An odd combination for a tour

Pheasants and chukars and cemetery directories are certainly an odd combination, yet these were the focus of a tour by Southwest Nebraska members of the Nebraska Development Network.

NDN/Southwest Region members toured Fielding Birds southwest of McCook to learn about pen-raising pheasants and Windy Prairie Systems Inc. in Indianola to learn about computerized cemetery directories.

FIELDING BIRDS

Five years ago, Con and Marty Fielding tore out the panels and cross fences that defined a former hog farm and started raising pheasants, quails and chukars.

The couple researched the industry for about a year before raising their first birds.

The Fieldings start gathering eggs -- about 40,000 -- from their penned birds in April and May. An incubator keeps the eggs at a constant 99 1/2 degrees for 21 days. Eighty-five percent humidity is ideal; that's sometimes hard to maintain, Con said.

The Fieldings hope for an 80 percent hatch, and soft, gentle rains once the birds move to outside pens at about five to six weeks. They lost close to 1,000 pheasants when a spring thunderstorm dumped more than an inch of rain in less than 15 minutes.

The Fieldings sell their birds to game preserves for hunting and to farmers, ranchers and landowners who want to restock or enhance natural pheasant supplies. They have shipped birds throughout Nebraska, and to Colorado, South Dakota and Kansas.

Eventually they want to be USDA-approved and then sell to restaurants.

For more information on Fielding Birds, contact Con and Marty at Route 3, Box 59; McCook, NE 69001; (308) 345-2752.

WINDY PRAIRIE CEMETERY DIRECTORIES

Bill Rogers of Welding Plus in Indianola created a niche market when he needed something to cover slow times in oilfield and farm repairs. Rogers has developed what he believes to be the only free-standing computerized cemetery directory.

"Nobody else is doing this," Bill told NDN members. "We created our own little niche."

Windy Prairie can design a directory to fit the needs of any cemetery, from flat board directories (for small cemeteries, or for those without electricity), to mechanical and electrical roller directories, to the high-tech computerized directories.

Partners in Lincoln write the computer programs and build the computers, Bill said. In Indianola, they build the weather-proof structures in which the directories and computers are housed, and mesh the components.

A computerized directory sits at the east gate of Memorial Cemetery in McCook. The computer will hold up to 1 million names, Bill said, plus all the information that goes with them.

Windy Prairie can customize -- with photographs, text, video and audio -- the memorial of each person buried in the cemetery.

Bill said his programmers have the ability to computer-enhance old and/or damaged photographs. The memorial can also include a 15-second full-motion video.

"Just about anything is possible," said Bill's associate and welder, Doug Shadley.

Bill said he hopes that some day the McCook directory is full of pictures and information. "It's a wonderful way to remember the lives of our loved ones," he said.

Eventually, Bill said, he wants to be able to provide the memorial information and graphics to those researching family history. "This could be a terrific genealogy tool," Shadley said.

For more information on Windy Prairie cemetery directories, contact Bill Rogers or Doug Shadley at Welding Plus in Indianola, (308) 364-2673; or on line at www.windyprairie.com

The Nebraska Development Network works to connect business and community leaders throughout the state with people within organizations, agencies and the private sector who have stepped forward as partners in community and economic growth.

Check on-line for more information on the NDN: www.state.ne.us/home/NDN/