AG JOURNAL A SPECIAL SECTION • THE GLOBE GAZETTE • MARCH 20, 2012
JEFF HEINZ/The Globe Gazette
After the mild, mostly dry winter, farmers are itching to get into their fields. This planting photo was taken near Portland in May of 2010.
Rain: The BIG wild card Farmers are ready to roll, but dry conditions are in the back of everybody’s minds By LAURA BIRD laura.bird@globegazette.com
Dry weather that started at the end of last summer and continued through the fall and winter has North Iowa farmers concerned heading into spring. “I think everybody’s got that on the back of their mind,” said Ron Behr, a Rockwell-area farmer. Mason City area farmer Rich Schurtz agreed. “The weather conditions are good, but it’s pretty dry,” he said. John Holmes, Iowa State University Extension field agronomist, said there is likely enough surface moisture but subsoil moisture
reserves are lacking. He has heard several reports of farmers doing tile work and there’s no water, which is unusual. “I am very concerned about what the crop will look like in July and August, especially the corn,” he said. Holmes As of March 15, Mason City had received 2.57 inches of rain since Jan. 1 and received 22.7 inches all of last year. Normally, Mason City should have 2.63 inches by March 15 and 35.2 inches for the entire year, said Harry Hillaker, state climatologist. “That’s roughly 12½ inches (short), which is pretty substantial,” he said. “Almost all of the deficit was the second half of the year. The first half was fairly average, but the second half was very, very dry, especially August through November.” If dry conditions continue, farmers may have
Taylor said. Elwynn Taylor, Iowa State University Extension climatologist, also recommended not working/disturbing the soil more than farmers need to. While the soil is dry now, North Iowa farmers still have time before spring planting. Most won’t start planting corn until around April 12 and then soybeans in May. “The soil moisture is a little dryer than what we would like, but I’m not worried,” said Paul See RAIN, C2
How high will land prices go? Recent Cerro Gordo County auction of 67 acres brought $10,500 per acre for strong corn suitability rating By LAURA BIRD laura.bird@globegazette.com
North Iowa farmland values continue to remain strong with a recent auction setting a Cerro Gordo County record. Behr Auction Co., Rockwell, auctioned off 67 acres of land in the Portland Township for $10,500 per acre on March 9. While the per-acre amount did not break any county records, Fred Greder, owner of Benchmark Agribusiness in Mason City, Greder said the sale set a record for what it sold for per corn suitability rating point (CSR). The CSR scale, which rates the quality of land, ranges from 1 to 100. Eighty to 90 is considered excellent. The CSR for the farm, which was owned by the William D. Lindsay
JEFF HEINZ/The Globe Gazette
Cory Behr calls a farmland auction in Rockwell in February 2011. Trust, was 71.7 with 60.7 tillable acres. That meant the farm sold for approximately $161 per CSR point, which is a Cerro Gordo County record, Greder said. “It was an awfully strong sale,” he
to make adjustments during spring planting. Holmes said farmers might want to apply herbicides early to allow them to become activated, and evaluate the seeding population during planting. “They may want to ... go to the lower recommended rate,” he
said. Cory Behr of Behr Auction Co. said the auction was so strong because of interest from neighboring farmers and out-of-area investors. See LAND, C2
INSIDE: • ROLE REVERSAL working well for Wesley couple as wife takes major role in farm operation/Page C2 • FOREST CITY-AREA father and son built Angus herd to build son’s future in farming/Page C3 • MASON CITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AG BREAKFAST is Wednesday/Page C3 • E85 SALES set record in Iowa/Page C4 • THE MILD WINTER that has given many Northern farmers a break from shoveling and a welcome chance to catch up on maintenance could lead to a tough spring as many pests that would normally freeze have not/Page C5 • A NEW CONSERVATION practice called drainage water management (DWM), which helps reduce the amount of nutrients such as nitrates and phosphorus from negatively impacting the environment, is eligible for USDA funding in Iowa/Page C6
C2 • TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012
Page Editor: Tom Thoma • GLOBE GAZETTE
AG JOURNAL
Role reversal working well Dee Tjarks is much more involved on the farm than the average wife By CAITLIN HAMILTON For The Globe Gazette WESLEY
According to some traditional local farmers, combining soybeans is “men’s work.” “So what does that make me if I’m a woman and combining soybeans?” asked Dee Tjarks, a farmer who works 1,000 acres with her husband, Marlin, near Wesley. Dee and Marlin acquired land from Dee’s family farm around the same time as Dee’s 9-to-5 job was eliminated. Both the job loss and the increased responsibilities on the farm made it clear Dee was going to become much more involved on the farm. Marlin, who works fulltime as a mechanic for Hancock County secondary roads, said their situation was a true role reversal but has worked out very well. “She can run any piece of equipment I have just as well as I can,” Marlin said. “I am involved on the farm moreso than the average wife, but it’s still very much a partnership,” Dee Tjarks and her husband, Marlin, farm near Wesley. Dee said. the Tjarks’ partnership. “They work well as a team, there’s no question there,” Kalkwarf said. While Marlin still dedicates his “vacation” to their corn and soybean fields, Dee helps by working the ground, combining, hauling the grain to town and doing the bookkeeping during the peak farm seasons. “About the only thing I don’t do is the spraying,” Dee said. “The list goes on and
on,” Marlin said. “I couldn’t handle it without her.”
“‘Your wife does all the farming.’ ... I hear that, too,” Marlin said. THE TJARKS say Dee has Kalkwarf said having received nothing but com- Dee around the elevator can be an unusual sight. pliments when she rolls “There’s not many into town with another full women that would jump load. behind the wheel of a trac“‘Boy, your wife sure tor like that,” Kalkwarf handles that tractor and said. “But she’s a hard wagon.’ ... We hear that a worker. She’s not afraid of lot. And, ‘You’re lucky anything.” your wife will work with Marlin purchased an you,’ ” Marlin said. There are still some that unorthodox gift for his give Marlin a hard time, he wife — a gift that symbolsaid. See TJARKS, A4
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COMMUNICATION AND cooperation are the keys to their success, the Tjarks said. “I would say (the work is split) 50-50, wouldn’t you?”Marlin said, reflecting the partnership forged between the couple who have been married for 25 years. “We work together well because of our communication,” Dee said. Max Kalkwarf, in client care at MaxYield Cooperative in Britt, has witnessed
CAITLIN HAMILTON/Forest City Summit
RAIN: Most field work completed last fall; farmers getting equipment ready
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From C1 Staudt, a Dougherty-area farmer. “Spring rains will replenish it.” The good news is any rain or snow North Iowa does receive now will soak into the ground instead of turning into runoff, Taylor said. “That’s an advantage of the warm winter,” he said. Above-normal temperatures most of the winter and especially in
recent days have allowed the ground to thaw completely, which will let it soak up any rainfall or snow the area receives. “If we get some rains here in the next month or so that would help set us up for a decent planting season,” Behr said. Besides the dryness, soil conditions are good and farmers are
mostly ready to get in the fields. Most field work was completed last fall and many farmers have already started to get equipment ready. “I would say farmers are prepared,” Staudt said. “As soon as soil temperatures and the extended forecast looks favorable, we’ll be in.”
LAND: ‘No signs of weakness’ in farm values on the property helped drive the sale. “In my opinion it added some value and that value it added was worth a few hundred dollars an acre,” he said. However, he said it still would have been a strong sale even without the appeal of rent from the radio tower. Overall, farmland values remain strong in North Iowa, Greder said.
“No signs of weakness,” he said. Like the past few years, low interest rates, commodity prices and the viewpoint of land being a better investment than other options such as stocks and bonds, continue to drive up farmland values. Greder is especially seeing this now with March being a busy time for farmland auctions. As of
Friday, he was aware of 11 auctions still planned for the month while eight had already been held. “People are trying to hurry and to get things done before spring planting,” he said.
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From C1 “It was just a farm that multiple people wanted and the beauty of a public auction with competitive bidding is that’s how it ended,” he said. Behr declined to say who purchased the farm until the sale closes. However, Greder said it was a farmer who owns adjacent farmland. Greder also said a radio tower owned by Three Eagles Communications
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GLOBE GAZETTE • Page Editor: Tom Thoma
TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012 • C3
AG JOURNAL
Mason City Chamber to host annual ag breakfast Wednesday Program is about Ag in the Classroom
Young farmer hooked on cattle
Brian and Ross Miller farm near Forest City. Ross urged his dad to add livestock to their farm after it was determined there was little opportunity for Ross to go into grain farming. CAITLIN HAMILTON/Forest City Summit
MASON CITY — The Mason City Chamber of Commerce will host its annual ag breakfast at 7 a.m. Wednesday in the All Seasons Building on the North Iowa Fairgrounds, Mason City. The event will begin with an omelet breakfast served by business volunteers at 7 a.m. followed by a program at 8 a.m. This year’s program is Ag in the Classroom and will be presented by the North Central Iowa Ag in the Classroom team. North Central Iowa Ag in the Classroom was formed by Farm Bureau boards from Cerro Gordo, Franklin, Hancock, Winnebago, Worth and Kossuth counties. The event offers various programs and lessons to nearly 7,000 students in more than 20 school districts during the school year. Its goal is to help educators teach children about Iowa agriculture and its importance to the economy and society. The Ag Breakfast will also include an door prize drawing for a laptop computer sponsored by Fox Auction Co. The annual Ag Breakfast is funded by area businesses that purchase tickets or make product donations. Tickets are available in books of eight at a cost of $75 for Chamber members and $85 for non-members. For more information contact the Chamber at 641-423-5724.
Father and son team build Angus herd to help build son’s future in farming By RAE YOST For The Globe Gazette FOREST CITY
A heifer whose ear tag read No. 67 ate corn from a feed bunk one recent afternoon. “That was one of the first ones we bought,” Brian Miller said of the heifer. “She had twins the first year.” “(Cow 614) is a good mother,” Brian said. “She’s a really good mother. I kept one of her heifers two years ago. She raises good cattle.” Brian and his son, Ross Miller, know the Angus herd they’ve built since 2006. They know the herd because they’ve been breeding and adding since they started to build a future in farming for Ross. Ross would like to crop farm as well as raise livestock, but with land prices and rent as they are now it’s not affordable for Ross to start grain farming. Brian isn’t ready to retire and the two agreed he can’t give up any of his land for Ross to farm. THE PAIR ARE RAISING the cattle but it was Ross who urged his dad to add livestock back to the designated Century Farm east of Forest City on Iowa Highway 9. “I pushed quite a bit,” Ross said. “When I was little I would go out to the (neighbor’s) pasture and look at the cattle.” Ross was hooked on cattle. The father and son started the herd with eight head bought from neighbor
Steve Boman. The Millers now have 34 cattle, including a bull. “I was lucky,” Ross said. “We’ve known Steve for a long time.” “We borrowed his bull the first two years,” Brian said. Boman’s bull was used to breed their first heifers. They expanded by buying embryo transplants from a herd in South Dakota. AS THEY BRED the herd for genetics and to become more purebred, they decided to buy a bull. “We bought a bull that gave us cattle with more of a front end,” Brian said. The cattle are fuller in the front and are much purer in genetics, Brian said. “We gained the mother’s side with that bull,” Brian said. “We have the sire and the dam.” The bull has more than doubled in value since the Millers bought it. “We know what we have and it’s genetically sound,” Ross said. “For us, it’s all about the feeder calves,” Brian said of a herd raised to produce maximum quality pounds efficiently. “Raising cattle is a long-term deal,” Brian said. “We are not making a fortune on raising cattle but we are not doing it to lose money.”
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Cover crop management field day is April 3 Iowa Learning Farms and Practical Farmers of Iowa will host a cover crop management field day at 10:30 a.m. April 3 at the ISU Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm in Floyd County. The field day will feature winter-hardy cereal rye cover crop plots drilled after corn and soybean harvests last fall. The events include a free lunch. USDA Agricultural Research Service research agronomist Tom Kaspar will discuss best management practices. To see the full Iowa Learning Farms field day schedule, visit www.extension. iastate.edu/ilf.
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C4 • TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012
Page Editor: Tom Thoma • GLOBE GAZETTE
AG JOURNAL
E85 sales set Iowa record biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce 320 million gallons annually. Iowa has 167 retail outlets offering E85. A list of all the E85 stations can be found at: www.iowarfa.org/ethanol— e85refueling.php. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association was formed in 2002 to represent the state’s liquid renewable fuels industry. IOWA IS THE LEADER in renewable The trade group fosters the development and growth of the fuels production. Iowa has 41 ethanol refineries capable of pro- renewable fuels industry in Iowa through education, promotion, ducing nearly 3.7 billion gallons legislation and infrastructure annually. development. In addition, Iowa has 13
MILLERS: Continue to improve their herd standards From C3 land was not available, Brian said. Farmers now have access to livestock feed derived from the ethanol industry and other sources which makes it more affordable to raise cattle, the Millers said. ROSS WORKS for a seed company during the off-season, but as spring approaches his work schedule must adapt to calving season. He will check the pregnant cows after work and early in the morning and late at night while his dad checks during other parts of the day. Cows ready to give birth are separated from the herd so they can do so safely inside. The Millers converted a former hog finishing barn for cattle. The inside is filled with bedding so new
calves and cows have clean places to lay down. The interior also includes small pens and a stall which can be used if a birth is difficult. “We sort the ones that look like they are ready ...,” Brian said. The mothers have a warm place to stay and give birth and, when the calves are born, they can also stay dry and warm. “You cannot lose the calf,” Miller said. THE INVESTMENT in breeding and feeding of the mother makes the calf valuable, Brian said. They were fortunate to have the former hog building and the concrete so they didn’t need to invest in a new building and new concrete for an outdoor feeding floor, he said. They’ve also been fortunate to use
pasture owned by the Bomans, and have expanded their hay acres to create more feed. They also bale the corn stalks to create bedding for the livestock. EACH YEAR the Millers evaluate the herd and keep those that will continue to maintain or improve their herd standards. “We’re learning as we go,” Brian said. “If a cow is continual problem, you definitely don’t want them around. If they are wild and don’t breed well, you can’t keep them.” They’ve been successful and they like working with the cattle. As they build the herd they are also building Ross’s future in agriculture.
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Rae Yost is editor of the Forest City Summit, another Lee Enterprises newspaper.
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TJARKS: Both get to live their dream From C2 when we’re in the same field,” Marlin said. “(Having other help) is not the same as the two of us.” “We are very thankful we both get to live our dream,” Dee said.
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Dee Tjarks said she is anxious to “open the tractor door and smell the dirt.” The Tjarks say working together has been “comforting.” “We have the most fun
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DEE SAID she fields questions about if she will return to other employment. “People ask, ‘When the girls are in school fulltime will you get a job?’ Well, I have a job,” Dee said. “Doing this fulltime’s been a lot of fun.” The fun continues this
spring with the planting season. “We always look forward to spring,” Marlin said. “You like to go outside and get your fingers dirty.”
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izes their new roles. “Not too many wives are excited to get a new tractor from their husbands,” Dee said. “I just love being in that big tractor.” “Now I’m in ‘her tractor,’ ” Marlin said. Some people close to the couple do comment on their unusual arrangement, the Tjarks say. “They don’t understand how we do it all,” Dee said. The couple also raises two young daughters.
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GLOBE GAZETTE • Page Editor: Tom Thoma
TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012 • C5
AG JOURNAL
Mild winter means more pest problems Some insects already munching on plants
Henry Talmage, executive director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau. He compared this winter with last year, when southern New England endured back-to-back snowstorms and an ice storm. In early February 2011, farmers in Connecticut lost nearly 150 barns and other structures as feet of snow accumulated. Those in Massachusetts and upstate New York also
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In this Feb. 23 photo, beekeeper Orin Johnson checks on colonies pollinating an almond orchard northwest of Waterford, Calif. Bumblebees that usually don’t appear until May or June have emerged early.
this year, his hives have been active. DAWN ALLEN, who has an “This year, we have 89-year-old, family-run some hives that raised bees bog in Freetown, Mass., all winter,” Tucker said. “I said her family will likely don’t think they ever start sweeping bogs with a stopped.” contraption similar to a Because so many bees butterfly net in April to are being raised, Tucker catch winter moth caterhas had to buy supplemenpillars, instead of waiting tal food, such as sucrose, until mid-May, when they so they don’t eat all the typically start. The winter honey he wants to sell. moth caterpillars are While bees are good for aggressive and eat buds, pollination, many of the potentially ruining a crop insects that are surviving for a whole year. have a destructive bent, “It’s a big stress factor such as the bean leaf beethat gets us out on the bog tle that targets soybeans, early,” said Allen, whose corn flea beetle that damfarm sells cranberries for ages corn, and the alfalfa juice and pulp converted weevil. into cranberry vitamins. Those insects live close Martha Sylvia, a to the surface of the research technician at the ground so the mild temUniversity of Massachuperatures give them a head setts cranberry station, start, said Christian Krupsaid growers should expect ke, a Purdue University to start spraying earlier entomologist. and more often because “Winter is like a big there’s “definitely an reset button for the Midupswing” in winter moths, west,” Krupke said. “It she said. wipes out lots of insects “We just know we’re in usually.” for it,” Sylvia said. However, the warmer temperatures generally TIM TUCKER, a beekeeper don’t affect insects that in Niotaze, Kan., said he spend their winters bursaw flies in February when rowed deep into the “all flies should be gone” ground, he said. And some and bumblebees that usu- insects may be threatened ally don’t appear until May by a lack of snow. or June. The warm weather ERIN HODGSON, an entohasn’t been entirely good mologist at Iowa State for beekeeping, though. Usually, queen bees won’t University, said a drought due to a lack of snow could lay eggs in the cold, but
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threaten box elder bugs and beetles which will die if food fails to emerge. And insects that pass the winter in dormancy above ground could die of dehydration or starvation without the insulating cover of snow, she said. “Making predictions about overall insects surviving or not can be kind of tricky,” Hodgson said.
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The mild winter that has given many Northern farmers a break from shoveling and a welcome chance to catch up on maintenance could lead to a tough spring as many pests that would normally freeze have not. Winters are usually what one agriculture specialist calls a “reset button” that gives farmer a fresh start come planting season. But with relatively mild temperatures and little snow, insects are surviving, growing and, in some areas, already munching on budding plants. Almost every state had a warmer-than-usual January, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In Albany, N.Y., for example, the average high in January was 37 degrees when it’s usually below freezing, according to the National Weather Service. In Tulsa, Okla., the average high last month was about 57 degrees, 9 degrees higher than normal. The Upper Midwest, Great Plains and a few other areas were “much above normal” in temperature, NOAA said.
struggled with roof collapses. This year, farmers were able to spend the winter working outside, maintaining equipment and buildings, Talmage said. “Instead of shoveling snow, farmers can do something more productive,” Talmage said. “Nobody is complaining. We’re all happy at this point it’s been as mild as it has been.”
BUT THE WARMER weather hasn’t been all bad, said
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C6 • TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012
Page Editor: Tom Thoma • GLOBE GAZETTE
AG JOURNAL
Drainage water management eligible for USDA funding By JASON JOHNSON
For more information:
Public Affairs Specialist, USDA-NRCS
A new conservation practice called drainage water management (DWM), which helps reduce the amount of nutrients such as nitrates and phosphorus from negatively impacting the environment, is eligible for USDA funding in Iowa. Subsurface drainage tile makes profitable crop production possible on Iowa’s flatter landscapes. DWM allows farmers with subsurface drainage tile to hold water in root zones when crops need it and drains it when there is too much. It manages the timing and amount of water discharged from agricultural drainage systems. With appropriate management, DWM systems may also retain water needed for late season crop production. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is promoting DWM to improve water quality in the state’s rivers and streams. Allen Gehring, state engineer for NRCS in Iowa, said his agency can assist farmers by implementing DWM plans. “This system uses existing tile lines in a way that makes them part of the solution and not part of the problem,” he said. “Drainage water management offers valuable options to Iowa landowners with very flat ground.” HOW IT WORKS The DWM system includes retrofitting existing tile with a water-control structure. Each structure controls an elevationdefined area based on the lay of the land and the tile system layout already in place. Bruce Atherton, agricultural engineer for NRCS in Iowa, said structures are small and reasonably priced, and operating instructions are fairly simple. For example, a farmer would need to make about six trips per year to adjust control structure elevation in a 75-acre field with five control structures. Water level elevations are adjusted using riser boards. Following is what a farmer might expect for annual operation and maintenance: • Remove riser boards to drop the water table levels about 10 days prior to planting and before any spring tillage. • During the growing season, stack riser boards to potentially raise the water table high enough to provide capillary water to the crop root zone. • Before fall harvest, if needed, remove boards to lower the water table 10 days before fall fieldwork.
Iowa farmers may receive assistance to create a DWM plan, install control structures or manage the control structures throughout the year. For more information about DWMs visit your local NRCS field office. • After harvest, install riser boards to potentially raise the water table even further — near the ground surface — to hold water and nutrients in the field and soil over winter. WATER QUALITY ISSUES The Gulf of Mexico’s “Dead Zone” — a large region of water that is very low in oxygen and therefore can’t support life — has been largely attributed to agricultural runoff from the Midwest. Agriculture has been similarly targeted closer to home, where amounts of nitrogen in Iowa’s drinking water supplies have increased dramatically throughout the past century. For example, in a 2000 U.S. Geological Survey study, average annual nitrate concentrations in the Des Moines and Cedar Rivers have increased nearly seven times over the last 100 years, from about 0.6 milligrams per liter to as much as 4.6 mg/l. And data provided by Des Moines Water Works dating back to the 1930s shows nitrate levels in the Raccoon River stayed consistently below 1 mg/l until the mid 1960s. Since then, nitrate levels have increased to as high as 10.2 milligrams per liter in 2002. Over the last 20 years, average nitrate levels in the Raccoon River average 7.3 milligrams per liter.
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LINDA KINMAN, public policy analyst with Des Moines Water Works, said she and other watershed advocates agree that elevated nitrate levels in many of Iowa’s major watersheds coincide with changing agriculture. “Nitrate levels began to increase about the same time as a major increase in the number of corn and soybean acres as well as the broader use of fertilizers,” she said. Along with helping to reduce the amount of nitrates and phosphorus from exiting drainage tile, DWM can also help crop production during dry years by holding water in the soil profile. In a 20-year study conducted by North Carolina State University, controlled drainage plots experienced significant corn yield increases (10.4 percent) compared to the free drainage plots. Soybean yields increased in all years as well.
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Women Around Ag event is March 31 the farm for the next generation. Featured speaker will be Erika Eckley, attorney for the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation (CALT) at Iowa State University. Participants will learn about setting up trusts, protecting assets and farm tax hot topics. Registration is at 9:30 a.m. and the program will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The primary sponsor for this year’s program is Corporate Farmer. A meal will be served at
the meeting and those wanting more information or to get signed up are asked to call their local Iowa State University Extension Office or Winnebago County Extension at 888-408-6606. Registrations at $20 per person (payable to Winnebago County Extension) can be sent to the Winnebago County Extension Office at Box 47, Thompson, Iowa 50478.
We're Cleaning House! Made in Corydon IA!
Spring-cleaning time is here! And right now, your Country Clipper dealer is offering special spring promotions that will save you hundreds and give you a zero-turn mower with all this and more: • Joystick or Twinstick Steering. • Stand-up Deck for easy maintenance. • Up to 12 MPH mowing speed. • The best warranties in the business What are you waiting for? Get down to your nearest Country Clipper dealer today and do a little cleaning up of your own: EDS OFF!
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MASON CITY — The Iowa State University Extension Service in cooperation with several sponsors from throughout North Iowa and Southern Minnesota will hold an estate planning session at the Women Around Agriculture program Saturday, March 31. The meeting will take place at the Prime ’N Wine Restaurant, 3000 Fourth St. S.W. The day will feature estate planning information about how to secure
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