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* general News SUCTION 2 |*ACK I I'l .AINIM'iAl.t'.lt Wl l)NI <illA V. lA.'il.AH V (?. I V.4 Big loss of Illinois top soil each year New champion in bull valley By Cliff Ward Shaw Free Press Media There is a new champion in the Bull Valley community. It is a horse named Schoenfelder. The horse is owned by Ernie and Mary Lou Shook of Fleming Road in Bull Valley. Recently* the American Trekehner Association awarded the horse and its owners its Palmblute Trophy in recognition for having done the most in the past year to promote the breed, one which was developed in Prussia. There are few horses of the breed in the U.S. In fact, Mary Lou Shook said, there are only 35 approved Trekehners in the country. 1 > The Shooks bought the Ger­ man-bred stallion at an auction in Washington, D.C., in 1979, and showed him across the country before realizing their horse possessed rare leaping ability, something that became more apparent after the horse wtm contests in its first three outings. "It was very encouraging," Shook recalled, saying the possibility of owning a great horse started to materialize in the minds of her and the horse's trainers. » As a test of mettle, Shook took the horse on the Florida circuit and Schoenfelder, on the basis of those good performances in Florida, was invited to the main event of the year in New York's Madison Square Garden, one of only 15 horses invited. "I was telling a friend before the show that the horse had never been sick a day in its life," she recalled. At the show, Schoenfelder was plagued by several injuries and a fever, and was definitely "not up to par." He finished only as high as seventh in one class. Despite that setback, it was quite a year for the horse Shook said she and her husband acquired through "dumb luck." Originally, she and her husband said they planned to buy a mare, Shook said, but "we just started to talk and thought 'wouldn't it be more logical to buy a stallion,' " since they would be able to ride it year-round and .could hire him out for stud service. * Also, they had seen Schoen­ felder perform at a farm in Virginia. Trekehners were originally bred in East Prussia as cavalry and light carriage horses. To be approved in Germany, Trekehners must go through a rigorousthree-month testing period before undergoing a final test before they ,are considered "approved." > Those that do not qualify are immediately gelded. The American Trekehner Association, based in Columbus, Ohio, is instituting similar guidelines to keep the line pure. Schoenfelder stands 16 hands (5 feet, 4 inches) tall at a spot- just above the shoulder and is chestnut brown. Shook said he is an even- tempered horse, about halfway between a mild-mannered gelding and a high-strung thoroughbred. Trekehners have solid bone structure through the legs and Shook said she thinks its head and massive neck are the horse's best feature. That solid build will keep Schoenfelder, who turns 10 in February, active for some time. The horse will probably be in competition until it's 17 or 18, Shook said, and could be a viable stud horse well into his 20s. By Kurt Begalka Shaw Free Press Media Illinois loses an estimated 16 tons of top soil per acre yearly. Ed Weilbacher, con­ servationist with the McHenry County Soil and Water Con­ servation District, estimates 35 acre-feet (a depth of one foot) of that winds up iji Wonder Lake. Weilbacher said out of the 238,988 acres of cropland in McHenry County, 31 percent used soil conservation methods in 1981. This actually represented a 1 percent decrease since 1970. The majority of the land (56 percent) in crop production has gently rolling topography, Weilbacher said. These 77,986 acres lose 9.6 tons per acre of topsoil each year. The ac­ ceptable loss is five tons, he said. Allec Pulley, state fisheries biologist, reported on the summer of 1978 when Rock- ford's Pierce Lake nearly died. A hurried planting whfch ignored soil conservation measures was done just 10 days before a heavy rain. Large portions of soil and insecticide were flushed into the lake, covering the bottom with up to six inches of new earth and killing 95 percent of the bluegill and crappie. Wonder Lake also is suffering from a lack of game fish due to poor visibility and low oxygen levels. Gary Thomas, public in­ formation officer with the state department of conservation, reported in "Outdoor. Highlights" newsletter that more than 100 million tons of soil are being displaced each year in Illinois. "This annual loss would create a block of soil Covering 10 acres to a height of one mile," Thomas wrote. He attributed the soil erosion problem to increased production of corn and soybeans, greater land use and fall plowing. i estimated $72 per r in fertility value, "Farmers have traditionally planted in the fall," Larry Harris, manager of the McHenry County Farm Bureau, said. "It takes a number of years before farmers become more aware; that it will not reduce yields." Siltation costs the Illinois farm owner an < acre each year plus another $9 per acre for the cost of silt removal from high­ way ditches and drainage areas, Thomas explained. The overall cost to our state is $600 million each year. "Erosion can be controlled by minimizing exposed areas, stabilizing the soil and con­ trolling runoff," Thomas said. Using zero and conservation tillage, chisel planting, cbntour farming, terracing, planting cover crops or constructing settling basins are important. The idea behind conservation tillage is not to disturb the soil by plowing. Seed is injected into the furrows between the stubble. Ideally, rows are contoured to the land, Thomas added. "You go around the hill," he said. "You don't go up and down it." Excluding livestock from streams would improve water quality and reduce erosion, Thomas said. Areas can be fenced off and vegetation planted to protect the banks. Don Luerssen, Hebron farmer ^ and member of the McHenry County Soil and Water Con­ servation District board, has /used no-till farming for the past three years. The alternative is to lose soil and fertilizer when it becomes suspended in water. "With no residue on top the rain just hits it like a bomb," Luerssen said. "I just believe in it," he said. "I don't like to see gullies in the field." Luerssen and Thomas blamed the lack of enthusiasm for soil conservation measures on tradition, an increasing amount of rented land and the economy. "If you have a $30,000 piece of equipment you don't just park it behind the barn," Thomas said. To combat that, Weilbacher said the soil and < water con­ servation district, at 1143 N. Seminary Ave., rents out four planters at $10 an acre. "We'll even provide a person to go out with the individual so they're not in the dark," he added. ^Logistics is another hurdle. "It's not like the old days when a farmer only had 150 acres," Thomas said. "Now you're talking 2,000-acre farms." They are afraid that a wet spring might delay planting, par- tiCUlsujJy if plowing must be done first. Sue. Maraccini, county executive director of the Agricultural Stabilization Conservation Service, sup­ plements the soil district's technical expertise with financial help. The Woodstock office ad­ ministers between $60,000 and $75,000 in federal money it receives each year as part of the Agricultural Conservation Program. The deadline to apply is Dec. 31. The ASCS will finance up to 75 percent of the cost and bounty farmers are eligible for as much as $3,500 each year to help finance erosion control measures like vegetation cover, terracing, constructing wind­ breaks, sod waterways to channel surface runoff and sediment retention structures. A settling basin would fall under the latter category, but Weilbacher doubts whether the Master Property Owners Association in Wonder Lake would qualify for three reasons: the 62,000-acre watershed is too large; the lake is private; and it provides no public water supply. Larry Reinhard, who spoke on behalf of the lake committee on Sunday, stressed the im­ portance of educating the residents of Wonder Lake and area farmers in the effects of siltation. , . Reinhard and MPOA President Ed Beard are drafting a letter to appeal for assistance from the conservation service in researching the lake" siltation problem, but it will require dollars as well as support. "If we want to keep our lake private we're going to have to pay for cleaning up the lake," Reinhard said. Lowest corn planting since 1878 due to PIK Shaw Frat Prist Mawspaper Group If you don't think that PIK (Payment in Kind) program cut corn, sorghum, wheat and cotton plantings, you haven't taken a good look at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest Acreage Report. It shows that plantings of those crops are down sharply and that predictions of cutbacks weren't exaggerated after all. The report puts corn plantings at 60.1 million acres. That not only was down 27 percent from last year, but the lowest U.S. corn plantings total since 1878. It also puts sorghum planted for all purposes at 11.6 million acres, which is down 28 percent from both last year and 1981. And the lowest sorghum plan­ tings total since 1949. Wheat acreage is estimated at 76.6 million acres, the smallest since 1979. Cotton acreage is also seen at 8.3 million acres. m That'd be th^ smallest since 1969. But, a note of caution on that one. The experts say that a lot of cotton went into the ground between June 1, when the acreage survey was made, and June 29, when the report was issued. Soybean acreage is also down. Estimated at 6.3 million acres, it's off 12 percent from a year ago, 7 percent less than the 1981 total. Part of that cutback is undoubtedly due to limited acreage in some southern states, where wheat and soybeans had been double- cropped in recent years. Soybeans, of course, can't be planted on land idled via the PIK program. That 63.3 million acres is still enough to top the corn acreage total That's the first time in history that soybean acreage topped corn acreage. This week only! Our entire stock of 2-pc. and 3-pc. pantsuits in missy and half-sizes at a fantastic 30% off! Reg. $17-$33 Hurry...Sale ends Sunday,January 22nd! Family Hairstyling Center 385-4520 Daily 8 to 8 Saturday 8 to 3 OPEN SUNDAYS 10 TO 5 40% of our customer actuallybeBevewework hard to keep gas costs as low as possible. They're 100% right One of the pleasant surprises we round, in our recent survey of our customers' attitudes, was that a sizeable percentage of our customers believe that we do work hard to keep gas costs as low as possible. And they're absolutely right. In fact, they probably don't realize how right they are. . ^Because the fact is, according to a commonly used measure of efficiency. Northern Illinois Gas is one of the most efficiently run natural gas utilities in the entire U.S. In effect, each of our employes tatfes care of 580 customers. And'that 580-to-l ratio of customers served per employe is the highest of any major gas utility in the country. How do we achieve that record!' By streamlining our operations \ wherever possible. From billing to controlling the flow of gas from our suppliers, we make extensive use of computers. Our estimated billing system allows us to read our customers' meters only every other month, thereby saving extra meter reader wages required when meters are read monthly. We're also at the forefront of innovations to reduce other operating costs. For 'example, our fleet of company cars and senice vehicles is being modified so that it can run on compressed natural gas, which is considerably less expensive than gasoline. All in all. we can fairly say we don't just, work hard to keep costs down, we work as hard as any utility we know of. And that continuous effort helps minimize the price our customers pay for natural gas, which will be the subject of the next ad in this series. o •NORTHERN ILLINOIS GAS