FarmWeek March 26, 2012 edition

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Monday, March 26, 2012 Two sections Volume 40, No. 13

FarmWeek on the web: FarmWeekNow.com Illinois Farm Bureau®on the web: www.ilfb.org

tHE EConomiC imPACtof the Illinois livestock industry con-tinues to grow despite the fact thatthere are fewer producers and reducednumbers of some animals. ...................5

A uniquE nEW business inVermilion County that caters to thehorse travel industry and grew outof a child’s dream is becomingquite successful. ..............................5

PEACH trEES reaching fullblossom so early in the seasonbecause of the extremely warmweather is reason for concern...............................................................3

Friday hearing

Safety net vital, farmers tell Ag Committee

Offering testimony Friday in Galesburg at a U.S. House Ag Committee hearing on the 2012 farm bill were,from left, David Erickson, a cash grain farmer from Altona and president of Knox County Farm Bureau; DebMoore, a cash grain and beef producer from Roseville; John Mages, a farmer from Minnesota; Blake Gerard,a rice, soybean, wheat, and corn producer from McClure; and Craig Adams, a farmer and beef producerfrom Ohio. (Photo by Cyndi Cook)

Illinois farmers at a 2012farm bill hearing Friday stressedthe need for an insurance-focused safety net to addressproduction and market volatility.

During a U.S. House AgCommittee field hearing held inGalesburg at FarmWeek’sdeadline, Knox County farmerand county Farm Bureau Presi-dent David Erickson maintained“a reasonable safety net muststill be a part of the farm bill toensure that production agricul-ture can withstand the inevitablevariability in prices and produc-

tion, neither of which are in ourcomplete control.”

The hearing was held inGalesburg because U.S. Rep.Bobby Shilling, a Republicanfrom Colona in Knox County, isa member of the Ag Committeeand suggested the city as a sitefor one of four field hearings tobe held throughout the nation.

Erickson acknowledged theimportance of federal cropinsurance as a component offarm risk management, butwarned that “too much empha-sis on any single approach to

risk management is dangerous.”Deb Moore, a corn, soybean,

and beef farmer from WarrenCounty, also testified to the riskynature of farming and reiteratedthe importance Illinois farmersplace on federal crop insuranceprograms.

“The importance of an effec-tive safety net for farm incomehas grown as the rising cost offarm inputs has increasinglypressured farm profitability,”

Moore testified. “We support risk manage-

ment proposals and other pro-grams that enable us to bettermanage risk, maintain plantingflexibility, and avoid restructur-ing of the existing crop insur-ance program.”

Other Midwest producersoutlined possible improvementsin crop insurance and offeredsuggestions for strengtheningthe revenue safety net in the

likely absence of farm directpayments.

Meanwhile, Osco hog pro-ducer and National Pork Pro-ducers Council board memberGary Asay said he favoredimproving programs aimed athelping “keep feed grain pricescompetitive with the rest of theworld.”

He noted that feed comprises60 to 70 percent of his inputcosts in producing a market hog,

at roughly 10.5 bushels of cornand 200 pounds of soybeanmeal per pig.

“The rapid development ofthe corn-based ethanol industrytogether with other factors isthreatening the U.S. pork indus-try’s competitiveness and thesurvivability of producers likeme,” testified Asay, who raisessome 9,000 hogs per year forCargill.

Both Asay and Ericksonwarned lawmakers against whatthe pork producer termed“unwarranted and costly provi-sions and regulations” thatwould impair U.S. agriculture’sglobal competitiveness.

Ag Committee ChairmanFrank Lucas (R-Okla.) andcommittee member Rep. RandyHultgren, a Winfield Republi-can, joined Shilling at the hear-ing.

“We’re extremely apprecia-tive of Chairman Lucas andRepresentatives Schilling andHultgren for holding a fieldhearing here in Illinois,” saidIllinois Farm Bureau PresidentPhilip Nelson. “Hearings likethese are extremely importantbecause they enable farmershere in Illinois — and acrossthe country — to make theirvoices and needs heard.”

More on the hearing will beincluded in next week’sFarmweek.

Farmers get early jump on corn plantingBY DANIEL GRANTFarmWeek

It may have been mid-March on the calendar lastweek, but May-like conditionsallowed farmers in severalparts of the state to get a headstart planting corn.

Dennis Wentworth, Downs,on the first day of spring lastweek planted corn near LeRoyin McLean County.

“We just started. We’re outtrying to get the planter set,”Wentworth told FarmWeekon a dry, windy day that fea-tured temperatures in excess of

80 degrees. “The conditionsare excellent.”

When asked if it was theearliest he’d ever planted corn,the veteran farmer said,“Absolutely. It’s very early forthis part of the state.

“But my feeling is we’re in adry period (with a favorableforecast) and these are betterconditions than we’ve had inthe last two or three years.”

Topsoil temperatures on thefirst day of spring (March 20)ranged from 61 to 64.8 degreesin Southern Illinois, 58.6 to62.5 degrees in Central Illinois,

and 57.8 to 61.3 degrees inNorthern Illinois, according tothe Illinois State Water Survey(ISWS).

Emerson Nafziger, Univer-sity of Illinois crop systemsspecialist, said corn seedrequires about 115 growingdegree days (GDD) to emerge.Much of the state last weekwas accumulating 15 to 18GDD per day due to theunseasonably warm weather.

“We might see emergence ina week if it stays this warm,”said Nafziger, who noted someearly-planted corn already is

out of the ground.Farmers who plant this ear-

ly are taking some risks,though.

“My biggest concern is amid-April frost,” Wentworthsaid.

The average date of the lastfrost is around the first weekof April in Southern Illinois,mid-April in Central Illinois,and late April in Northern Illi-nois, according to Jim Angel,ISWS state climatologist.

If the March-planted cornis damaged by frost in coming

House GOP plancuts ag spending

— Page 3

See Early, page 3

EASTER TO BE U OF I PRESIDENT — Bob Easter,former dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer, andEnvironmental Sciences, was named Uni-versity of Illinois president designate lastweek by the U of I Board of TrusteesExecutive Committee after Michael Hoganresigned.

Easter, who received Illinois FarmBureau’s Distinguished Service Award inDecember, will become the 19th president,starting July 1. He retired briefly in Octo-ber, but returned to serve as interim vicechancellor for research on the Urbana cam-pus.

In 2009, he served as interim provost and later as interimchancellor on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR IBA LEADER — Amemorial service was to be held today(Monday) for Maralee Johnson, 61, execu-tive vice president of the Illinois BeefAssociation (IBA), who last week died ofan inoperable brain tumor.

“Maralee was a wonderful person and apassionate worker on behalf of all the beefproducers of Illinois,” said Jeff Beasley,IBA president. “She will be sorely missedin so many ways.”

Johnson worked for IBA for 23 years,including the past 13 as executive vice president.

DISASTER APPEAL DENIAL, APPROVAL — TheFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) last weekagain rejected federal assistance for five Southern Illinoiscounties where a Feb. 29 tornado caused extensive damageand seven deaths.

But the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)approved a disaster declaration, which makes low-interestloans available to homeowners, renters, and businesses inSaline County, as well as Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin,Johnson, Pope, White, and Williamson counties, Gov. PatQuinn said in a statement.

Quinn said he believed FEMA’s denial doesn’t reflect “thereality and devastation on the ground.” He added, “I remaincommitted to obtaining any and all assistance available to helpour Southern Illinois communities recover.”

Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk and U.S. Reps. JohnShimkus and Jerry Costello issued statements criticizingFEMA’s decision.

Four of the five counties seeking aid for tornado damage— Gallatin, Randolph, Saline, and Williamson — were desig-nated federal disaster areas last year after severe floods. InFebruary, Union County joined them after the devastating tor-nado.

SCHOOL TAX PROPOSALS — Initiatives to impose acountywide sales tax for school construction and maintenancefailed in two of three county elections last week.

Saline County voters passed a 1 percent countywide salestax.

Voters in Washington and Morgan counties defeated simi-lar measures by substantial margins. In both counties, the 1percent sales tax increase was to be used for school facilities.

FarmWeek Monday, March 26, 2012

(ISSN0197-6680)

Vol. 40 No. 13 March 26, 2012

Dedicated to improving the profitability of farm-ing, and a higher quality of life for Illinois farmers.FarmWeek is produced by the Illinois FarmBureau.

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© 2012 Illinois Agricultural Association

STAFFEditorDave McClelland ([email protected])

Legislative Affairs EditorKay Shipman ([email protected])

Agricultural Affairs EditorMartin Ross ([email protected])

Senior Commodities EditorDaniel Grant ([email protected])

Editorial AssistantLinda Goltz ([email protected])

Business Production ManagerBob Standard ([email protected])

Advertising Sales ManagerRichard Verdery ([email protected])

Classified sales coordinatorNan Fannin ([email protected])

Director of News and Communications

Dennis VerclerAdvertising Sales RepresentativesHurst and Associates, Inc.P.O. Box 6011, Vernon Hills, IL 600611-800-397-8908 (advertising inquiries only)

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Quick takesGOveRNmeNt

Bob Easter

Maralee Johnson

SIGNS OF SPRING

BY KAY SHIPMANFarmWeek

Farmers who own their own portable,refillable pesticide containers, commonlyknown as mini-bulk tanks,must meet federal require-ments in effect since lastAugust.

Tank owners are respon-sible for ensuring theirtanks meet the U.S. Envi-ronmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) standards.

If a container doesn’tmeet the requirements,agrichemical dealers legallycannot fill it.

Recently, EPA clarifiedsteps needed by individualswho own mini-bulk tanks,according to Jean Payne,president of the IllinoisFertilizer and Chemical Association (IFCA).

This spring and summer, the IllinoisDepartment of Agriculture will be checking

for complianceof these EPAregulations,Payne said.

The type oftank must be

listed on a pes-ticide management approved list.

Ask your local retailer to check the list.The tank must meet Department of Trans-

portation (DOT) requirements. Tanks that

meet those requirements have a UN/DOTmarking usually stamped on them.

The tank must be leak-proof tested everytwo and a half years after it was manufac-

tured. The tank owner isresponsible for the testing.Instructions on how totest a tank are available onthe IFCA website at{www.ifca.com}.

A tank must have aunique identificationnumber, such as a serialnumber or other uniqueidentification.

Tank owners may maketheir own identificationnumber as long as it isunique, according toPayne.

The identificationnumber may be written in

indelible ink on the tank or on an adhesivelabel that is attached to the tank.

Tanks must have either a tamper-evidencedevice or a one-way valve.

Payne noted tank owners may prefer one-way valves because any tank with a tamper-evidence device that is later opened toremove the product must be cleaned before itcan be refilled by a retailer.

Tanks must be properly labeled for theproduct.

If you own a mini-bulk tank and want clarifi-cation, you may visit the IFCA website at{www.ifca.com} or call 309-827-2774.

Farmers who own mini-bulk pesticide tanks must comply

FarmWeekNow.com

To v iew an onl ine webinara b o u t t e s t i n g m i n i - b u l kcontainers, visit FarmWeekNow.com.

A young calf watches warily as its mother and other cows graze on lush pasture on the farm of BillHennefent, Knox County Farm Bureau secretary. The first day of spring last week brought record warmtemperatures to some parts of the state and the Midwest. Climatologists attribute the unusual warmth toa loop in the jet stream that is blocking cold air to the north. (Photo by Kelly Wagahoff, Knox CountyFarm Bureau manager)

Production

Monday, March 26, 2012 FarmWeek

Continued from page 1weeks, farmers won’t receiveany federal assistance toreplant the crop. No cropinsurance payments forreplanting will be issued forcornfields that are planted pri-or to April 6, the Risk Man-agement Agency reported.

Meanwhile, U of I cornvariety trials suggest farmers

who plant in March won’t gainany yield advantages com-pared to those who plant inApril.

“Planting in late March orearly April has almost neverproduced higher yields thanplanting in late April,”Nafziger said.

However, corn yields tendto decline when planting is

delayed well into May or later,as farmers are painfully awareafter dealing with springflooding/planting delays theprevious two springs.

Nafziger anticipates muchmore planting activity in thisand coming weeks as April 1typically is the “go date” formany in the southern two-thirds of Illinois, he added.

Early

Dennis Wentworth, Downs, plants corn on the first day of spring in a field near LeRoy in McLean County.Wentworth said planting conditions last week were some of the best on his farm in the past two or threeyears. Conditions on the first day of spring featured 80-plus degree temperatures with strong winds. The top-soil temperature last week was near or above 60 degrees across much of the state. (Photo by Daniel Grant)

House Budget CommitteeChairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.)2013 budget blueprint, releasedlast week, instructs the HouseAgriculture Committee toreduce spending by $33.2 bil-lion over 10 years.

The budget resolutionbreaks the reductions down asfollows: $8.2 billion in the firstyear and $19.7 billion in thefirst five years, with the ultimatereduction of $33.2 billion in 10years.

Leaders of the House andSenate ag committees previous-ly had targeted $23 billion incuts over the next 10 years.

The committee passedRyan’s budget resolution onWednesday.

The spending reduction tar-gets are the only numbers theHouse Budget Committee willpass along to the Ag Commit-tee.

It is Ag Committee memberswho decide how the reductionsare implemented, Ag Commit-tee Chairman Rep. Frank Lucas(R-Okla.) said in his statementon the budget resolution.

“I would caution peopleabout reading too much intothe numbers or policy propos-als in either the president’sbudget or the Ryan budget,”Lucas said.

“They are only suggestions.During our process, both poli-cy and deficit reduction targetswill be developed in conjunc-tion with Ranking Member(Collin) Peterson (D-Minn.)and members of the commit-tee as we write a fiscallyresponsible farm bill thatensures Americans continue tohave a safe, affordable, and sta-ble food supply.”

Peterson, ranking memberon the House AgricultureCommittee, said he foundRyan’s proposal “appalling.”

“The Ryan budget proposessignificant cuts in the farmsafety net and conservationprograms, and slashes spend-ing on nutrition programs thatprovide food for millions ofAmericans,” Peterson said.

The specifics on agricultureare limited, although the 99-page Budget Committee docu-ment proposes reducing thefixed payments that go tofarmers irrespective of pricelevels.

It also would reform “theopen-ended nature of the gov-ernment’s support for cropinsurance, so that agriculturalproducers assume the samekind of responsibility for man-aging risk that other businessesdo.”

House GOP budget planwould slash ag spending


Calhoun County growerDebbie Hagen Kamp saidshe doesn’t rememberanother mid-March whenher family’s peach trees werein full bloom.

Peach trees began bloom-ing the week of March 12on the Hagen FamilyOrchard near Golden Eagle.Kamp said she asked othergrowers, and no one couldremember an earlier fullbloom.

“Of course it’s a worrythat temperatures could gettoo cold and freeze thecrop,” Kamp said.

The family has 20 acresof producing peach treesand another 25 acres ofreplanted peach trees. It alsohas 35 acres of apple trees,whose blooms were in atight cluster last week.

Southern Illinois growersaren’t the only ones withearly blooms and concernsabout cold weather. Mis-souri orchards also havebloomed about three weeksearly, according to the Uni-versity of Missouri.

Many growers in Illinoisand Missouri remember the

crop-killing Easter freeze of2007. Easter that year wason April 8, just as it is thisyear.

Peach blossoms can with-stand a light frost and stillset a crop, but when thethermometer dips into thelow 20s, heavy damage mayoccur.

Kamp’s son, Blake, wasmore optimistic about hisearly crop: “If we getthrough the next couple of

weeks, we’ll be alright. Thefruit will be a little earlier.”

The family sells most ofits fruit at a family retailstore near Brussels, acrossthe river from MarquetteState Park.

Its peach varietiesinclude Red Haven, GlowHaven, Contenders, Loring,and Crest Haven.

“I’m not too concerned,”Blake said. “We can’t changeit anyway.”

Blake Kamp and his mother, Debbie Hagen Kamp, check blossoms onpeach trees at the Hagen Family Orchard near Golden Eagle in CalhounCounty. Their peach trees bloomed three to four weeks earlier than usualdue to mild temperatures. (Photo by Brenda Bizaillion, Calhoun CountyFarm Bureau manager)

Blooms early for Southern Illinois peaches FSA communicatingmore over Internet

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is converting itspaper newsletters and postcards into electronic versionsof E-newsletters, bulletins, and messages, said ScherrieGiamanco, state FSA executive director.

FSA will provide access to newsletters, eligibilityrequirements, deadlines, and related informationthrough an electronic news service hosted by GovDeliv-ery.

In the near future, county newsletters will be providedthrough GovDelivery, said Giamanco.

By signing up for free online communicationsthrough GovDelivery, farmers may receive news, via e-mail, directly to their homes or farm offices.

They may select to receive federal farm program andfarm loan information by topic, by state and/or bycounty.

They also may select other options, such as receivingupdates from every county in which they operate or havean interest.

Farmers may sign up at their local county FSA officeby signing an “AD-2047” that gives FSA permission toacquire their e-mail addresses.

Due to government budget cuts, county offices nolonger are sending paper newsletters.

CorrectionAn individual in a picture accompanying a story on maple

syrup making at Funk Farm in Shirley was misidentified in theMarch 19 issue of FarmWeek. Jonathan Funk was one of thoseemptying buckets of sap into a transport container.

laNd values


ISPFMRA: Illinois land values jump 20 percent in 2011BY DANIEL GRANTFarmWeek

The value of Illinois farm-land continues to creep upafter an amazing run last year,according to members of theIllinois Society of Profession-al Farm Managers and RuralAppraisers (ISPFMRA).

Good to excellent farmlandjumped from a range of$8,000 to $9,000 per acre atthe beginning of 2011 to anaverage of $10,000-plus per

acre by last summer — thefirst time in Illinois historythat excellent land values aver-aged five digits.

The average price of excel-lent farmland in the state as of

auction increased from 37 per-cent in 2010 to 44 percent in2012.

In fact, nearly every countyin the state last year recorded aland sale that set a new,record-high price, accordingto the study.

“Higher (land) prices pulledmore supply on the market,”McCabe said. “It looks like

that’s continued into this year.”ISPFMRA members are

cautiously optimistic land val-ues will remain strong thisyear and into the future,according to Gary Schnitkey,University of Illinois Exten-sion farm management spe-cialist who also is the ISPFM-RA secretary/treasurer.

The majority of ISPFMRAmembers, 60 percent, project-ed the yearly increase in landvalues the next five years willaverage between 0 and 5 per-cent.

“That would be closer tothe historic averages and notwhat happened the last coupleyears,” Schnitkey noted.

Overall, average Illinoisland values last year rangedfrom a low of $3,150 per acrefor average/fair land in South-ern Illinois to $13,000 per acrefor excellent ground in CentralIllinois.

Dec. 31 was estimated at$10,460 per acre, up 20 per-cent for the year.

“It’s an amazing increase,”said Don McCabe of SoyCapital Ag Services and chair-man of the ISPFMRA IllinoisFarmland Values and LeaseTrends report released lastweek.

Increases in Illinois farm-land prices from 1970 to 2011averaged 6.7 percent per year.Yearly increases in farmlandprices jumped to an average of12 percent from 2005 to 2011.

High commodity pricesthat boosted farm incomehave been the main driver inrising farmland prices inrecent years, according to theISPFMRA survey.

“Farmland values areincome-driven right now,”McCabe said.

Local farmers last yearbought the majority of farm-

land, 64 percent, while localand non-local investorssnatched up 26 percent offarmland that was sold in thestate. The rest was purchasedby relocating farmers, institu-tions, and others.

Public auctions havebecome a more popularmethod of selling farmland:The portion of land sold at

FarmWeekNow.com

Listen to Don McCabe’s com-ments about the Illinois farmlandmarket at FarmWeekNow.com.

Farm managers: Communication key to establishing fair cash rents

If “location, location, location” is the key to determiningreal estate values, then “communication, communication,communication” likely is just as important in establishing afair cash rent for farm ground.

Members of the Illinois Society of Professional FarmManagers and Rural Appraisers (ISPFMRA) last week rec-ommended farmers and landowners maintain an open dia-logue each season to stay on top of the ag industry’s highlyvolatile markets.

“It’s hard to identify a (cash rent) value when you havedifferent perspectives on each farm,” Tim Harris of CapitalAgricultural Property Services said last week at the 2012Illinois Land Values Conference hosted by ISPFMRA inBloomington.

“So how do you make a lease fair to the owner and oper-ator?” he continued. “You have to have an honest and frankconversation with the people you’re working with.”

Some farmland owners prefer a fixed cash rent in whichthey have guaranteed income while others prefer leases thatshare the risk but also spread the wealth in good incomeyears, Harris noted.

Traditional cash rent agreements are the most commonleases in Illinois followed by traditional crop share and vari-able cash rent agreements.

“Leases are becoming more diversified to meet clients’needs,” said Ed Kiefer of Hertz Farm Management.

The situation is even trickier in Illinois where a widearray of soil types comes into play.

Average cash rents this year range from a low of $154per acre for the lower third of leases on fair ground to ahigh of $418 per acre for the top third of leases on excel-lent ground.

“The range (in rates) has gotten larger over time,” saidGary Schnitkey, University of Illinois Extension farm man-agement specialist and ISPFMRA secretary/treasurer.

Record income last year encouraged some farmers to bidup cash rents as high as $500-plus per acre.

“Cash rent values are up considerably,” Harris said. “Thelast couple years, a 20 to 30 percent change in cash rents isnot unusual.”

Cash rents between 2011 and 2012 in Illinois increased aaverage of $60 per acre for excellent and good-quality land,$50 per acre for average ground, and $35 per acre for fair-quality farmland, according to ISPFMRA.

The trend is expected to continue as long as farm pricesand income remain strong.

The farm managers, therefore, recommendedfarmers/landowners consider various types of variable orflexible cash rent arrangements and stick to one-year leasesdue to the highly volatile environment. — Daniel Grant

Farmer input sought on Internet trainingBY KAY SHIPMANFarmWeek

A Lake Land Community College pro-fessor is seeking input from farmers andrural residents to help develop rural andag-oriented Internet curriculum and train-ing programs.

Mike Rudibaugh, also the mappingdirector with Partnership for a ConnectedIllinois, wants feedback on topics thathave applications to high-speed Internet.

Increasingly, government and farminformation is being delivered online. Lastweek, the Illinois Farm Service Agency(FSA) reminded farmers it is convertingpaper newsletters and postcards into digi-tal information for the Internet. Due togovernment budget cuts, county FSAoffices are no longer mailing papernewsletters.

Farm Bureau members may send feed-back to Rudibaugh via e-mail [email protected] ormail them in care of Brenda Matherly, Illi-nois Farm Bureau, 1701 Towanda Ave.,Bloomington, Ill., 61701.

Rudibaugh would like feedback on thefollowing potential computer class sub-jects or other topics of interest:

• Real-time weather and market data:Would you like training related to Internetapplications of real-time weather and mar-ket information that target both economicand weather variables that impact farming?

• Aerial images: Are you interested inclasses that would connect you to freefarm-level aerial photography and satelliteimages that may be used to assess cropstress or loss and impacts from floodingor other factors?

• Updating data or uploadingprocesses related to local and state gov-ernments: Do you want to learn how toreach local and state agencies’ data on landuses and assessments, such as those usedfor property tax assessments, land use, andsoil maps?

• Local or regional ag support servic-es: Are you interested in learning how tofind and use information from agriculturalagencies, such as Soil and Water Conserva-tion Districts and local USDA service cen-ters?

• Online education: Would you like tolearn how students may take communitycollege and university courses over theInternet and reduce their expenses?

• Health care: Are you interested inlearning how to research and use the Inter-net to find health care information relatedto diagnosis and care providers and thedigital medical records process.

• Social networking: Would you liketraining on how such social networkingtools as e-mail, audio, and video can beused to communicate with family mem-bers, especially those who don’t live near-by?

The Illinois Department of NaturalResources (IDNR) is reviewing its deermanagement program to decide if changesare needed in hunting seasons, huntingrules, and the effort in some northerncounties to reduce the deer populationsand limit the spread of chronic wastingdisease (CWD).

The review was recommended in 2008by the state’s Joint Legislative Task Forceon Deer Population Control. In the future,IDNR will analyze programs and give thepublic an opportunity to comment onmanagement goals.

The state task force had recommended astatewide 14 percent reduction in the deerherd (as indicated by the rate of deer-vehi-cle accidents), with specific county goals.The statewide accident rate is close to theidentified goal, although it is still higherthan desired in some counties.

In 2009, IDNR expanded a special CWDdeer season and targeted herd reduction incounties where the fatal deer disease was identi-fied. IDNR has used sharpshooters to reducedeer populations in CWD hotspots in NorthernIllinois; however, state budget cuts are causingIDNR to explore its options.

IDNR reviewing deer management

livestock


Unique new business caters to horse travel industryBY DANIEL GRANTFarmWeek

What do you get when youcross a child’s imagination withthe resourcefulness of twohorse and nature lovers?

In East-Central Illinois, theresult is a unique new businessthat caters to the horse travelindustry.

Don and Debbie Mills,Indianola, recently opened ahorse motel on their farm. Don, a retired railroadengineer, also grows cornand soybeans, and Debbie isvice president of partner-ships for the Center forOccupational Research andDevelopment.

The Mills, who have livedon their farm for nearly 40years, admitted they didn’tknow there was demand for

son will be spring to fall aspeople travel with their horsesto shows, rodeos, and variousdestinations for trail rides.

“This was all for the grand-children,” Debbie said. “Theydreamed it, and I put a pen topaper to make it work.”

The Mills already have hadsuch good response to theirnew horse motel and otheramenities that they plan to addat least three more stalls, aboardwalk between their barns,and a sitting area for campers.

“I did the research andfound out there is a whole(equine travel) industry,” Deb-bie said.

The website {www.horse-motel.com} lists 15 operationsin Illinois, including MillsFarm, that provide overnightboarding for horses.

The Mills Farm is locatedabout 20 miles south of Inter-state 74 in southern VermilionCounty.

For more information, visitthe website{www.millsfarm.info}.

facilities to lodge horses fortravelers until they researchedit.

The idea for a horse busi-ness came from their grand-son, Owen, who received amare from a neighbor, RickKnight, to help ease Owen’sbattle with Crohn’s Disease.

“We’ve been going toWyoming (with Owen andgranddaughter Tessa) for yearsso the kids could go campingand trail riding,” Debbie said.“He (Owen) came up with theplan to put together a horsebusiness.

“We humored him at first,

but it really grew into some-thing.”

Mills Farm has a new horsebarn with three Amish-builtstalls, two camper spots, nearly4 miles of trails, a training are-na, and a small pond stockedfor fishing.

They expect the busy sea-

Debbie Mills walks one of her family’s horses in a pasture in front of a new horse barn that was constructedto serve as a horse motel. Mills and her husband, Don, who live on a farm in southern Vermilion County, re-cently entered the horse travel industry at the request of their grandson, Owen. (Photo by Daniel Grant)

Study: Economic impact of livestock industry grows in Illinois

FarmWeekNow.com

Learn more about horse hotelslocated in Illinois at FarmWeek-Now.com.

The economic impact ofthe livestock industry contin-ues to grow in Illinoisdespite the fact that there arefewer producers and fewertotal head of some species ofanimals in the state.

The entire livestock com-plex — including production,meat, and dairy processing— last year produced morethan $27 billion of totalimpact on the state’s econo-my, according to an updatedUniversity of Illinois studyrequested by the Illinois

Livestock DevelopmentGroup (ILDG).

The most recent economicimpact is up from $21 billionin 2004.

“The Illinois livestockand meat and dairy process-ing industries provide a sig-nificant source of revenuefor our local, regional, andstate economies, whileemploying 1.4 percent ofthe state’s workers and con-tributing to our local, state,and federal taxes” said RobShaffer, a cow-calf producer

from El Paso and ILDGchairman.

As of 2007 there were14,800 cow-calf operationsin the state, 3,700 fed cattleoperations, 1,200 dairy oper-ations, 2,900 hog operations,1,900 sheep operations, 470goat operations, 938 poultryoperations, 3,071 horsefarms, and 29 aquacultureoperations.

The pork industry since2000 has grown by 14.4 per-cent in the state, and thepoultry meat and eggs sectorhas grown from a “very lowbase.” But gross receiptshave declined the past decadefor milk, beef, sheep, andlambs, according to thestudy.

“While the industry hasrealized a number-of-animalsdecline during the past 30years, since 2000 Illinois stillshows modest growth in thereal value of products sold,”Shaffer said.

And consumers aroundthe world likely will continueto demand increased produc-tion of livestock. Meat con-sumption from the mid-1990s through 2010 grew byabout 15 percent, according

to the report.A full copy of the report

can be viewed at the ILDG

website {www.illinoislive-stock.org}. Click on the“research” tab.

‘The Illinois livestock and meat and dairy processingindustries provide a significant source of revenue.’

— Rob ShafferIllinois Livestock Development Group chairman

livestock


Calving season off to good start for YL chairmanBY DANIEL GRANTFarmWeek

Monica Stevens, IllinoisFarm Bureau Young Leaderchairman, basically is on call24 hours a day this time everyyear because of the calvingseason.

And that’s just the way shelikes it.

“This is my time of year,”she told FarmWeek last weekduring the State YL Commit-tee meeting in Bloomington. “Ilove this segment of ourindustry.

“You can see the effects ofall your hard work,” she con-tinued. “Efforts in nutrition,health, and care for your herdreally show during calving sea-son.”

Stevens of Altona in KnoxCounty is the third generationof her family to raise purebred

Shorthorn cattle. Her grandfa-ther purchased the firstcow/calf and started the herdin 1943.

So far this season, Stevens’herd has delivered 15 calves,including a set of twins. That’sabout one-quarter of the waythrough the calving season forthe YL chairman.

“The weather has beengreat during calving season,”said Stevens, who noted thecalves’ weights so far haveaveraged about 85 pounds.“Once they’re born, they’vehad a really great start.”

Stevens’ herd is on a feed-ing schedule that promotesmany of the births to occurduring the day.

But it’s not uncommon forher to get up in the middle ofthe night to check on cowsthat are close to giving birth.

“We’ve had to pull a fewcalves,” she said. “I had to callthe vet at 1 a.m. one morningbecause a calf was coming outbackward. He (the vet) gotthere at 2 a.m.” and delivered ahealthy calf.

Once each calf is born, it isweighed, goes through a vacci-nation program, and receives atemporary identification.

“My dad (Glenn) and I

take great pride caring forthe cattle. They are wellcared for,” Stevens said. “Ilive by the motto ‘My cattleeat before I do’.”

Young Leaders this sum-mer will spotlight various seg-ments of the state’s top indus-try with an ag tour of South-ern Illinois. Another YL agtour will be held in the north-east U.S.

“A lot of people don’t real-ize how much business agbrings to Illinois, and the live-stock industry is a large part ofthat,” Stevens said.

Stevens plans to write aboutcalving season next month onthe IFB Young Leader blogthat is online at {http://ilf-byl.wordpress.com}. The blogcontains entries from all theYL State Committee members.

Monica Stevens, IFB Young Leader chairman from Altona (Knox County),places a temporary identification tag on a newborn calf. Stevens, a third-generation cattle producer, said the unseasonably warm weather so farthis spring has been good for the calving season. (Photo by Glenn Stevens)

Most livestock producers have had thistleproblems at one time or another. Unfortunate-ly, not all thistles are alike, and likewise theycannot be controlled alike, according to MattMontgomery, Extension educator with theUniversity of Illinois Extension.

The musk thistle is dispersed throughoutIllinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. Itis a biennial with lavender flowers and grows acouple to several feet tall. The leaves are deeplylobed but aren’t very hairy. The undergroundportion of the plant consists of a taproot.

Bull thistle also has a taproot and is a bien-nial. Its leaves are deeply lobed, hairy, andspiny. The flowers are about the same width asthe musk thistle’s, but bull thistle flowers tendto be dark red to purple.

The flower itself opens atop a bulb-like mass.Mature bull thistles tend to be about half tothree-quarters the size of mature musk thistles.

Canada thistle is a perennial with leaves thatare somewhat lobed, rather smooth, spiny, andcrinkled.

Canada thistle flowers are lavender and also

open atop a bulb-like mass; however, the flow-ers are much smaller than the flowers of themusk thistle or bull thistle. Unlike musk thistleor bull thistle, Canada thistle produces a net-work of horizontal roots.

All three are best managed in the seedlingstage, Montgomery said. After that stage, thebest time to control the thistles varies depend-ing on whether they are a biennial or perennial.

Biennials, such as musk thistle and bull this-tle, form a circular cluster of leaves duringtheir first year, bolt out a seed head the secondyear, and then die.

Perennials, such as the Canada thistle, growyear after year. The network of horizontalunderground roots allows them to overwinteracross multiple seasons.

Biennials are best managed in the rosette stagewhen there is a ground cluster of leaves andbefore a seed head shoots out, Montgomery said.

Perennials are best managed just beforeflowering or just before dormancy when herbi-cides are most likely to translocate into theroot system, he said.

Thistle identification important for management

Cattle market could slide near-termCattle prices near-term

could slide and perhaps put ina seasonal low as beef suppliesappear “ade-quate” to meetdemand,according toRich Nelson,director ofresearch atAllendale Inc.in McHenry.

USDA in itsmonthly cattleon feed reportreleased Fridayestimated the inventory of cattleand calves in U.S. feedlots onMarch 1 totaled 11.67 millionhead, up 3 percent from last year.

Placements in feedlots,which totaled 1.71 millionhead, also were up 3 percentfrom the same time last year.

“The report was close to(trade) expectations,” Nelsonsaid. “We have adequate sup-plies (near-term).”

Cattle slaughter last weektotaled 605,000 head, down 4.4percent from a year ago. Butheavier slaughter weights (seegraphic) made up for theshortfall of animals.

Slaughter weights have beenabove year-ago levels the pastnine consecutive weeks, RonPlain, ag economist at the Uni-

versity of Missouri, reported.The higher cattle weights,

combined with a lack of con-sumer demanddomestically,helped boostbeef supplies.USDA report-ed beef in coldstorage at theend of Febru-ary totaled 466millionpounds, up 1.4percent fromlast year.

“Short-term, I look for ageneral slide (in the cattle mar-ket), which always happensbetween spring and summer,”Nelson said.

The analyst projected cashcattle prices could dip to $116per hundredweight comparedto higher prices the first quar-ter. The price of slaughtersteers in February averaged$125 per hundredweight, up$17.10 compared to the sametime a year ago.

“Compared to what we’reused to, that (estimated sea-sonal low of $116) isn’t a badprice,” Nelson said. “But somecattle feeders still could facesome losses” due in part tohigh production costs.

The cattle market is expect-

ed to rebound the second halfof the year, particularly in thefourth quarter, as a dwindlingherd pressures beef supplies.

“Long-term, we’ll be lookingat small supplies, which will showup at feedlots,” Nelson said.

He predicted Decembercattle futures could reach $136per hundredweight by thefourth quarter.

Year-to-date beef productionthrough last week was down 3.5percent compared to 2011.

Marketings of fed cattle inFebruary totaled 1.76 millionhead, down 2 percent from ayear ago, USDA reported. —Daniel Grant

‘ We h ave a d e -quate supplies (ofbeef and cattle).’

— Rich NelsonAllendale Inc.

LIVESTOCK


U of I study: DDGS safe to feed to pigs

University of Illinoisresearchers report that hogscan be fed distiller’s driedgrain with solubles (DDGS)despite the sulfur content.

“When you buy DDGS,you don’t have to be con-cerned about the level of sul-fur it contains because theredoesn’t appear to be anyimpact on pig performance,”said Hans Stein, U of I animalscience professor.

DDGS is an ethanol co-product.

To maintain a stable pH infermentation vats, ethanolproducers use sulfuric acid,which results in a DDGS sul-fur content that varies accord-ing to how much sulfuric acidwas used. Until now, the effectof low levels of sulfur in thediet on growth performancein pigs fed DDGS had notbeen determined, Stein said.

“Sulfur is toxic to cattle. Ifthere is 0.4 percent sulfur inthe diet, cattle start gettingsick,” Stein said. “Becausethere hasn’t been any work onsulfur toxicity with swine, wewanted to determine how sul-fur affects palatability andperformance in pigs.”

In a recent study, Stein’sresearch team compared a

low-sulfur (0.3 of a percentsulfur) DDGS diet with ahigh-sulfur (0.9 of a percentsulfur) DDGS diet. The sameDDGS were used in bothgroups. The researchers com-pared palatability and growthperformance of the pigs fedthe low-sulfur and high-sulfurdiets.

“We conducted four experi-ments: two with weanling pigsand two with growing-finish-ing pigs,” said Stein. “In bothweanling pigs and growing-fin-ishing pigs, there was absolute-ly no difference between thetwo. The levels of sulfur weused in our experiments hadno impact on palatability orpig growth performance.”

Stein said the researchresults would be useful tofarmers who are interested inincorporating DDGS intoswine diets, but furtherresearch is needed to deter-mine whether excess sulfurfrom a high-sulfur DDGS dietis deposited into swine tissues.

The research was publishedin the “Journal of Animal Sci-ence.” Researchers includedStein, Beob Kim of KonkukUniversity in Seoul, SouthKorea, and Yan Zhang of theNational Corn to EthanolResearch Center inEdwardsville. Funding wasprovided by the National PorkBoard.

RAISING DUST

Chris Stoller of Gridley stirs up a cloud of dust as he works part of the 3,000 acres of ground near Lex-ington that he farms in partnership with his father, Roger, and Bruce Klein. Summer-like temperatures al-lowed a great deal of fieldwork to get done last week, but lack of soil moisture was becoming a bit of aconcern. (Photo by Cyndi Cook)

EQIP assistance available for livestock operations

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)can assist Illinois livestock operators of all kinds.

EQIP, a voluntary program through USDA’s NaturalResources Conservation Service (NRCS), offers farmers tech-nical guidance and funding to fix resource problems such aserosion, nutrient application issues, and manure management.

“These are just some of the very real issues on Illinoisfarms that producers deal with every day,” said Ivan Dozier,NRCS assistant state conservationist. “They affect the long-term health of their operation, the health of the land andlivestock, and water quality,”

“If you’ve noticed a new issue on your ground or if youhave an old concern that just keeps coming back, give us acall,” Dozier said.

The list of EQIP solutions available covers a wide range ofpractices.

NRCS reminds farmers that EQIP also offers planning anddesign assistance at no cost for conservation practices neededin livestock operations, such as forage species selection, pas-ture management, water facilities, or rotational grazing strate-gies.

Resource issues associated with confined livestock opera-tions always have been a priority for NRCS. EQIP practiceoptions for producers with confined beef and hog operationsoffer helpful solutions for air quality, manure transfer, nutri-ent management, and more.

“For many, the financial assistance NRCS offers withEQIP is critical to successfully manage and treat excess nutri-ents generated from large farm operations,” Dozier explained.

Farmers still have time to submit an application for EQIP.Contact your county NRCS team for an appointment andmore information.

AROUND ILLINOIS



County Farm Bureau leadersin Fayette and Bond countiesliterally are stepping up to theplate to help feed hungry fami-lies in their counties.

Starting its second year,Fayette County Farm Bureau isworking with the Central Illi-nois Foodbank to find countylocations and volunteers tohelp distribute food throughmobile pantries, said KristyGilmore, the Springfield-basedFoodbank’s manager of foodand agency resources.

An extra challenge this yearis raising $1,100 for a one-dayvisit of the mobile pantry dueto the Foodbank’s budget cuts.

Fayette County already hasraised funding for an April 14mobile pantry and is workingto raise $2,200 for two morevisits, while Bond County FarmBureau is working to raise themoney and to help with themobile food pantry, said RonMarshel, the manager for bothcounty Farm Bureaus.

“Without their (county FarmBureaus) support, we won’t beable to continue to have mobile

food pantries” in those coun-ties, said Gilmore, who coordi-nates the mobile pantries forrural and underserved counties.

A mobile pantry is a truckand 26-foot trailer that holds12,000-pounds of food, includ-

ing fresh fruit and vegetables,enough for 200 to 400 families.With help of 25 to 30 local vol-unteers, the mobile pantryarrives, unloads, and distributesfood within a couple of hoursevery other month.

“They’ve been phenome-nal,” Gilmore said of the coun-ty Farm Bureau leaders andstaff.

She noted how county FarmBureau volunteers have con-tacted civic groups and church-es to help staff food distribu-tions. The county Farm Bureaualso helped find a forklift tounload the 12,000-pound loadthat otherwise would need tobe done by hand.

Marshel said he has beentouched by the number offamilies with young children,elderly, and people with dis-abilities who have beenserved.

“People will say, ‘Godbless you,’ and ‘I didn’t knowwhere my next meal was com-ing from.’ Once you start vol-unteering, you’re hooked,”Marshel said. “Many of mydirectors have told me, ‘This

is really great.’”The mobile pantries meet a

need in the two counties,according to Marshel. Forexample, Fayette County hasseveral smaller food banks,but none has refrigerationspace and are not able tooffer fresh produce or milk.

Central Illinois Foodbankserves 21 Central Illinoiscounties and works to offermobile pantries in Bond,Christian, Fayette, Green,Logan, and Morgan counties.

The Foodbank has seenrequests for food grow by 40percent over the last coupleof years, and that continuesto rise, Gilmore said.

“Our (county FarmBureau) directors, eventhough they’re busy farming,they take time to help do this.It’s just contagious,” Marshelsaid.

County Farm Bureaus mobilize to feed local hungry

Fayette County Farm Bureau President Ken Cripe helps a woman andchild receive food from a 2011 mobile food pantry through the CentralIllinois Foodbank. The county Farm Bureau has helped find locationsand funding for the mobile pantries, and county Farm Bureau volunteershave helped unload and distribute food. (Photo courtesy Central IllinoisFoodbank)

Illinois Farm Bureau Leadership Academy participants work on a groupproject during the recent event in Springfield. Left to right are Rollo Bur-nett of Massac County Farm Bureau, Joseph Zumwalt of Hancock Coun-ty Farm Bureau, and Chris Gould of Kane County Farm Bureau. (Photoby Dave Stille, IFB training and development manager)

Second IFB leadership class graduatesEleven county Farm Bureau leaders from around the state gradu-

ated from the recent Illinois Farm Bureau Leadership Academy inSpringfield. This marks the second year of the training program.

Over two and a half days, the leaders received hands-on trainingand presentations from industry and business leaders. The partici-pants also worked on team projects and activities.

Graduates and their county Farm Bureaus were: David Haase, Ford-Iroquois; Joseph Zumwalt, Hancock; Kyle Embry, Jo Daviess; ChrisGould and Dale Pitstick, both of Kane; Jason Bunting, Livingston;Edward Leonard Jr., Macon; Rollo Burnett, Massac; Marie Denzer-Far-ley, McLean; Randall Bulthaus, Ogle; and David White, Wayne.

Speakers discussed leader ethics, working with elected officials,and issue management.

County Farm Bureau boards nominated up to two leaders forthe academy. Participants were selected from the nominee pools bya panel of judges.

Twenty-seven tractors — big,small, new, and old — recentlymade a 20-plus mile trek aroundJackson County for a good cause.All $1,300 raised by the poker runoperated by the Jackson CountyFarm BureauYoung Farmersduring the eventwas donated toCardinal Glen-non Children’s Foundation.

The drive started at CanningAuction, looped through thenursing home in Murphysboro,down Gartside Street to Mur-physboro Lake and across theAva Blacktop and into the coun-tryside.

The riders stopped atGlenn Schlimpert RecreationArea, where they were givenhomemade treats made by theFarm Bureau Women’s Com-mittee and provided water sup-

plied by RuralKing.

The drive even-tually ended upback at Canning

Auction, where riders were pro-vided lunch by Hilltoppers 4-HClub. Prizes for winners of thepoker run were donated byNAPA, Davis Farm Supply,Suchomski Farm Equipment,H-R Power-Vergennes, & Mor-ton Buildings.

Tractor run garners $1,300

fROM THE COuNTIES


BUREAU — FarmBureau will sponsor an

informational meeting for theNew Zealand and Australiatrip at 2 p.m. Thursday at theFarm Bureau office. The tripwill be Jan. 22-Feb. 7, 2013.

• Wellness screenings willbe from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.Tuesday, April 3, at the FarmBureau office. Screenings willinclude carotid arteries,abdominal aortic aneurysm,peripheral artery disease, andosteoporosis. Cost is $100.Call 877-732-8258 for anappointment.

EDGAR — Deadlinefor the Edgar County

Farm Bureau Foundationscholarship applications is Fri-day. The application is on theFarm Bureau website at{www.edgarcountyfarmbu-reau.org}.

FAYETTE — A dis-cussion on carbon

sequestration in Fayette andsurrounding counties will beat 8:15 a.m. Wednesday onWPMB 1500 AM or 104.7FM. Laura Harmon, IllinoisFarm Bureau assistant gener-al counsel, and Rae Payne,Illinois Farm Bureau seniordirector of business and reg-ulatory affairs, will partici-pate in the discussion.

JACKSON — FarmBureau will sponsor a

livestock outlook meeting at6:30 p.m. Monday (today) atthe Goreville Sale Barn. Din-ner will be served. Call theFarm Bureau office for moreinformation.

• Farm Bureau will sponsoran equine outlook meeting at6:30 p.m. Tuesday at theGoreville Sale Barn. Doorprizes will be given. Call the

• Deadline to return Foun-dation scholarship applica-tions is Saturday. The Foun-dation is offering five $1,000scholarships to students pur-suing an agriculture-baseddegree. Call the Farm Bureauoffice at 686-7070 for moreinformation.

STARK — FarmBureau will sponsor an

informational meeting at 6p.m. Thursday at the FarmBureau office for the Jan. 22through Feb. 7 trip to Aus-tralia and New Zealand.The trip also is open to non-Farm Bureau members. Callthe Farm Bureau office at309-286-7481 for moreinformation.

UNION — FarmBureau will sponsor a

livestock outlook meeting at6:30 p.m. Monday (today) atthe Goreville Sale Barn. Din-

ner will be served. Call theFarm Bureau office for moreinformation.

• Farm Bureau will sponsoran equine outlook meeting at6:30 p.m. Tuesday at theGoreville Sale Barn. Doorprizes will be given. Call theFarm Bureau office for moreinformation.

WABASH — FarmBureau will sponsor a

Farmers’ Share breakfast from7 to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday atHogg Heaven BBQ. Therewill be a choice of threebreakfasts served with juiceand coffee for 25 cents perperson.

“From the counties” items aresubmitted by county Farm Bureaumanagers. If you have an event oractivity open to all members, con-tact your county Farm Bureaumanager.

Farm Bureau office for moreinformation.

KNOX — Farm Bureauand the Galesburg

Area Chamber of Commercewill sponsor a Farm City Dayat 5 p.m. Tuesday at KnoxCollege. Dinner will be served.Carl Ice, Burlington NorthernSante Fe Railway presidentand chief operating officer,will be the speaker. Ticketsare $20 and may be purchasedat the Farm Bureau office.

LEE — District 4Young Leaders from

Bureau, LaSalle, and LeeCounty Farm Bureaus willhave a pizza and bowling partyThursday. Pizza will be at6:30 p.m. at Mama Ciminos,with bowling to follow atPlum Hollow Family Center,Dixon. Call the Farm Bureauoffice at 815-857-3531 or e-mail [email protected] forreservations or more informa-tion.

LIVINGSTON —Farm Bureau will spon-

sor an “On the Road” seminarat 7 p.m. Thursday at theFarm Bureau office. KevinRund, Illinois Farm Bureausenior director of local gov-ernment, will be the speaker.Trucking laws will be dis-cussed. Call the Farm Bureauoffice at 825-842-1103 forreservations or more informa-tion.

MONROE — TheAgriScience Expo

open house will be at 10:30a.m. Saturday at the MonroeCounty Annex. Seventh gradestudents will conduct theirown AgriScience investigationas part of the AgriScienceRoadshow, which is funded byMonsanto’s “America’s Farm-

ers Grow Communities” pro-gram. Call the Farm Bureauoffice for more information.

• A public forum on theproposed wind tower ordi-nance will be from 7 to 8:30p.m. Thursday, April 5, at theMonroe County Courthousewest meeting room. Call thezoning office at 939-8681, ext.260, for a copy of the pro-posed ordinance contract.

PEORIA — A “Farm-ers’ Marketing – Rise of

the Peoria Locavore” sessionwill be from 6:30 to 8 p.m.Tuesday at the Farm Bureauoffice. Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, University of IllinoisExtension, will discuss “TheArt and Science of a Farmers’Market Display” and Ele-vatePR will discuss socialmedia fundamentals. Call theFarm Bureau office for moreinformation.

EXPORTING AG IN THE CLASSROOM

Recently Kent Prather, director of the Schuyler County Farm Bureau,went with his church, the Corner Stone Christian Church, to assist

students at the Sonlight Acade-my in Por t-au-prince, Haiti.His main focus was helping theschool maintain and repairequipment. But while there,

Prather also shared an Ag in the Classroom lesson on trees and cornwith 26 fourth grade students. Afterward, the students were given M& M candy, learning that corn syrup helped make the candy sweet.(Photo taken by Corner Stone Christian Church volunteer Holly Still,courtesy of the Schuyler County Farm Bureau)

Cook County FB celebrates 25 years of AITCThe Cook County Farm Bureau Board of

Directors along with volunteers, presenters, andformer staff celebrated the 25th anniversary ofthe Ag in the Classroom (AITC) program inCook County earlier this month.

Fifty people gathered to reminisce abouttheir years with the program and share theirmemories. Gail Petersdorff, the first AITCcoordinator, spoke about the beginnings of theprogram in 1986 and how she developed theconcept of reaching out to Cook County chil-dren.

Haley Siergiej spoke about her additions tothe program, including the Ag LeadershipAcademy (a day-long program in which urbanhigh school students who belong to the Nation-al FFA organization are given the opportunityto see farms and agribusinesses along withlearning about the diversity of careers availablein agriculture) and Ag Day (an event for urbanthird grade students to experience agricultureup close and personal by spending two hoursrotating through “ag stations” at varying loca-tions).

Diane Merrion, the current coordinator,added some thoughts about the future of AgLiteracy efforts and outreach.

Jim Bloomstrand and Joan Ramsey, who havebeen presenters for 10 years and have given theAITC program to more than 80,000 students in

Cook County during that time, were honoredfor their service.

Kevin Daugherty, director of Illinois Agri-culture in the Classroom (IAITC), spoke about

of the impact of the program both in Illinoisand across the country.

In 1981, at the invitation of USDA, repre-sentatives of agricultural groups and educatorsattended a meeting in Washington, D.C., to dis-cuss agricultural literacy.

A national task force was selected from thisgroup, which was represented by agriculture,business, education, and governmental agencies.

This new task force recommended thatUSDA be the coordinator and that it sponsorregional meetings to help states organize theirown programs. As a result, in 1981, USDAestablished AITC.

For many years in Illinois, the Illinois FarmBureau was the state contact for AITC. In thefall of 2005, the IFB AITC program mergedwith Partners for Agricultural Literacy to formIAITC, combining the efforts of a number ofentities interested in ag education.

3 county Farm Bureaus honored for ag literacyThree Illinois county Farm

Bureaus were awarded $500mini-grants each for agricultur-al literacy efforts by the Ameri-can Farm Bureau Foundationfor Agriculture.

Marshall-Putnam FarmBureau received a grant for amobile farm exhibit, resourcelibraries, books, and DVDs tohelp teach about agriculture inelementary schools.

Massac County FarmBureau received a grant for anagri-board game with ques-tions related to all aspects ofagriculture.

Piatt County Farm Bureaureceived a grant for a bookbarn filled with ag-relatedbooks, games, props, and farmmachinery.

The grants are funded

through the White-ReinhartFund for Education programs,which is used to fund new proj-ects or extend existing ones.

Selection criteria includedthe effectiveness of the strong

connection between agricul-ture and education and howeffectively the programsencouraged students to learnmore about agriculture and thefood and fiber industry.

Auction CalendarMon., Mar. 26. 9:30 a.m. Lg. SpringMachinery Auction. TAYLORVILLE, IL.

Micenheimer Auction Service.www.micenheimer.com

Wed., Mar. 28. 10 a.m. Land Auction.Grandchildren of Cecil A. Long,

ASSUMPTION, IL. Wm. Beck Auction &Realty. www.williambeckauctions.comWed., Mar. 28. 9:30 a.m. Huge 41st

Annual Farmers’ Con. Auction. ALBERS,IL. Mark Krausz Auction Service. krausza-

uctions.comThurs., Mar. 29. 7 p.m. Montgomery Co.

Farmland. BUTLER, IL.aumannauctions.com

Thurs., Mar. 29. 10:30 a.m. EstateAuction. Thomas Embry Estate,

HANOVER, IL. Powers Auction Service.www.powersauction.com

Thurs., Mar. 29. 6 p.m. Mason CountyFarmland. Margareta A. Furrer, EASTON,

IL. Knollenberg Auction Service.

www.knollenberg.net or www.auc-tionzip.com ~ #16096

Thurs., Mar. 29. 10 a.m. 80 Ac. Ford Co.Barry and Gloria Brown, PIPER CITY, IL.Immke and Bradleys’ Auction Service.

biddersandbuyers.com/immkeFri., Mar. 30. 10 a.m. Land Auction. GRI-DLEY, IL. John Leezer, Broker. www.illi-

noisfarms4sale.comFri., Mar. 30. 11 a.m. Farm machinery.Bill Walker, BRISTOL, WI. Gordon Stade,Auctioneer. www.gordonstadeauc-

tions.comFri., Mar. 30. 9:30 a.m. Northwest Eq.

Area Farmers and Dealers Auction. ORE-GON, IL. www.northwestequip.netFri., Mar. 30. 11 a.m. Christian Co.Farmland. Yolande V. Branham 1994Revocable Trust, OWANECO, IL. CoryCraig, Auctioneer. www.corycraig.comSat., Mar. 31. 1 p.m. Real Estate. Estateof Philip L. Lowe, JOHNSONVILLE, IL.

Carson Auction & Realty Co. wwwcarson-auctionandrealty.com

profitability


Export inspections(Million bushels)

Week ending Soybeans Wheat Corn03-15-12 23.7 21.0 23.203-08-12 26.3 31.7 38.5Last year 30.0 26.1 30.9Season total 958.5 795.6 897.4Previous season total 1244.8 938.7 920.6USDA projected total 1275 1000 1700Crop marketing year began June 1 for wheat and Sept. 1 for corn and soybeans.

Feeder pig prices reported to USDA*Weight Range Per Head Weighted Ave. Price10 lbs. $33.08-51.64 $41.7940 lbs. n/a n/a50 lbs. no longer reported by USDAReceipts This Week Last Week 130,995 88,144*Eastern Corn Belt prices picked up at seller’s farm

MARKET FACTS

Eastern Corn Belt direct hogs (plant delivered)(Prices $ per hundredweight)

This week Prev. week ChangeCarcass $78.97 $83.81 -4.84Live $58.44 $62.02 -3.58

(Thursday’s price)This week Prev. week Change

Steers 126.82 126.19 0.63 Heifers 126.85 126.18 0.67

USDA five-state area slaughter cattle price

This is a composite price of feeder cattle transactions in 27 states.(Prices $ per hundredweight)

This week Prev. week Change 154.05 155.71 -1.66

CME feeder cattle index — 600-800 Lbs.

Lamb prices

(Thursday’s price)

Slaughter Prices - Negotiated, Live, wooled and shorn 120-170 lbs. for143.97-183.10 $/cwt. (wtd. ave. 152.12); dressed, no sales reported.

Agronomy handbook available onlineUniversity of Illinois crop sciences professor Emerson

Nafziger announced Friday that the Illinois Agronomy Handbookis now available online at {http://extension.cropsci.illinois. -edu/handbook}.

According to Nafziger, “For decades, the Illinois AgronomyHandbook has been a major source of agronomic informationin Illinois and throughout the Corn Belt.” Since it was firstproduced in the 1970s, it was updated 22 times until the 2001-2002 edition. The subsequent edition, named the 23rd, wascurrent until 2009, during which time an online version thatincluded some calculators was developed.

“A few years ago, we decided to do another, more thoroughrevision,” said Nafziger. The result was the 24th edition, pub-lished in mid-2009, which completely revised some sections.After its publication, the web-based 23rd edition was takendown.

Nafziger said the 24th edition has enjoyed good sales and isin wide use. But without special funding and with the need tosell paper copies to recoup the investment in the handbook, itis has not been possible to put up a web-based version untilnow. “We hope to get some of the calculators revamped andrunning in the near future,” he said.

Chapters can be viewed and downloaded from the website. “While we expect that this may be the last time the hand-

book is published as a book on paper, we think that individualauthors will now be able to revise chapters as needed,”Nafziger said.

“We also anticipate that the chapters may form the frame-work on which we can add other information and links as theyare developed.”

Maximizing your grain system is all about the combineBY RANDY HOLTHAUS

As we bid farewell to the“winter that wasn’t” and awaitthe green flag start of anothernew crop year, it’s a greatopportunity to use the upcom-ing windshield time to ponderhow to maximize the perform-ance of your grain handlingsystem.

The No. 1 rule: It’s all aboutthe combine. If you breakdown the driving force behindevery grain system’s primarypurpose, it’s about keeping thecombine running.

When the combine is sittingstill, you are not happy. Itmeans that somewhere downthe line you have a bottleneck

holding up your ability to har-vest your crop and completeyour post-harvest work.

Grain system maximizationmust start atthe combine.Consider theamount ofgrain it iscapable ofinjecting intoyour harvestprocess. Dothe math and

determine the bushels perhour harvested times the num-ber of hours that you want torun each day.

Divide the number ofbushels harvested by the sizeof the grain cart and/ortruck(s) that will transport thegrain to the receiving point todetermine the number oftrips. Factor in the distanceyou need to travel and thetime needed to travel that dis-tance.

Travel time is directly affect-ed by how fast the receivingpoint can unload the transportvehicle. Receiving speed isdirectly impacted by pit size,

handling equipment capacity,and the amount of wet holdingcapacity.

Wet holding capacity is

directly impacted by the sizeand speed of the dryer, whichis directly affected by the grainmoisture. Drying capacity isalso directly affected bywhether you run your dryer atfull heat or heat/cool.

Grain dried with full heatneeds time to steep and even-tually be cooled to ambienttemperature. Dry grain stor-age capacity and your ability tounload and ship the dry grainquickly, especially if you have astorage deficit, also can jam upthe process. Wherever theproblem surfaces, the endresult is always the same — the

combine is parked and you arewaiting.

Sound complicated? It isn’treally as difficult as it seems.

Grain system maximizationis an exercise in logistics andwell-rehearsed choreography.Every single component andstep in the process has to beanalyzed and considered forthe part it plays. It all starts atthe combine!

Your FS grain systems spe-cialist is specifically trained toassist in analyzing and identify-ing your system’s bottlenecksto keep your combine running.

Randy Holthaus is GROW-MARK’s grain systems operationsmanager. His e-mail address [email protected].

Randy Holthaus

If you break down the driving forcebehind every grain system’s primarypurpose, it’s about keeping the com-bine running.

PROFITABILITY

AgriVisor Hotline Number

309-557-2274

AgriVisor endorsescrop insurance by

Policies issued by COUNTRYMutual Insurance Company®,

Bloomington, Illinois

AgriVisor LLC1701 N. Towanda Avenue

PO Box 2500Bloomington IL 61702-2901

309-557-3147

AgriVisor LLC is not liable for any damageswhich anyone may sustain by reason of inac-curacy or inadequacy of information providedherein, any error of judgment involving anyprojections, recommendations, or advice orany other act of omission.

CASH STRATEGISTCorn Strategy

ü2011 crop: The ease withwhich corn prices declineenhance the odds the marketis ready to turn down into the20-week low coming in earlyMay. Make catch-up sales onstrength. Under the right cir-cumstances, we might evenrecommend wrapping upsales.

ü2012 crop: Use rallies to$5.60 on December futures tomake catch-up sales. Wecould add another sale at anytime; check the Hotline daily.

vFundamentals: Thebreak in prices wasn’t surpris-ing given the talk of earlyplanting in various locationsacross the three “I” states. Butmost producers are holding offuntil insurance replant guaran-tees take hold in early April.The action this coming week,ahead of Friday’s planting andgrain stocks reports, could bechoppy unless financial influ-ences dictate otherwise. Earlyexpectations indicate cornacres should come in at 94 mil-lion to 95 million. And giventhe old-crop fundamentals, thestocks report could be asimportant as the plantings.

Soybean Strategyü2011 crop: Ongoing talk

about smaller South Americancrops and Chinese buying issupporting prices. But techni-cal indicators suggest thismove up has become over-done. We could wrap-up old-crop sales at any time. Funda-mental support may weakenunless weather becomes anissue this summer.

ü2012 crop: Use rallies forcatch-up sales. With Novem-ber futures near a key objective,we could recommend anothersale at any time, but may wait tosee Friday’s USDA reports.

vFundamentals: TheArgentine government esti-mated its farmers’ outputwould be 44 million metrictons (mmt) this year, withinthe 43.5-44 mmt range previ-ously forecast. But givenmonth-long rains, it easilycould end up being closer tothe USDA’s 46.5 mmt fore-cast. While harvest is juststarting, yield reports mayoffer an insight on how laterains impacted the crop.

Brazilian expectations areeroding as well, but neither isas important as our new crop.

Wheat Strategyü2011 crop: The trend in

prices turned down whenChicago May futures closedbelow $6.38. Prices shouldslip lower into seasonal lowsthis summer, but they couldexperience a modest, short-term rebound beforehand.Use rallies to wrap-up old-crop sales. With the end ofthe marketing year windingdown, use the cash market tomake sales unless basis isunusually wide, but don’t carryinventories beyond April.

ü2012 crop: Use rallies to$6.60 on Chicago July futuresto make catch-up sales. Pro-ducers selling 100 percent offthe combine need to beaggressive in making sales onrallies. If the market were torebound after the reports, wecould recommend another 10percent new-crop sale. Stayclose to the Hotline.

vFundamentals: Thefundamental structure forwheat remains weak unlesssomething happens to thecrop this spring. Our newcrop looks good, with theSouthern Plains having pickedup needed moisture.

Cents per bu.

Focus on Chinese soybean imports


they’ve only imported 6 mmtone other time, and then it wasnot done in consecutivemonths. But if April’s importswere to reach 5 mmt, it poten-tially would be possible toreach that 25 percent increase.

The other question is fromwhere the imports will come.Through February, 6.2 mmt ofChinese imports have comefrom the U.S., down from 7.1mmt last year. For the market-ing year, our sales to themhave totaled only 20.4 mmt,with 18.2 mmt having beenshipped. Last year we had sold25.2 mmt and shipped 20.7mmt. Our sales/shipmentswere reduced by the amplesupply still coming out ofSouth America.

Going forward, we expectSouth America to be its typicalaggressive seller/shipper in thepost-harvest period. If so, oursales/shipments to China intosummer may not be much larg-er than they were a year ago.

Through the rest of ourmarketing year, we may onlyneed to sell the Chinese 7 mil-lion to 8 million bushels aweek to cover what they needto buy from us. As we havesaid before, the fundamentalbenefit of the smaller-than-expected South Americancrops comes with our new-crop export campaign. Andthe level of those sales/ship-ments depends in part on therobustness of the Chineseeconomy.

Chinese soybean purchasescontinue to get a lot of atten-tion in the trade. The focusramped up a little more lastweek when the government-connected “think tank,” theNational Grains and OilseedsInformation Center, indicatedimports through the first halfof this year would be 25 per-cent larger than they were lastyear.

The significance of thatmay be distorted somewhatgiven that imports the first fivemonths of 2011 were no largerthan they were in 2010 becauseof poor processing margins.

Through February, actualimports only were 13 percentlarger than 2010’s subduedpace. That suggests the paceof imports needs to accelerateto achieve the projected 25percent increase.

March imports are expectedto reach 5.8 million metrictons (mmt), a 33 percentincrease over the February lev-el. But April’s imports areexpected to slip back below 4.0mmt. That would force theChinese to import slightlymore than 6 mmt in May andJune for imports to reach thestated goal.

While not impossible,

pERspEcTIvEs


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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

What are the benefitsof state’s wind farmsEditor:

Don Ellingson’s column inFarmWeek reveals a lot about thecosts and benefits of wind turbines.

Looking over his column, it appearsthat the taxpayer is funding most ofthe costs incurred. The benefit fromgenerated energy is limited, seeing thatthe generators are running only about30 percent of the time.

The dollars that the schools receivethrough property tax are highly subsi-dized by money which comes from theU.S. Treasury, which comes from thetaxpayer. Also, state funding to schoolsis reduced because of the subsidizedproperty tax they receive from the windfarms.

Why does the federal governmentsubsidize these towers when moneycould be more wisely invested directlyin our schools and education systemwhere it is so desperately neededinstead of diluting (wasting) it by build-ing towers where the cost outweighsthe benefits?

Doing this would eliminate the needfor property taxes to be used for educa-tion. The property tax is a flawed andunfair tax, and should be replaced withincome tax, which is based on ability topay. Property tax is not.

Why do landowners who have tow-ers on their property want a fund fordecommissioning when the tower isabandoned? Why would they need thisif the towers are so great?

Also, some think that the towersaren’t a problem for spray planes.Maybe they should ask the pilots whofly the planes.

With our government trillions ofdollars in debt, do we want this costadded to the debt by subsidizing windfarms which do not have a record oflong life or great productivity of ener-gy?

Lastly, do we really want the land-scape of this beautiful country coveredwith towers which are disruptive andintrusive to many? What a sight toleave to our posterity! When we con-sider the real cost, the answer is obvi-ous.MARVIN PFISTER,Roanoke

The Greek sovereign debtdeal was finalized over theweekend of March 9, andyou’ve probably been waitingwith baited breath to know

the outcome. Greek

bondholdersrepresenting83.5 percentof total hold-ing voted infavor ofaccepting newbonds fromGreece worthabout 46.5

percent of their original paramount.

In other words, if youowned $10,000 of thesebonds, you just got newbonds worth $3,150 plus$1,500 cash. In addition togetting a reduced value, youalso get a reduced interest rateto help Greece try to balanceits budget in the future.

Yields on the new bondsare between 3 percent and 5percent. To add insult toinjury, the new bonds aretrading in today’s bond mar-ket at about 22 cents, whichmeans your $4,650 value justgot reduced to about $2,200,which is the $700 value ofyour new bonds added to the$1,500 cash.

You might think that, afterforcing bondholders to suffera 78 percent beating on theirbond holdings, the Greekdebt crisis would be over.Well, you’d be wrong.

Most experts think thisstep merely has kicked the candown the road. Greece still

has huge amounts of debtthat cannot be repaid evenafter this debt swap. The tradegroup that determineswhether Credit Default Swaps(CDS) will be triggered by theGreek debt swap has finallydecided that forcing a 78 per-cent loss on bondholdersdoes constitute a default andCDS will be triggered.

First estimates are thatonly $3 billion net of CDS onGreek debt is outstanding,but we don’t know the detailson the total or how muchcounterparty risk there mightbe on the payoffs.

Meanwhile, investors areturning their attention tosome other countries, espe-cially Portugal and Ireland, todetermine what might happento those countries and theirlenders. Right behind themare Spain and Italy.

The front page of Barron’slast week asked, “Could thisbe the worst time to buystocks?” The writer then goesinto several historical argu-ments, along with technicalanalysis, to show why thismay, indeed, be the case.

On the flip side of thisargument, another researchpublication points out thatnever in history have so manycentral banks around theworld provided so much liq-uidity in so short a period oftime as has occurred over thepast three years. Surely, theyargue, such an enormousamount of liquidity shoulddrive the prices of risky assets(i.e., stocks) higher.

There is an old adage that

an investor should never fightthe Federal Reserve.

The Fed certainly hasflooded the world with liquid-ity and has driven down inter-est rates over the past threeyears. This easy money policy,which has taken bond yieldsto below 2 percent and moneymarket yields to near-zero, hasforced investors who are nor-mally not risk takers to buyrisky assets in an attempt toget some kind of return.

Higher yields can befound, but only if an investoris willing to accept muchhigher risk than he/she wouldhave ordinarily taken. Ourfear is that the additional risksbeing accepted by investorstoday are not fully understoodand could result in either notachieving their expected rateof return or in outright losses.

While there are some sec-tors and individual stocks thatwe think are compelling val-ues in today’s market, wedon’t think there are enoughof them to warrant increasingequity exposure overall.

It’s also difficult to imaginethat buying a 10-year TreasuryBond yielding 2 percent willprovide positive returns eachyear over its life. Holding cashin money market accountsearns a whopping 0.10 of apercent if you’re lucky.

Fed policy has made lifedifficult for all investors.However, memories of gametheory in college remind methat there are times when youshouldn’t try to maximizeyour returns. Sometimes youjust try to hang on to what

you’ve got.It is difficult to understand

why domestic equity marketshave been so complacent inlight of the developing prob-lems in Greece and certainother European countries.

At the very least, impactwill be felt in the financialsector as credit default swapson Greek debt are triggeredand settled.

But why does it seem thatwe are the only ones worriedabout what will happen if, orwhen, additional countries gothe same route as Greece?The S&P 500 is up more than9 percent year-to-date and istrading at a four-year high.Even as we look for signs tobecome more positive, weremain defensive.

With today’s record-lowinterest rates, investors arebeginning to stretch for yield.With the fear of recessionreceding, investors this yearhave poured $15 billion intomutual funds that invest inriskier “junk” bonds. Lastyear’s total was $14 billion.

Credit quality spreads aretightening in all bond sectorsas money chases yield. So far,investors have been rewardedfor the additional riskbecause junk bonds havereturned more than 5 percentthis year vs. negative returnsfor Treasuries. However, thisrelationship could reversequickly if more economicdisruptions come out ofEurope.

Bruce Finks is the vice president ofinvestments for Country Financial.

Greek debt, interest rates key investment questions

BRUCEFINKS

It was Dec. 23 in Macomb when thepossibility of insect problems this sum-mer was first brought to my attention.

Dec. 23 is my granddaughter’s birth-day. An excellent youngfarmer from ScottCounty was helping cel-ebrate with his family.The young farmer not-ed, upon seeing gnatsaround my patio as mygranddaughter celebrat-ed her birthday outsidewith her friends, that wecould expect a lot ofinsects this summer. The

temperatures simply had not been coldenough to harm the insect population,he said.

Well, how warm have temperaturesbeen?

For December, the statewide averagetemperature was 5.9 degrees above aver-age — the ninth warmest December onrecord, according to the Illinois StateWater Survey (ISWS).

That trend continued into Januarywith statewide average temperature 6.6degrees above normal. The ISWS saidthat was the sixth warmest December-January and the ninth warmest Novem-ber-December on record.

Recall the winter of 2010-2011? Theaverage statewide December-Januarytemperature was more than 10 degreesbelow normal.

So what do these early warm temper-atures mean for insects and agriculture?It turned out that answering that ques-tion was more difficult than I suspected.

I checked with several university spe-cialists about this question and learnedthat simply having warmer-than-normaltemperatures affects different insects indifferent ways. It may increase somepopulations while harming others.

One thing to consider is whether theinsect spends the winter above groundor below. Higher-than-normal tempera-tures help the above-ground insects sur-vive, but the lack of insulating snowcover could harm other insects.

Also, a warmer-than-normal wintercould force some insects into activityearlier than normal and they use upaccumulated body energy before springfood sources become available. Thoseinsects could simply starve to death.

Further, the warmer-than-normalweather also could encourage the num-ber of beneficial insects — those thatdepend on other insects for survival —to increase. This could help to moder-ate spring insect populations.

WILLIAMBAILEY

Does agriculture need to prepare for an insect invasion?Finally, the warmer weather could

increase the life cycle rates and encour-age insects to move north more rapidlythan normal.

The impact of a greater populationof insects on crops also is difficult topredict.

For example, if insects emerge earli-er than normal because of warm tem-peratures, their impact on a cropdepends on the crop’s stage of devel-opment.

If insects arrive at a cornfield for a“feast” before the corn is even planted,the insects’ survival comes into ques-tion unless they can find another foodsource.

So it seems early planting would helpkeep insects alive, but a wet spring, withdelayed planting, could reduce someinsect pressure, at least this year.

With so many factors affecting thenumber of insects and their impact oncrops, a prediction for this summer ismore difficult than I anticipated.

However, I intend to start stockingup on citronella candles, just to be safe.

William Bailey is the head of the School ofAgriculture at Western Illinois University,Macomb. His e-mail address is [email protected].

FarmWeek March 26, 2012 edition

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