Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

John Pavlik, Royal, Neb., demonstrates how his new invention, the Speedy Soil Sampler, works. As a crop consultant for nearly 30 years, Pavlik found a way to make soil sampling easier on the back and faster to collect. Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janet Eckmann

John Pavlik from Royal, Neb., calls himself a lazy man for inventing a tool that saves not only his back but also his time.

“After doing a job the hard way for many years, a person finally comes up with an easier way to do it,” Pavlik said.

Pavlik, a native of Knox County, Neb., has been a professional crop consultant for nearly 30 years. The smart idea he is talking about and invented is the “Speedy Soil Sampler.”

He knows that soil sampling is a necessity for modern and profitable agriculture regardless of farm or even garden size.

A soil test is the analysis of that sample to determine nutrient content, composition and other important characteristics. Most often, tests are done to measure fertility and indicate deficiencies that need to be corrected.

He is also aware that producers have to have the depth right, the correct mix of the sample, and protect and identify the packaging.

With the concern of being environmentally friendly, nitrates leaching into the groundwater or phosphorus runoff into surface water, Natural Resource Districts are either encouraging or demanding increased soil sampling.

Pavlik is painfully aware of the hard work involved with using many of the tools of his trade over the years.

“I think I have tired them all and even designed and built some of them that didn't work so good,” he said. “The first tool I used for taking soil samples you had to manually push into the ground and pull it out. Repeating that many times at just one job site, can strain your back not to mention all the trips in and out of the pickup or more recently a utility vehicle, or UTV.

“The automated probes were a great improvement and were designed to gather soil from the appropriate depth. Still, I knew there was a better way. I built one probe that was raised and lowered with an electric winch powered by a portable posthole digger. Most automated machines I had used were either over built or under built,” he said.

After several years and several attempts at designs, in early 2007 Pavlik developed a vehicle-mounted soil sampling unit.

He took his idea to Big John Mfg. in Osmond, Neb., and named it “Speedy Soil Sampler.” He used the prototype in more than 10,000 acres last fall making sure all the bugs were worked out of it.

The patent pending tool can be used by farmers, consultants, fertilizer dealers or environmental researchers who can take more samples and spend less time in the field.

The base is equipped with its own hydraulic Power Pack. The hydraulic system supplies power to the outrigger, which lowers the sampler to the ground and raises the unit to transport position. The powered head moves the soil auger down the column to the desired depth and up to the rest position ready for the next sample.

“The outrigger also converts the weight of the UTV and the operator to down pressure on the soil auger tip. This down pressure allows the soil auger to penetrate frozen ground and many other soil types. The outrigger provides stability to the sampler when the auger is being retracted, preventing bending to the soil auger,” he said.

Demonstrating the process, Pavlik used a blade mounted on his UTV to clear a patch of snow out in the field. He positioned the Speedy Soil Sampler, and in a matter of minutes, the steel auger drilled into the frozen ground and retrieved a soil sample from a depth of 28 inches depositing it in an easy access soil sample collection pan. Pavlik retrieved the sample and dumped it into the appropriate bucket without ever leaving the UTV.

“It takes much less work and time then it used too,” he said. “My wife used to go along and we both did a lot of leg work. She still often comes along and labels the sample bags, but more so just for the ride.”

Still thinking outside of the box, Pavlik developed a new vacuum collection system as part of the Speed Soil Sampler. Pavlik also has a patent on this and it too is manufactured in Osmond.

“It works with a rotation soil auger that conveys the sample into the collection cylinder at the lower end of the outrigger foot,” he said. “The sample is then transported by air to the vacuum chamber and deposited into one of the four pre-selected sample containers on a carrousel. As soil samples are taken they can be indexed as to different depths or soil types. The sample containers have trap doors at the bottom of each cone to allow multi-samples to be bagged for additional processing. With the flight cleaning auger system, it is a near perfect design.” Pavlik first learned the art of taking soil samples when he operated a fertilizer business in Verdigre, Neb., in the mid-70s after his wife, Ardis, and family moved off a small farm.

The small village of Verdigre soon became the center of the entire country for the 1980s Farm Crisis. Caught up in the town's bank closing and large number of rural bankruptcies, they decided to let the ag enterprise go.

Not ready to give up, Pavlik returned to school as a non-traditional student, taking agronomy classes at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb. Pavlik later earned the title of Certified Crop Adviser, CCA, with continued education.

Terry Gompert, Knox County Extension educator, encouraged Pavlik to be an independent soil consultant. Pavlik continues to work closely with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The couple, parents of three grown children, continue to work together preparing maps and labels, making sure the samples are not contaminated before being sent off to the laboratory. Their son, Mark Pavlik, of Brunswick, Neb., followed in his father's footsteps and is also a crop consultant in northeast Nebraska.

“Nearly three decades later I discovered there is a better way to do it and save myself and others a lot of work,” Pavlik said.

For more information, contact Pavlik at (402) 893-9944 or jlpavlik@frontiernet.net.