The livestock sale at the Cass County Fair will begin at 8:00 this morning at the indoor show ring.  We’ll have some live updates throughout the morning from the sale on KJAN.  CLICK HERE to see the sale listing!

The Iowa Department of Transportation is now distributing the 2017-2018 Iowa Bicycle Map. The popular publication has been updated to show new 4-foot or wider paved shoulders and recreational trails completed since the 2015-2016 version was published. As in past versions, the map highlights bike-friendly routes when traveling on two wheels through Iowa by identifying bike trails and traffic levels on all paved roads. The map also includes insets of Iowa’s 16 largest cities.    

A person riding a bicycle on a public road has all the rights, and is required to know and obey all traffic laws and rules of the road, applicable to the driver of a motor vehicle. To assist bicyclists in understanding their rights and responsibilities, a section of the map is dedicated to highlighting rules of the road. Bicyclists are urged to always wear helmets, use lights at night, and watch out for road hazards, including parallel-slat sewer grates, gravel, sand, and debris.

The 2017-2018 Iowa Bicycle Map is available online at  www.iowadot.gov/iowabikes/bikemap.aspx.

COLDWATER, Mich. (AP) – Officials say a more than $250 million hog processing facility in southern Michigan will handle hogs from states including Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Iowa. Hatfield, Pennsylvania-based Clemens Food Group held a ribbon-cutting Saturday at the plant in Coldwater that is expected to eventually employ 830 people. It starts running in August and be at full production in early September. It will process thousands of hogs per day.

The (Kendallville) News-Sun reports plans for the processing facility were announced in 2014. The Sturgis Journal reports the plant is getting local and state support that will total about $55 million, including about $12.5 million in Community Development Block Grant money.

Officials with Nishna Valley Trails invite all area youth and others to a Kids Bike Ride event on August 12th, beginning at 10:30-a.m. The ride takes place at the Schildberg Recreation Area in Atlantic. Check-in and the start of the ride will be at the west parking lot of the Schildberg Rec Area. There will be three age groups, with the length of the ride according to age. The event is free, and all ages are welcome.

The Kids Bike Ride is co-sponsored by Atlantic Parks and Rec, Cass County Conservation, Howard’s, Fareway, and the West Side Diner, in Atlantic. For more information, call Cass County Naturalist Lora Kanning, at 712-769-2372. After the ride, be sure and check out AtlanticFest, that will be underway in the downtown area of Atlantic.

The Cass County Conservation Board is once again sponsoring a “Breakfast with the Birds” Program. The program will be held at Sunnyside Park, Camblin’s Addition Shelter in Atlantic, on August 12th, beginning at 9-a.m.  They’re asking for your free will donations to partake in the event.

Terrie Hoefer, rehabilitator and Educator at S.O.A.R. (Saving Our Avian Resources), will show and discuss several of her permanently injured birds and she’ll hopefully have one that is fully recovered and ready to release back into the wild.

Donations will help to support the raptors and education at them.

Today marks the last full day of activities at the 2017 Cass County Fair, in Atlantic. The Fair concludes tomorrow at 8-a.m., with the Livestock Sale. Today’s activities include:

• 8:00-a.m.: Beef Show; 4-H Exhibits open.
• 9:00-a.m.: Best of Iowa
• 11:00-a.m.: Rotary watermelon feed.
• 2:00-p.m.: Dairy Cattle Show & Livestock Judging Contest.
• 4:00-p.m.: Style Show/ Building Awards.
• 5:45-p.m.: Parade of Champions; Woodcarving & Bucket of Junk Auction.
• 6:30-p.m.: Grand Champion Beef Selection.
• 7:45-p.m.: Livestock released.
• 8:00-p.m.: Mud Volleyball.

Remember, there’s no parking or admission fee, and lots of great food to purchase (all food purchases support the Fair and 4-H/FFA Clubs), things to see and do!

AMES, Iowa – The cost of farming is extremely high these days, the price of the products produced remarkably low and, as even a novice to agriculture can deduce, that means tough times. But 65-year-old farmer Don Holcomb says there are ways to lessen the pain and prepare for the future. On his farm, he’s found that adding a crop to his usual rotation can be beneficial. “Plant wheat in the fall, we harvest it in June,” he explains. “Plant soybeans, then we harvest the soybeans in October, maybe, and plant corn again the following spring. So we get three crops in two years.”

Holcomb notes that planting three crops has cut down on the number of weed pests that is typical with fewer rotations. Holcomb, who will be a presenter at a gathering of Practical Farmers of Iowa in August, says the current downturn pales in comparison with the 1980s farm crisis when interest rates were more than triple the current rate. Still, he says, pain is pain.

Holcomb maintains it’s necessary to view farming through a lens of adaptability. He says he avoids thinking of himself as a person in the wheat and soybean business. Instead, he thinks of himself as being in the food business. The latter, he says, can open your mind to new possibilities. “If you think of yourself as being in the food business, you not only are growing what’s adaptable to your area, but you got to also keep in the back of your mind what your customer or consumer wants to buy,” he explains.

Holcomb notes that different climates, elevations and soils impact whether a farm can add an additional crop, but the broader mindset he employs is applicable in all environments.

(By Kevin Patrick Allen/Iowa News Service)

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Trees that suck up sunlight and groundwater at the expense of other prairie plant life are creating new headaches throughout the Plains, including Nebraska, western Iowa and the Dakotas.

The eastern red cedar tree spreads so quickly that it catches many landowners off-guard, consuming huge areas of productive ranchland and threatening many of the area’s original prairies.

At one point in Nebraska, the trees expanded at a pace of nearly 40,000 acres a year Some landowners have formed burn associations to clear the trees. John Ortmann, a rangeland ecologist in Ord, Nebraska, says the problem will worsen without proper land management techniques, including controlled burns to keep the trees in check.

The Cass County Fair still has two full days of activities for your family to enjoy. Here’s a look at today’s (Sunday’s) line-up of events:

• 7:30-a.m.: Swine Show
• 10-a.m.: Poultry Show& 4-H Exhibits open; Doyle Chainsaw Artistry (10-am to 1-p.m.)
• Noon until 4-p.m.: Decorator’s Showcase
• 2:30-p.m. Pedal Tractor Pull
• 3-p.m. to 3:30-p.m: Feeder Calf Weigh-in; 3-until 5-p.m.: Doyle Chainsaw Artistry
• 4:30-p.m.: County Fair Church Service
• 5:30-p.m.: Cow/Calf Show
• 6:00-p.m.: Feeder Calf Show
• 6:30-p.m.: Horse Fun Show
• 7:00-p.m.: Dance/Gymnastics & a Comedian

The Fair continues for one more full day, on Monday, and concludes Tuesday morning with the Livestock Sale beginning at 8-a.m.  Take time today to visit your Cass County Fair, where it doesn’t cost you a thing to park, see the exhibits or enjoy the rides and shows.

Iowa now has around two-thirds of the state in some sort of dry pattern running from the northwest to the southeast corner. The Iowa D-N-R’s Tim Hall says the state is in a little better shape than the last time we had widespread drought conditions in 2012. He says we went into that year with very little reserve in groundwater after a dry 2011. “At least in 2016 we crossed over into 2017 after a really wet fall and early winter. So, things are not as dramatically bad this year — primarily because we started the year in much better shape,” Hall explains.

He says that is not a reason to dismiss what’s happening now. “In general, there’s a lot of folks in the state that need to be paying attention to the soil moisture conditions and the groundwater condition, and being aware that things are pretty dry,” Hall says. Hall says we have been well behind normal July rainfall totals in parts of the state and relief isn’t expected anytime soon. “There doesn’t appear to be a real significant chance for broad rains over the next couple of weeks,” Hall says. “So a couple of dry weeks, some really hot temperatures, the vegetation is pretty active and it tends to pull a lot of moisture out of the soil as it grows. So, the pieces are in place for things to get certainly not better over the next couple of weeks — and certainly perhaps deteriorate even more.”

South-central Iowa has been the driest part of the state thus far, but Hall says northwest Iowa has the fewest options for drawing groundwater, and they need to keep an eye on the conditions.

(Radio Iowa)