(Radio Iowa) – A legislative committee has voted to temporarily delay implementing a new state rule governing the care of livestock after major Iowa farm groups objected. The rule was originally scheduled to go into effect April 1st. It would have forced veterinarians to examine animals they’re prescribing drugs for or visit the site where the animals are being raised at least once in the past year. Eldon McAfee is an attorney for the Iowa Pork Producers Association. “By going to a hard and fast time deadline — within the past 12 months — affects our facilities quite a bit and we believe the best professional judgement should be respected on behalf of the veterinarians,” McAfee says.

Current rules call for timely and medically necessary visits, but Dr. Duane Ray, chairman of the Iowa Veterinary Medicine Board, says it’s time to put some teeth in the rule to protect animal health.  “To be quite honest with you, I’m a little stunned that the Pork Producers and the Farm Bureau are lobbying against this…The Iowa Veterinary Medicine Association is solidly behind this,” Dr. Ray said. “…We have hog producers managing veterinarians. That has to stop.” Dr. Ray says this is a critical time with African Swine Fever detected in the Dominican Republican and Haiti. “If we get African Swine Fever in Iowa, it’s going to make COVID look like a walk in the park,” Dr. Ray said. “…All swine movement stops for 72 hours. That means the packing houses shut down. All semis stop, so we need veterinarians in the field, familiar with these operations, so we can get this controlled.”

The board has been negotiating with the pork industry for a year over this new rule, according to Dr. Ray. “One of the veterinarians who represented one of the large corporate swine operations commented: ‘There’s no way I can physically get to all of my clients in 12 months,'” Dr. Ray said. “My response was: ‘Are they really your clients…If you can’t get on that farm for 30 minutes in 12 months…or are you just sitting in a corporate office signing scripts?'”

The legislature’s Administration Rules Review Committee voted to delay implementing the rule for 70 days, but committee members warned the commodity groups the rule will go into effect in June as is if they don’t engage in good faith negotiations. Representative Mike Sexton, a Republican from Rockwell City, says it’s become common practice for a case of antibiotics to accompany semi loads of pigs delivered to large scale confinements. “Those pigs aren’t sick,” Sexton says. “Nobody’s looked at those pigs. We’re just going to have a huge, onhand supply of registered antibiotics that a non-veterinarian is going to be able to administer. That’s the problem.”

Dr. Ray told legislators he’d been called to examine a sick calf and learned the farmer had treated the calf with antibiotics that came with a shipment of pigs, drugs that are not to be given to cattle.

DES MOINES – Today (Monday), Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the signing of a disaster proclamation for Buena Vista County, in northwest Iowa, in response to the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) – or, Bird Flu – effective immediately, and continuing through April 5, 2022. The proclamation allows state resources from Iowa Homeland Security, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and other agencies to assist with tracking and monitoring, rapid detection, containment, disposal, and disinfection. The proclamation also waives regulatory provisions related to commercial vehicles responding to affected sites.  

The recent highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern, and it remains safe to eat poultry products. If producers suspect signs of HPAI in their flocks, they should contact their veterinarian immediately. 

The USDA has confirmed a positive case at a commercial turkey flock in Buena Vista County. On March 1, 2022, a positive case was confirmed in a backyard, non-commercial flock in Pottawattamie County. 

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Department of Labor says it has recovered unpaid wages for workers at a Sioux City meat processing plant. The Labor Department says their investigation found the Seaboard Triumph Foods pork processing failed to pay 413 employees for work completed before and after their shifts, such as set up, clean up, and knife sharpening. The Department says this violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying the employees for all hours worked — and not paying overtime at time and-a-half when workers exceeded 40 hours in a workweek.

It says nearly 332-thousand dollars ($331,807) in back wager were recovered for the workers.

• KJAN, Atlantic 1.3″
• Massena  2″
• Bridgewater  2″
• Corning  2″
• Red Oak  1.4″
• Neola  1.5″
• Oakland  1.3″
• Manning  2.8″
• Clarinda  1.5″
• Shenandoah  1.25″
• Carroll  1.3″
• Underwood  .8″

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican, is partnering with a Georgia Senator who’s a Democrat to seek more permanent funding for a government program that trains dogs to detect animal diseases.

“They use some of them in airports because, of course, people bring in unauthorized goods through TSA and other means,” Ernst says. Most of the dogs are beagles and the operation has been dubbed the “Beagle Brigade” — and Ernst says it’s role is critical due to rising concerns about African Swine Fever and bird flu.

The National Detector Dog Training Center in Georgia is financed this year with about seven million dollars in airport fees, but Ernst says that’s an unstable funding source. “Wild swings in funding that don’t allow the consistencies that we need to make sure we’re protecting our goods here in the United States,” Ernst says.

Ernst is pushing for congress to include funding for the program in the U-S-D-A’s budget. The dogs help screen baggage, cargo, and parcels at nearly 90 U.S. airports to detect fruits, vegetables and meats that could carry foreign plant pests or animal diseases into the country. Beagles are the preferred breed for this work because they are even tempered in crowds and have a highly-developed sense of smell.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katie Peikes)

The Atlantic High School archery team took home a state championship in the bullseye portion of the NASP state archery tournament in Des Moines this weekend.

The Trojans had a team total of 3,381 to win the championship. They were led by a second place High School boys finish from Connor Johnson who had a 292 score and an eighth place High School boys finish from Cooper Jipsen with a 290. Mariah Hadley was 5th overall in the high school girls with the score of 290.

The Trojans beat out Valley High School by three points to win the title and Cedar Rapids Prairie was third just five points back.

Atlantic also placed fourth in the team standings of the 3D tournament for the weekend. Cooper Jipsen led the way with a 5th place finish in the high school boys with a score of 287.

Atlantic Head Coach Clint Roland was honored as Archery Coach of the Year.

Chris Parks and Cass/Adair County Conservation Officer Grant Gelly talk about all things outdoors. This week they discuss the transition in seasons, shed antler hunting, and a learn to hunt wild turkey opportunity.

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(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County 4-H Endowment committee is hosting the annual 4-H Endowment Pancake Supper on Tuesday, March 15 from 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic. The Pancake Man will be dishing up fresh pancakes while 4-H members serve juice, coffee and more. Supporters can enjoy all you can eat pancakes for $7. Proceeds from the 4-H Pancake Supper directly benefit Cass County. The money raised goes to the Cass County 4-H Endowment, a fund to defray the 4-H Program Development Fee, support scholarships, and start up dollars for youth programs including Clover Kids and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

The 4-H Program Development Fee is $30 per youth each year to enroll. Instead of having individual 4-H’ers and families take on that expense, the Cass County Extension Council, and the 4-H Endowment Committee pick up this expense. The Cass County 4-H Endowment also offers opportunities for youth to get involved in the 4-H program by attending camps and conferences and offering scholarships to graduating seniors. “These opportunities are very important to the success of the 4-H program in Cass County,” stated Shelby Van Horn, Cass County Youth Coordinator. “It certainly would not be possible without a great deal of support from the community.”

There is also a silent auction during the supper. The 11 4-H clubs in Cass County, as well as additional friends of 4-H and local business supporters, donate items. “This is a great part of the pancake supper,” says Van Horn, “it will be exciting to see what items are up for auction this year!” If a community business is interested in supporting the Pancake Supper with a Silent Auction donation, please contact the Extension Office.

For more information on the Pancake Supper, Endowment or 4-H contact Shelby Van Horn, Cass County Youth Coordinator, at 243-1132 or xcass@iastate.edu.

Des Moines, Iowa, March 4, 2022— Iowa farmers who signed up for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) in 2018 have until April 15 to apply to renew their contract for another five years. All 2018 CSP contracts expire on Dec. 31, 2022. Contract holders can visit their local USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office to complete the required renewal process. According to Rubyana Neely, CSP coordinator for NRCS in Iowa, 505 CSP contracts will expire at the end of the year which help treat natural resource concerns on about 250,800 Iowa acres.

Last year, 171 Iowa farmers and landowners renewed contracts. Those contract holders are receiving an average of about $12,000 annually in CSP payments through NRCS to adopt additional activities to achieve higher levels of conservation on their lands. Through CSP, agricultural producers and forest landowners earn payments for actively managing, maintaining, and expanding conservation activities like cover crops, buffer strips, pollinator and beneficial insect habitat, and soil health building activities – all while maintaining active agricultural production on their land.

The largest conservation program in the United States, CSP is for working lands. “Thousands of people have voluntarily enrolled in the program because it helps them enhance natural resources and improve their business operation,” said Neely. Producers interested in contract renewals or applying for CSP for the first time should contact their local NRCS office (http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=ia) or visit www.ia.nrcs.usda.gov for more information.

Council Bluffs (March 2, 2022) — Local officials have been notified of a confirmed positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that had infected a non-commercial backyard poultry flock in rural Pottawattamie County. The site is not part of the commercial food supply chain and according to the Centers for Disease Control, poses a low risk of transmission to humans.

Officials from Emergency Management, Pottawattamie County Public Health, and the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office were briefed by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) earlier today. IDALS has worked directly with the site to mitigate potential spread of the virus and will continue monitoring the site and area.

Pott. County EMA

The Iowa Department of Public Health and Pottawattamie County Public Health will monitor those individuals who were in contact with the flock to rule out any potential of bird to human transmission regarding this case. The CDC reports that there have been no detected human cases from HPAI in the United States.

“Local, state, and federal plans developed to respond to these kinds of incidents are being implemented and there is no immediate public health or food-related safety concern at this time,” commented Doug Reed, director of emergency management.” IDALS is the lead agency for HPAI and other foreign animal disease responses. Local officials will provide
support to the state-led event, as needed, or requested.

Poultry producers, residents with backyard poultry or bird flocks, and the public can find more information, updates, and resources at https://pcema-ia.org/hpai