CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Iowa Agribusiness Network!
CLICK HERE for the latest market quotes from the Brownfield Ag News Network!
(Des Moines, Iowa) – Changes are coming soon to the way Iowans can hunt and trap raccoons, and how farmers can deal with raccoon depredation issues. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, raccoons were the focus of a bill approved during the 2023 Iowa legislative session, allowing landowners or tenants to dispatch raccoons causing damage to their agricultural property, outside of the city limits. Landowners may shoot or trap raccoons using cage or dog-proof traps. A license is not required and landowners do not need to notify the DNR before shooting or trapping. That bill was signed into law by Governor Reynolds and becomes effective on July 1st.
The other related change relaxes the rules for hunting and trapping raccoons for everyone. The new rules, developed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and approved by the Natural Resource Commission of the Iowa DNR, allows for year-round hunting and trapping of raccoons on private land.
While the raccoon season will be continuously open, during the time of year outside of the furharvester season, only firearms, cage traps or dog-proof traps are legal methods of take. During the furharvester season, trappers may use other lawful traps normally allowed during the trapping season. Hunters or trappers pursuing raccoons on private land they do not own are required to have a valid furharvester license.
The new raccoon rules are currently in effect.
(Radio Iowa) – This week’s Iowa Crop and Weather report from the U-S-D-A rates 60 percent of Iowa topsoil either short or very short of moisture. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says abnormally dry conditions have expanded in the past two weeks. “In those more pervasive and dry areas, we’ve seen precipitation deficits really stack up,” Glisan says. “This is reflected in lower stream flows, but also diminishment in soil moisture.”
By last Thursday, 99 percent of the state reached some stage of drought or has been abnormally dry for 30 to 60 days according to the U-S-D-A’s Iowa Drought Monitor. Glisan says it appears surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean are rising — and that means a change in the weather pattern for thunderstorms that form over the ocean and later sweep into Iowa.
“I think there is good news on the horizon,” Glisan says. Weather models indicate the swing into the wetter pattern could arrive in Iowa by July, according to Glisan, just when corn and soybeans hit a major stage in development. “We need timely rainfalls throughout the teeth of the growing season,” Glisan says, “so seeing this potential shift into El Nino, which we are in now, and the potential for the weather patterns that set up, I am pretty confident that we are not going to see any yield loss because of early planting.”
Glisan made his comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. According to the U-S-D-A, the development of Iowa’s soybean crop is nine days ahead of normal and the corn crop is a week ahead of last year.
(Lewis, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board (CCCB) held a youth fishing derby at Cold Springs Park on Saturday, June 10, 2023. Officials say prizes were awarded for the most overall weight:
(Left) Traven Thomas; (Middle) Dayton Thomas; Brooklyn Thomas (2nd from left); Gavin Dougherty (2nd from the right), & Chloe Pendergast (right). Photo submitted by the CCCB
Awards also given for heaviest single fish and longest single fish: Gavin Dougherty, and shortest single fish: Chloe Pendergast. The CCCB thanks all those that donated items for the event: Weirich Welding for the trophies, Cappel’s Ace Hardware, and Scheels for prizes.
(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – Officials in Guthrie County report 2023 marks the third year that Guthrie County ISU Extension & Outreach has offered the “Wild Places in Guthrie County” tourism event. Krista Downing, Program Coordinator says “Each year we select different locations in Guthrie County to explore. Our flyer provides you coordinates or a QR code option to each location and a list of a few activities that you can do once you get to each location. We try to find different areas around that county that hit on recreation, history, and places that you might not even know about and then we create an educational video for each location with the help of local experts.”
With this event, you can go at your own pace, once you have the flyer with the information on it. First pick one of the mystery locations to visit then follow the coordinates to get there. Once you have arrived at the location find the flyer with QR codes on them. Scan the large QR code to watch a video to learn more about the site you are visiting. Make sure to take some time to explore each site, there are suggestions listed with each location on the flyer. Pick a new site and repeat this adventure until you hit all five locations! Make sure to scan the QR code to check in at each site so they can track how many people participate.
Guthrie County Extension is also offering a mystery prize to two lucky people. To be entered in a drawing for a prize take a picture at each location. Post your pictures on Facebook, tag Guthrie County Extension, and #GuthrieCountyWildThings. If you post entries at all three locations, you’ll receive three extra entries. All entries will be due by July 20th, 2023. 
According to Krista Downing, “We had a few different goals with this event when we started it in 2021. We hope to help stimulate the local economy by promoting tourist locations, provide a family friendly all ages event to the citizens of Guthrie County and surrounding areas, and get people outdoors exploring the different amenities that Guthrie County has to offer. We had a great response the past two years and are excited to be able to bring it back for a third year.”.
For more information or to download the flyer for this year, go to https://www.extension.iastate.edu/guthrie/. If you have any questions about the tourism event, please feel free to reach out to the Guthrie County ISU Extension office at 641-747-2276. (Click to enlarge the image >>> )
(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa is expanding its wilderness education program to reach 45-hundred elementary school children this year, and it should bring the outdoor learning experience to more than six-thousand next year. Jay Gorsh, director of U-I School of the Wild, says the program is typically a five-day field trip that takes fourth, fifth and sixth graders out of the classroom and into the woods. Gorsh says it helps kids to develop a sense of awareness and appreciation for nature. “Most often we use the three habitats in Iowa: prairie, wetlands and woodlands,” Gorsh says. “Then regularly we have a day of outdoor skills. Sometimes there’s an Archaeology Day in there. Sometimes you might have an entire day dedicated to wildlife or a specific type of wildlife. Here in Iowa City, we have an entire day dedicated to birds, so we have an Ornithology Day.”
Part of the thrill, he says, is getting kids to try things they’ve never had the opportunity to do before, like kayaking, or having what he calls a wildlife experience. “We can use some long-handled nets along the shore of a lake or in a creek and catch some frogs or tadpoles, and they can hold those frogs and tadpoles in their hand and be able to study them,” Gorsh says. “From there we can get into some biology by having them try to determine what specific type of frog is that that they’re holding. Is it male? Is it female? How do we know?” Kids today are being increasingly pushed indoors, he says, and too many of them know too little about the natural, wonderful world around us.
“What we would like to do is kind of disconnect, unplug the kids, get them out into nature, get them away from their electronics a little bit,” Gorsh says. “Also, there’s just a lot to be said about spending a day in the woods as far as how it makes you feel. For most people, that’s a pretty relaxing experience.” The U-I’s Wildlife Camps program started in 1991 and over time, morphed into becoming the School of the Wild. For many years, it was limited to the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids area, but just before the pandemic, they experimented with taking the program on the road so students elsewhere in Iowa could learn about nature in their own areas.
“It went really well. The feedback was very positive from families, from kids, from teachers, so we decided to go ahead and launch this thing across the state and see if it took off,” Gorsh says. “So now, there are programs that are running in county, state, even federal parks all across the state at different times in the year.” The School of the Wild is working with 83 schools in 50 Iowa districts in 36 counties this year, and Gorsh says it’s been expanding by about 15-hundred students every year.
Chris Parks speaks with Cass/Adair County Conservation Officer Grant Gelly and Officer Austin Durnin about all things outdoors. This week they talk about fishing opportunities, water recreation tips, young wildlife and much more.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (29.8MB)
Subscribe: RSS
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is back in the “Drought Watch” category on the system put together last year to keep tabs on the situation. D-N-R Hydrology coordinator, Tim Hall, works with other state agencies in assessing the issue. “We take a number of factors and look at them together. And we we decide whether a region of the state is normal, drought watch, drought warning, or drought emergency,” Hall says. He says the drought watch is similar to a thunderstorm or tornado watch.
“Which is really just a call for people to be very careful and pay attention. Because things are looking on the dry side,” he says, “and right now they’re getting a little bit worse all the time. So we’re just trying to keep an eye out and work with folks to make sure everybody has the information they need.” Hall says the state is also seeing the start of what could be a “flash drought,” or rapid increase in drought conditions in some areas. “Particularly in the eastern part of the state where things just got really dry really fast. We saw the U-S Drought Monitor pop up with severe drought in in parts of northeast Iowa and southeast Iowa. So you know, we were kind of on the mend there for a while and then March and particularly April and May have just turned dry on us and they have not done us any favors,” Hall says.
He says there are some indications the conditions might change and bring more rain, and June is normally the wettest month in the state. Hall says until we see more rain, everyone should do what they can to stop water waste by fixing any leaky fixtures. “Which is which is about as pure and simple wasting water as you can get. If you’re just dribbling it down the drain, you’re using resources to pump the water, to treat the water to get it to your house. And if you’re just letting it go down the drain, that’s an absolute waste of resources,” Hall says. “So figure out how to get those leaking faucets fixed and leaking toilets fixed.”
Hall says the situation may soon call for other measures as well. “Unfortunately, it looks like we’re getting into a situation where we’re going to have to start to remind people that water conservation is a necessary thing,” he says. “And we’re going to have to try to work on that a little bit in the state as we get through these dry, these dry weeks here.”
Hall says the best case scenario would be for normal June rainfall to return and turn the drought conditions around. But he says we have to be prepared if that does not happen.
(Ames, Iowa) – June is here, and summer is well underway! Iowa’s future beef farmers are getting their beef projects ready for the county fair, kids are hanging out at the pool, and the smell of beef on the grill wafts through the air. As a parent trying to survive summer vacation, you may be looking for new and exciting things to keep your child entertained. Look no further and break out the crayons and colored pencils because the Iowa Beef Industry Council is having a coloring contest!
Participation is hassle-free. Download the coloring page found on the IBC website and let the creativity flow. After your child has colored the beef grilling sheet to the best of their ability, upload a high-quality photo of their work in the form provided. Participants will be divided into four categories: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, and 8-9 years of age. The winning picture from each category will receive a $25 beef certificate and an age-appropriate summer grilling swag item.
Entries must be submitted by June 29, 2023 at 5 PM CST. 
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS