Progress AGRICULTURE
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Sue and Steve Yost raise about 10 to 12 Angus cows each year on their farm, located about 1/2 mile south of Emmons. They’ve raised cattle since 2002. Colleen Harrison/albert lea tribune
You’re
always dealing ona world market.”
The Yosts typically get their cattle in November and then usually take them to market in Conger sometime in the summer.
DOOR DOOR by
This is the door at 1414 W. Main St., home to Albert Lea Seed House. The company began in 1923 as a family-owned seed store.
Beef prices are rising, but how long they will stay that way is still unclear By Hannah Dillon
hannah.dillon@albertleatribune.com
Beef prices are on the rise, but the factors that lead to it — unlike the cattle themselves — are anything but black and white. Area cattle producers Steve and Sue Yost, who raise about 10 to 12 cows per year, have a farm a half mile south of Emmons. When the Yosts started raising cattle in 2002, they were selling their beef for 80 to 90 cents per pound. Last year they were able to sell for $1.50 per pound. However, the price of cattle has a lot of variables, Sue said. Sue, the Freeborn County Public Health director, said Angus beef sells for more than Holstein beef, due to the popularity of Angus right now. The Yosts have raised both Angus and Holsteins in the past, but are raising Angus this year. Despite Angus’s popularity, Sue said she can’t taste a difference. “Honestly, I’ve eaten both and I can’t tell the difference myself,” she said. Another variable that plays into cattle prices is the demand of beef itself — a big, early snowstorm wiped out herds of cattle in South Dakota in 2013 and there were droughts in California and Texas, Sue said, and the market is feeling that shortage now. In 2013, a snowstorm swept South Dakota much earlier than expected, and the cattle weren’t prepared for it. This caused a lot of cattle to die. In the droughts, the cattle didn’t have grass to eat. Steve said while chickens and pigs can be kept in buildings, cows need an acreage to live on, which can leave them more susceptible to natural disasters. This also makes buying cattle more expensive. The Yosts bought their cattle this year at about $2.20 to $2.70 per pound last November. They buy the cattle when they’re about 500 to 600 pounds, and purchase from people locally who have some for sale. However, Steve — who delivers semi loads of feed for Albert Lea Elevator — talks to analysts and said in a few years there will be a surplus of calves, and the following year there will be a surplus of beef. That could drive the prices down, both for buying the cattle themselves and selling the meat afterwards. There are many other factors for the price of cattle too, the Yosts said — such as meat
10-12
Cows Steve and Sue Yost raise each year.
Sue Yost, the Public Health director for Freeborn County, said that the usual types of cows raised for beef are Angus and Holstein cattle. She and her husband, Steve, have about a dozen Angus cattle on their farm. exports to other countries and their demands and working conditions for dock workers. “You’re always dealing on a world market,” Steve said. Steve said the oil prices also have an affect on the price of grain, but this year feed is half the price it was last year. “It’s kind of like the stock market — it’s anybody’s guess,” Sue said. However, for Steve and Sue, things are going pretty well. They said they have some lifetime customers from the beef they’ve sold, which they sell at the Zumbrota cattle auction or to their friends. “We’ve gotten nothing but compliments,” Sue said. They have also achieved representative sales at the auction from time to time, which means their cattle got the top price of the day. Sue said when the animals are sent to auction, it’s best to group the cattle with other similar looking cattle. She said it’s what the cattle look like, so a larger animal might sell for less than expected. Steve said it’s all about how they’re fed — the Yosts feed their cattle a mix of corn and feed which comes from Hubbard Feeds in Mankato. Steve said the feed from Hubbard is a compressed pellet that has all the minerals and vitamins the cattle need. This year, the Yosts expect to have their beef ready to sell in July. They process the meat at Conger Meat Market.
500
Starting weight of the cattle raised by the Yosts.
$1.50
Price per pound the Yosts’ cattle sold for in 2014.
ide? What’s ins
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Page 2 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | agRICULTURe | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
oLd Red baRn hoLds memoRIes by Jerome meyer
news@albertleatribune.com
Pssttt. Hey, you. Yeah, I mean you. It’s me speaking. The old red barn near the Kiester Hills. I’m guessing that very few of you readers have ever seen me or heard from me as I’m tucked away on an old abandoned farm acreage near a seldom-used township gravel road a few miles from the main highway and somewhat hidden by the large grove of trees. So why am I talking to you? Well, I just heard from a reliable source that I will soon be torn down, smashed, buried in a big hole and finally covered up by the Mother Earth that I was built on. I’m sure my demise won’t show up in the death notice column in the local paper and there will probably be no obituary for people to read. So before I’m no longer around and just some past undocumented history, I would like to say a few things to you about myself. I've probably had three to four farm owners in my lifetime. And sad to say, the current owner no longer has any use for me so I’m now obsolete. I knew that my time on Earth was getting short as many of my fellow barn friends have disappeared from the local landscape in recent years. For most of my lifetime, I could see up to 10 farm barns over the horizon. Now I can see only one across the barren field. And probably that one also has its days numbered. I’m sure my current farm owner needs just a little more land for a larger farm profit. I was probably built in the early 1930s. Actually, I’m too old now to remember the exact year. This makes me well into the 90s for my age. I’ve seen many good productive farm years, a few bad farm years and years where the owners have struggled just to exist and make the payments to the bank. But somehow, we all survived. I've felt summer temperatures of
over 100 degrees and winter temperatures of 20 degrees below zero with very strong winds. But I’m still standing. Very few metal nails were used when I was built from local timber as most of my wood frame was held together by wooden pegs. Boy, oh boy was I a beautiful sight when I was built. I thought I was a castle. For a while I was the best looking barn in the township with a bright coat of red paint, white trim, a shiny metal roof, four tall lighting rods and a big weather vane on top of the large domedshaped cupola. I had new pulleys and a long trolley under the roof to hoist the bales up to the hay loft from the hay wagons. In the early days, like all of my fellow farm barns, I was the farm building with the most activity. I was used seven days a week and 365 days a year, providing shelter and a home for the 12 milking cows that were milked twice a day. The mornings always started early as the farmer showed up at 5 a.m. for the morning milking and then came back at 5 p.m. for the evening milking. Also, there were always a few young calves in the barn pens, sometimes a few pigs and in the early days four work horses were housed there that were used for the farmer’s fieldwork before the modern tractors took over. And just to set the record straight, the brown cows didn't give chocolate milk. And yes, there were always about a dozen cats that called my barn home. They couldn't wait until the milking started as they always got a good supply of fresh, warm milk from the farmer. I also had a large storage area in the hay loft where hay bales were stored for the milk cows to eat and straw for their bedding. I even got electricity sometime in the early 1940s and then only used the old kerosene lanterns for light if the electricity went out during storms. I can still hear the faint
sounds and laughter of the farm children playing games in the barn and swinging on the barn ropes hanging from the wooden beams. And believe it or not, I even had a barn dance one time when one of the farmer’s daughters got married. Oh, sometimes people made fun of my name like saying, “Were you born in a barn?” if you left a door open in the house and the cold air came in. Or if your fly was down in your trousers, people would say, “Your barn door is down.” What glorious past memories I hold onto. But to be truthful, I’m now old, tired, spent, my wood frame is bending, the stone foundation is crumbling and I’m about to fall over. And the cold north winter winds continue to shake my whole body. However, I have no regrets for my lifetime. I have served my farm owners well and am proud of it. I haven’t been used for anything for the past 20 years. My roof is now battered and has a big hole in it so I sometimes get wet inside when it rains and in the winter snow blows in. My once bright red paint is now faded, most of the windows are broken, my wood frame is leaning, the lightning rods are broken off and my weather vane is rusted in one position. The original farm yard light no longer is on as the electricity has been disconnected for many years and the only light I have now is nature’s sun and an occasional bright night moon. Yes, I still have a few feathered friends visiting me and a couple of cats that seek shelter. I wonder where they will go when I’m gone? So I guess this is the last time you will hear from me. The few area farmers that I still have around me will probably just give a quick glance and then go on with their daily field work when the big rigs arrive soon to take me down, bury me and cover me up. I can’t complain though as I have had a good productive life. Hopefully there will be a
The old red barn by the Kiester Hills hearkens to farming years past. Provided few local people yet that will remember me. But that will soon pass and be shortlived as the new generations form. My only regret is that I will have no marker
where I will be buried and no one will ever visit me at my grave site. But I guess that’s OK, as I was just an old barn. Summer corn fields will now hover over
me and the winter ice and snow cover me. Well, I've got to go now, as I see that the sun is now setting to the west and the end of the day for me has now come.
Did you know? Ventura Foods in Albert Lea uses approximately 19.5 million bushels of soybeans grown by local farmers every year to make our product!
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Sunday, February 22, 2015 | AGRICULTURE | ProgreSS 2015 | albertleatribune.com | PAGE 3
a FocuS on agriculture during the laSt year
Wind turbines from Bent Tree Wind Farm can be seen from 255th St. in Manchester. colleen harriSon/albert lea tribune
According to Ed Schlede, alpacas only have a bottom row of teeth, and their teeth continually grow throughout their lifetime. If they don’t wear down their teeth naturally, Schlede trims them back. colleen harriSon/albert lea tribune
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The 71st annual Minnesota State Spring Barrow Show was in early February. colleen harriSon/albert lea tribune
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Third-graders from Albert Lea and the surrounding area got to learn about fall farm safety at Gary Braaten’s hog farm near Austin. After learning how a combine harvester shells corn, the kids got a chance to do it themselves. hannah dillon/albert lea tribune
• Expanded Metals • Tubing
Makayla Elmer of Albert Lea guides Zippy to victory in the pole-weaving competition among riders ages 14 to 17 at the Outdoor Arena of the Freeborn County Fair in August. tim engStrom/albert lea tribune
Visit Colin Wittmer or Randy Sternberg at Wells Federal Bank to find the financial solutions to help your operation succeed!
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Page 4 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | agRICULTURe | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
Name ThaT baRN oR bIN
Know A lot About Agriculture in Freeborn county? see iF you cAn identiFy where these bArns And bins Are. (Answers Are on PAge 6)
1
2
3
4
5
6 Possible addresses: • 20343 680th Ave. • 255th Street and 750th Avenue • 699th Avenue • 72745 Freeborn County Road 46
• 74256 232nd St. • Lake Chapeau Drive and Sunset Street • Minnesota Highway 13 and West Main Street
7
Sunday, February 22, 2015 | agriCULtUre | ProgreSS 2015 | albertleatribune.com | Page 5
Clifford Buendorf, seated, and his son Clyde enjoy looking at the John Deeres at the 2013 tractor and garden show at St. John’s Lutheran Community in Albert Lea. Clifford was the fifth generation in his family to farm and Clyde is now the sixth generation, along with his brother Dale. ProVided
L.D. Schewe spends his days drawing tractors and farm equipment at St. John’s Lutheran Community after a career of farming, welding at farms and lawn service.
Beverly Flinn helped her husband, Richard, farm his family’s place near LeRoy.
L.D. Schewe enjoys drawing farm equipment.
MeMories rooted in farMing By Cathy Hay
news@albertleatribune.com
Several residents at St. John’s Lutheran Community have memories rooted in farming, providing a legacy of European immigrants who pioneered agriculture in this part of Minnesota. They recall hard work, hearty meals and healthy senses of humor. Clifford Buendorf started farming when he was 8 and smiled at a memory of one of his first times driving a tractor. “Somebody came running up to the house and said there’s a tractor running around the field and there’s nobody on it.” The young Buendorf was standing on the seat of the Minneapolis-Moline but no one could see him from afar. His time on the tractor would span several decades before he moved to St. John’s. He and his siblings — a brother and three sisters — would milk cows and do other chores before sitting down to breakfast. Buendorf became the fifth generation in his family to continue the farming tradition. He farmed 160 acres near Walters with his wife, Vernita, raising crops and milking cows. They also raised three sons, two of whom are still farming. Vernita worked alongside him, washing the milker and separator, moving 10-gallon cans of milk and growing a large garden for canning and freezing. They butchered their own hogs and chickens. The chickens, of course, also provided fresh eggs every day. He recalls the state of Minnesota buying some of his land to build Interstate 90. His favorite memory was buying his first tractor, a 1968 John Deere 4020. The Buendorfs used John Deere tractors from the Model A, its first true row crop tractor, up to the latest GPSequipped models. He also remembers the neighbors gathering to butcher fowl, with some bringing ducks, some bringing chickens and some bringing geese. They would celebrate the day’s work
with a big dinner together. Merlin Wirkus grew up on a farm and later ran his own 209 acres and dairy near Marietta. He grew corn, wheat, oats and flax along with raising hogs for selling to the market in South Saint Paul. His wife, Jean, helped on the farm, tended a large garden and taught school. They also raised two sons who now live off the farm with the land rented to a neighbor. Wirkus remembers doing it all with no computer of any kind. “And that’s the way it was,” he said, rapping his knuckles on the table. Don Perschbacher grew up on a farm west of Albert Lea near the Armstrong corner, feeding cattle and cleaning out barns. The family also milked about 20 to 24 cows. He recalls going to District 124 School. An Allis-Chalmers WC was their first tractor, and it made all the work easier, he said. Perschbacher and his wife, Nancy, farmed with their two sons, when driving tractor was his favorite work, along with cultivating and harvesting. He liked farming because, “You’re your own boss,” he said. Beverly Flinn helped her husband, Richard, farm his family’s place near LeRoy. They lived in a small house while their in-laws lived in the main house. On an aerial photo taken in 1971, she pointed out the corn crib, hog house, barn, well house and flower garden. They raised corn, oats and later soybeans. “I helped in the field,” she said. “I did all the cooking and baking.” Berneta Krueger Hansen grew up on a farm near Conger. She helped her parents William and Minnie raise corn, oats and “just enough” cattle. Later her parents planted soybeans. The chickens were her main job. “In those days the chickens ran loose so the eggs could be any place. Usually they were on the first floor, hidden in the hay. But they also made nests around the yard,” she said. She helped cut oats, driving the tractor while
her dad ran the cutter, a memory that prompted a laugh. “Our land was kind of hilly and I was going kind of fast one time,” Hansen said. “My dad started yelling whoa, whooooa there. He thought he was yelling at the horses.” Around age 15, she started working for other farm families instead of attending high school. She remembers babysitting, cleaning house, helping with butchering, making sausages and whatever else needed doing. “I remember sitting on the davenport, feeding one baby on my arm and one sitting on a pillow, with two more running around,” Hansen said. She recalled a cute story: When working for Marie Wichmann and family, they used big white coffee cups ideal for dunking cookies. When cleaning kitchen cupboards, Hansen found rows of those cups with the handles broken off. She couldn’t get over why they kept the broken cups. When she was engaged to be married, a bridal shower gift arrived from Marie. Inside the box were all those cups with broken handles. Marie had a keen sense of humor, and the joke still makes Hansen laugh. She also worked at the Conger store where she graded cases of eggs every day and filled orders called in by families coming to town. All that recordkeeping and figuring was done without a calculator or computer. Her farm work ended when she married, and she and her husband, Edgar, raised two children in Albert Lea. L.D. Schewe farmed with his wife, Betty, near Oakland, provided welding at farms and performed lawn service before moving to St. John’s. He spends his days now drawing tractors and other farm equipment. He even enters his drawings in the Freeborn County Fair, which continues to showcase agriculture, the top industry in the area, thanks to the hard work of pioneering farmers.
Berneta Krueger Hansen grew up on this farm east of Conger, driving tractor and collecting eggs. ProVided
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Page 6 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | agRICULTURe | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
Wells seed business in family for 4 generations Editor’s note: This story initially appeared in a special section in the Tribune in August 2014. By Hannah Dillon
hannah.dillon@albertleatribune.com
WELLS — For those at Wegner Seed Inc., it truly is a family operation. Mike and Ron Wegner are the owners of Wegner Seed Inc. in Wells. Britt Wegner, Blair Wegner and Eric Wegner work there as well. Mike Wegner’s wife, Marlene Wegner, does bookkeeping. The Wegners have been in the agriculture business for over 60 years. Specifically, the Wegners are seed dealers — they get corn and soybeans from Monsanto and Mycogen and distribute them to farmers around the area. Mike Wegner said their customer base has a 30to 40-mile radius, but one customer is over 100 miles away. At Wegner Seed Inc., the Wegners are also able to
A
treat soybeans. Britt Wegner said that the soybean seeds are treated with pesticides and fungicides to help keep the soybean plant safe from pests, including the soybean cyst nematode. According to the University of Minnesota Extension Office, soybean cyst nematodes are the number one yield robber of soybeans and have infested more than 50 percent of fields in the state. The seeds are also treated with growth promoters, micronutrients and inoculants to help the plants grow, Britt Wegner said. Soybean roots have nodules on them that capture nitrogen to help the plants grow. Inoculants can activate these nodules sooner and produce more yield. “Everything is driven off trying to produce more yield and reduce risk,” Britt Wegner said. About 90 to 95 percent of customers buy treated soybeans, but it is possible to buy the seeds untreated. As for corn, 100 percent of the stock the Wegners receive is
Wegner Seed Inc. is truly a family business. Pictured, from left, are Britt Wegner, Mike Wegner, Eric Wegner, Ron Wegner and Blair Wegner. HAnnAH dillon/Albert leA tribune
already treated by Monsanto pre-treated is because the or Mycogen. more corn is handled, the One reason corn is germination of the seed goes down, Ron Wegner said. For a unit of seed, which is 48 to 54 pounds and apThe Best in Salads for over 40 years! proximately fills a five-gallon Potato Salads · Pasta Salads · Cole Slaws · Dips bucket, three ounces of treat3 Varieties of Mashed Potatoes · Mac & Cheese · Desserts ment is needed. A unit is apGluten- Free/Fat-Free · Low Fat/Low Sodium Products proximately an acre of crop. Protein, Marinated and Holiday Salads This treatment is done Many other prepared salads with the help of large treatment systems. The Wegners just got a new USC brand seed treater to help them do the job. During the treatment process, the seed rides up a conveyor to a hopper where it is then funneled into the seed treater, where it is coated with treatment before going out to farmers. After being treated, the seeds must be planted or destroyed. Seed companies won’t take the seed back if it is not used. Blair
Taste
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Seeds will ride up this conveyor belt during the treating process at Wegner Seed Inc. Wegner also mentioned there is a shelf life on the seed treatments, such as a limit before the inoculants stop working. Britt Wegner stressed that the treatments are all approved by the EPA, FDA
and USDA. He also explained that seed dealers must have licenses and be certified by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture as well as continue their education as the industry develops.
BaRn oR BIn answeRs Continued from Page 4
1. 72745 Freeborn County Road 46 2. 255th Street and 750th Avenue 3. 20343 680th Ave. 4. 74256 232nd St.
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Sunday, February 22, 2015 | AGRICULTURE | ProgreSS 2015 | albertleatribune.com | PAGE 7
fREEboRn CoUnTy AGRICULTURE by ThE nUmbERs
1,122
Farms in Freeborn County, according to the 2012 agricultural census.
120
Farms in Freeborn County with 1,000 acres or more, according to the 2012 agricultural census.
340
Acres, the average size of a farm in Freeborn County, according to the 2012 agricultural census.
ng, Western Clothi ck, Ta se or H s, Boot Accessories & Home Decor
356,653
Acres being used as cropland in Freeborn County, according to the 2012 agricultural census. Freeborn County is 723 square miles. With 640 acres in a square mile, that means there are 462,720 total acres, including lakes, rivers, cities and everything else. Do the math and it shows 77 percent of the county is cropland.
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Bushels of corn for grain harvested in Freeborn County in 2012, according to the 2012 agricultural census. The total is the seventh highest among counties in Minnesota.
$1,857,024
Mon-Fri 10:00am-8:00pm • Sat 10:00am-4:00pm • Sun 12:00pm-4:00pm
Average market value of land and buildings per farm in Freeborn County, according to the 2012 agricultural census.
$250,065,000
Estimated market value of all the farm machinery and equipment in Freeborn County, according to the 2012 agricultural census. That results in an average per farm of $222,874. Average market value of land and buildings per farm in Freeborn County, according to the 2012 agricultural census.
Fertilizer 6-24-6, 9-18-9 and 3-18-18
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917,092
Hogs and pigs sold in Freeborn County in 2012, according to the 2012 agricultural census.
10,430
Cattle or calves sold in Freeborn County in 2010, according to the 2012 agricultural census.
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Page 8 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | agRICULTURe | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015