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CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is asking for your help in counting wild turkeys. Wildlife biologist, Jim Coffey coordinates the turkey tracking. “During the month of July and August, we look for the general public to report any turkey sightings that they see. What we are really looking for is a way to count this year’s production — so this year’s poults that are produced,” Coffey says. He says the wild turkey population changes dramatically after nesting. “They’ll have about ten to 12 eggs. Of that, about 95 percent of those eggs will hatch. So on day one, they could have ten poults — but as quickly as four weeks later they could be down to zero or five poults,” according to Coffey. “So half of those poults are expected to die in the first four weeks.”
He says the young birds must survive the weather and predators. Coffey says wild turkeys can be spotted across the state. He says they mainly live in the forest, but spend a lot of time in pastures and hayfields this time of year. “One of the main diets of the poults is bugs — so any place there is lots of bugs they are going to be moving around and feeding — eating that high-quality protein that makes them grow quickly. So you can expect to see turkeys all across the state of Iowa in all 99 counties,” he says. If you do see wild turkeys, you are encouraged to visit the D-N-R website and report the sighting. He says you can go to the hunting tab and click on “turkeys.” There will be another tab where you can report the number of turkeys and the number of poults that you saw.
Coffey says wild turkey populations have seen a recent rebound. “We had pretty poor production two years ago, and then good production last year,” Coffey says. “We are kind of concerned about southeast Iowa — it tends to be the part of the state that has had the least production over the last ten years. But turkey numbers can fluctuate quite dramatically from year to year.”
Hunters annually take more than 14-thousand wild turkeys each year.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Grow Another Row Cass County has released its pick-up and drop-off schedule for 2021, and is now accepting local fresh produce donations across the county through October 1. Grow Another Row Cass County is a Healthy Cass County campaign started by a group of local growers to encourage residents to grow and share more fresh local produce. Grow Another Row Cass County invites local farmers and gardeners to plant a few more rows of produce to share again this year. Anyone interested in the program is invited to sign up for the Grow Another Row newsletter to keep up with the latest program news, gardening tips, recipes, and more at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/content/grow-another-row-cass-county.
Anyone is welcome to donate fresh produce, and anyone is welcome to take fresh produce they need. You are also welcome to drop off extras and pick up something you need in the same trip. There is no requirement to sign up to either donate or take the produce. Donations of any size are appreciated!
Each location has set hours during which people can pick-up or drop-off fresh produce. If you plan on just donating, it’s best if you can drop produce off closer to the beginning of the location’s open hours. If you just want to pick up produce, try visiting closer to the end. All pantries in Cass County also accept donations during specified hours prior to their distribution hours. A full schedule is available below.
When donating, please don’t wash produce if you can’t dry it, and try to bag items in familysized amounts. When picking up produce, please only take what you need and be sure to wash it before eating. If you need bags or containers to package donated produce, contact Grow Another Row Coordinator Claire Smith at 712-243-1132.
Finally, Grow Another Row could not serve residents across Cass County without our wonderful volunteers. If you would like to volunteer at any time throughout the summer, please contact Grow Another Row Coordinator Claire Smith at claires2@iastate.edu. This could include donating, harvesting, delivering, transporting produce, and other volunteering opportunities. Any help is greatly appreciated, even if you can only help a time or two.
Grow Another Row Cass County 2021 Weekly Produce Distribution Schedule….
Monday: Griswold: Griswold United Methodist Church (100 Cass St. Griswold); Time: 8 AM – 12 PM
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
For more information on Grow Another Row Cass County visit https://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/content/grow-another-row-cass-county or contact Grow Another Row Coordinator Claire Smith at claires2@iastate.edu or 712-243-1132. For information on Cass County food pantries, farmers markets, and other locally-driven food initiatives, follow the Cass County Local Food Policy Council on Facebook @CassCountyLocalFood.
Healthy Cass County is a community-focused volunteer network formed to promote the health and well-being of Cass County residents. Follow Healthy Cass County on Facebook @HealthyCassCounty (https://www.facebook.com/HealthyCassCounty/). Reach out to Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at bhoegh@iastate.edu or call 712-249-5870 for more information.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley vows to work with his colleagues to address restoring the year-round sale of the 15-percent ethanol fuel blend, even though in his words, “fighting big oil is not an easy job.” On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the rule enacted by the E-P-A that allowed E-15 to be sold between June and September, a move that was encouraged by then-President Trump. “The previous administration made the right call to allow E-15 to be sold year-round,” Grassley says, “and to allow consumers to make their own decisions about what kind of fuel they want to choose at the pump.”
The decision to allow E-15 to be sold year-round put that blend on a par with the popular 10-percent ethanol blend which has been available for sale all year for decades. “Banning this higher blend of ethanol for part of the year never made sense in the first place,” Grassley says, “but it was still the rule and the Trump administration corrected that silly rule that you couldn’t sell it during the summer.” Grassley says he’ll push for a legislative solution to the issue to give some certainty to farmers and producers as he says the court ruling is a “big hit” to ethanol. “We all know that ethanol is good for the economy, good for national security and good for the environment,” Grassley says. “This is what’s puzzling to me because I constantly hear from my colleagues, particularly on the Democratic side of the aisle, that they’re concerned about the environment.”
Governor Kim Reynolds issued the following statement after the court’s ruling: “Iowa proudly leads the country in the production of renewable fuels, and today’s ruling is a gut punch to not only our renewable fuel industry but our fuel retailers as well. I worked closely with the Trump Administration to secure year-round sales of E-15, and I disagree with today’s court decision. We will continue to stand up for renewable fuels and fuel retailers, and pursue every avenue to ensure they can continue to offer lower cost, cleaner burning E-15 to Iowans.”
A local businessman who, for many years helped to promote and organize tractor rides in southwest Iowa, died Saturday. In memory of Maynard Hansen, owner of the Tune Up Inn in Wiota, tractor Ride enthusiasts are being asked to bring their tractors to Hansen’s funeral service on Friday, July 9, at 10:30 a.m. at the Brayton Lutheran Church located on the northwest edge of Brayton.
Maynard Hansen (Kessler Funeral Home obituary photo)
Ride participants are asked to show up with their tractors one hour prior to the service (or at 9:30 am) Friday. Steve Best of B & B Barrett Trailer Sales at 3270 J Avenue will be the tractor unloading point.
(Radio Iowa) The summer heat is here but Iowans are being advised against swimming in seven state park lakes due to elevated e-coli levels and toxic algae blooms tied to agricultural runoff. So far, Lake Darling in southeast Iowa is the only beach in the state with both advisories in place. Diane Rosenberg, of the advocacy group Jefferson County Farmers & Neighbors, says the pollution is causing a major loss for families.
“I used to bring my children when they were young to the lake all the time. We would go and have a nice afternoon there,” Rosenberg says. “I would never do that if I had small children again. I just wouldn’t do that. It’s just not healthy. It’s not safe right now.” Taxpayers and private donors funded a multi-million-dollar restoration at Lake Darling State Park that was completed in 2014. Rosenberg says a lack of regulation of nearby livestock operations have degraded the lake, despite the investments to improve it.
“Why bother to raise $16 million and get a whole community of people working to create this beautiful lake to make it more available and clean it up if you’re not going to have practices that protect it?” Rosenberg says. Advisories are also posted for the lakes at the following state parks: Backbone, Lake Keomah, Pine Lake, Prairie Rose, Rock Creek and Union Grove.
(By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)
(Radio Iowa) – A holiday weekend boat crash in central Iowa sent five people to the hospital. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says the pleasure boat hit a pillar of the Mile Long Bridge at Saylorville Lake north of Des Moines about 6 o’clock Monday night. After impact, the boat flipped, dumping all five passengers into the lake. All five were hurt though deputies say none of their injuries were life-threatening.
The Iowa D-N-R is looking into the accident and has NOT yet said whether alcohol was a factor.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowans need to fight the bite this summer, especially when it comes to ticks which may be carrying Lyme disease. Epidemiologist Rebecca Osborn says Iowans would be wise to check for ticks after spending any amount of time outdoors. “After coming inside, do a thorough tick check on yourself and your family members,” Osborn says. “Don’t forget that some juvenile ticks can be as small as a poppy seed, so a careful check of your entire body is important.”
Iowa ranks 17th among the 50 states for reported cases of Lyme disease and Osborn says we should all take precautions. Left untreated, Lyme disease can have serious consequences, but caught early and with antibiotics, most people usually recover rapidly and completely. “When you’re talking about Lyme disease, somewhere between 20 and 50 percent of all ticks will be carrying the bacteria that causes Lyme disease,” Osborn says, “and that’s of a certain type of tick, the deer tick, so not all ticks are deer ticks.”
Iowans can protect themselves from tick bites by using repellent on skin and clothing, wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts, and checking yourself for ticks after being outdoors. If you find a tick attached to your skin, remove it right away. “All you need is a pair of tweezers. Just pull it out with a steady pressure,” she says. “Once you’ve removed the tick, you want to wash that area with soap and water, and monitor that location for the developments of a rash in the next month.”
The latest figures the Iowa Department of Public Health is supplying on Lyme disease are for 2017, in which 255 cases were reported statewide. Most cases occurred in the eastern half of the state.
(Radio Iowa) – A donor is giving 300-thousand dollars to finance improvements at the Prairie Heritage Center in northwest Iowa. The center showcases Iowa’s tall grass prairie and features live buffalo. It’s located just off Highway 10, between Sutherland and Peterson. Gregg Struve says his donation is in honor of his parents Dan and Jean Struve. “My father was a county supervisor for 32 years here in O’Brien County and during his time the Prairie Heritage Center fundraising occurred to build the place in 2006. He was part of that, was very passionate that the center should be built down here in the southeast corner of O’Brien Country where it sits today.”
Two-hundred thousand dollars of Struve’s donation to the center is creating an endowment and the other 100-thousand is going into a fund named after his parents. There are nine miles of walking trails around the center, canoe access to the Little Sioux River and a building that houses educational displays about Iowa’s tall grass prairie. Abbie Parker, a naturalist with O’Brien County Conservation, says they are currently working on the design process for new exhibits.
“Hopefully an exhibit that will focus on the glacier times, you know, how our land was formed; Native American culture, which was super important to this area, and then how the prairie people got here as well,” she says ,”so having a sod house and a wagon that you can interact with as well as celebrating the flora and fawna of the local area as well as Iowa in general.”
Parker says they hope to start these projects in the spring of 2023. The center is open Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Saturday afternoons from 1 to 4.
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