OPEN HOUSE
A very big Thank You to everyone who came out for our Customer Appreciation Day on Thursday, October 16th. And all our Dealers & Distributors that came out for our Dealer Day on Friday. A very special thank you to all my "Powerflexer's" and volunteers that helped us put it all together. It was a huge success thanks to a lot of help from many different people. Mother nature blessed us with a picture perfect day, which started out clear & brisk then evolved into one of those memorable fall days with blue skies and cool fresh air.
Below is an accumulation of photos taken that day. We hope you enjoy them.
We already have ideas to do this again next year - bigger & better.
Above Jim Gerrish demonstrates the "how to" of building a floating brace
Lots of smiling faces and plenty of time to network with fellow grazers
and producers from different areas of the country.
People began arriving around 8:30 and registration began
Jennifer & Darrell laying out the Demonstration Areas
Of course, the government boys were the first
to hit the coffee & donuts (gotsha Gorman)
The Farm Tours were a very popular part of our day. These tours were about 1 hour
and 20 minute trips, guided by Steve Freeman.
The tours showed an evolution of over 20 years of management intensive
grazing by the Freeman Family. They run both cow/calf and
stocker operations on over 1200 acres of owned and leased farms in the area.
Many stops were made to point out certain aspects of his grazing system.
A lot of different products were seen in use during the tour.
Several stops were made to get some hands on inspections.
Here a tire tank in use at a water hub.
Above, Steve shows some of his above ground black water pipe
that is laid in an electric fence line.
And there was time to pick a little clover !
Many groups gathered through out the day to watch demonstrations on lots of different
topics and products, as well as to just visit and network together.
Food & drink were available most of the day.
We served out over 250 hot dogs, 350 grassfed hamburgers,
75 quarts of chili and a lot of homemade desserts,
not to mention gallons of coffee and cases of donuts !
If anyone went home hungry - it was their own fault...........
Connie Krider (of Powerflex) & Alan Boyd (Our Polybraid Manufacturer from Ireland)
visiting, with food in hand, under the shade of an oak tree.
Payne Hall of Gripple, Inc. Demonstrating how to use Gripples in different fencing applications.
Our parking areas were full most of the day and we also filled the parking lot of the
Mt. Zion Baptist Church, across the road. A special Thank you to the church
for allowing us to use their parking area as well as their fellowship hall
for presentations and dinner. They were such great help and supportive !
David set up a Pratley Sheep Handling system and gave tours through out the day.
Possibly, one of the most beneficial aspects of the day was the opportunity
to gather in small groups to share information and network together.
There were many newcomers as well as
seasoned veterans from the grazing sector of agriculture.
Tire Tanks got a lot of attention from our customers that day.
Although we offer tire tanks, we also freely offer information
and guidelines on how to cut them out and install them yourself.
Knowledge and information from the inside out !
Above, Glen Boyer discussed the do's and don'ts of installling tire tanks.
Glen & Terre have recently installed tire tanks on their farm just north of Powerflex.
Glen also help us out on parking & the farm tours.
The Holmes Family + Gene Conley provided great music for us
through out the day and during dinner.
Gene Conley on banjo, Dawnell on bass, Taylor on mandolin and Cody on guitar.
(Cody may have a new pair of shoes,
but Dawnell has a new upright bass that made my spurs jingle.)
Taylor on her Mandolin, but she also plays a pretty mean "fiddle" too.
She politely corrected me a while back by referring to her fiddle as a violin...........
Jim Gerrish was our featured after dinner speaker, but he also graciously made
himself available all day long with several demonstrations and visited
with everyone. Thanks Jim. Jims Presentation "Grazing around the World"
was enjoyed by all, after dinner in the evening.
Richard McConnell gave us a great presentation at 3pm on "The Value of Stockmanship".
It was well received and enjoyed by all.
(he may kill me for this photo -- but i know he's a great sport)
Not only is Richard a master at Stockmanship but he ain't bad at eat'n
a chili dog without get'n any on his beard !
A couple of real desperado's here.
Willy Killmer (Willy Wire and patent holder of the EZ End)
and Kenneth King of Jako Inc,
who manufacturers our HD spinning jenny, rock anchors and EZ ends.
We also had several presentations from several people.
Pictured above is one by Steve Wheeler, the originator of the Powerflex Post.
This presentation showed the evolution of the process and the
properties of the Powerflex Posts.
Other Break Out Presentations were:
Cost share guidelines by Gorman Bennett;
Leaf stage grazing by Ted Probert;
Animal Nutrition for Grazing by Dennis Turner;
Our gal's in the office kept real busy all day writing invoices and pulling orders.
Above is Pam and below is Heather. Great job girls !
These ladies also helped with serving food, registration, etc.
Terre with a customer in the showroom.
Dan Divine did a great job of cooking all our dogs and burgers.
Here in the blue shirt (left) Dan is caught with a mouthful !
We also had several vendors from industry and agency that set up booths on the porch.
I think our customers enjoyed visiting with them. We thank them for their support.
The day ended with a dinner of grassfed beef burgers from our customers and friends,
Alan & Tauna Powell of The Masters Ranch near Laclyde Missouri,
then topped off with some mighty fine home made desserts.
Hope you enjoyed the photos.
If you weren't able to make it this year,
we hope you can next year.
thanks to everyone for making this a special day
+++
"behind the scenes" - below
The girls had a good time shopping for all the food & serving supplies
above Terre with paper goods & condiments, below is Jennifer with a cart of buns
WHAT DOES 250 POUNDS OF HAMBURGER
LOOK LIKE WHILE IT IS THAWING OUT ?
WOW, NOW THAT WAS A LOT OF GRASS FED GROUND BEEF !
AND THESE THREE LADIES MADE IT ALL INTO PATTIES.
WE WERE UP UNTIL NEARLY MIDNIGHT DOING THIS ON WEDNESDAY
YOURS TRULY WAS IN THE OTHER ROOM MAKING UP ABOUT
50 QUARTS OF CHILI AT THIS TIME.
LEFT TO RIGHT IS MY WIFE, JACKIE AND JUDY AND JENNIFER.
JUDY ALSO TOOK CARE OF THE THAWING PART OF THIS.
THANK YOU LADIES !
GD
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