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<br />0-000'15
<br />J THE HIGH PLAINS.."
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<br />-, .~ ~ THE FARMER-RANCHER
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<br />Scctiou A
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<br />Augw;l21,l9<J5
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<br />Colorado and \Vyomil1g Edit.ion
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<br />$1.50 per copy
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<br />ership for years, Evans has been rehabllltallng ovor 1,.
<br />300 acros of alfall a and sorghum sudan into productive
<br />use. Evans, who sold his bUSincsses lwO years ago to
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<br />buy his latm, has spent muCh of his lime repairing im-
<br />gation systems lhal were in need 01 repair. (Journal
<br />photo by Larry Dreiling.)
<br />
<br />Farm is a fixer-upper
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<br />lly Lnrry Dreiling
<br />When Dick Evans sold Ilis
<br />wholesale nursery and
<br />landscaping business ~o buy a
<br />farm in Pueblo County, CO. he
<br />thought he was pursuing his
<br />childhood dream.
<br />What he got would be con.
<br />sidered. by most pcopl~, as a
<br />nightmare.
<br />"It has been a pretty mojor
<br />rehab project. These first two
<br />yeors, we felt like we were more
<br />like a construction company than
<br />a [arming operation," Evans
<br />s:;vs
<br />
<br />shape than whut we originally
<br />~hought."
<br />Since then, Evans has applied
<br />his en~rcpreneuri,d talent to reo
<br />store 1,360 acres of irrigated al.
<br />falfa and sorghum sudan back to
<br />goouorUer.
<br />Top on the list of repair jobs
<br />was fixing sOllle balky irrigation
<br />systems, which included nood
<br />and center pivot varieties uti.
<br />lizing 26 wells. Evans blasts the
<br />previous owners, not only for
<br />theil' poor financial skiils which
<br />caused them to lose their farm,
<br />but lrr!b'.ation installers ~ho-to
<br />
<br />whidl we are rcJrilling, bccau:;c
<br />they are low.producing ones. Wo
<br />had Olle of those which had a leak
<br />in a pipeline thal tied into our
<br />mainline.
<br />"We dug up the pipeline, and
<br />~al1le up with an eif::ht.il1~h pipe
<br />which went down to a two. inch
<br />saddle back into the eif::ht.inch
<br />main line. Anybody having any
<br />kind of experience with pipes
<br />knows you can't h.m much water
<br />throul:h n two. inch pipe when
<br />you arc running an eight.inch
<br />head into it. Things like that
<br />were really frustrating to deal
<br />",;,1, ,I"~;",, I h.. rir~t two vears."
<br />
<br />gallon will help us make those
<br />big fiolds more efficient, rather
<br />than have us break them up into
<br />smaller fields."
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<br />trution begs the question, why?
<br />Uecause, like so many who
<br />work the land and raise the food
<br />.so mAny people take for granted,
<br />farming is ill Evnns' blood.
<br />"I was raise<.! on 0 farm in In.
<br />diunn which belonge<.! to my
<br />grandfather. Dad had eight
<br />brothers nnd sisters, so 1 knew
<br />there was not going to be uny
<br />room for me there," he says. "{
<br />went to college, joined the service
<br />and was shipped to Vietnam.
<br />AfLcr tlle military, [ worked for a
<br />tree service and then went into
<br />landscape contracting and had a
<br />wholesale nursery near Fort
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<br />A smu.Jler job for Evans was
<br />converting ull of the nine pivots
<br />he owns and two pivots he leases
<br />into Low Energy Precision Appli.
<br />cation systems.
<br />"!~our of the circles had drops
<br />when we bought the farm, the
<br />rest still had overheads and big
<br />end guns," EVans says. "\Ve put
<br />drops on a\lthe rest. 1 lulOW it is
<br />nol popular to say it, but ( still
<br />use end guns. They are posi.
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