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Garfield County Farm Bureau sponsors land scraper

On Feb. 27 Garfield County Farm Bureau (GCFB) and Garfield County Conservation District (GCCD) held an Appreciation/Legislative Breakfast event to announce to the public the availability a new piece of land moving equipment, an eight and a half yard scraper. Jason Skaggs, GCCD district manager, said it all started when Joe Peeper, a GCFB board member and former GCCD board member, stopped by the district office and told Skaggs the Farm Bureau was interested in making a piece of equipment available to area landowners. He asked if the district would be interested in being partners in the effort.

Standing in front of the new land scraper are, from left, Mike Thralls, Conservation Commission executive director; Clay Pope, Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts executive director; Jason Skaggs, Garfield County Conservation District manager; Mike Jackson and John Enns, state representatives; Kim Farber, GCCD board member; Curt Roggow, former state representative; and Dale Milacek, GCCD chairman.

“The county Farm Bureau wasn’t set up to be able to operate the rental of the equipment,” Skaggs said, “but they thought the conservation district would be the perfect entity to do that since we work with all producers in the county.”

With approval by the GCCD board, Skaggs gather prices and information and found a deal that pleased the GCFB and GCCD boards. GCFB purchased the scraper and is paying for insurance and parts as needed. GCCD will rent out the equipment and carry out maintenance. The two entities will split the proceeds equally.

The scraper will be used by producers in Garfield County to rebuild or build new terraces, clean out waterways (they will be able to go in and scrape out the Bermuda grass that is existing in the waterway stockpile it and then clean out the waterway, then will be able to go back and pick up the Bermuda grass that they stockpiled and place it back in the waterway), clean out old ponds or build new ones, build pads for houses or buildings, land leveling. “It will be useful for just about anything that you can think of where you would be moving dirt at all,” Skaggs said.