Puck Custom Enterprises

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Puck Custom Enterprises

• Since 1979
• Manning, Iowa

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Employees

• Ben Puck
• Kathy Puck
• Jeremy Puck
• Jim Hermansen
• Denny Erb
• Kent Volstedt

• Jake Doyel
• Mark Wede
• Lyle Sporrer
• Dennis Hansen
• Adam Hansen
• Marc Arp
• Lyle Christensen

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Employees of PCE

• Age range 23-58
• Live within 20 miles Manning
• Small town lifestyle
• Very dedicated
• Care about land, soil, and water
• We live with all the same concerns as everyone
  else in the same Environment!

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Employment

• Employees are employed year round
• High Quality People
• Multi skilled
• Fall and spring
• Businesses main income seasons are when we are
  applying liquid manure
• Summer and winter
• Businesses main expenses seasons
• Growth
• Technology

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Overview

• 1979 Present
• 1500 gallon vacuum truck (1979)
• 6 2250 gallon vacuum trucks (1994)
• 4 4800 gallon Houle wagons (1996)
• 2505 Terragator variable rate (1998)
• 1 Drag hose system 1 ½ miles hose (1998)
• 3104 Terragator variable rate (2002)
• 3 Drag hose systems 6 ½ miles hose (2005)
• Covering about a 60 mile radius of Manning

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Business Cycle
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Home Place
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How a Drag system operates

• Lead Pump
• Low pressure feeder pump
• High pressure pump
• Flow meter
• Pressure Gauge
• Hose is laid to field
• Booster pump after high risk areas
• Pressure Gauge
• Applicator tractor
• Flow meter
• GPS (mapping / tracking)

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Site Pump

• Site handling
• Deep Pit
• Lagoon
• Slurry Store
• Agitate nutrient to be transported
• Low pressure feed pump
• High pressure pump to field

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Transportation

• Options
• Hauling on wagons
• Hauling on semi tankers
• Continuous flow through hose
• De-watering?
• Distance is always an issue, cost, and risk

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Booster Pump

• Placed after high risk obstacles
• Keep line pressure low in these spots
• Shut off flow if needed
• Increase gallons going to field

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Application

• Land application of nutrient
• Injection (Residue requirements)
• Vertical tillage
• Horizontal tillage
• Disk coulters
• Broadcast
• Surface application
• Rapid absorption
• Grassland (Press coulter)
• Aerway

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Spill or Release Protocol

• Gallons from site flow meter and applicator flow
  meter have to match
• Everyone has FM radio communication at all times
• With multiple pumps Lead pump must shut down
  first, then next closest to site, and so on so
  that a pressure spike doesnt create another
  problem
• After shut down Problem is identified
• Everyone works together to solve the problem to
  the best of their ability High Quality
  Employees
• Assess situation and inform regulators if
  required
• After problem is fixed, Start up again
• With the right equipment and protocol many to all
  problems can be reduced or avoided

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Diversification of PCE

• Liquid manure application
• Custom hay baling
• EnviroWaste LLC (De-watering)
• Creating equipment
• Innovative ideas / directions

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Equipment Innovations
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EnviroWaste LLC

• De-Watering
• Solid Separation
• Transportation
• Cost
• Chemical separation
• Water conditioner
• Polymer
• Costs
• Not quite cost effective for Agriculture yet

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Benefits of PCE

• Unique market
• Value added business
• Repetitive nature
• Not everyone wants to do it
• Agriculture lifestyle
• Seasonal work schedule

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Challenges

• Finding and retaining high quality personnel to
  build the business around
• False accusations against our business and
  businesses we work for
• Regulations vary by department and personal
  perception
• Rules and Regulations are not black and white
• Long work hours

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Regulation Challenges

• Producer
• Wants manure applied to meet MMP
• Farmer
• Wants manure applied to maximize yields
• Regulator
• Wants manure applied to their regulations
• Economic Value
• Wants the manure to provide most nutrient for
  least cost and most benefit
• These are rarely in everyone's best interest!

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Future Goals

• Not Just Apply Liquid Manure
• Educate and Teach others how to handle, haul, and
  apply liquid manure (regulators and applicators)
• Techniques
• Protocols
• Build and Market equipment to fit needs of
  industry
• Build a Tier program for applicators with
  regulators help
• Find new ways to handle and apply nutrients to
  increase farmers profitability

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Next Steps

• Build a uniformed Tier program
• Level of expertise
• Reward applicators that do go out of their way to
  take extra safety measures
• Maximize nutrient
• Work with Regulators, Farmers, and Equipment
  manufactures to better understand placement and
  utilization of animal nutrients
• Public perception
• Dealing with habitual complainers
• Regulators response to these habitual complainers

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• Ben Puck
• 1130 100th St.
• Manning, IA 51455
• 712-653-3045
• 712-790-2383 cell