Wayne Smith, the owner of Oleo Acres subtitles his farm as, "The Cheaper Spread" because, that's what they used to call the oleo margarine during World War II, when there was a shortage of butter in the U.S. I met Wayne in my first Missouri Department of Conservation presentation last year. He's a flirtatious widower and a delightful, curious gentleman who has been hosting a few pairs of martins every year in his old, Trio Grandpa house in Summersville, MO. He visited my site a couple of times in the fall of 2014 to check out my gourd racks and get pointers on how to trap and eliminate starlings and house sparrows. He really liked my Super System 24 and the Troyer Vertical gourds and finally decided to order one of his own.
He ordered and setup his new system this past February.
Yesterday, I went to see Wayne, check out his colony and do a nest check with him. He was giddy as he met me half way down his driveway in his electric golf cart. I had stopped to greet the dancing, prancing, little bucking goats as they raced my car along the fence line next to the road. Baaaaa! Baaaaa! I had to take their pictures and chat with them.
 |
| Snowy & Pete were bringing up the rear. |
We made our way around his new gourd rack and I was thrilled as I opened each gourd and found either nestlings or eggs. The totals were surprising to me. He has 23 pair in his gourd rack and 6 pair in his old Trio house. In all the years I've been mentoring, I haven't seen a 1st-year gourd rack fill up like that. I did notice that the gourd racks that were normally on Highway 17, 1 mile north of Summersville were no longer there. Wayne informed me the racks had been moved 4 miles away to the owner's children's new home. Maybe some of the displaced martins had ended up here. Nevertheless, Wayne said, "I'll take'em". And he is taking very good care of them. He was thrilled in our workshop last year to find out he can do weekly nest checks and doesn't miss a chance to lower his rig and check on his charges. He has 44 nestlings and 60 eggs.
 |
| Wayne is old school - no calculators here! Just good old pencil to paper and figurin'. |
 |
| A proud landlord - thrilled with his success and proud of his accomplishments. Congratulations, Wayne! |
 |
| Wayne's new gourd rack - 23 pair his first year. |
I asked Wayne if he was going to put up another gourd rack next year and he laughed. "You think I can get more?", he asked. Yes, Wayne, I'm pretty sure of that.
