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AG Partners
Life has been golden lately for the Grotegut and Yanke families of the Texas Panhandle. Their sprawling farming business is keeping their families fed, providing a solid foundation for future generations, and helping feed untold numbers of others across the land. The business, Ag Partners, was founded in 2000 when lifelong friends David Grotegut and Mike Yanke combined their 29 years each of farming experience into one unified effort. Ag Partners plants, cultivates and harvests golden fields of wheat and corn on 15,000 acres spread across Hansford, Sherman and Moore counties on the Texas-Oklahoma border. With Hansford and Sherman counties having just 8,100 residents between them and thus a limited labor pool, Grotegut and Yanke are fortunate their families are willing to share the hard work of the business. “We just try to follow the golden rule: Treat others the way we would want to be treated,” said Grotegut. And with the “others” usually being family members at the controls of a combine or a truck, that rule pays off in productivity and harmony. During the peak of harvest in June and July, up to 15 family members stay busy from dawn until midnight seven days a week operating combines, driving grain carts and semi-trucks, and keeping the crew fed throughout the day. The only break they get is if it rains. Ag Partners face the same challenges as any farmers. “Weather is always a challenge in farming – along with pricing our crops. We always work hard to get the best price possible for our crops,” said Grotegut. However, with 15,000 acres under their feet, the challenges are on a much larger scale compared to smaller farms. In the Texas Panhandle where rainfall averages 20 inches annually, irrigation is required to keep the young crops growing. Like most farming operations in the region, Ag Partners has large center pivot irrigation systems fed by wells that draw water up from the Ogallala Aquifer. Diesel motors pump water from the wells and out to the sprinkler heads. Ag Partners has 55 irrigation motors, and keeping them operating between the rainy periods is vital to the success of the business. Motor maintenance has been cut in half with the introduction of a Sage Oil Vac 11254 lube trailer. The Oil Vac features two 250-gallon tanks, two 120-gallon tanks, a tongue-mounted toolbox, four hose reels with 25 ft. hoses, and a patented filter stinger and used filter receptacle – all mounted on a heavy-duty 20-ft. trailer for easy transport. Grotegut said the Oil Vac is pulled behind a pick-up truck and travels easily down dirt roads and across sprinkler tracks to the irritation motors for maintenance. “By purchasing the Oil Vac we save 50% of the time it takes versus the time we spent before we had it,” he said. The Oil Vac has also introduced a new level of environmental stewardship on the farm. “In years past we would dump our used oil on the ground; with the Oil Vac we can safely transport our used oil to a central location. Then we safely dispose of it with no environmental impact.” Ag Partners has six employees qualified to work with the Oil Vac and maintain the motors, and Grotegut calculates the investment will be recouped in two to three years. “We would highly recommend it,” he said. “It is the only way to economically service your equipment while still maintaining a good stewardship of the land.” |
AG Partners Harvesting the Good Life from Fields of Gold
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