State FFA officers visit Gilchrist and Levy farms

Submitted

On Saturday, Jan. 23, state FFA officers from the Florida FFA Association toured three local farms while taking a first-hand look at the agriculture industry in Gilchrist County and neighboring Levy County.
During their term as state FFA officers, the group participates in a Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services internship which includes touring the various divisions within the Department of Agriculture.

Florida FFA state officers are shown left to right: Austin Gibson, Nathan Candler, Trevor Williams, AustinCourson, Bryttany Willis, Trenton FFA Advisor Heather Rucker, Caitlyn Prichard, Caitlin Cribbs,
and local farmers Murray Tillis and his son, Harold Tillis.

One of the first stops that the group completed was an agricultural industry tour which was organized and hosted by Heather Rucker, Trenton FFA advisor. The officer team visited local farms which included Tillis Farms, Usher Land & Timber, North Florida Holsteins, and Trenton’s Agricultural Education Program.
The first stop was with Murray and Harold Tillis of Tillis Farms. Mr. Tillis explained the process of growing watermelons and peanuts. On his farm, Tillis grows both seeded and seedless melons. Tillis explained how farming has changed over the years. In the past, he has shipped melons, individually, in the back of semi trucks. Today, they are shipped in boxes for better hauling and storing once they arrive at the stores. In his discussion, he explained how consumers control the market and how retail stores mainly want three certain sizes of watermelons.
Mr. Tillis also explained the importance of bees to the watermelon industry. Normally, he uses honey bees to pollinate his crop. Though recently, he used bumble bees as a trial. Some advantages were that he could get the bumble bees much quicker and keep them on site easier than he could the honey bees. A disadvantage to the bumble bee is that it takes more bees and hives to pollinate the fields than it does the honey bee.
The Chiefland farmer also talked about how regulations for growing crops continue to increase each year but at the same time more improvements are being made technologically. Mr. Tillis said that he plants, harvests, and irrigates using global positioning systems (GPS). This technology requires three units. The first system is placed on each tractor. The information that it collects transmits this information to the base tower. The base tower is the second system that is placed in the field. The system collects the information from the tractor then transmits it to a global satellite where the information it sent back to the tractor. This is the same technology that is used by the United States military when sending artillery into combat. When planting the seeds, the system records where the seeds are inserted into the ground. When it’s harvesting time, the operator can look at the same field on the computer on the tractor and the machine will harvest each seed that it planted. In turn, this increases the yield for the farmer. This technology is also useful when making the crop rows and disbursing fertilizers. As the operator drives down a row, the tractor can drive itself, making perfect straight rows. However, if there is an obstacle in that row, the operator must go around it or the tractor will drive into it. At the end of the visit, Mr. Tillis urged the officers, as the young leaders of the future, to speak out for the farmer and agriculture as a whole.
The next visit was at Usher Land & Timber and Usher Farms, with Mr. Ken Griner. Mr. Griner spoke on the importance of the forestry industry along with owning a business in forestry. The Usher family timber business started in the early 1900’s. The business includes 35 employees of which most stay with the business for many years. They have been recognized with many accomplishments throughout the years. Some of the awards include Florida Logger of the Year, Southeast Logger of the Year, as well as the National Logger of the Year. He explained that most of the trees that are harvested are from leased land. The trees are then shipped to twelve different mills. Timber products range from mulch, poles, lumber, to household products. He also discussed the importance of the forests as a business but also the importance of maintaining our natural resources. For every tree that is harvested, a tree must be planted in its place. Mr. Griner feels that it is a priority to not damage the land while logging it. The company has many pieces of equipment that is used for logging, hauling the wood and clean-up equipment. Once the logging crews have finished harvesting a particular area, the clean-up crews use equipment to repair the roads and the land to prepare for it re-planting. The other business that the Usher’s are involved in is the beef cattle industry. The family manages two different cattle operations. One is cow/calf and the second is stocker operation. In the cow/calf operation, cows are bred by select genetics from bull sires. They breed by way of artificial insemination, in most cases. These cattle are produced using ¼ Brahman for heat tolerance and mothering ability, ¼ Charolais for muscling and frame, and ½ Angus for its well-known marbling qualities. By using these breeds of beef cattle ensures a high quality meat animal. In the stocker operation, the family purchases most of the calves from Florida cattle producers. The calves, at the time of purchase, weigh between 300-400 pounds. Once at the farm, they are fed a nutrient-rich diet containing silage, minerals, and feed products. They are kept on the farm during the winter months then shipped to Kansas for the spring months. They are fed out to approximately 850-1000 pounds on high-quality grass and then sold to the markets. By finishing out the cattle in Kansas, they are able to produce beef in a shorter amount of time and have more market opportunities than they would be able to here in Florida. Mr. Griner feels that record-keeping, genetics, and feed rations are an ample part to the beef cattle industry. At the end of the tour, Mr. Griner encouraged the state officer team to gather knowledge and be a voice for the agricultural industry.
The third visit was in Gilchrist County at North Florida Holsteins where Dave Temple, General Manager, guided the group around the dairy. Mr. Temple discussed there are approximately 8000 head of dairy cattle on 2000acres of land. The farm was started in 1980 milking only 120 head of cattle. North Florida Holsteins is known across the state as one of the best. While there, the group had the opportunity to explore the state of the art tunnel-ventilated free-stall barns which was built last year. This building is large enough to house 1,000 cows. In the building, air is constantly flowing through it. The temperature inside the barn can be ten degrees cooler than outside of the barn. The cattle have free-range sand beds and full access to feed mixture at all times. The cattle are fed a combination of feeds including corn silage, ryegrass silage, sorghum silage, and Bermuda grass. As with all dairies, cattle nutrition is the most important aspect of the dairy industry. Without the proper amount of nutrition, the dairy cows will not produce as much milk as expected. After the tour through the new barn, the group had the chance to watch the milking process. Before the cows can be milked, the underlines of the cows are sprayed with water from sprinklers as they enter the lane into the milking parlor. Once they enter the milking stall, each teat on each cow is washed with a bleach solution. The teat cups are then placed on the cow to begin the milking process. This usually takes between 4-6 minutes depending on the cow. The amount of milk also ranges by cow. Some cows can give up to 37 pounds of milk at one milking whereas others will only give 24 pounds of milk. After milking is complete, the teat cups come off and each teat is dipped with a iodine solution. This process is very important in reducing the spread of infection and/or bacteria from the other cows. One serious infection that a cow can get is called mastitis. This infection occurs in the udder. Once the cow has mastitis, it must be moved the sick barn for extra treatment. Once the infection is clear, then she may go back to milking. At the end of the day, __5-6___ milk trailers have been filled. Each trailer holds approximately 52,000 pounds of milk. To put this number into perspective, this equals about _6000_ gallons of milk. Overall, the state officers had an excellent time observing this process.
At the final stop of their tour, the officers visited Trenton’s Agricultural Education Department. There, they observed the fish pond, beef cattle herd, egg production, sugarcane crop and future cane syrup making project, mechanic shop, wood working shop, and the three-classroom facility. Each officer walked away from the trip with a bottle of cane syrup and a new range of experiences from the agriculture industry.