Audubon, IOWA – Join Vic and Cindy Madsen, Audubon, and professional fence builder Jason Schmidt, Battle Creek, as he leads participants in erecting a new high-tensile fence on the Madsens’ farm. Practical Farmers of Iowa invites you to this hands-on workshop, where you will gain the knowledge and skills to install similar fencing on your farm. Also learn more about rotational grazing systems from NRCS Grasslands Specialist Rick Sprague at the field day, which is to be held Saturday, July 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and ending with supper.  

The event, Hands-on Fantastic Fencing for Great Grazing, will be held at the Madsen farm, located at 2186 Goldfinch Ave., Audubon, IA 50025. If you plan to attend, please contact Kevin Dietzel, Practical Farmers of Iowa, 515.232.5661 or email Kevin at kevin@practicalfarmers.org by 7/7/11.  “Hopefully everyone who attends will pick up a fencing or grazing tip that will be a help to them on their farms,” says field day host Vic Madsen. 

The Madsens have a 275-acre mixed-crop and livestock farm that is approximately 65 percent organic and 35 percent conventional. Their livestock are raised without antibiotics or hormones. They market some of their livestock directly to customers. A small aronia berry planting was put in 2008 to diversify income. 

Directions to the farm:

From Hwy. 71 in Audubon, go 2 blocks west at the West Central Co-op bin site. Take a left by the east side of the hospital and go 1/2 mile south. The road curves west, continue west for 2-1/2 miles to the end of the pavement. Then turn left on Goldfinch and go 3/4 mile south on gravel. The farm is on the left. 

Practical Farmers of Iowa and its members will be hosting more than 30 field days in 2011. Most field days are free, and everybody is welcome to all of them. For a copy of the 2011 Field Day Guide, you can call the PFI office at 515.232.5661 or down load a printable PDF at http://practicalfarmers.org/events/field-days.html.  

It takes many sponsors to make these field days possible. Practical Farmers of Iowa recognizes the following sustaining sponsors: Albert Lea Seedhouse, American Natural Soy, Iowa Farmers Union, ISU Extension, Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), Seed Savers,  USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, in addition to the following major sponsors: Iowa Forage and Grassland Council, Midwest Organic Services Association (MOSA), CROPP Cooperative of Organic Valley/Organic Prairie Family of Farms and Iowa State University Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture. 

Founded in 1985, Practical Farmers of Iowa is an open, supportive and diverse organization of farmers and friends of farmers, advancing profitable, ecologically sound and community-enhancing approaches to agriculture through farmer-to-farmer networking, farmer-led investigation and information sharing. Farmers in our network produce corn, soybeans, beef cattle, hay, fruits and vegetables, and more. For additional information, call 515.232.5661 or visit www.practicalfarmers.org. 

(PFI Press Release)

Sheriff’s officials in Audubon County say a Manning resident was arrested recently on a theft charge. 44-year old Mark Anthony Stanley, of Manning, faces a 4^th Degree Theft charge, following an investigation into the theft of property from the 1000 block of Crane Avenue.

Authorities say he allegedly took possession of property belonging to someone else, and then destroyed it by taking the property to a scrap yard. Stanley appeared before the magistrate today (Thursday), and was released from custody.

His preliminary hearing was set for July 11^th.

CARROLL, Iowa (AP) – The defense has rested its case in the first-degree murder trial of a Minnesota man charged with killing a convenience store clerk in northern Iowa. Michael Swanson, of St. Louis Park, Minn., was 17 when he was charged with killing Sheila Myers on Nov. 15, 2010 in Humboldt – one of two store clerks he’s accused of killing that day.

The defense rested this morning during the trial in Carroll, after calling Swanson’s mother, Kathleen, as a witness on Wednesday. The state today called rebuttal witnesses, including a psychiatrist. Michael Taylor says Swanson understood his crimes, as well as right from wrong.

Taylor says Swanson told him the slayings were brewing inside his head since he was 13, and his original plan was to wait until he was 18 and kill his parents.

The annual Cass County Relay For Life takes place Friday here in Atlantic, from 6-to 11-p.m.,  at the Atlantic High School track. Carole Schuler helped to organize the event, which serves to raise funds for cancer research, promotes awareness, and celebrates those who are cancer survivors. It also acts as a way to remember those who have lost their courageous fight with the disease. 

Carole says the day actually begins at 8-a.m. with a “Relay For Life” Tractor Ride that begins at the Cass County Community Center. Some of the tractors will be at the AHS track, as well that evening. Schuler says there are many activities planned for this evening, and wonderful food for you to enjoy. 

At 6:30-p.m, the group “Sheltered Reality” drumline will perform. At about that same time, there’ll be activities for the kids, including washable tattoos, face painting, and, a smart shop, with information about cancer and persons on-hand to answer questions. There’s also a “car bash,” where for a small donation, you can swing sledge hammer on a donated vehicle and raise funds for cancer research at the same time. 

She says also, you don’t have to be a part of one of the many teams who will gather to raise funds for the cause, in order to participate in the event. Schuler says you can sit in the stands and watch the teams in purple shirts circle the track, enjoy a variety of entertainment, talk a walk around the track yourself, and celebrate those who are celebrating their cancer survival. 

Hy-Vee is sponsoring a free cancer survivor social in the High School Commons, at 4:30-p.m., with registration. Survivors can bring a guest and receive a free, purple, cancer survivor t-shirt. Those same persons can walk the first lap at the Relay For Life, beginning at 6-p.m. 

The evening winds down with a luminary lighting, and a reading of the names of those who have lost their battle with cancer, and those who have survived. If you haven’t already donated to the cause and want to do so, you can contribute on-line at www.relayforlife.org/casscountyia. The website also has more information about the 2011 Cass County Relay For Life.

w/News Director Ric Hanson

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A Dallas County man died Wednesday afternoon near Perry, when the pickup he was driving went out of control and rolled into a ditch. The Iowa State Patrol says 44-year old Andrew Dean Bock, of Perry died at the scene of the crash in the 14,000 block of H Avenue.

The accident happened at around 2:15-p.m., when Bock failed to negotiate a curve in the road, and his 2003 GMC Sierra rolled into the east ditch. The Patrol says Bock was not wearing a seatbelt.

w/News Director Ric Hanson

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Officials with the National Weather Service in Valley, NE, say an EF-1 Tornado was the cause of damage Monday night, in western Iowa’s Monona County. The twister struck between 8:45- and 8:53-p.m., about 4-miles south of Turin.

The tornado’s path was an average of 300-yards wide, and 7.1-miles long. When it initially touched down, it produced sporadic tree damage near the intersection of County Road E-60 to L-14, in Monona County. The twister moved northeast and hit a farmstead, downed power lines and destroyed a grain bin.

It continued northeast through the Loess Hills, producing varying degrees of tree damage, before crossing County Road E-54 and 277^th Street, where it destroyed more trees and a few outbuildings. The twister continued its trek northeast across 258^th Street, where it hit another farmstead, tearing-off part of the roof off of a house, destroyed some outbuildings and several more trees.

Before it dissipated, the tornado crossed another road and knocked down power lines. No injuries were reported. Officials say the EF-1 twister produced peak winds of up to 90-miles per hour. An EF-1 tornado typically has wind speeds ranging from 86- to 110-mph.

With flooding in many areas of the state and the extended forecast calling for more rain, Iowans who’ve not had wet basements before are having to face unfriendly realities. Art Hill, spokesman for the city of Council Bluffs, is warning homeowners in that southwest Iowa city to take more precautions against the rising Missouri River. 

Hill says, “At this stage, we’re recommending that anybody that has any sort of threat or history of having groundwater coming up into their house, get your valuables out of the basement.” Hill says residents need to be prepared by packing an emergency kit that includes money, important paperwork, medications, baby items and clothing. Also, he says to make a plan that includes where to meet family members in the case of evacuation.

“We want everyone to be prepared as we look at the rain that’s going to be coming over the next several days and the situation we have,” he says. Hill also suggests taking the time to inspect your basement walls and the foundation. Just across the Missouri River, Omaha leaders are renewing the call for volunteers to help fill sandbags. Two weeks ago, the city’s Levi Carter Park was converted into a massive sandbag-filling factory. Melinda Pearson, Omaha’s director of Parks and Recreation, says the 100-thousand sandbags that were just filled are already spoken for and many more are needed.

“We’d like anywhere between 100- and 200-thousand sitting without being taken to somewhere else,” Pearson says. “Right now, the ones that were created at Levi Carter are mostly gone. They have been moved.” Pearson says hundreds of volunteers are being recruited through companies, individuals and families. She says many sandbag fillers are burning the candle at both ends.

“We’re asking the city to continue be helpful,” Pearson says. “We do want to come into a little bit more manageable schedule so our people don’t get burned out and our volunteers don’t get burned out.” Sandbagging operations will run until 8 o’clock tonight (Thursday), Friday and Saturday at Levi Carter Park.

State officials are preparing for the impact of increased water flow on the Missouri River from the Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota. Emergency Management and Homeland Security director, Derek Hill, says the increase is expected to raise the water levee in Sioux City from one half to one foot, while in Council Bluffs and points south, it will go up only inches. Hill says they do expect other impacts from the rise in water. 

He says the increase flow will create more backup in the tributaries, as there has already been some backup. Hill says it is particularly a concern if there is more rain. Hill says the increase flow also increases the pressure on, and water flow around structures that they are already monitoring. 

Hill says the most obvious concern are the levees as the increased flow and pressure could cause boils to form. He says they will continue with patrols looking boils on the levee. Hill says that’s not the only concern. 

Hill says they are also watching to see how the increased flow impacts the embankments against the bridges and the culverts and the roads that have gone under water. Hill was asked which tributaries that flow west cause the most concern.

He says “basically all of them” as he says the Nishnabotna floods periodically anyway and it backs up for several miles, the Floyd River, the Big Sioux and Perry Creek which flows into Sioux City. Hill says residents around those rivers should be prepared for possible flooding. 

Hill says their advice for people on the tributaries or areas that could be inundated with heavy rain, is they should be prepared for flooding. He says people living near levees should also be alert to the changing conditions. The Fremont County emergency manager ordered mandatory evacuations Wednesday for resident who live west of Interstate 29. Hill says that’s a precaution mainly because the levee there is new. 

Hill says the dirt was settled the best it could be, but he says it has not like an older levee where the earth as had the opportunity to naturally compact. Hill says they are monitoring all the levees in the area and do not have a particular concern about one over the other. Hill says the impact of the increased Gavins Point output will be less downstream of Sioux City as the water has gone down some there and that will be offset by the increase flow. Hill made his comments during an update Wednesday afternoon.