The U-S-D-A is revising its response to avian influenza outbreaks and it will use a flat reimbursement rate for all depopulation and virus elimination efforts. Randy Olson, executive director of the Iowa Poultry Association, says they’re good moves. “We’re happy the USDA is continuing to make modifications to its response,” Olson says. “Our members are examining the proposed rules on reimbursement rates and we hope to know more about their reaction in the coming weeks.”

The biggest part of the revision, he says, is the flat reimbursement rate when an entire flock has to be euthanized. “What we’ve learned during 2015 was the time and energy it takes to clean and disinfect these barns was beyond what the USDA had anticipated,” Olson says. “USDA is making an effort to streamline that process.” Olson says there are a variety of depopulation methods producers can use and ventilation shutdown has proven effective.

He says despite activist concerns, it’s a humane method in that it accomplishes effective depopulation as quickly as possible, while ensuring any remaining birds remain healthy by being protected from the flu. Olson says, “The key takeaway is that within 24 hours, these barns need to be depopulated to stem the spread of further disease to prohibit otherwise healthy birds from getting sick.” Under the revision, turkeys will be reimbursed at a rate of $3.55 per bird, layers at $6.45 per bird and broilers at $1.15 per bird.

(Radio Iowa)

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Pheasants Forever, are hosting a series of workshops early next month, for landowners who would like to learn more about the importance of wildlife habitat in the agricultural landscape of Iowa. Jason Andersen, with Pheasants Forever, says the workshops, one each, will be held in Audubon, Cass and Shelby Counties.

He says one workshop will take place Tue., Feb. 2nd from 1-until 3-pm at the Audubon County Conservation Club, 3 miles N. of Exira off Highway 71. Another will be held Wed., Feb. 3rd from 11:30-am until 1-p.m. in the meeting room at the Pizza Ranch, in Atlantic. The final workshop is from 11:30-a.m. until 1-p.m. Thu., Feb. 4th in the meeting room at the Pizza Ranch, in Harlan.

Coffee and cookies will be available at the Exira site. Lunch will be available at the two Pizza Ranch sites, but that will be at your own cost. Andersen says the workshops are free and open to the public. He says with Iowa’s rural landscape becoming dominated by farm ground, over the years, that has been devastating to wildlife habit. The workshops will focus on how to restore wildlife habitats so they can co-exist with agriculture.

One of the most well-known and successful programs at producing habitat is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a long-term, voluntary program that helps crop producers retire environmentally sensitive land into conservation cover that controls soil erosion and improves air and water quality. CRP also provides wildlife habitat. The current, general CRP sign-up runs through Feb. 26th.

The sessions, according to Andersen, will focus more on native grasslands [native grasses and wildflowers], because that what the landscape looked like before settlers came to the area. Andersen says there are other programs and sources, beside CRP, that will help you learn about and establish wildlife habitats.

For more information about the workshops being offered in Audubon, Cass and Shelby Counties, or to reserve your seat at one of those workshops, call Jason Andersen at (712)-563-4248, or e-mail jandersen@pheasantsforever.org.

The American Wind Energy Association’s fourth quarter report shows Iowa has moved one rung from the top when it comes to producing power from the wind. AWEA manager of data and analysis, John Hensley. “We actually saw Iowa move past California into second place in our state rankings. Iowa now has more than six-thousand megawatts of installed capacity,” Hensley says. “We saw somewhere in the realm of about 300 megawatts come online in the state in the fourth quarter that helped push it up in the rankings.”

Iowa moved past California by 104 megawatts, but would have to triple its output to overtake top-ranked Texas — which has nearly 18-thousand megawatts. Hensley says Iowa was part of a trend that saw more wind turbines come online across the country. “The fourth quarter of 2015 was actually are second strongest quarter on record,” Hensley says. “We installed five-thousand megawatts, second only to the fourth quarter of 2012. So, a lot of strong momentum going into the end of the year.” He says wind will account for around one-third the electric power produced in Iowa.

“Back at the end of 2014, wind was providing 28-point-five percent of the state’s electricity-mix with windpower….The full results are not out for the year yet, but we do expect it to come into that 30 percent threshold,” Hensley says. He says Iowa has a lot of advantages when it comes to wind power. “Iowa is just a really attractive place for wind energy developers to install new projects,” according to Hensley. “It’s a state with a sort of strong, favorable policy environment, combined with a really great wind energy resource.”

And he says Iowa’s location is good for distributing the wind power. Hensley says improved technology has helped lower the cost of installing wind power, and that has helped continue the expansion of capacity. “The primary innovations that we’ve seen are taller towers — so getting the machine actually higher up into the air — and the advent of longer blades. These long blades have a larger rotor diameter, which allows them to capture more wind resources than they did before,” Hensley says.

AWEA figures show there are now 74-thousand-472 megawatts of installed wind capacity in the United States and more than 52-thousand operating wind turbines.

(Radio Iowa)

w/Kate Olson

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DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today (Tuesday) announced that the Iowa Farm to School Local Purchase Report is now available. The Iowa report is the first in the nation to track monthly procurement of locally-grown produce (within Iowa and a 30 mile radius surrounding our state) from school food service directors.

Northey says “This report is designed to help farmers interested in supplying schools know what types of produce schools want and the price that is being paid for it. The consistent and reliable information included in the report is extremely valuable in helping farmers build a business that includes marketing directly to schools. In addition, it may help schools not yet purchasing local produce learn what other schools are buying as they consider starting to add local foods to their menu.”

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is partnering with USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) on these monthly reports. School food service directors are asked to complete a report on local produce procurement monthly. As with all AMS reports, the information is confidential and only products and price ranges are shared.

The monthly report can be found on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship website at www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/lsmiafts.pdf.

A meeting sponsored by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach “Heifer Development: Breeding & Selecting for Longevity & Profit” will be held on Monday February 1, 2016, 5-9 pm at Cass County Community Center in Atlantic.

Record-high cattle prices of 2014 and early 2015 followed by the recent price decline of the feeder and fed cattle markets may have placed some financial stress on cow-calf producers. High-priced replacement females will need to be productive for several years in order to be profitable investments. Presenters will focus on current genetic and phenotypic selection tools that can be utilized to improve cow longevity and enhance lifetime productivity in your herd.

If registered 3 days prior to event, a registration fee of $20 can be paid at the door. Walk-in registration fee will be $25. Please register by Friday January, 29 to ensure a meal will be available. Please call 515-294-2333 or email beefcenter@iastate.edu to register or contact Chris Clark Extension Beef Specialist at 712-250-0070 or by email at caclark@iastate.edu for more information.

Even before the recent avian influenza outbreak in Indiana, the U-S-D-A began stockpiling up to 500-million doses of a new vaccine for bird flu. Some Iowa poultry industry officials oppose vaccinating because of export market consequences. Randy Olson, executive director of the Iowa Poultry Association, says even with those concerns, it’s good to have that supply of vaccine if it’s needed.

“None of us want to be in a position where we’re forced to make the decision about vaccination because it certainly comes with a lot of complicating factors,” Olson says. “If we happen to have another break this spring, it’s good that USDA is planning in advance.” He says the biggest concern about vaccinating is with potential trade partners.

“One of the considerations is clearly international markets,” Olson says. “If we vaccinate for avian influenza in the U.S. and we’re not able to maintain regionality, then foreign countries will consider our poultry population to be endemic with avian influenza.” Olson says instead of relying on vaccine, Iowa’s poultry producers are ramping up their biosecurity efforts to prevent the disease from reoccurring in the spring.

“We certainly are planning for the spring,” Olson says. “Our farms are doing a great job of improving biosecurity, in some cases, making very expensive capital improvements to keep security on their farms and try to keep intruders like foreign birds out.”

A total of 77 poultry operations statewide had bird flu outbreaks last year and more than 31-million chickens and turkeys were wiped out in Iowa, which was by far the worst-hit state. Losses in Iowa are estimated near one-billion dollars. Operations in 14 other states were also infected, claiming 50-million birds and more than three-billion dollars.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa egg farms are bouncing back from last year’s bird flu outbreak but rebuilding flocks with millions of new egg layers is taking time as the industry predicted. The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Friday shows Iowa’s population of egg-laying hens at 37.9 million in December, up 6 percent from November but still 37 percent below the year-ago figure.

Iowa farms produced 812 million eggs, up 11 percent from the previous month but down 44 percent from December 2014. The bird flu last summer killed 48 million birds nationwide including 24 million Iowa laying hens. Farmers have replenished flocks but expect it to take most of this year to reach full production again.

U.S. egg production in December was 8 billion, down 8 percent from a year ago.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A new U.S. Department of Agriculture report says the number of cattle and calves in large Iowa feedlots is unchanged from last year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the number of cattle and calves in Iowa feedlots with capacities of 1,000 or more head totaled about 1.22 million on Jan. 1 – the same total as Jan. 1, 2015. However, the total is up 3 percent from December.

Cattle placements during December totaled 185,000 head, a decrease of 16 percent from November and down 8 percent from December 2014. About 142,000 fed cattle were marketed for the month of December, up 14 percent from the previous year.