(Radio Iowa) – The weekly Iowa crop and weather report shows only half of the state’s corn crop and just 56 percent of the state’s soybeans are rated in the good to excellent categories. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says that’s the lowest rating for corn this season.

“It’s down nine points this week and it’s down 20 points over the last two weeks, Naig says, “so conditions are definitely getting tough out there.” Naig says it’s caused by a combination of drought conditions, particularly in western Iowa, plus the August 10th derecho hit fields where strongly yields had been projected.

“You think about what this crop could have been,” Naig says, “and it’s always disappointing to go out there and harvest yields that you’d rather not have, so there’s a lot of frustration and just so much uncertainty for folks as they head into the next few weeks.” Drought conditions are now reported in nearly 88 percent of the state right at the time the kernels on an ear of corn and the beans inside soybean pods are filling out.

“A little historical perspective here: that’s the widest drought coverage of the state since 2013,” Naig says. And it comes at a critical time as corn and soybeans finish developing. “Corn is right now filling out that ear, filling out those kernels,” Naig said. “You’ve got beans that are filling pods.” Naig says high temperatures over the next several days will create more stress on the 2020 crop.

Pasture conditions for livestock have deteriorated over the past week. Federal officials are giving some farmers in the driest parts of the state permission to use conservation reserve acres for hay or as grazing land for cattle and other livestock.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Four state parks will remain closed until at least August 31, 2020 following the derecho that left major storm damage across much of the state on August 10. The Iowa DNR reports Palisades-Kepler State Park (LINN COUNTY), Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area (LINN COUNTY), Lake Macbride State Park (JOHNSON COUNTY) and Wapsipinicon State Park (JONES COUNTY) will remain closed through the end of the month as staff continue to focus on clean-up efforts of storm damage at these parks.

For the latest on any park closures and alerts, visit: https://www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/Alerts-and-Closures.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer is reporting another down quarter.  Quad Cities-based John Deere reports net income for the third quarter of 811-million dollars. That’s down from 899-million a year ago. Worldwide net sales and revenues dropped 11-percent for the quarter and 12-percent for the past nine months. In a news release, Deere CEO John May says, “Although unsettled market conditions and related customer uncertainty are expected to have a moderating effect on key markets in the near term…Deere is well positioned to help make our customers more profitable and sustainable.”

The Derecho that struck the Midwest on August 10th, brought hurricane force winds of up to 140-miles per hour to parts of Iowa, caused millions of dollars in property damage, and a loss of at least 43-percent of the State’s corn and soybean crop. It also disrupted lives by knocking out power to more than 200-thousand homes and business. As of this (Friday) morning, approximately 14,500 power customers remained in the dark, with the bulk of those (over 12,000) residing in eastern Iowa’s Linn County.

“Zorro,” the baby raccoon. Photo courtesy Dr. Alan Farnsworth, DVM,

The major wind event was not kind to animals, either. In Adair, Veterinarian, Dr. Alan Farnsworth, found a female baby raccoon that he is nursing back to health. The Vet says he found the little critter the afternoon of August 15th.

Farnsworth gave the female raccoon subcutaneous fluids, which perked her up. He then began feeding her with a kitten milk replacer out of a little pet nursing bottle.

Doc Farnsworth says she’s drinking about 25-cc’s of milk replacer four-times each day. The goal, he says, is to eventually release “Zorro,” as he calls her, back into the wild in less than two months. She currently resides in a cage at his veterinary office in Adair, and is frequently visited by people who bring their animals in for care, or who just wanted to take a peek at the guest bandit.

Farnsworth said distemper and parvo-virus are the most common-type of maladies that affect raccoons in the wild. He says if you find a young raccoon in the wild, it’s best to leave it alone, because the mother will often come back for them. But this case was different.

Because raccoons are social creatures among their own kind, Farnsworth brought her a little stuffed animal she enjoys holding. The Vet says he’s trying hard not to become attached to her, because he knows she has to leave eventually.

Farnsworth has served the area as a Veterinarian for the past 43-years.

(Radio Iowa) – A University of Iowa study finds it takes much longer for farmers who are hurt on-the-job to get specialized trauma care at a hospital versus workers in practically every other industry. Study co-author Corinne Peek-Asa, a U-I professor of occupational and environmental health, says the primary problem with the delay is the distance involved. “The main reasons are that farmers are just injured more remotely, so sometimes, it takes a little while to discover the injury,” Peek-Asa says. “If a farmer is severely injured in the field and they’re not able to call for help, it’s going to take some time just to realize they’re injured and to get help to them.”

The study found it takes farmers an average of two hours and 46 minutes to arrive at a definitive trauma care center, compared to one hour and 48 minutes for people who suffer rural, non-farm work injuries. That extra hour of time, she notes, can make a significant difference in a person’s recovery time, or even in their life or death. Some might point to emergency medical service providers for the time lapse, but Peek-Asa says they’re not to blame. “It has nothing to do with training or the time the EMS responder takes at the scene, or the decision that they make on which hospital to take you to,” Peek-Asa says. “The delay is due to the distance and some of the complications of where farmers are injured. It’s important to us to really point out that our rural EMS providers are doing a great job.”

Peek-Asa says advancements in safety are frequently being made, for instance, in the use of G-P-S technology to locate an injured farmer. “There are some very innovative things going on to help reduce tractor rollovers,” Peek-Asa says. “If a tractor rolls over, it alerts someone so help is sent right away so the delay of recognizing and discovering the injury is reduced.”

The study was based on figures from the Iowa State Trauma Registry on some 750 Iowa workers who suffered traumatic on-the-job injuries between 2005 and 2011, about one-fifth of whom were farmers. The study was published in the journal Injury Epidemiology.

(Radio Iowa) – Schools at all levels have shifted courses online, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is now offering a virtual workshop to teach how to hunt, field dress and cook waterfowl. The Jamie Cook, a program coordinator for the D-N-R, says the course will target Iowans who have little to no waterfowl hunting experience — and they’ll make it work during the pandemic.

“We will take every measure to make camera angles really, really good and high index,” Cook says. “I field dressed a dove last night on my computer screen and had it to where it looked really good and did everything to accommodate as much as we could.” While these types of skills usually require hands-on training, Cook says they’re making the switch to using Zoom webinars with a panel of expert instructors for the two-part workshop series next month.

“Immediately following, probably within a week of the courses, we’re going to send them an email that’s going to have detailed information, it’s going to have recipes, it’s going to have a link to a PDF of the hunting regulations,” Cook says. “We’ll also send some video clips along to them that we’ve used over the years for these courses.” Ideally, Cook says they’ll invite the participants on a hunt during the upcoming season with experienced hunters from Delta Waterfowl.

People who take part in the free workshops will learn basic strategies for hunting waterfowl, things like proper equipment, where to hunt, safe shooting practices, decoys and calling, and how to field dress, clean and cook waterfowl. Cook says participants will have plenty of chances to ask questions. “Last night, with our Learn to Hunt Dove course, we had about 30 questions that came in. We were able to answer those both live and privately through the question-and-answer feature,” Cook says. “We have a lot of positive feedback from the participants.”

Course One will be held September 3rd and will cover waterfowl habitat and identification, hunting regulations and calling techniques. Course Two will be held September 10th and will cover hunting equipment, decoy spreads, cleaning and cooking. Participants can sign up for either or both courses.

w/Kate Olson.

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Despite months of uncertainty, the Iowa cattle industry and supporters came together on August 15th for the 38th annual Iowa Governor’s Charity Steer Show. This year’s event raised over $254,000 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Iowa. Donations can still be made at www.donorbox.org/gcss and additional photos can be found at facebook.com/iowagcss/.

The show and auction, which were held at Iowa State University, are an annual fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald Houses in Des Moines, Iowa City and Sioux City. The houses are located near hospitals and provide a “home away from home” for families of seriously ill children. The Iowa Beef Industry Council and Iowa Cattlemen’s Association sponsor the annual steer show and auction.

Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Director Bryant Rasmussen, Monday, told the Parks and Rec Board damage a vandal or vandals inflicted on the restrooms at Sunnyside Park, exceeded $1,200, not counting the labor necessary to clean-up the mess. Ramussen said he first found out about the damage last Saturday morning, from a person who made a shelter reservation for Saturday night and who wanted to make sure the facilities were clean and ready to use. He learned the paper towel holders and soap dispensers had been ripped from the walls, ripped open the toilet paper holders, and even left a feces dropping on the floor.

Sunnyside restroom vandalism photos from the Atlantic Parks & Rec Facebook page.

Ramussen and his staff spent about two-to- three hours at the Camblin Additon and Kiddie Korral restrooms at Sunnyside, before moving on and finding out the waterless restroom at the Schildberg Recreation Area (SRA) had been destroyed, including the wall heater, which in and of itself costs $1,200. The toilet was also flipped upside down, and the seat was broken-off. Only the bathhouse was left alone. Other damage included toilets being plugged-up by toilet paper and a rubber stopper, in an attempt to flood all the bathrooms.

Rasmussen said they would like to be able to get WiFi cameras installed, but NishnaNet is currently busy with the Atlantic School District’s Return-to-Learn WiFi project. He said in the interim, four trail cameras have been ordered and two more have been donated. They will be connected via an app and Bluetooth. The information can be downloaded on the app. Those camera’s have infrared sensors so their location is not given away by a flash. It’s hoped they will be installed later this week. Exterior restroom lighting will help to shed more light on persons who enter the facilities. The insides are lit by motion sensing lights.

The restrooms were closed for a while over the weekend but have since re-opened. Only the tennis court restrooms are closed, but that’s not related to vandalism. Rasmussen said the issue instead, is with a leak in the parking lot. They’re attempting to find the source of that problem.

Travis Garrett, who served as Atlantic’s Parks and Rec Director from 2008-2011, spoke at the meeting Monday evening. He mentioned as a citizen and disc golf enthusiast, they were holding a tournament last weekend, and were disheartened to see the restrooms locked-up, but everyone understood why, once they learned of the damage.

Garrett said the other disc golfers he doesn’t know what the solution is, but he wanted to offer the support of the club to aid in making those incidents of vandalism less likely to occur, by whatever means possible. He implored people to if they see unusual activity going on after dark, to “say something” to the Police Department by calling their non-emergency number. He thanked Bryant and his crew for cleaning up the mess as quickly as they could. Sunnyside Park, he said, will host another disc golf event in October.

In other business, Director Rasmussen said work continues to install the dock at the Schildberg Recreation Area. A new information kiosk has also been installed, and a three-sided enclosure to protect the trash bin has been erected. The kiosk will include local menus and walkability information added for those who wish to see Atlantic’s attractions on foot.

New signs at the SRA will be installed along the trails to better indicate mileage, flora and fauna, friendly camping tips, the fact recreational equipment is available from the Parks & Rec Department, and more. The City of Atlantic’s Street Department, he said, is closer to completing a trail at Mollett Park at the east end of E. 3rd Street Place, and the Street Department continues to work in the Bull Creek area to clear trees, in preparation for work on the washout and culvert.

The Cass County Conservation Board is holding FREE, “Mysterious Monarchs” Programs. The public programs will be held on:

• Friday August 28th 4:30PM- Lake Anita State Park Campground loop
• Saturday August 29th 2PM- Cold Springs Park Campground Shelter
• Saturday September 5th 2PM – Camblins Addition Shelter Sunnyside Park Atlantic
• Saturday September 12th 2PM- Outdoor Educational Classroom Massena- Follow Hwy 148 South of Massena, turn Left onto Tucson Rd for 1 ½ mile the park will be on your right.

Discover the Monarch Butterflies before their journey south. CCCB personnel will tag monarchs and show you how. If you would like a home tagging kit, you must attend and pre-register for the Kit. Call 712-769-2372 to pre-register. You DO NOT have to be a registered camper to attend the program.