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PITTSBURG —
Hot or not, the 38th Four-State Farm Show will open at 8 a.m. today.
“We’re used to it, it’s always hot in July,” said Doug Toburen, editor of Farm Talk Newspaper, which sponsors the event. “Whether it’s 90 degrees or 110 degrees, it’s about the same out here.”
The show will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. It’s located south of Pittsburg, half a mile east of the junction of Highway 69, 400 and K-171.
Vendors were working Thursday to register and get set up.
“People actually started dropping off equipment last week, and now they’re getting into their booths and registering with Farm Talk,” Toburen said. “We’ve got over 600 booths covering 25 acres this year.”
And, though it’s called a farm show, the editor said that it’s really more than that.
“We like to figure it’s a family affair,” Toburen said. “We’ve got something here for everybody. We’ve got tools, tires, chainsaws, mowers, weed eaters, things everybody would use. This show gives people the opportunity to come to one spot. We refer to it as the ‘Mall of Agriculture’. You don’t have to drive from dealer to dealer because all the dealers are here in one spot.”
Activities at the show will include the lawn mower test driving range and daily haying demonstrations at 1 p.m. New this year is a little bit of economic incentive.
“We’ll give $500 at the haying demonstration each day to someone at the demo, to be used for parts or service or toward the purchase of equipment from any of the vendors at the hay demo,” Toburen said. “Also, we’re giving a $1,000 shopping spree each day, good at the exhibitors at the show.”
Some vendors setting up were regulars, including Grasshopper Mowers of Parsons.
“We’ve been to the show ever since it started in the 1970s,” said Stacey Baugher.
They keep coming back because it does well for them.
“Some shows you’ll sell a lot at the show, but a lot of times it’ll be two weeks later they show up,” Baugher said.
She said that she’ll have some “Summer Sizzler” specials at her booth, and will show a newly designed rear discharge deck which has grass clippings coming out the back of the mower.
“Cemetery employees really like it because it means less clean-up,” Baugher said. “Everybody likes it because you don’t get grass clippings all over your sidewalks.”
Along with the new is something old, a piece of mower history on display.
Hot or not, the 38th Four-State Farm Show will open at 8 a.m. today.
“We’re used to it, it’s always hot in July,” said Doug Toburen, editor of Farm Talk Newspaper, which sponsors the event. “Whether it’s 90 degrees or 110 degrees, it’s about the same out here.”
The show will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. It’s located south of Pittsburg, half a mile east of the junction of Highway 69, 400 and K-171.
Vendors were working Thursday to register and get set up.
“People actually started dropping off equipment last week, and now they’re getting into their booths and registering with Farm Talk,” Toburen said. “We’ve got over 600 booths covering 25 acres this year.”
And, though it’s called a farm show, the editor said that it’s really more than that.
“We like to figure it’s a family affair,” Toburen said. “We’ve got something here for everybody. We’ve got tools, tires, chainsaws, mowers, weed eaters, things everybody would use. This show gives people the opportunity to come to one spot. We refer to it as the ‘Mall of Agriculture’. You don’t have to drive from dealer to dealer because all the dealers are here in one spot.”
Activities at the show will include the lawn mower test driving range and daily haying demonstrations at 1 p.m. New this year is a little bit of economic incentive.
“We’ll give $500 at the haying demonstration each day to someone at the demo, to be used for parts or service or toward the purchase of equipment from any of the vendors at the hay demo,” Toburen said. “Also, we’re giving a $1,000 shopping spree each day, good at the exhibitors at the show.”
Some vendors setting up were regulars, including Grasshopper Mowers of Parsons.
“We’ve been to the show ever since it started in the 1970s,” said Stacey Baugher.
They keep coming back because it does well for them.
“Some shows you’ll sell a lot at the show, but a lot of times it’ll be two weeks later they show up,” Baugher said.
She said that she’ll have some “Summer Sizzler” specials at her booth, and will show a newly designed rear discharge deck which has grass clippings coming out the back of the mower.
“Cemetery employees really like it because it means less clean-up,” Baugher said. “Everybody likes it because you don’t get grass clippings all over your sidewalks.”
Along with the new is something old, a piece of mower history on display.
“We have Serial No. 5, the fifth mower to come off the Grasshopper Company assembly line at Moundridge, Kan.,” Baugher said.
Newcomer Butch Rankin of Rankin Farm, Buffalo, Mo., regularly goes to the farm show in Springfield, Mo., and thought he’d try the Four State Show this year. He brought four Brahmousin cattle with him, a combination of 3/8ths Brahman and 5/8ths Limousin.
“It’s a young breed, 35 or 36 years old,” Rankin said. “You don’t get the insect problems with them as much as you do with continental breeds. Their Brahman influence makes them better foragers. I’m not saying I don’t give them good feed, because I do, but you don’t have to baby them as much as you do European breeds.”
Also, they’re great beef cattle, with a cutout rate of 66 percent.
“That means if you buy a 1,200 steer, you’ll get, on average, 72 more pounds of meat than some other breeds,” Rankin said.
He said that he brought a bull and three heifers to the show.
“We’ve got a 20-by-20 pen with the bull in one and the heifers in the other,” Rankin said. “I’ve got a tarp over them and we’re bringing in water twice a day for them.”
He’s not too worried about his cattle and the hot weather.
“Brahmousins also take the heat a lot better,” Rankin said.
