident. He ended up critical in the hospital for several days and is still is in physical therapy at a hospital in Springfield. Our thoughts and prayers are with him. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the customers for your patience while I learned your farm codes and made your new ones. We did a few things different here this fall and we think it helped speed up the process. If you have any other thoughts or ideas, they are appreciated.
ISO has been put on hold for harvest season so not much got done with it during the last couple of months. Brock, Russ, Doug, and I did some measuring after harvest and let me tell you it’s a lot easier to measure when things are full.
Well the holidays are approaching and I can already smell the turkey and ham. My daughter is already ready for Christmas and her birthday was the 2nd of November!! I think parents enjoy giving their grandkids the loudest most obnoxious toys possible. Oh well the batteries will run day someday. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year. God bless.
By
Doug Adloff
My third harvest at Seymour was another successful one. We took in quite a bit more grain this year than we have in the last couple years. We received enough corn to completely fill our ground pile bunker, and we were fortunate to get it covered before any major rains came.
There were new faces again this year at Seymour. Chris Frye, who worked part time during harvest the last couple years at Monticello, was my right hand man outside. He did a great job running the dryer and keeping trucks moving in and out. He had help from Jeremy Menacher and Jason Benson. Jason worked here last year, while this was Jeremy’s first year. Jeremy did such a great job that he got the privilege of working quite a few nights drying corn and filling the ground pile. At the scales I had Angela Hadden and Amber Nibling. Neither had worked for Topflight before, however, Angela had worked here a few years ago for Monticello Grain. They both did an excellent job keeping the trucks going to the right pit and also covering for me when I needed to be outside.
This year we had specialty programs for non-GMO beans and high-oil corn. Next fall, though, we will not be taking high-oil corn at Seymour. We will still be taking it at Cisco and Bement however. This should speed up the traffic by having one less commodity.
I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays and invite you to stop by on Tuesday, December 23rd for our Christmas Open House. We will have snack food all day long and a meal around noon. The chili went over so well last year that I believe we will have it again this year. Hope to see you then!
By
Scott Docherty
I finally got one right!
Every year Chuck, Dick and I would bet a steak dinner on who has the closest guess to the actual harvest receipts for corn. Every year Chuck tries to throw us off with his wild guess after the crop tour. This year he estimated corn to make 158 bu per acre with the rest of the teams coming in at 170 to 185 bu per acre. We knew the corn was good with the most of the territory receiving 7 plus inches of rain in July. We also knew the beans were going to be poor but not to the extent of some fields making 28 to 35 bu per acre. The overall average for corn should come in at 180-185 bu. per acre and beans 42-47 bu. per acre for all of the Topflight Grain locations.
FAMILY
By
Sherryl Young
I have been at Monticello for six months now, after coming over from Maroa, where I worked for 6 years. Scott and Derrick have made me feel right at home. I have had to learn many new things but they have been there to help me along the way. My first harvest went pretty smooth with just a few mistakes. I’m getting to know the customers. The whole Topflight family has made me feel like I belong.
Speaking of family, I have a story I would like to share. It just goes to show just how small this world really is. Earlier this year there was an article in the Maroa newsletter. It was a request for help in locating a male relative who had been adopted in 1952 by a Maroa farmer. He was born in 1949. He was from a family of five who had been adopted by different families. This sparked my husband, Roger’s interest. He too, was born in 1949 and had lived his entire life in Maroa. He thought he possibly had known this boy and/or gone to school with him. There was an e-mail address, so I contacted her for him. She responded immediately. I gave her our telephone number and she called Roger that evening. They decided to meet the following Saturday. Armed with his first grade yearbook and her with an infant picture, she and Roger compared pictures, but there was no match. She told him that she was the oldest, six at the time. They hadn’t seen each other or known the whereabouts of each other since. She now lives in Monticello. She had recently located one brother in a western state. Roger told her that he would keep looking. He checked in a couple of nearby towns with life-long residents of that age. He had some leads but they turned out to be dead ends. During her research, she would come up with more information. She would then relay this information to us. Roger was talking to his brother about all of these clues and they thought that they matched a boy they remembered. Roger contacted her with his name. Two days later she called me at work and said “ I found him! “. She was very excited. She had talked to him and she was going to meet him and his family that weekend. She called a few days later to tell us how things went. He had a little information about a sister. With this she was able to locate her the following week. So she has one sister left to find. We are hoping to help locate this one also. She came by work today to thank us and to give us pictures of her with her brother and his family. She is thrilled to be getting her family back together again after 51 years. She is so grateful for the help of total strangers. So if you ever get the chance to help someone this way, do it. It has been very rewarding for us and we have formed a special relationship with someone we may never have met. I hope all of you have a nice holiday season with your family.
ANOTHER HARVEST
By
Stason Kopps
Well another harvest has come and gone. Overall harvest went pretty well, but I must admit I am happy it is over.
This was the busiest harvest I have been through at Monticello. Despite a few breakdowns, we were able to keep things going pretty well. Bob did a great job during harvest. He did everything possible to keep the trucks moving. I also want to thank Rick Leckner, Jason Reilly, and Tom Owen for the job they did dumping trucks.
Seymour was also very busy during harvest. Chris Frye did a great job of keeping the trucks dumped. Yet he still found time to get the ground pile filled. Jeremy Menacher and Jason Benson were also a big help.
Jim Shaffer was back at Lodge this year. I do not know where he gets all his energy. Jim is the oldest employee from the Monticello crew, and there were a few weeks that he worked more hours than the rest of us.
Rob Dick had plenty of maintenance jobs to keep himself busy. Even though we had a leg belt break and bearing go out on another leg, Rob would have us back up and running in no time. I would also like to thank Roger Burton, Henry Lust, and Willard Kaufman for their help on some of the major maintenance jobs.
Now we are keeping ourselves busy loading trains and doing some post harvest cleanup. The last week of November we plan to start picking up the ground pile at Seymour.
I want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays.
By
Eric Clements
Topflight has finished up another harvest. The weather could not have been better for us. We had one rain day that I can remember and it came at a time when we needed a break. I do not think we could have asked for a better fall. The trains seemed to arrive just when we needed them. We loaded several trains at Monticello, Cisco and Bement. I think that the Topflight employees showed great teamwork in loading these units. Everyone helped out wherever needed to insure that we had the trains loaded in a timely manner. We loaded out two units at Monticello in two days. This is a total of 400,000 bushels moved in two days. Stason and Bob should be proud of accomplishing this task.
Our biggest breakdown of the season was at Monticello. The wet leg belt broke and burnt into two pieces. Rob, Roger and Willard went to work repairing and splicing the belt back together. They also had to install new lagging on the head wheel. This was all done in one day. Willard had heard that we were having problems and called asking if they needed any help. This is the kind of teamwork it will require for us to succeed at our jobs.
I would like to thank the truck drivers that helped us move all the grain at harvest. We had an average of fifteen trucks working for us this fall. I will do my best to keep these trucks busy this winter. I also want to thank all the part time help we had this fall. We could not take in all the bushels at fall without your great help.
I hope that everyone has a great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.
HIGH FLYER
By
Pam Jarboe
As you read through this newsletter, it is mostly about harvest. Many of our location managers repeat the theme of thanking their full time and part time help. Many describe the help they receive from their customers. If it seems repetitious to you, it just stresses the importance of qualified, dedicated employees who will put in the extra hours and the extra effort to handle the harvest bushels. Topflight Grain handled a record number of corn bushels this year, in a very short amount of time. This could not have been done without the cooperation of our farmer customers, our truck drivers hauling the grain out of the facilities, the rail road setting cars in when we needed them, the full time and part time help putting in close to 100 hour weeks, and quite a bit of help from Up Above, with a few rain showers when we most needed some time to move grain.
You’ll see some of this harvest’s statistics in this newsletter, and I hope, understand a little bit, of how harvest just doesn’t happen. With the grain received and shipped and bunkered and tarped, it’s a big task, and very important to you, to your company and to the employees.
As Dan and I traveled passed the Bement elevator on Friday, November 28, to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner with my family, Michael Burton was moving the trackmobile from one end of the tracks to the other. The weather was cold, very windy and snowy. Dan and I were sitting in our very comfortably heated truck anticipating another very filling dinner and relaxing afternoon. Meanwhile, several Topflight employees were dressed in their warmest winter clothes, fighting the cold and wind and snow, to load the train that was set in the day before.
I hope you take some time to review the harvest at Topflight, because it is so important. It should give you a true feeling of Thanksgiving for the bounteous corn crop we had, and prepare you for the blessings of the Christmas holiday.
Dan & I, and our families, wish you joy and peace this season.
HARVEST AT
TOPFLIGHT
65% of the corn delivered at harvest was sold.
68% of the beans delivered at harvest were sold.
The corn was sold for an average price of $2.17.
The beans were sold for an average price of $6.29.
The average corn moisture was 17.2%.
The average bean moisture was 11.4%.
1,842,744 bushels of corn was transferred to another Topflight location.
368,754 bushels of beans were transferred to another Topflight location.
4,913,361 bushels of corn were sold and shipped out.
1,272,824 bushels of beans
were sold and shipped out.
Even the elevator dog wore out during harvest. Charlie had to haul him around on the golf cart. I don’t know much about the elevator dog except every time I visit Emery he’s always there to greet me. I think he belongs to a neighbor down the road but every day he’s at the elevator hanging out with the employees and customers.
He’s a special dog. The mail carrier brings him treats. The farmers all love him. We’ve even heard, that at one time, the school bus stopped to pick up Boomer and take him home.
IT TAKES A LOT OF MONEY
By
Richard Thomas
We will need $35 million dollars in January to pay for all the grain we have purchased. One day in October when the market made a major move, our margin call was $1.3 million dollars. Our total sales this year will exceed $100 million dollars. Operating costs for the first 5 months of this fiscal year were $3.1 million dollars (June thru October). That equals $615 thousand per month or $30 thousand per working day.
It also takes a lot of peanuts to feed 10 elevators! Rick Stone orders the peanuts for all the Topflight facilities, so that we all have food and fiber for the winter months. Stop by and enjoy some peanuts and friendly conversation at your local facility.
TWO WEEK CHALLENGE
By
Richard Thomas
Bonnie and I really feel fortunate that our two older grandchildren still enjoy coming and staying with us for a week each summer. I really think the highlight of the event is the couple of days they get to spend at the end of the week with their crazy uncle Todd in St. Louis. You remember me writing the article about letting my grandson drive for the first time on a visit when he was twelve, well now he is driving by himself. This year he couldn’t come for a full week because of other commitments but still spent a couple of days. His sister, our oldest granddaughter came and spent her “2 week challenge”, as she calls it (all in fun). She is a seventh grader and I think is 13 years old. Anyway here’s what happened one evening. I came in from working outside and Elizabeth was lying on the couch. So I say to her would you like to go uptown for an ice cream cone?
“Sure”’ she says, as she jumps up off the couch.
I say to her, “Well, put some clothes on and we’ll go.”
She says, “Grandpa I have clothes on.”
I say, “Elizabeth you look like you’re ready to go to bed. Get some clothes on.” All I hear is this big sigh. By that time Bonnie has entered the room and says she’s dressed all right to go up town with me.
Now here’s what she had on: a piece of cloth across her middle maybe 6 inches wide, then bare skin up to another narrow piece of cloth across her chest. On her feet she had some Jesus shoes as I call them and they flopped all the way to the car.
We arrived at the custard stand got our ice cream cones and sat down to eat. I looked around the room and it seemed that all the young boys were looking in my direction. Wonder why?
If that’s not enough she tells me she thinks she’s got her folks talked into letting her piece her ears. Now in the Thomas family piercing is just something not accepted? Bonnie has never had her ear pierced and my granddaughter is going to get hers pierced at 13! We go to visit them late this fall and guess who comes running out to the car to greet us. My granddaughter, wearing ear rings on as big as hoola hoops. I got the feeling she wanted me to notice she got her ears pierced. If that wasn’t enough she says “Grandpa, did you know Cheri (my daughter-in-law/her aunt) got her belly button pierced?” I suppose the next thing will be a tattoo. Am I old fashioned or what? Do you suppose after I die Bonnie will get her ears pierced? Let me know when I see you in heaven.
GRAIN PAGE
The Chicago Board
of Trade will suspend overnight trading, for 6 weeks starting Sunday, Nov.
23. Overnight trading will resume
January 1, 2004. This suspension will
allow the CBOT to update the software that handles the overnight trading.
Topflight Grain has started selling crop insurance. Derrick Bruhn at the Monticello office has been working with producers the past couple of years. Topflight Grain has joined an agency in Champaign and is selling insurance for ASI insurance company out of Findley, IL. Derrick will be offering to the customers different insurance programs to fit each person’s marketing strategies. He will be using the marketing programs that Topflight Grain offers with the crop insurance to help each customer with their farming operation. The deadline to sign-up for crop insurance is March 15th. If you have any questions about crop insurance coverage and how it works, or want to purchase crop insurance give Derrick a call at the Monticello office (888) 762-2163. Derrick will take the time to sit down with you and explain the different coverages and how you can use this, along with marketing your grain, to try and get the most income possible.
By
Derrick Bruhn
The average price contract this year ran from January 9th to May 29th. The price for fall delivered fall pay contract ended at $2.26 ½ and the Jan pay will be 1 cent more. Jan delivered corn ended up at 2.33 ½. I hope to have more participation in this program next year. The program forward contracts corn at a historically high pricing period. Sign up for next years program will begin Dec 1, 2003 through Dec 31,2003. Call the Monticello office for details about this program. 1(888) 762-2163
GRAIN INSURANCE PREMIUM
The Illinois Department of Agriculture has notified all
Illinois grain dealers, that as a result of amendments to the Grain Code by the
General Assembly, we are to start collecting an insurance
premium from producers for the Grain Insurance Fund.
As
a result, all grain settled for starting January 1, 2004, will be subject to
the Illinois Grain Insurance Fund premium of $0.0004 per dollar. This is equal
to a 40 cent insurance premium on a $1,000 settlement.
The
insurance premium will be deducted on your settlement sheet and reflected
as the "Producer Grain Insurance Fund Premium."
With the load out of many trucks and several trains, most Topflight facilities can receive farm stored grain for December and January contracts, or for free dp. If you wish to have the grain picked up at your farm, please call your local facility to arrange for farm pickup. The fee for this service is 2 cents per bushel. If you need the grain vac, it is available, too, if you’ll call your local office to make arranagements. The fee for the vac is $50 per hour, with a $100 minimum. This includes the vac and the man power to operate it.
Please check with your local manager
before you begin to deliver grain, to be sure that they have sufficient space.
Loan deficiency payments were small this fall, but grain
prices were low enough from October 1 to October 23 to generate an LDP for
grain delivered and sold during those days.
If you have not collected your LDP on grain delivered during that time,
and you need assistance with the proper paperwork, please call your local
facility.
The FSA will require a delivery sheet
that shows the dates of delivery between October 1 and 23, and that the grain
was sold or applied to a delayed pricing contract. You must have signed a FSA-709 form prior to harvest, for this
application.
NONGMO BEAN PROGRAM- The premium for nongmo beans for the 2004 crop will be 40 cents per bushel. Certified seed is required to participate in the program; bin run seed is not eligible. Delivery locations may change, so please check with your local facility before you make your decisions.
HIGH OIL CORN PROGRAM – Premiums remain unchanged from last year for high oil corn. The maxiumum premium is 27 cents per bushel, based on 8.0% oil content. Delivery locations for high oil corn are Cisco and Bement.
AVERAGE PRICE CONTRACT-Sign up for the average price program will run to December 31. In this program, your committed bushels are priced in equal increments once a week, from January through May. Historically, the January-May time frame is the higher prices of the crop season. You can commit any amount of your corn bushels to the program, but we suggest 1/3 to ½ of your estimated crop. Your local manager can assist you with more details of the program, or provide you with a contract.
MARKETING POOL-Sign up for the marketing pool runs through December 31. The marketing pool is managed by Denny Hill, with the assistance of Scott Docherty and Derrick Bruhn. Contracted corn and bean bushels are marketed through their guidance and the recommendations of our grain brokers. Usually, a portion of the sales are protected with coverage in the option market to allow for potential price gains. Your local manager can assist you with more details of the program, or you may call Denny Hill at 800-955-2180.
Congratulations to . . .
Darren & Angie Powell, parents of a new
daughter; Joyce & Dale Bennett, who recently celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary; Larry & Pam Hissong, excited about a new
granddaughter; Brandon & Tammy Boyd, parents of a new daughter, born
November 20. The proud grandparents are
Raymond & Sue Boyd; JW & Jennifer Day, parents of a new son; Cerro
Gordo, South Piatt, Arthur-Lovington,Mahomet-Seymour and Argenta-Oreana
football teams, reaching the playoff brackets; Jake & Jenny Moore, married
in June; Linda Peterson, new grandmother to Alexandra Shuyee Ton. Lynn Peterson is the great-grandfather; Violet
Goken, who celebrated her 90th birthday on November 28; Mr. &
Mrs. Kenneth Smith, celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on
November 28;Larry & Pam Hissong, proud grandparents of Kate Madison
Gwaltney, born in August, to Julie and Mark Gwaltney. The proud great-grandparents are Florence & Merle Hissong; William
Edwards, recently celebrating his 80th birthday; Bud, Randy, Blake
& Terry West, featured in the Decatur Herald, where their dedication to the
Cerro Gordo Volunteer Firemen was described; Joyce Curtis, or Curtis Orchard,
featured in FarmWeek, with a group of Urbana students touring Curtis
Orchard. Joyce is a Bement native, and
always a good hostess for the Bement 2nd grade tour of the Orchard; John
Rogers, shown in Prairie Farmer, with his 1st place soils judging trophy
from the 1953 Farm Progress Show; Jody & Brian Wilkin and J.C. &
Garrett, highlighted in a Pairie Farmer article, featuring their horse boarding
services;
Willis Bolsen, also featured in Prairie
Farmer, with his business of Quarter horse training and selling; Paul &
Juanita Fleener, whose photography was described in the Decatur Herald; Jake
Moore and Jenny Uphoff, married last summer; Rachel Crose, who donated 20 ¾
inches of her first haircut (in 13 years) to Locks of Love; Jessica Funk and
Nicholas Carter, married last summer; Stephani Hess and Joel Steele, married
last summer; Mr & Mrs Don Dipper, who celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary in October; Jean Pense, celebrating 80 birthdays, in
October; Jessie Rowe, named Macon County’s Outstanding Senior Volunteer for
2003; Jerry Kuykendall. Recognized for his coordination of the Interfaith
Volunteer Caregivers of Decatur and Macon County; Harold Chenoweth, pictured in
the Decatur Herald article about the new Oreana Public Library; Jason Perry,
winner of a blue ribbon at the Illinois State Fair, for Berkshire Barrow; Bill
Gorrell, who celebrated his 85th birthday with a party at the Bement
American Legion; Herb & Ann Lust, recently celebrating their 50th
wedding anniversary; Cotton Wright, who celebrated his 80th
birthday; Shannon & Craig Hicks, parents of a new daughter. The proud grandparents are Dale & Martha
Hicks; JW & Jennifer Day, parents of Quentin Day, born August 26. The proud grandparents are Jerry and Barbara
Day.
Our sympathies to the families of . .
Velva Taylor, Emmett Burcham, Jack Clifton, Eula
Wren, Jerry Patrick, Kenneth Musick, Dorothy Hunter, Della Hauskins, James
Stiles, Carl Canull, Jim Albright, Ag Tracy, Barney Slevin, Betty
Blickensderfer, Lovena Schable
IF ONLY LIFE COULD BE LIKE A COMPUTER!
If you messed up your life, you could press “Alt, Ctrl, Delete” and start all over!
To get your daily exercise, just click on “run”!
If you needed a break from life, click on “suspend”.
Hit “any key” to continue life when ready.
To get even with the neighbors, turn up the sound blaster.
To “add/remove” someone in your life, click settings and control panel.
To improve your appearance, just adjust the display settings.
If life gets too noisy, turn off the speakers.
When you lose your car keys, click on “find”.
“Help” with the chores is just a click away.
You wouldn’t need auto insurance. You’d use your diskette to recover from a crash.
We could click on “send” and the kids would go to bed immediately.
To feel like a new person, click on “refresh”.
Click on “close” to shut up the kids and spouse.
To undo a mistake, click on “back”.
Is your wardrobe getting old? Click “update”.
If you don’t like cleaning the litter box, click on “delete”.
WORK‘N WORRY – NO
MORE
We wish many happy days for Bob & Alice Boylan as Bob completes his
last harvest. Bob has farmed many
years, in the Voorhies/Pierson area, and has been a good neighbor and friend to
the community.
Bob and Alice are looking forward to longer
and more frequent vacations, and less “work ‘n worry”, to quote one of Bob’s
famous lines.
HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSES
You’re invited to the Holiday Open House.
Each location has chosen a day to celebrate the season with food and
fellowship. You’re welcome to join us
at your local elevator, or you’re welcome to travel across the way to a more
distant elevator to meet the staff and farmers from that area. Whichever you choose, you’ll find good food
and hospitality.
We hope to see you in
Atwood/Pierson on December 12
Bement on December 23
Cisco on December 22
Emery on December 22
LaPlace on December 23
Maroa on December 22
Milmine on December 17
Monticello on December 23
Seymour on– December 23
Topflight Grain facilities will be closed for the Christmas Holiday, on
Thursday, December 25, and Friday, December 26.
For the New Year Holiday, the books will be closed at noon on Tuesday,
December 30. The facilities will close
at noon on Wedenesday, December 31, and be closed on Thursday, January 1. If all goes well, the January checks will be
ready for pickup on Friday, January 2.
If you have bills to be paid or any grain to be purchased before the
end of the year, please be sure that those transactions are completed prior to
the noon closing on December 30.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
By
Richard Thomas
Here are just a few of the things Topflight Grain is working on to make our communities better.
Toplfight’s board
and management work very hard to be a positive influence on things that are
happening in the local communities. We
hope the local residents keep all this in mind when we come to them with
expansion plans and improvements.
REJECTION
By
Richard Thomas
Did you ever get a rejection for a date, a job, from your wife, your kids, a friend, the bank, or NON GMO SOYBEANS? You see no one wants to be rejected and I don’t blame them. Rejection makes you mad, upset, irritable, violent, and crazy. So when we told someone this fall that their nongmo soybeans had been rejected, we got all of the above reactions. We were threatened with loss of business, blamed for having inadequate personnel, and bad sampling. According to the customers the rejections seemed to always come from loads in the middle of a field bordered by corn.
We can’t explain why they didn’t pass either. It could have been the seed, maybe machinery not cleaned properly, or maybe dust from a neighbor harvesting gmo soybeans. We always flushed our sampling system with non gmo soybeans or corn before we took the sample. Maybe that wasn’t enough, but we do know next year we will take nongmo soybeans at locations where that’s the only kind of soybean we run through the sampling device. This way we hope to eliminate any questions about the validity of our system.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
We’re always interested in the careers of people who have grown up in central Illinois. Through the years, Bill Faulkner has provided land survey services to us, and in our visits, has updated us on his family.
In July 2001, Bill’s oldest son, Doug, was named Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy funds research, development, and advanced energy technologies and practices in the energy sectors of buildings, industry, transportation, power generation and delivery, and federal government facilities. Upon Doug’s appointment, Secretary Abraham said, “I am pleased and excited about having Doug on our team to advance the President’s National Energy Policy. His expertise in energy efficiency will be an asset in helping us solve America’s energy crisis.”
The National Corn Growers was also pleased with the announcement by Secretary Abraham. With Doug’s previous work, the Corn Growers felt his new position would help the corn farmer and help the nation develop renewable energy sources.
Doug, Dawn, David, and Duane Faulkner all grew up in Forsyth, attending the Maroa-Forsyth schools. Doug received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree from The John Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. He studied for a year at the University of Singapore as a Rotary Scholar; then worked for the federal government as a China analyst and as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Energy, Admiral Watkins from 1989-92.
We’re proud of Doug, proud that he is from central Illinois, and wish him continued success as he assists our nation in its energy plan, and works with our farmers to use our renewable sources of energy.
It’s also fun to follow former
Topflight employees. Doug Gooden worked
for Bement Grain in the early 1990’s, as manager of the Farmer Marketing
Program. He now works for ADM in
Indianapolis. He also, just turned
50. Happy Birthday, Doug!
THANK YOU, TIM
Manager Richard Thomas presented a
plaque to Tim Menacher, for his guidance and support, as a director of the
stockholders of Monticello Grain and Topflight Grain. Tim was elected to the Monticello Grain Board of Directors in
1991, and served through the last fiscal year, ending May 2003.
Tim provided strength to the Board during his time of tenure and represented the stockholders in all decisions. We thank him for all of his work.
A fellow living alone decided to get a pet, so he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet. After some discussion, he finally bought a centipede, (100-legged bug), which came in a little white box to use for his house. He took the box back home, found a good location for the box, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to church with him. So he asked the centipede in the box, “Would you like to go to church with me today, we will have a good time.” But there was no answer from this new pet. This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked him again, “How about going to church with me and receive blessings.” But again, there was no answer from his new friend and pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. He decided to ask him one more time; this time putting his face up against the centipede’s house and shouting, “HEY, in there! Would you like to go to church with me and learn about The Lord?”
(YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THIS)
A little voice came out of the box…”I heard you the first time! I’m putting on my shoes.”
STOCK UPDATE
So far this fiscal year we have redeemed $70,433 of category 1 stock and have $39,221 pending in Category 2.
SPRING CLEANING
When it comes time for spring cleaning, Topflight Grain in Bement and Monticello is ready to clean your bin-run soybeans for the spring planting season. Please remember that it is illegal to save and plant RoundUp Ready seed; therefore we cannot accept these RoundUp Ready beans for cleaning at our mills.
It is best to call ahead, a day or more, to be sure that the mill is operating and that sufficient man power is on hand to clean your beans. If you want the beans bagged, our operations staff can bag them up for you, too.
Bean cleaning and bagging rates are:
Bean
cleaning 50 cents per
bushel
Bean
bagging 50 cents per
bushel/bag
INTERESTED INTERN
Wyatt Muse, University of Illinois student, spent a day with Eric Clements, learning the duties of an operations manager. Wyatt has received a scholarship through the Illinois Grain and Feed Association, for his pursuit of an agricultural career. Through the scholarship program, he spends one day a month with a Topflight Grain employee, learning the job descriptions and responsibilities of the various positions. We have enjoyed working with Wyatt, and know that he will do well as he continues his education and employment in agriculture.
TOPFLIGHT GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
It was a season of awards for the Topflight employees this fall.
Rick Stone, Mikki Burns, and Garold Hilligoss accepted the famous “Most Dumps” Award as the Cisco crew once again dumped the most grain during the harvest season.
Monticello manager Derrick Bruhn, presented Bob Boughton, facility manager of the Monticello facility, a special train loading award. The inscription read
Congratulations
on
loading two trains back to back, October 16 & 17, 2003
Topflight manager, Richard Thomas, presented Stason Kopps, northern operations manager, a trophy for reaching a harvest goal that was set when Stason moved from the Milmine facility to the Monticello facility. Stason’s goal when he arrived in Monticello was to receive more grain in Monticello than Jim Murphy received in Bement. Stason’s award read:
Congratulations
You reached your
goal of receiving more corn than Bement at Harvest
Fall 2003
Stason Kopps
Manager Richard Thomas accepted the “Top Shipper Award” from Jim Kelly, Central Region Manager for GrowMark. The award was presented to Topflight Grain at the November board meeting, in recognition of shipping the most grain to ADM during the past year. Topflight Grain shipped over 17,000,000 bushels of grain to ADM last year.
Grain merchandiser Scott Docherty
accepted the “Top merchandiser” award from Matt Homann, Grain Services Director
for Growmark. Scott’s award was to
honor him as the grain merchandiser who sold the bushels that contributed to
Topflight’s Top Shipper Award.
BACK TO THE GOOD OL’ DAYS
By
Vanessa Stinson
Remember the day when you used to plow a field with 2 cylinder tractors? Dave Corman, of Dalton City, Howard Hite, of Dalton City, and Don Parkhurst of Decatur do remember. We caught them plowing north of Dave’s house one beautiful day. They were using a 1951 John Deere G, a 1955 John Deere 70, and a 1959 John Deere 730. The plows ere 2 to 5 bottom plows. We thought you might like to reminisce with us.
Thanks, guys, for the memories!
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS
Friends and neighbors of Dick Anderson joined together to harvest his crop this fall. Trucks, tractors, auger wagons, and combines worked together to bring the crop to town, after Dick lost his cancer battle.
Friends and neighbors also assisted theMauck brothers with their harvest, while Don is undergoing medical treatments for cancer. Gary Appleby and Lyle Heit organized the harvest help; Russ Dukeman of United Prairie helped to organize the trucks; many farmers and neighbors brought in trucks, auger wagons, combines and labor. 14 combines, 8 auger wagons, 7 semis and 2 straight trucks harvested 170 acres of corn and 170 acres of beans in a short day.
WELCOME ABOARD!
In the last issue of the High Flyer, we
mentioned two new employees, but didn’t have their pictures yet. Please help us
welcome Chris Frye and Scot Daily.
Chris
Frye manages the outside operations of the Seymour elevator.
Scot Daily works with
Vanessa, as the outside superintendent at LaPlace.
Recently joining the
operations crew is Russ Durham. Russ is
from LaPlace, and will be working with the crew at Cisco to receive, condition,
and load out the grain.
By Richard Thomas
You know every harvest invariably we will get at least five calls from some farmer in distress because he has overturned a truck load of grain, combine has caught on fire, unloading auger broke, bin filled to full, hoist on truck broke, any many other emergency situations. We respond to all of them. No matter how busy we are at the time, we make arrangements to help the customer out. I know this year, for instance, we had a distress call from a customer who had an overturned truck on a county road. It was late in the evening and some of our guys were ready to head home, but when they got the call they responded. They hooked the vac up to a pickup truck and headed to the site of the accident. Upon arriving the customer was naturally very shook up but thankful that the driver wasn’t hurt. Our employees went into action and helped scoop the soybeans out of the truck so the wrecker could upright it and then vaced the soybeans up out of the ditch and off the road. The customer was very appreciative.
I watched Pam spend a half day helping a customer fill out his LDP forms and he delivers us about 1000 bushels of grain. It wasn’t the 1000 bushels he delivered to us that took so long it was the thousands of bushels he delivered to our neighbors. He always tells Pam that he would deliver more grain to us but his farms are closer to our neighbors. Do we charge for this service? NO it’s just part of what we do to make the customers life easier.
My wife says if you have to tell someone about the good things you do, you’re doing it in for the wrong reason. The reason I’m pointing this out to you is that most companies would charge you a service charge to do a lot of the things we do for free. The bank were we borrow our money at is going to charge us a service charge if we don’t borrow all the money we say we might need. Hospitals charge you for printing a second bill. I could go on and on but it would only upset me more.
The only thing I
would expect for the quality service we deliver to you is a smile and a THANK
YOU.
EVERYONE HAS A STORY TO TELL
By
Richard Thomas
Midge Mills was the bookkeeper at Bement Grain 34 years ago when I arrived on the scene. She had been working here 7 years already and here I come in as the new manager just 28 years old, scared to death, and knowing very little about the bookkeeping system Bement Grain had at that time. I was smart enough to figure out in a very short time that Midge was somebody who liked to do things accurately and a dedicated worker. She taught me so much about the business, but most of all she taught me how to be a good person. She attended church regularly, sang in the choir, helped others, was an excellent cook, a great wife and mother, and loyal family member. Midge was what I would call a workaholic. This was great for me as her boss, but created some problems for her family. Midge lived just two houses east of the elevator with her husband Dick, who was a teacher and coach in the area, and Jeff and Steve, her two sons. So she could look out the east window of the office and keep track of what was going on at home. Well, Dick retired from teaching a couple years before Midge retired from the elevator and in the summer time if she looked out that east window and Dick wasn’t in the garden working or mowing the lawn it wasn’t long before she was finding out what was going on.
Midge retired in
1985 and they now live in Sullivan close to her family. Jeff, their oldest, is
an engineer for CDM (Camp Dresser & McKee) working out of Atlanta Georgia,
and Steve is a V.P. at ADM and their corporate controller,
I can tell you one thing, if Midge Mills had been working for Enron, Tyco, Dynegy, Health South, or Martha Stewart they wouldn’t be having the problems they are today. She absolutely would not have done anything that wasn’t correct, truthful, honest, or accurate. I know as a manager it was a privilege to have someone of her moral fiber working for us and I know the board of directors felt the same.
Midge had a lot to do with whatever success I’ve had in my life and I felt like I needed to say this about her before I retire myself.
WHY ARE WE IN SUCH A HURRY?
By Richard Thomas
On my way back from Maroa I run upon the Mackey family harvesting soybeans. From left to right in this picture are Marilyn, John, and Stanley Mackey. Stanley the father, John his son, and Marilyn, John’s wife. They were having lunch and asked if I wanted a sandwich. I was hungry and it looked like they had plenty of food so I accepted a ham and cheese sandwich. We talked about how harvest was going and what their soybeans were making. I asked John when he thought they would be through harvesting beans and he said well they could get done tomorrow, but because it was Monticello’s homecoming, and Marilyn’s class reunion they weren’t going to work the next day, which was Friday. I learned that Marilyn had graduated from Monticello High School and had been a teacher there also. As I finished my sandwich I couldn’t help but notice this fantastic looking dessert laying there on the end gate of the pickup. I was so happy when John asked me if I wanted a piece. It was some sort of cherry crisp and was it ever good. I licked my chops and said I’d better get going. As I drove down the road I couldn’t help but think they had life all figured out? If we would all step back and smell the roses once in a while we’d all be better off. And next harvest I’m going to look them up for more of that cherry dessert.
ON TOUR
Last July, students from the Parkland Heights School toured the Monticello elevator. Scott and the Monticello crew welcomed them to central Illinois and described the various services performed by a grain cooperative.
Our year in Bement began with a tour of the elevator to the 2nd grade class. Each year, we “adopt” the 2nd grade class, to teach them a little more about agriculture, and to develop some relationships with the young members in the school.
This year began with a tour of the elevator, assisted by Eric Clements, Jim Murphy and Pam Jarboe. The classes toured the office and the elevator, weighed themselves on the truck scales and observed the grain probe in action. Probably the best part of any visit to the elevator, though, is the popcorn.
Our second adventure with the 2nd grade class was to Curtis Orchard. Mrs. Curtis is a favorite of ours, as a native of Bement, herself. She tells the students about the honeybees in the orchard and shows the different jobs of each bee. The tour also includes a demonstration of the sorting tray and the cider press. Apple donuts and apple cider are special treats of the trip, as well as the wonderful playyard.
As the season continues, other events are planned for the class, as we enjoy and learn together.
Everyday, most of us use technology in some way, or many ways. At Topflight Grain, this includes our grain accounting software which allows us to give our customers most of the information they need with just a few keystrokes on the keyboard. In our communications between facilities, many times we use email, which reduces our phone bill, and allows your local manager to retrieve the information without an interrupting phone call during your business time at the office. Sales settlements, when we deliver grain to our buyers, are sent via the Internet.
Many types of information are available over the Internet. As harvest approached this fall, one of our customers asked what the “black layer” was in a corn kernel. We all knew about it, we watch for it every year, but we really didn’t know what caused it or what it signified. Eric searched the Internet, found the answer, and we mailed it to our customer.
The Internet and email are an addition to the communication tools we use everyday. The phone is still very important, much of our business and communications are still handled throught the US Post Office, and the fax machine is a quick, efficient means of sending a piece of paper anywhere. All of these are tools that we use to communicate with our customers.
Topflight Grain’s website provides much information to grain producers. The “bid page” shows the CBOT prices, with a 10-minute delay. Based on the CBOT prices, the cash bids for each location are also listed. Local weather, grain market news, charts and option bids are available from the bid page. It gives most of the daily information that a grain farmer needs.
Also, fairly new to our system is a program called “iView”. Through this program, registered users can view personal grain balances, deliveries, contracts and offers. It’s not a perfect system and it takes some “playing around” with it to use it efficiently, but it is one more technology tool we offer to give you the information you need. To register for iView, click on the iView tab on our website. To the right of the login box, is question/directive telling you to click on that line for further directions if you’re not already a member. That click will lead you to the registration form. You set up your own ID and password, and provide some more information. As you complete that information, we receive the message to set up your account access. When we have completed the account access, an email is sent back to you, confirming that you’re ready to go. If you have forgotten your ID, we do have that information. If you have forgotten your password, we do not have that information, but the login screen gives you a procedure to obtain it.
Our website also gives company information, including location pictures, addresses and phone numbers, employee pictures and email addresses, LDP rates, rain totals, and some friendly faces of our customers. In October, our website had almost 10,000 “hits” each day. A hit includes any time a page is viewed. October 23 was our busiest day with 27,933 hits. The busiest time is 3:00 pm, then 8:00 pm, then 6:00 am. People from Argentina, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Philipines, South Africa and Switzerland visit the website; companies including ADM, Boeing, Bunge, Cargill, Carle, CoBank, Ilinois Power, Monsanto, and Pioneer visit the website; universities in Montana, Oregon, New York as well as our in state universities at Southern Illinois, University of Illinois, Parkland and Richland, and schools from Cerro Gordo, Thomasboro, and Tuscola vist the website. 158 people visited the career page; 172 looked at the customer pictures; 553 used the LDP link; 140 viewed the locations page; 232 read the newsletter on the website; 337 checked out the rain totals, and 133 people inquiried about our specialty grain programs.
All of these statistics were from the month of October, and provided to us by Kestrel Technologies, who keeps our website running, and looking good! Denny Hill keeps the bids and LDP pages current. Louie Tieman keeps the rain totals current. And we try to incorporate changes as our customers as for other information.
Each morning, Derrick Bruhn or Scott Docherty email morning comments to our customers who are interested in receiving this information. The comments includes opening calls, news that is influencing the markets, and the latest government reports. Each evening, Derrick or Scott also email the bids to anyone who is interested in receiving this information. If you are not receiving this information, and would be interested in it, please tell you local manager and you will be added to the emailed information.
If there is more information we could provide to you, via other means of communications, please let us know.