Anybody can grow weeds, right? As true as that may be, only the best weed growers have entered the largest weed contest at this year’s Wisconsin Farm Technology Days.

The contest is being held in Tent City, where plenty of experts are helping visitors identify their weeds and discuss possible management choices. Live specimens are on hand if visitors forget their own weed samples.

“We want everyone to come and see the innovations. Enjoy the day and get the most out of it you can,” said Shirley Statz, whose immediate and extended family members are hosting the Wisconsin Farm Technology Days Aug. 25-27 at their farm near Sun Prairie.

Dane County’s Statz Bros. Inc. – which milks about 3,000 cows and farms more than 6,000 acres of row crops – was selected from among a dozen top farms to host this year’s event.

Overhead, underground or in-hand … technology is everywhere. Unmanned aerial vehicles, soil-moisture sensors and mobile apps will be just a few of the hottest technologies displayed at the 2015 Farm Technology Days.

TECHNOLOGY OVERHEAD

Ebert Enterprises of Algoma, Wisconsin, host of the 2017 Farm Technology Days in Kewaunee County, is adding a rotary parlor, feed center and manure-handling system this summer in addition to other improvements. The 2,900-cow dairy is owned and operated by Randy and Renee Ebert. Randy Ebert is a sixth-generation farmer.

The 2017 Farm Technology Days will be the first time Kewaunee County has ever hosted the event. Organizers say they are fired up and excited to welcome Wisconsin agriculture to their relatively small eastern-Wisconsin county. Despite its modest size geographically, the county features some big agriculture.

Daily field demonstrations have long been a drawing card for Wisconsin Farm Technology Days.

This year’s show, held Aug. 25-27 in Dane County, is no exception. Haylage and corn-silage harvesting, as well as tillage, are being featured. Earlier this month both crops were looking great, show officials said.

Company; Lot; Booth#; Website; Type of Exhibit;

1st Choice Equipment; 450-451; www.1stchoiceequipment.com; Kubota Equipment

Farm Technology Days field-demonstration co-hosts Junior Manthe of DeForest, Wisconsin, and David Smithback of Deerfield, Wisconsin, share a passion for farming – and making sure their fellow farmers are treated to informative haylage and corn-silage harvest and tillage demonstrations at this year’s Wisconsin Farm Technology Days.

Manthe farms about 12 miles north of the show site, which is the Statz Brothers farm near Sun Prairie. Smithback farms about the same number of miles south of the Dane County host farm.

It’s 1954 in rural Waupaca County. A small group of forward-thinking, slightly devious Wisconsinites are running a con on the local farm population.

A plowing contest was used to lure the farmers – for whom the words “stubborn” “hidebound” and “suspicious” were seemingly part of the job description – to the site. Once there, organizers tried to whisper sweet nothings in their ears. They said there was a marvelous new tool they could use to feed cows, move feed and haul manure without using their own two hands, or back muscles. Something called electricity.

Cherry Dairy Delight ice cream, savory pork chops and Angus burgers ... these tasty items and more will be on the Wisconsin Farm Technology Days menu.

But there’s more to the menu than meets the eye when considering it’s the culmination of countless hours of work by the Farm Technology Days food committee. Each day of the three-day event, about 400 volunteers will join the committee in order to feed the hungry masses.

Where else can a person participate in a 50-mile vintage-tractor drive and see 100 years of haymaking equipment and tractor innovations in the same week? It’s all part of the 2015 Farm Technology Days festivities.

The heritage tractor drive begins at 10 a.m. Aug. 23 at the Dodge County Antique Power Club grounds at W6505 County Road B in Burnett, Wisconsin. Tractors and their drivers will travel about 50 miles of back roads to Statz Bros. Inc. near Sun Prairie, site of the 2015 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days. Tractor owners can start with the group in Burnett or join anywhere along the route. Coordinators expect the procession to arrive at Statz Bros. about 4 p.m.