Chris Parks and Cass/Adair County Conservation Officer Grant Gelly talk about all things outdoors. This week they discuss a busy Labor Day weekend on the water, Teal and Dove season opening, Squirrel and Rabbit season opening, Pheasant numbers, and deer tag availability.

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(Radio Iowa) – The grounds of the Farm Progress Show near Boone are quiet today (Friday) after three days of demonstrations, machinery displays and everything about agriculture. The 2020 show was canceled by the pandemic making it the first time in four years that the exhibitors and visitors came to Boone Show spokesperson, Don Tormey, who says attendance numbers appeared to be good.

The show rotates between Boone and Dekalb, Illinois every other year. Tormey says people turn out in both places.

Tormey says they are already planning the next Farm Progress Show in Decatur next year and the show returns to Iowa again in 2024.

Friday, September 2, 2022 at Guthrie Center

Breeding Gilts:  Champion – Presley Buttler, Reserve – Ty Ganzer

Market Gilts:  Champion – Tessa Slaybaugh, Reseve:  Rylee Robson

Market Barrow:  Champion – Presley Buttler, Reserve – Blake Hodges

Overall Market Hog:  Champion – Tessa Slaybaugh, Reserve – Presley Buttler

Pen of 3:  Champion – Reagan Carney, Reserve:  Ryan Cogil

Senior Showmanship Champion:  Chase Slaybaugh

Intermediate Showmanship Champion:  Rylee Robson

Junior Showmanship Champion:  Blake Ganzer

Master Showmanship Champion:  Rylee Robson

(Radio Iowa) – Retail giant Walmart bought a minority share in a Nebraska beef packing plant on Wednesday, what an Iowa cattleman says is a “seismic shift” in the beef processing industry.

Chad Tentinger, principal developer of Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company, says the move is historic — and it was inevitable. “We’ve already seen it in other avenues, in pork and we’ve seen it in chicken, I think beef is just the next natural progression of that,” Tentinger says. “It also is going to be another playing field. I think anytime you can bring the farmer’s product closer to the end user — to retail — is a good thing long-term.” 

Cattlemen’s Heritage is planning to build a $325 million beef packing plant in southwest Iowa’s Mills County. Tentinger says Walmart’s move this week is what he sees for the future, which he says represents a “massive, fundamental change” to the beef industry. “It started out as stockyards and stockyards sold to packing plants, and then the stockyards went away and then farmers sold directly to the packing plant. Packing plants got consolidated into what we call the Big Four today and for the first time in a very long time, now there’s other industry that’s getting into this process,” Tentinger says. “So to have retailers enter the processing business is a drastic shift than what we’ve ever seen before.”

Tentinger sees Walmart’s investment in the North Platte property as the first step by retail into beef production, which he predicts will be good for the consumer and good for the cattle producer. “Retailers, at the end of the day, they want to know where their meat’s coming from. They want to know exactly, down to what farm it came off of, potentially, where it came from, animal health, wellbeing, all these things are becoming more and more important to the consumer,” Tentinger says. “And when you have that, it automatically draws off smaller producer farms and smaller family farms.”

It may only be a matter of time, he says, before Iowa-based grocery chains like Hy-Vee or Fareway make a similar move to Walmart by investing in localized meat processing. “I think every retailer nationwide today is taking note of this and looking at the opportunities going forward in the processing business, for sure,” he says.

Tentinger is founder and owner of TenCorp, a cattle industry construction firm with offices in Des Moines and Marcus. The planned beef plant in Mills County is on target to begin construction late this fall, Tentinger says, with the opening scheduled for late 2024. It will employ up to 750 workers and at capacity, will be able to process up to 1,500 head of cattle per day.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds, Thursday, issued a Harvest Proclamation relating to the weight limits and transportation of agricultural commodities on state highways during the fall harvest.

The proclamation is effective immediately and continues through October 1, 2022. The proclamation allows vehicles transporting corn, soybeans, hay, straw, silage and stover to be overweight (not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight) without a permit for the duration of this proclamation.

This proclamation applies to loads transported on all highways within Iowa (excluding the interstate system) and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code § 321.463 (6) (b), by more than 12.5 percent, do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds, and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.

See the proclamation here.

(Radio Iowa) This holiday weekend is expected to continue what has been a busy summer on Iowa’s lakes and rivers.
The D-N-R ‘s Susan Stoker, says two words describe the crowds she’s seeing during the summer weekends.

Stocker is the D-N-R Boating Law Administrator, and she says the big crowds haven’t led to a huge increase in problems.

You may have been out on your favorite lake several times — but Stoker says you need to be prepared for changes.

Stoker says. Some of those changes could have happened with recent rains across the state.

And she says you have to remember to make sure the person who is operating the boat doesn’t take part in the holiday cheer.

She says that can lead to an accident with serious injuries or deaths.

Today (Thursday) marks the start of teal and dove hunting seasons in Iowa. Nate Carr, a conservation officer with the Iowa D-N-R, says non-toxic shot is required and guns must be restricted to hold no more than three shells.

The daily bag limit for teal is six, while for dove, it’s 15. Carr says all forecasts point to a good season ahead for Iowa’s hunters.

Hunters need to maintain restraint with respect to the special teal season’s hours.

Teal seasons runs today through September 16th, while the dove season continues through November 29th.
www.iowadnr.gov

The numbers are in from the annual DNR roadside pheasant survey and they show the potential for another good year for hunters. DNR wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz, says the bird count is nearly identical to 2021. “Last year, we had 20.4 — this year we are at 19.6 — so round them both off to 20. So yeah, they basically are right where we were last year on pheasants,” Bogenschutz says.

A pheasant flying over corn. (DNR photo)

It could end up being the second straight year of a big bird harvest. “Pheasant hunting was our best harvest and about 12 years last year, shot 375,000 roosters — our best harvest since 2008,” he says. Bogenschutz says reports of good survey numbers can get more hunters out this fall — but it’s not a given.

“We had 62,000 hunters in 2020, and last year, we had 63,000. So you know, we picked up about another thousand last fall. So you know, the hunters did well, last year, I’m sure visiting with friends they hear the stories. The forecast is kind of for similar, I would expect our numbers probably to stay about the same. But you know, they went up a little bit, that wouldn’t surprise me either,” he says.

The youth pheasant season is October 22nd and 23rd. The regular pheasant season opens October 29th and runs to January 10th.

(Radio Iowa) – A case of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease has been detected for the first time in the state. The virus – which can be deadly to rabbits and hares — was found in domesticated rabbits in Story County. State veterinarian Jeff Kaisand  says rabbit-owners should watch their pets for any signs of sickness before allowing them to interact with other rabbits.

Erin Kalkwarf works with A Home for Every Bunny. She says the central Iowa rabbit rescue is encouraging rabbit owners to get their pets vaccinated against the highly contagious virus.

Iowa D-N-R Wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz, says there have been no cases reported in wild rabbits. He says they want to hear if hunters see something unusual.

You are also encouraged to report any suspected incidents of the disease to the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

(By Kendal Crawford, Iowa Public Radio/Dar Danielson Radio Iowa)

w/Kate Olson.

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