By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

SOMERVILLE, Ohio — At age 65, Harry Fillager feels there are things he’d like to do besides being tied to the crops most of the year. Fillager has cash-leased his farm to Jim Schulte and will retire after harvesting this year’s corn.

“I enjoy farming but I still like to do other things in the spring and the fall, which growing corn doesn’t allow me to do,” Fillager said. “Once seed and fertilizer are available and springtime comes it seems like it is hard to let a good day go by not getting those seeds in the ground; once that happens you have to take care of them.”

Fillager has been farming 44 years. He grew up on the farm, tried different jobs and school before returning to farm with his dad. He specialized in corn and has grown it continually. His fields have a reputation for being top-notch.

Fillager had been considering retirement for two years. Something a friend said led him to make the decision:

“Why did you plant this crop?” the friend asked him early in the season.

“Fertilizer prices came down,” Fillager told him. “Lots aren’t selling very well. I’ll have a job. I’ll just plant.”

The friend left - then, came back. “You’ve worked in these fields long enough,” he said. “It is time you did something else. Get in your motor home and go somewhere. Let somebody else worry about the rain, the dry weather and the prices.”

That finalized Fillager’s decision to retire. “I’m going to quit farming one day whether I want to or not, I realize that,” he said. “If there is a possibility of eternity, another life, I think there are still things to do in this life that might help other people that I can’t force myself to do when I get involved with these crops. It seems as though I am dictated by the weather.”

Fillager spoke with many people about renting the farm. Some farmed over 25-thousand acres.

Schulte sent him a letter saying he would be interested. He farms part-time and not a lot of acres.

“As long as I’ve done this I think it might be nice to work with someone else, help them if that’s possible, but not be obligated,” Fillager said.

Fillager did not want to have a farm sale to get rid of equipment because “there is still going to be a farm to take care of, the mowing, tile lines to repair ...”

Because he and his father had a one-man operation they had developed what they called a one-pass operation. They planted behind a rotary tiller.

“We till the soil, plant, fertilize and spray in one-pass,” he said. “Sometimes we deep-till in the fall and sometimes use just one-pass in the spring.”

Fillager is, however, selling the equipment he used for this one-pass operation and wondered if someone might be interested in buying the equipment set-up as is rather than being split into separate components.

He is selling a 5020 John Deere tractor, a Howard Rotavator and planter. The planter is difficult to describe because Fillager altered it to fit his needs. It’s a six-row planter altered it to plant four rows; it carries enough nitrogen to fertilize about 5 acres; it puts down two bands of fertilizer, plants the corn and then sprays behind. The hitch goes over the top of the tiller to stabilize the front mounted spray tank.

“It’s all experimental, but it worked for me,” he said.

If interested, call Fillager at 513-523-6898. He’ll be taking calls from the motor home.