The Shelby County field/grassland Fire Danger index will remain in the “Moderate” category this week. Emergency Management officials say if you are planning any large burns, contact your local fire chief or the Emergency Management Office. Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert says high winds are predicted this week, so the Fire Danger index could change. Stay tuned for further updates.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa planter and grain cart manufacturer is asking a federal judge to protect it from having to turn over sensitive internal documents in an antitrust lawsuit in which it’s not directly involved.

The Des Moines Register reports that Kinze Manufacturing, of Williamsburg, Iowa, filed motions Thursday in the government’s lawsuit intended to block a deal between farm equipment maker John Deere and seed giant Monsanto. Kinze says John Deere is trying to access a wide variety of internal documents about Kinze’s business, including marketing strategies, sales data and research and development plans. John Deere served the Iowa company a subpoena last month seeking the documents.

Kinze argues those documents would divulge its most tightly held business secrets and irreparably affect its ability to compete with Deere.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are investigating a manure spill near a small stream about three miles southeast of Le Mars in northwestern Iowa. The Sioux City Journal reports that the rollover crash of a tanker truck on Thursday dumped up to 9,000 gallons of swine manure near the stream, and at least some of the manure leaked into the stream.

A news release from the department says a pumping company was called to try to contain and pump the spilled manure back into the tanker. The DNR says it will monitor cleanup, give advice and consider enforcement actions.

Red Oak, IA – Grab your girlfriends and attend the next fun and educational event sponsored by Women, Land & Legacy of Southwest Iowa! The topic for this event is Grain Marketing. In this period of price instability, an understanding of marketing fundamentals is more important than ever. Marie Thompson-Devin, a grain merchandiser for Scoular, a local grain handling facility, will leave participants feeling like they have a good grasp on the basics of grain marketing and current commodity issues facing Iowa farm families.

The Women, Land & Legacy Grain Marketing event will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at Noble Manor, located at 404 E Coolbaugh Street in Red Oak. The cost to attend is $10 and will include a casual meal. Tea and water will be provided. Other beverages will be available for purchase.

Pre-registration is encouraged by 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 30. To register, call Iowa State University Extension & Outreach-Mills County at (712) 527-3316, Fremont County at (712) 374-2351, or Montgomery County at (712) 623-2592 or stop by any of these offices. Special accommodations may be requested upon registration.

WLL events are sponsored through a partnership of Fremont, Mills and Montgomery counties Farm Service Agency, Soil and Water Conservation District, Iowa State University Extension & Outreach, and Women, Land & Legacy of Southwest Iowa. Women, Land & Legacy is committed to offering learning opportunities for rural women in areas such as business, management, agriculture and family.

WLL programming is available to all without regard to age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or status as a U.S. veteran.

Press Release

A Southwest Iowa Beginner and Young Farmers group will kick off in Montgomery County on December 14, 2016. The Start to Farm: New Farmer Learning Network, organized by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, is a statewide program designed to provide education and support for beginning and early-career agricultural producers.

The SW Iowa group will meet several times throughout the year to discuss farm management and beef cattle production topics. Based on priorities and specific topics determined by the group, they will discuss production techniques, ways to grow and improve business practices, and farm management strategies.

Production topics include: winter nutrition, reproduction management, preconditioning, nutrition management, low-stress weaning, pregnancy checking, body condition scoring and more. Farm Financial topics include: developing farm financial statements, using key financial rations and indicators, managing cash flow, financing capital assets and livestock economies.

Participants will participate in a wide variety of activities, including the opportunity to learn about resources available to get started and tour successful farming operations. They also will become part of a community of Iowa beginning farmers.

There is no registration fee for this program. It will be held in the White 4-H Exhibit Building at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Red Oak, Iowa. The program will begin at 6:30 pm, and it will end at 8:30 pm. The address is 1809 4th Street, Red Oak, Iowa. For more information contact Montgomery County Extension at 712-623-2592, or through their website at www.extension.iastate.edu/montgomery ,or “like” Montgomery County-IA Extension on Facebook.

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The field and grassland Fire Danger category in Shelby County has been reduced from “High,” to “Moderate“. The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency reports most of the crops in the county have been harvested, reducing the availability of fuel sources. Regardless, if you are planning any large burns, the Emergency Management officials say you should still contact your local fire chief, or call the EMA office at 712-755-2124.

The U-S-D-A is awarding more than four-million dollars in grants to 48 veterinarians serving rural communities in Iowa and elsewhere. The money aims to help them repay some of their veterinary school loans in return for serving in areas lacking veterinary resources. Dr. Phil Reemstma, a veterinarian in DeWitt, says this is an important step in getting young veterinarians out into rural America.

“The debt that these students are coming out of college with now and what we’re able to pay them, there’s a pretty significant amount of debt there,” Reemstma says. “When the U.S. government can help them repay some of their loans and provide incentives for them to go into these rural communities, it’s really a big deal.”

On average, student veterinarians have an average loan debt of more than 135-thousand dollars. Reemtsma, who’s president of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, says he has experience with the U-S-D-A program and says it has worked well in the past. “There was a four-county area here that, three years ago, was designated as needing veterinarians,” he says. “I hired a veterinarian into my practice and he was able to participate in that program. It helped him out quite a bit and it helped eastern Iowa to bring veterinarians to our area.”

The focus for many veterinarians today, he says, is shifting and there’s a demand for those kinds of skills. “The veterinarians’ role has continued to evolve into more disease prevention and focused on preventive type medicine,” Reemtsma says. “Not that we don’t go and work on sick animals, but a lot of what we do every day is production-oriented any more. There’s a real need for those type of people.”

The latest U-S-D-A grant of four-point-three-million dollars aims to help fill the veterinary shortage in Iowa and 26 other states.

(Radio Iowa)

The Cass County Conservation Board has announced the winners of their Lighted Halloween Campground event held last weekend at Cold Springs State Park, in Lewis. First place went to site #2, the Johnson (Terri Ehrman) family, the second place winner was Site 4, the Pangelina family, the third place winner was Site 1, the Amos family, and the fourth place was site 3: Melissa Ehrman-Johnson.

(left to right) Johnson family, Anita Pangelina, Karen Kirchhoff, Haden McAdams, Kaylee McAdams and Bob Amos

The CCCB thanks their business sponsor Cappel’s Ace Hardware who donated the prizes for the Lighted Halloween Campground. They also would like to thank everyone who signed up to decorate a site, and for sharing your Halloween décor with everyone.

Officials say The Lighted Halloween campground will be held again, in 2018!