The MoKan NAMA chapter hosted it’s second annual ag tour inconjunction with the NAMA Boot Camp on Tuesday, August 22.

Tour attendees first stopped at the Kansas City Board of Trade where they experienced the market opening and trading in action. Next, attendees stopped at the Tailgate Ranch where Kirk Sours explained how the cow-calf operation works.

Tailgate Ranch is a commercial cow-calf operation consisting of about 1,500 acres of cool-season grass and legume pastures, 390 acres of brome hay meadows, and 60 acres of alfalfa. Tailgate was formed in 1962 by Paul McKie and is located at Tonganoxie, Kansas. The ranch currently consists of about 300 females. The main focus has been developing and breeding high-quality replacement females following a strict culling regime in order to build a superior maternal cow herd. Feedlot and carcass data have been collected to help improve feed efficiency and product quality.

Next on the tour was a stop for lunch at Pendleton Farms. During lunch, John and Karen Pendleton grow three varieties of asparagus that are propagated for crowns and are sold each February. The farm also grows corn, wheat and soybeans, and the cattle feedlot has been converted into a parking lot for customers at Pendleton’s Country Market. The list of produce has grown to include all kinds of vegetables and flowers, as well as honey and jams made by neighboring growers. The Pendleton’s also discussed how they are recovering from a microburst that destroyed part of the farm in March, 2006.

The last stop on the Ag Tour was Heritage Tractor which is one of the largest John Deere dealerships in the region. Heritage Tractor supplies top of the line and high-quality crop production equipment to both traditional farmers/ranchers and the rural lifestyle audiences. Attendees got to check out the equipment upclose and even got to “test drive” some of the equipment.

Special thanks to MoKan NAMA for hosting the Ag Tour again this year!