(Cushing, Okla) — Payne County Leadership Connections class got underway March 11 (2015) starting with a cookout for lunch at the Ripley Methodist Church Annex in Ripley, Oklahoma. Lunch was followed by lessons given by Rick Kirk (Rick Kirk Auto Museum) and Nathan Anderson (Director of the Payne County Extension). Kirk enlightened the class about the town’s main sources of income, the electric and gas that they buy off of the utility companies. He said that currently Ripley has two businesses; The Valero Convenience Store and the Machine Shop owned by Kirk himself since 1971. Kirk said his machine shop has machined parts for both NASA and National Standard at different times. Anderson told the group a bit about Payne County agriculture, which included the fact that cattle or livestock is one of the county’s most important agricultural products.
Next the class went on to Hoffman Pecan Farms where Dick Hoffman and his son Chris gave the class a tour of the facility and the equipment used in cracking pecans. Hoffman also quizzed the class on the three different types of pecans he had out on the counter. He wanted to see if anyone knew what the varieties were. The varieties that were shown to the class were Maramec (introduced in 1969), Kanza (released in 1996), and Pawnee (released in 1984). Hoffman Pecan Farms offers graft wood for starting your own trees and will ship worldwide. Call 405-372-3583 or visit Hoffman Pecan Farms from 8am to 5pm, Monday-Saturday, at 7104 E 32nd Stillwater, Oklahoma. (March to November, call before stopping by.)
The class finished up at Reproduction Enterprises Inc. (REI) which is located in Stillwater, Oklahoma in the heart of cattle country. REI is a custom semen collection and storage facility, offering artificial insemination, semen sales, and embryo transfers.
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