Illinois Farm Families Blog

When things calm down long enough to sit and reflect (and seeing as I am finally hitting the “uncomfortable point” with 7 weeks to go in my own pregnancy, sitting is the position of choice as of late), it reminds me how many things we do on the farm every day that are completely foreign to those that have never seen it.  I’ve been working in livestock barns since I was old enough to walk and talk.  Our families’ Christmas cards usually contain as many animals as people. 
 
When you are young on the farm, you are taught how to care for animals and you get to see the results of that care.  Working with animals every day, you learn what the signs are for sick, hungry, thirsty, and uncomfortable. I admit I typically take for granted knowing and understanding these signs, and knowing what to do to fix them the best I can everyday.  Just because an animal squeals, chews on something, or does something else “odd”, doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong.  Our cows chewed and removed all the insulation out of the garage doors in our new barn.  Weird, yes; inhumane, no.  Pigs will chew on anything near them.  We had to move the locations of the outside hog pens every spring break because the pigs would have destroyed nearly everything in them within a year.  I’ve said many times that I talk to the animals (a lot), and they have yet to answer me (thankfully).  Until they do, I have to use my knowledge and understanding of the “signs” to do the best I can.  I believe that all farmers do the best they can every day.  I have yet to meet one that doesn’t. 

And, then, one of these undercover videos showing suspected farm animal abuse comes out and I worry consumers aren’t getting the whole story. (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/walmart-christensen-farms-mercy-for-animals-video_n_1683119.html - Farmers are encouraged to leave a comment behind.)  When someone abuses any animal, it makes my blood boil as much as the next person, and I’ll wholeheartedly support punishing abuse. Period.  But, some things are blown out of proportion.  When I step back and think about the things that we do with our animals on the farm, I realize that some of them may seem less than desirable through a different lens.  However, we (farmers and consumers alike) both want to provide the best care possible for animals. The same method or production practice may not be the best option for every animal or farm.   Each farmer needs to judge for themselves what works best for their farm and animals.  There are legitimate reasons for different farm methods  Maybe we as farmers don’t do the best job of sharing, showing, and explaining what these methods are, and why we do them.  But, that is the goal of the Field Mom program, so that they can see everything we do, ask questions, and get the information from the source of where their food comes from.  And, in turn, we as farmers, can see what we do through a different lens, and get a fresh perspective. 

Carrie Pollard, MS
Bethany Swine Health Services
Sycamore, IL

 Our kids made up a rain song with hand motions. (Bible School will do that to a kid.) 

They created and practiced the rain-welcoming song in the van as we drove past corn fields with browning, burnt leaves on a July day. Any green leaves were rolled in defense against the scorching sun. The kids’ performance earned smiles and hugs from Grandma, who spent the previous hour watching rain showers form and fizzle on the radar. The precipitation pattern had dampened our spirits rather than our crops, but the kids made it seem better.

As I write this, much of the Corn Belt is in a drought, and it worsens each day without rain. We need gentle, soaking rains. The kind the kids like to run through with the water sprinkler.

In mid-June, our corn and soybean crops looked great in our west/northwest spot in Illinois. By mid-July, we needed rain more often and weren’t getting enough to adequately deal with the 100-degree temps. Then, the 90-degree days followed. That heat wave mimicked the sub-zero cold of winter to our kids: Uncomfortable and unsafe to play outside for long periods. We pulled out the board games and played in the basement. All the while our crops, garden and Grandpa’s pastures baked like a juicy, medium-well steak approaching overdone with no moisture. So did our yard, but I don’t miss mowing.

The kids were singing for rain, our church friend forwarded an e-mail praying for rain, and the need for rain molded small talk with business acquaintances. Any acquaintances, really. Signs of a darkening horizon prompted a dash to the computer to watch a light shower pop up and fade away like slow-motion fireworks. Farmers practically memorized the date, quantity and field location of any rainfall.

The crop, as I’m writing this, doesn’t appear that it will reach its full potential and likely will vary from poor to good. It’s disheartening to helplessly watch your crops decline. Yet, we are thankful for what we have because it seems far more than our fellow family farmers in the southern two-thirds of Illinois and other states. Corn needs around 20 inches from rains and stored moisture. Our business friend in Indiana by mid-July had seen less than 2 inches of rain since their corn was planted. I’ve heard worse from southern Illinois at less than a half inch.

I’m too young to have grown my own crops in a devastating drought. The last widespread drought was in 1988, when my family had to haul water to the cattle and house wells and when crops burnt up and yielded half their potential. Some areas in Illinois and the Midwest say that dreadful season has repeated.

Crop values rose sharply higher in July in anticipation of a shortage of corn and soybeans, crops found in vehicle fuel, livestock feed, cereal, soda, diapers and batteries. We could pre-sell more crops at these high prices, yet we don’t know what amount we will harvest. You just try not to let the weather situation sour your mood.

And ask the kids for an encore.

 Joanie Stiers

Farm Woman

The past week we experienced some relief in daytime temps after some scatter storms moved through the region the weekend of July 7. With some areas receiving up to 3 plus inches of rain, temperatures for the week cooled down to the chilly low 90’s for daytime highs. Unfortunately, rainfall wasn’t widespread with much of the region receiving no rain.

Corn planted in early to mid-May seems to be catching up on its growth with many of those fields extending tassels and entering the pollination stage. Heat stress remained apparent on the entire crop by upright pointed leaves during the day, as the plants try to conserve moisture. On some recent trips in the region, the damage to the crop is apparent with several fields having short plants and the lower leaves already brown. Dry, brown plants can be seen on some of the lighter soils in some fields.

The first crop soybeans seem to remain resilient to the drought. Most fields are about knee high and have started to bloom. Some farmers are spraying their fields to control high population of spider mites infesting their fields due to the dry conditions.

Double-cropped soybeans are about 4 inches tall. Some farmers are experiencing some plant loss in the dryer parts of their fields. The young plants just ran out of moisture to survive. Fields with adequate plant population and growth potential are being treated with herbicides to control newly emerged and existing weeds since wheat harvest.

Local grain bids are corn $7.57, soybeans $16.11, and wheat $8.04.

Stay cool, pray for rain, and have a safe week.

David Hankammer

Farmer

St. Clair County

This past week was one of record setting temperatures and traces of showers. Triple digit highs and low humidity was the norm for the week with 108 degree being the highest temp. Isolated showers passed through the region with only a lucky few receiving a trace of rain. Overall it has been another hot, dry week.

The corn crop continues to suffer through the high heat. The earliest corn has pollinated and working on filling out the ear. Now corn planted at the beginning of May is starting to extend its’ tassel. It will be interesting to see which plantings will fare the best through this harsh drought.

The first crop soybeans continue to gain in height and extend its canopy to cover soil between the rows. The plants will start to bloom soon. Hopefully the temperature will return to a seasonal norm when blossoming is in full swing. The double-cropped soybeans are approximately 3 inches tall and waiting for rain.

Farmers with hay fields have made their third cutting of hay and are hoping for rain so these fields can recover enough to make another. Obvious yield reduction can be seen in these fields and the drought raises concerns over an adequate hay supply, especially with many of the pastures turning brown this early in the summer.

Local grain bids are, corn $7.57, soybeans $16.20, and wheat $7.97.

David Hankammer
Farmer
St. Clair County, IL

We found this blog on the IFB & Affiliates Youth Education in Agriculture website,  http://illinoisfarmbureauyouthed.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/wednesday-words-food-dialogues-3/,  and believe you will enjoy it.

Last year the USFRA (United States Farmers & Ranchers Alliance) launched Food Dialogues. It is exactly what it says, conversations about food. The people talking are farmers, consumers, scientists, professors, politicians, and modern day Rachel Carsons. This June, Food Dialogues traveled to Los Angeles and tackled the effect pop culture, foodie television, and celebrity chefs have on society’s view of food production. One panel discussed community gardens and another science, technology and food.  The latter was my panel. An Illinois corn farmer talking biotechnology in California. (Does that sound like a good idea?)

I joined eight other panelists – a diverse group of California farmers, the California Secretary of Agriculture, a professor of molecular biology, a representative from the University of California and a representative from the Environmental Defense Fund.

We had two hours to tackle “The Great Debate” as the panel was titled. We covered all sorts of topics related to the use of technology and not just biotech, but equipment technology too. Moderated by author Michael Spector, we touched on obesity in the US and hunger in Africa. We tried to define sustainability and GMOs.  We suggested new technologies we’d like to see on our farms and talked about “all-natural” versus “conventional” and why such a great divide seems to exist. I don’t know that we solved the world’s problems in those two hours, but I left with a great appreciation for two things:

1) I am glad that I do not farm in California. I say that in complete admiration of them and their ability to manage the plethora of regulations they face daily. California is the most prolific of agriculture states, producing 400 different food products. The Secretary of Agriculture told our group that 800 different organizations represent the farmers and ranchers growing those products. That may explain why California is one of the most heavily regulated agricultural states. Some farms hire an individual just to ensure permits and certificates are in place and rules are being followed. Wow.   

2) I am so proud to be a farmer and a part of this movement to open farm gates and invite questions, suggestions and sometimes criticism from our fellow Americans’ dinner plates.For too long we have rested on our laurels, thinking that the “good ole days” ideology would carry us through attacks from extreme activist groups. Well, that obviously is not the case.
Now is the time for every farmer and rancher, young and old, man or woman, FFA member or 4-Her to start listening first and talking second. Listen to what consumers are saying and then ask if they’d like to hear your story – your story of family and farm, planting a seed and harvesting a crop, rescuing a sick calf and tending to an older sow, baling hay in the heat of July and hooking up generators to the barn in winter blizzards. Essentially, we need to engage in our own food dialogue.

Katie Pratt
Grand Prairie Farms- Lee County

“Fishing.” Our 6-year-old daughter stated the two syllables with an enthusiastic shoulder shrug when she curled into my lap at 6:35 a.m. one June day. The excitement in the single word near likened the inquisitive suggestion of “presents” on a birthday morning. Instead, she anticipated a planned picnic supper and an evening of fishing at a remote lake with wildflowers nearby.
Summer brings great joy for our kids in farm country. They are thrilled by nature, farm animals, wildlife, tractors, soil for digging and growing, open space, sunsets on what God created and the lightning bugs in the country darkness afterward. 

Minus weather worries, market volatility and gravel roads in the thaw of March, we love living in farm country. And we love raising our kids here. So when Yahoo! Finance posted an article to suggest that families consider a farm-experience vacation over a traditional theme park, I nearly whooped its name. The internet corporation (which, by the way, made a blatant error about agricultural degrees not that long ago) had posted an agriculture article with some truth. The farm in itself provides a place for kids to learn and play -- the types of memorable and educational attributes that define the best family vacations.

I can’t tell you how many times our daughter has sketched the sunset, or likened anything colored with fiery orange to it. Or how infrequently our kids play with toys beyond the water launchers, whiffle ball set and diggers in the garden. Among the most joyous farm play: They catch and cuddle grandma’s barn cats, chase our chickens, fish in the boondocks, and let the pigs chew on the tips of their shoes through the fence. They buckle up in the utility vehicle just for a farm ride and eagerly take late spring walks in the woods. Our 4-year-old son mounts and dismounts every tractor and truck in the farm shed, often twice before I generate an ultimatum.

Give either of them strong magnet on a stick -- the type that shouldn’t touch the fridge -- and they have a mission: Search a farm barnyard for treasures of rusty washers, broken bolts and scraps of fence wire. They bounce in excitement for spontaneous wiener roasts. They identify crops and play “I Spy” on the way to the local, small-town pool. And in farm tradition, we garden. A lot. Without prodding, they willingly help plant, dig and harvest any fruits and veggies within their attention span. On a great day, they eat their servings off the vine.

I have a cousin with a big-city, L.A. upbringing who can see the Pacific Ocean from her college dorm room, yet she chooses to spend her Julys on our grandparents’ farm. She fishes, paints the barn, checks cows, picks green beans, plays ball in the farm yard and pokes fun at our traffic count.

She realizes that the farm is as much a lifestyle as a business for our family and most of the 94 percent of Illinois’ farms that are family owned. Farming and country life are in-our-blood passions that keep us out here, 22 miles from a stoplight and more than a marathon away from the rolls with cinnamon honey butter at Texas Roadhouse. Though, we sometimes crave them as much as fishing.

Joanie Stiers
Farm Woman    

This past week set a new record as far as temperatures were concerned. On June 28, temps reached 108 degrees which is now considered the warmest temperature on that date ever for the St. Louis region. With no rain and drought conditions, this record setting weather I would chose to let pass. Triple digit temps and no precipitation is the ten day forecast.

The corn crop continues to show signs of heat stress as it enter into the pollination stage. There is still moisture 2 to 3 inches below the surface, but it is disappearing as this crop continues to develop under the dry heat. The great concern now is how well the crop will pollinate under the extreme heat.

First planted soybeans are now approximately 6 to 9 inches in height and developing a canopy over the row. Most farmers have finished applying post treatment of herbicide to control weeds in the fields prior to the excessive heat.

Emergence of the double-cropped soybeans has been good and now a couple inches tall. Now it needs a shower of rain to keep them growing.

Pastures in the area are turning brown and some farmers are starting to feed hay to their cattle much earlier than normal. Also, water levels in some shallow wells have dropped forcing some cattle farmers to haul water to supplement their water supply.

Local grain bids are corn $6.50, soybeans $14.70 and wheat $7.04.

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July

David Hankammer, Farmer
St. Clair County