Getting Ready for Spring

Photos by Eugenia Jones Pictured with the seed drill are (left to right): McCreary County Soil District Secretary Tella Tucker, Board Members Vernon Gilreath and David Jones, Chair Brad Coffey, and Board Member Earl D. Kidd. Additional Board Members not pictured are Todd Martin, Colby Stephens, and Anthony Trammell.

The McCreary County Soil Conservation District welcomed the recent delivery of a ten feet wide seed drill to be made available for use by local farmers.  The seed drill prevents farmers from plowing and disking their fields by dropping seeds directly into the ground.  By using the seed drill, farmers can help prevent erosion of their soil.  The new, bigger drill allows farmers to cover larger amounts of ground more efficiently.

According to Soil Conservation District Board Chair Bradley Coffey, the Board’s mission is to get equipment for everyone to use.

“We want to spend money economically,” Coffey remarked. “Agriculturally speaking, surrounding counties may be larger, but we are pretty much right up there with them as far as the equipment we can make available to our farmers.”

Equipment currently available for rent through the Soil Conservation District are: two lime spreaders, one manure spreader, one pasture drag, one pasture sprayer, and two seed drills (seven feet and ten feet.)

Farmers renting the equipment must sign a contract assuming responsibility for any damages incurred from their use of the equipment and must pay a rental fee based on fees charged in other counties.  Some of the McCreary County’s rental fees are cheaper than in other districts.

For more information on rental of farm equipment, contact Tella Tucker at the McCreary County Soil Conservation District Office on Cabin Creek Road adjacent to the Farmers’ Market in Stearns. The phone number is 606-376-5017.