Savage Newsletter Summer 2014.1

PECAN COUNTRY NEWS
Volume 8
Summer 2014
On the
Calendar
What a difference
a day makes!
July 13-16:
Texas Pecan Growers
Conf.; San Marcos, TX
Aug 29:
Arizona Pecan Growers
Meeting; Tucson, AZ
Sep 18-20:
National Pecan Shellers
Meeting; Seattle, WA
Name Change
The former U.S.
Pecan Council is now
known as The American
Pecan Board. If you’ve
ever wondered what the
American Pecan looks
like, a photo is provided
below. Pretty cool, huh?
The American Pecan
From deep in the underground research and
development vault of Savage Equipment
Row harvester update!
In our last issue, we broke the news that Savage’s
first-ever windrow pecan harvester would soon move
from concept to reality. It’s an exciting time here at our
facilities in Madill, Oklahoma as we focus on making
sure this machine will be something special–the best
row harvester on the market, in fact. Draftsmen are
drafting, welders are welding, metal benders are bending
metal, and our purchasing guys are pulling their hair out
trying to make sure all the parts and materials are available when they’re needed for assembly. It’s all coming
together beautifully. Finally!
Everyone got a peek at it during the Texas Pecan
Conference, July 13-16. Next comes field testing and
perfecting, followed by more testing and perfecting, and
then just a bit more. Exciting times in Pecan Country!
The 2014 pecan growing season
got off to a rough start for growers in
parts of Texas and Oklahoma.
Catkins were emerging and things
were really starting to look promising,
when a late-season chill blew through
the region. Temperatures plunged
into the upper twenties overnight,
and in a few short hours, the 2014
crop potential took a serious hit.
Many of you will find Dr McEachern’s article, Pecan Post-freeze Management, an interesting read. You can
read a brief summary of his piece on
page four of this newsletter.
The same pecan branch on
April 14th and April 15th. Ouch!
2014 Oklahoma Pecan Conference
Tulsa’s Convention Center proved to be a great venue for the 2014 Oklahoma
Pecan Growers Conference. On June 13th, experts in a variety of fields dispensed
valuable information throughout the day. Subjects ranged from the nitrogen needs
of pecan orchards, to the risk of human pathogens, to the potential value of a
marketing coop for Oklahoma native pecans.
Of course, no Oklahoma Pecan Growers Conference would be complete without the food show event. It’s been a wonderful tradition of the conference since the
continued on page 2
Most of Savage’s machines
were proudly on display at our
home-state pecan show.
866-572-8243 [email protected]
Pecan Pieces
Back from Africa (again)
Story and photos by Jerry Murrack
I
recently returned from my second trip to South
Africa, and thought our Pecan Country readers might like
to hear a little about it. On May 25th, I headed for the
airport in Dallas prepared for the 9000-mile journey to
South Africa. My primary mission was to commission
some new equipment with our Savage agent, Werner
Hamman, who lives in Hartswater, in the Northern Cape
Province. After my twenty hour flight to Johannesburg,
Werner and I drove six hours
southeast to Gray Town. The
following day we were to help
start up a small cracking and
shelling plant. We arrived shortly after midnight at the home of
Martin Platt. Our 6:00 a.m.
wake-up came unusually early.
After taking a moment to sort
out where I was, we headed to
the shelling barn to start dialing
in the new plant. Everyone was
amazed at how simple the setup of the machines was and
how quickly they were performing well. We cracked a
fifty-pound sack of three different varieties. Martin
thought they would be difficult, but within minutes, we
were cracking out a very large percentage of halves on all
three varieties.
We squared everything away, and by 11:00 a.m. we
were back on the road for the long drive to Werner’s
home. It had been a year since my last visit, when I first
met the wonderful Hamman family, and it was a highlight
of the trip to visit with them and see how much the
children had grown.
The rest of the week we visited pecan farmers in the
Hartswater area, viewing their orchards and helping with
equipment they were using. The early harvest was already
in the barns, and many farmers were waiting on the first
frost. We stopped by a friend and customer of ours,
named Danny Grover, who was running wide open in his
orchard and cleaning plant. The quality of his pecans was
impressive. Of course I am partial to the taste of a good
Oklahoma-grown pecan, but this was a close runner-up,
and every nut I opened was chock-full of meat. Danny
uses much of our Redline
equipment, and is always a
pleasure to visit. We appreciated him taking time out of his
busy day to talk with us.
When the weekend finally
came, we headed southwest
for a little fun at a game farm
in Ulco. We wasted no time,
and by Friday evening we were
on the hunt. It was late fall
there, so it was getting dark
pretty early. I decided to go after a Gemsbok (Oryx) without much luck on the first day; but midway through the
second day, I scored a nice trophy. After some fun trying
to explain where to find the tenderloin, we enjoyed a
wonderful cookout. The weekend was an amazing experience, that included close encounters with Rhinos and a
look at Cape Buffaloes. Too soon, we were headed back to
Hartswater; and at 4:30 a.m. we departed for Prieska,
where we had a large cleaning plant and some crackers
Continued on page 3
and shellers to look in on.
Pecan Conference continued
1950s. The contestants enjoy the friendly competition,
and the Grand-Champion-winning goodies are auctioned
off to help fund pecan research in Oklahoma. This year,
our own Libby Savage scored a Grand Champion ribbon
for her scrumptious pecan fudge.
Over 160 of our Pecan Country neighbors attended
the conference, and about ninety of them attended the
Friday night banquet. It was another great opportunity to
renew old friendships and build a few new ones.
Chad Selman shares his considerable knowledge
of orchard management with growers.
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More Pecan Pieces
South Africa continued
Green Valley is our customer located on the beautiful
Orange River near Prieska. The operation includes about
1500 acres of two-to-three year old trees, and they have in
mind doing some custom cleaning and processing while
they wait on their trees to mature. Everything was in
place, and the electricians were busy powering everything
up, so we did what we could to help. They will have quite
an operation in the near future. Monday evening we had
an amazing supper of wild game, including kudu steaks
and springbok back strap with all the trimmings. We
spent Tuesday morning dialing in the cracking and shelling equipment. Then it was time to head back to
Hartswater for my last evening with the Hammans. They
are a remarkable family, and I’m hoping they can make it
May and June are the heart of
harvest season in South Africa.
here to the states for a visit this winter. I dreaded the long
flight home, but I was ready to see my family and friends
and share with them the wonderful experience I had in
Africa.
In all, the crop looked good for the farmers in South
Africa, and they are expecting around 24 million pounds
(about 5 million more than last year). They received their
first frost in Prieska June 2nd and were getting ready to be
harvesting at full tilt. I will be speaking more about pecans
in South Africa at the Texas Pecan Conference in San
Marcos on July 15th. The South African pecan farmer is
a hard-working, can-do type of person, and I am honored
to get to know a few of them.
Many of the Northern Cape pecan
orchards are young.
Battling pecan diseases
On Texas A&M University’s Pecan Kernal website, you can find a useful overview of best practices to minimize the impact of common pecan
diseases in your orchard or pecan grove. What
follows is an abbreviated version of the article.
Diseases affecting pecans are caused by bacteria,
fungi, nematodes, mycoplasm, and physiological
problems. They can be somewhat controlled with a
variety of practices.
Resistant varieties
Use of resistant varieties is one of the most
important methods of reducing insect and disease
problems. Resistant varieties can reduce the
amount of pesticides required to produce a crop.
Air circulation
Plant spacing is also important in reducing
Well, you can’t go to South Africa
and not have a little fun.
diseases. As plants are grown closer together, the
higher the probability of serious disease epidemics.
Poor air circulation slows down the drying of
foliage and increases the potential infection periods
within an orchard. Where possible, the rows should
run with the prevailing wind.
Pruning
Pruning to remove low hanging limbs can also
help to reduce disease build-up within an orchard.
By removing the lower hanging limbs, air movement is encouraged beneath the trees, and this not
only encourages drying but also facilitates better
movement of the released spores away from the
tree.
Crop sanitation
Sanitation within the orchard is extremely
important because many of the diseases and insects
overwinter in old shucks, leaves, leaf petioles, and
Continued on page 4
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Kernals of Wisdom
Pecan diseases continued
twigs. Shallow disking or removal of the old plant
debris will help to reduce the amount of fungal
pathogens and insects present in a grove.
Last line of defense
If used properly, fungicides can prevent significant losses to disease. Total coverage is important
to achieving effective control. When spraying,
always check to see if you are leaving a moist film
on all of the foliage.
To learn more, go to pecankernel.tamu.edu.
Beware the Witch’s Broom!
During
the orchard tour at Selman Farms, at the
conclusion of the Oklahoma Pecan Growers Convention,
participants were shown a small section of the orchard
that is plagued with “Bunch Disease” also known as
“Witch’s Broom”. It is fairly rare, but seems to be cropping up in some U.S. orchards lately. The Texas A&M
website describes this disease as “excessive growth of
slender succulent twigs from lateral buds that normally
remain dormant on the main limbs.”
The tree ends
up with thick
bunches of leaves
but few or no
pecans.
The
really bad news is
that there is no
known cure. You
just need to
remove a tree that has widespread infection. For isolated
occurances, remove the affected branches, pruning the
branch two-to-three feet below the infected area. Then,
keep an eye on the rest of the tree. During the discussion
at the Selman orchard, the experts recommended that
tools used in pruning be disinfected afterward with bleach
solution or another disinfectant.
Here’s how the Oklahoma State University website
describes this disease:
Causal Agent: A mycoplasma-like organism
Symptoms: The characteristic symptom of bunch
disease is bushy growths of slender willowy shoots,
resulting from an abnormal forcing of lateral buds.
Symptoms may appear on only one branch or on
many branches. Bunch disease is very conspicuous
in the spring and early summer because the diseased
roots leaf out earlier than non infected shoots. It is
believed that the pathogen is insect transmitted,
probably by leaf hoppers.
The photo shows how bunch disease is easily spotted in
the early growing season. In the fall and winter, infected
branches can be identified by the bunched up twigs that
resemble an old witch’s broom.
Freeze recovery
In the May 2014 issue of Pecan South you’ll find a
timely article from Texas A&M horticulture professor,
George Ray McEachern. He describes the effect of this
spring’s very late freeze and how selective the damage was.
He tells us, “only 4 foot of elevation difference was
enough to escape the freeze in some cases. Some trees had
kill on the lower limbs and no damage in the tops.”
Dr McEachern goes on to describe proven methods of
determining dead tissue in the trees from living tissue.
One can determine what is dead or living tissue
by making a slant cut through the bark and into the
wood. If there is brown tissue, it is dead. If the wood,
cambium and bark are white or light green with no
brown spots or lines, there is no freeze damage. To
check buds on mature trees, a shallow cross-cut can
be made through the second and third buds. Again,
if there is a brown spot in the middle of the bud, it is
dead. If it is white, it is alive and healthy.
McEachern tells us that patience is required to know
the extent of damage. On mature trees the full extent of
damage is sometimes not known until mid summer. The
kill may not be as bad as it seems, and pruning too soon
can sometimes “do more harm than good.” He recommends waiting at least thirty days before pruning out
dead wood.
Furthermore, Dr McEachern tells us that even the
worst hit areas of this freeze should have healthy root
systems on the trees. “Hopefully, there is at least one
live/good bud above the graft union from which the tree
can grow and rebuild a new trunk. Growth after a freeze
is usually very fast and trees can be redeveloped in only 1
or 2 years.”
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Featured Equipment
A preseason workout?
Nobody wants to think too much about harvest
season in July and August, but for those of us in the
northern hemisphere, it’s that time. Why start now when
“the big game” is still months away? Because in the heat of
battle, you’ll want your equipment in peak condition
without any major pauses in the action. By giving your
machines a good shakedown a couple months before
they’re needed, you’ll be able to order and replace any
parts you may need, ensuring your busy harvest time is as
headache-free as possible. It might even motivate you to
trade-in that antique harvester for a nice, shiny new one,
and you’ll have time to get one ordered.
Here are a few things you might want to look at before
and during the test run.
All Redline Machines:
Consult your operator manual for safe operation and
seasonal start-up guidance. Keep bystanders well clear
when starting and checking equipment.
Check all hydraulic hoses for cracks and ensure fittings
attach snugly. DO NOT check for hydraulic leaks with
your hand as high-pressure fluid can penetrate the skin
and cause severe injury. Use a piece of paper or cardboard
instead. Replace hoses before they become a problem.
Check belts for slippage and for cracks or fraying, and
replace them before they break.
Clean and grease PTO drive-lines. Ensure they can
telescope freely and the safety shields are in good shape.
Check that all nuts, bolts, set screws and keys are tight.
Ensure all shields and guards are securely in place.
Most bearings on Savage machinery are sealed
bearings and will rarely, if ever, require grease. If you
believe it’s needed, apply grease slowly with slight
pressure. If the seal has been broken, it will deteriorate
more quickly. Replace the bearing or grease it often.
Savage Equipment
change of address
For many years now, we’ve worked out of our offices
and manufacturing facilities at 400 North Industrial
Road in Madill, Oklahoma. In fact, we’re still there (sort
of ). We haven’t moved, but it seems the nice folks at 911
Make sure safety signs are in place and legible. Safety
stickers are available from Savage Equipment.
Shakers:
Check your pads for cracks, and ensure they’re still
flexible enough to get through the season without breaking. If your shaker isn’t equipped with donut pads, you
may want to consider the investment this year. Your trees
will appreciate it. Open up the access panel and make sure
critters haven’t built a nest inside your shaker. Ensure the
shafts and chain move easily and have no visible signs of
damage. The chain should have about ½ inch of lateral
movement. Adjust chain tension, if necessary.
Harvesters:
It may be time to replace those worn out rubber
fingers. How about your sizing chain? After a few years, it
may be stretched out so far that it can no longer be tightened enough and will need to be replaced. Remove the
side safety panel and check roller chains and sprockets.
When the chain is cold, the longest free-hanging section
should have about 1-inch to 1½-inch of play with slight
pressure up and down. The shorter chain on the hopper
side should have about ½ inch of movement with slight
pressure. A warmed up chain will have a bit more slack.
Cleaners:
Remove side safety panels and check chains and
sprockets for wear. Chain tension should be similar to the
harvester described above. Oily chains are good for
preventing rust, but wipe most of the oil off at the beginning of the season so dirt won’t accumulate on the chain.
Thoroughly clean the engine, make sure the gas is fresh
and clean, and replace the air filter if necessary.
A good inspection and a preseason workout will pay
huge dividends when the season is underway and time
becomes money. The Savage parts guys are good, but
come game-time, everyone needs their parts yesterday.
Emergency Services and the post office have conspired to
come up with a new address for us. So, if you mail us
anything, please address it to Savage Equipment, Inc.
1020 North Industrial Road
Madill, OK 73446.
Also, we’ve remodeled most of our office spaces lately. If
you’re in the neighborhood, drop by and we’d be glad to
show them off.
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Just Plain Nuts
Savage in the news
During the recent Oklahoma Pecan Growers convention, our own Basil Savage was interviewed for an article in
the Tulsa World newspaper. You can read the whole article
by going to tulsaworld.com and searching for “Basil
Savage”, but here are a couple of excerpts.
“I didn’t climb very well, and my wife said she
wasn’t going to do that, either,” he said.
So, Savage came up with his own design for a
tractor-mounted shaker. It would be a pattern he
would repeat many times in the next five decades as
he continued to tinker with every piece of equip-
When it comes to machinery (and
almost anything else), usually
simpler is better. I’ve been giving
that idea some thought lately,
and here are a few good quotes I
found on the subject.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not
simpler. – Albert Einstein
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more
complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius —
and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction. – Albert Einstein
Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work
hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s
worth it in the end because once you get there, you can
move mountains. – Steve Jobs
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
− Leonardo da Vinci
If you’ve got a humorous story (true, kinda true, or
a complete fabrication) or a good, clean joke you’d
like to share, send it along to the email address below,
and we might just include it in our little newsletter.
ment involved in the business.
“He’s the Henry Ford of the pecan industry,” said
Mike Render, who used to work for Savage and
remains a supporter.
After Savage would solve an operating challenge
with one piece of equipment, he would turn to
another and start tinkering until he had a similar
breakthrough. Sometimes, his ideas came at the
strangest times. “I’ve been known to bolt up in bed,
yelling, ‘I got it! I got it!’ ” he said. “I just about scare
my wife to death. This happens every so often, so I
keep a yellow legal pad at my bedside so I can write
the ideas down.”
Maple-Pecan Cornbread
1 cup flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
3 T butter, softened
2 T brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
• Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking
soda and salt; set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar and eggs;
mix well. Add syrup and buttermilk.
• Stir in dry ingredients just until moistened. Stir in
pecans.
• Pour into greased 8 1/2" X 4 1/2" X 2 1/2" loaf pan.
• Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until bread tests
done.
• Cool for 10 minutes in pan.
• Serve warm with syrup if desired or allow to cool.
Yield: 1 loaf
If you’d like a copy of Pecan Country News delivered to your email in-box each quarter, send an email to
[email protected]. Feel free to pass this newsletter along to anyone who might be interested.
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