Through a series of weekly video blogs, Latham Forage Products Manager, Corey Catt shows how corn has evolved through time. Last week Corey introduced us to wild teosinte, which originated in Mexico and dates back to 5,000 B.C.
This week Corey continues his walk through time, showing how early corn varieties have been refined through many years of good breeding. Take a look – you might be surprised to hear him mention “gourd seed.”
Related Posts:
Submitted by Tracy Schlater
Marketing Director, Farm Safety For Just Kids
September 16-22 is National Farm Safety and Health Week, which provides a great opportunity to talk with your family members and employees about what should be done if the “unthinkable” happens on your farm.
Every farm needs a “what if” plan that outline expectations and a protocol for people to follow should something go wrong. Here are a few tips to develop such a plan:
All family members, including children, can play a big role in knowing what to do in a rescue situation. By working together with your local emergency agencies, your neighbors, family members and farm employees, you can assure the best chance of survival and recovery from farm tragedies.
Last week Iowa House Ag Chair Annette Sweeney asked me to meet with her in preparation for meetings she has this week in Washington, D.C. To our meeting, she brought two coffee table books about Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO). One of these books, simply titled CAFO, has been widely distributed to public officials. The other book, Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West, is a seven-pound book featuring 346 pages of articles and photographs by so-called expert authors and photographers.
Both books are extremely critical of modern day methods of farming and ranching. These books are so full of misinformation that I couldn’t even force myself to finish reading them! I was horrified by all of the misinformation that I was reading, and now I’m worried about the influence these books will have on uninformed individuals. People removed from the farm might take these books for fact.
One chapter the CAFO book is titled, “Old McDonald Had Diversity.” This chapter references the “diversified farms” of the 1950s and 1960s – it’s the image people have of farming by reading children’s books and watching movies. Old McDonald’s Farm and Disney productions, however, don’t portray modern farmers.
Unfortunately, people without a direct connection to farming often don’t see just how many improvements have been made. Most folks only know what they hear and see through the “mainstream media,” which typically doesn’t cover the whole truth.
The truth is I grew up on a diversified farm back in the fifties and sixties. Farming then wasn’t as “romantic” as some make it out to be. We raised lots of different animals, most of them outside. I remember the hardship those animals suffered during harsh Iowa winters, and we farmers worked to keep them from literally freezing to death. It was a real challenge to keep fresh, unfrozen water and feed for available for them.
Fast forward that 50 to 60 years, and the hogs in my care are warm during the winter and cool during the summer. The temperatures inside my building do not vary more than five degrees, regardless of the outside temperatures. My pigs have all the fresh water they can drink and a diet that’s designed to be just what they need for their size. (Unlike the school lunch program!) My pigs are very content. When I do chores, they run around and bark. When I get close to a pen, they come up to greet me.
But, I don’t expect you to take my word for it. I’ll let you see for yourself! I’m starting a blog series that will follow a group of pigs from the time I get them, about 50 pounds, to when they are market ready around 290 pounds. I’lltry to show just what these pigs have for shelter and what it takes for me to take care of them. I do realize some may think I am doctoring up video to show a good side of farming, but I guess if the animal welfare people can show you what they want you to see, so can I. The difference is that I’m not sneaking around. You’re all welcome to come and see for yourself!
Whether you’re preparing to eat lunch in the field – like a corn field – or lunch in the parking lot – adjacent to a football field – preparations are much the same. With a little planning, you can enjoy a delicious meal in the great outdoors with family members and friends.
This Saturday will be “the main event” for many Iowans, who look forward to the annual matchup between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8. If harvest keeps you away from Saturday’s Cy-Hawk game in Iowa City, you can hear the play-by-play action from a local station or Cyclone Radio Network. Remember to stay tuned following the game coverage for the Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds Locker Room Show, where analysts, players and coaches share their thoughts after the day’s game.
In a state without a professional sports team, the Cy-Hawk Series is almost as important as the Super Bowl. It is the Super Bowl of Iowa!
Choosing which team a person will cheer for even divides families. During last night’s television news coverage, I heard about a household so divided that a couple named its firstborn Kinnick Trice. I’m guessing the lady of that house doesn’t serve up Cardinal and Gold Cheeseburgers. 🙂
Regardless of whether you’re cheering for the Cardinal & Gold or the Black & Gold, we’d like to help simplify your tailgating plans. Today we’ve compiled our best tailgating recipes:
I’m also including a new recipe for Tailgating Eggs, which I picked up at the Iowa State Fair. What’s your favorite tailgating fare? Please send your recipe to shannonl@lathamseeds.com.
More than 100 people donned rain suits and motorcycle boots for Latham’s Fourth Freedom of Independence on Saturday, Aug. 25. Rain began to fall as the first group of riders left for Latham’s atypical field day on wheels, but no one complained after a growing season plagued by drought.
The five-hour tour took riders across 90-miles through North Central Iowa where they visited three Latham® corn and soybean showcase plots. A walk through Latham’s “living museum of corn” demonstrated the differences between corn managed as it was in the 1930s compared to modern-day 
hybrids. Tour-goers also had a chance to see kernels of all sizes and colors, plus one ear as big as a Pringle® potato chips!
A highlight of the days was a stop at Hagie Manufacturing in Clarion where riders got a hands-on look at advanced manufacturing in Iowa. Interestingly enough, the Hagie’s family business got its start as a hybrid corn company and made history when Ray Hagie invented the world’s first self-propelled sprayer in 1947.
The ride ended with a complimentary hog roast catered by Wholly Smoke BBQ of Dows, Iowa. Thanks to all of the “die-hards” who made the 4th Annual Latham Freedom of Independence Ride another roaring success!
Remember to mark your calendars for the last Saturday of August 2013. Help us celebrate Latham’s milestone 5th Annual Freedom of Independence Ride in Loess Hills, voted one of Iowa’s most scenic motorcycle routes.
“Musings of a Pig Farmer” by Larry Sailer
Back in the 1980s, I became an agvocate. The term “agvocate” had not yet been invented, and I really had no idea what I was getting into at the time. I joined the Franklin County Pork Producers and the Franklin County Farm Bureau.
It wasn’t long before the Farm Crisis of the 1980s hit, and I knew farmers like me needed to tell our story. Unfortunately, I had no clue how to go about it! My first media interview was with farm broadcaster Von Ketelsen, and in hindsight, it’s a good thing it was with someone who is so “farmer friendly.” Most of my answers were either “yes” or “no.”
Over the past 30+ years, I have attended as many media training sessions as time allows. I joined the Farm Bureau Speaker Corps and Operation Main Street, a speakers’ corps for the National Pork Board. During a Farm Bureau training session about four years ago, I was introduced to Social Media. Our trainer, Zach Bader, explained how Twitter and Facebook could expand the number of people we could reach with our message.
Then I discovered AgChat! AgChat is a virtual chat room. This is a place where you can “attend” a meeting – unlimited by chair space. It allows you to connect with people from virtually anywhere and discuss ag issues. You can ask questions and get everyone’s opinion. (Take notice: I used the word “opinion” instead of “answers”!) If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last 30 years it’s that there are a lot of opinions and not every question has a right or wrong answer. That’s why I firmly believe those of us in agriculture must be willing to listen, too.
The founding members of AgChat did what I think was an amazing thing. They started having seminars to help people like me learn how to use social media to have a conversation with the people, who either are no longer connected to the farm or never have been.
I attended the first agvocacy training session in Chicago in 2010 and was overwhelmed. Speakers were so passionate about sharing the great message of what we have attained on the farm. On Aug. 23-24, I attended the third AgChat training session in Kansas City. It’s amazing how far social media has come! This time I attended sessions on blogging, making videos (and even met the Petersen brothers) and using Pinterest. There is really no limit to spreading your message. Go ahead and give it a try… our livelihood needs more agvocates!
Musings of a Pig Farmer
by Larry Sailer
Last week in “Musings of a Pig Farmer,” I shared how new school lunch regulations are limiting portions of certain types of food offered through the national school lunch program. These regulations are a key component of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by First Lady as part of her “Let’s Move” initiative to help end childhood obesity.
One reason given by proponents of the new school lunch rules is the need for children to have a “balanced diet.” Balanced means that a diet meets your nutritional needs while not providing too much of any one nutrient. To achieve a balanced diet, you must eat a variety of foods from each of the food groups.
Given my experience feeding livestock, I understand the need for “nutritionally balanced rations”:
Active kids, like active animals, have different nutritional requirements. Performance athletes, like show animals, have different feed needs. That’s why I’m opposed to the federal government’s “one size fits all approach” to school lunches.
Through the years, I’ve learned that you can’t remove everything animals like to eat or they will simply refuse to touch everything in the feeder. They “go off feed.” Animals will not eat enough to grow bigger if they do not like the diet you feed them.
This same concept may be applied to human diets. As a parent and a grandparent, I’ve seen kids simply refuse to eat foods they do not like. For example, Janice and I had a rule that our kids had to at least try the different types of food served at dinner. They couldn’t be excused from the dinner table until they tried everything on their plates. That rule didn’t work for tomatoes – but gagging did! To this day, we have kids who will not eat tomatoes.
Fact is, it doesn’t matter how good the food is for them (animals or humans) if you can’t get them to eat it! It doesn’t matter if the federal government requires school-age children in the Midwest to take a serving of black-eye peas or collard greens. Chances are, most of those foods are going to end up in the garbage disposal. Lean proteins, however, are appealing to many children. By setting a maximum allowance for Meat and Meat Substitutes (verses “minimum requirements” as stated under the former regulations), the U.S. government implies that meat isn’t healthy. There’s also a new limit set for grain servings. New regs, however, increase the amount of fruits and vegetables served. Well, too much fruit isn’t good for you either because there is such a thing as consuming too much natural sugar. Too much of “good thing” is still too much!
Guest Blog post by Mark Hanna,
ISU Extension agricultural engineer with responsibilities in field machinery
Extremely warm, dry and windy harvest conditions in 2011 were credited for the above-average number of combine and field fires we experienced last fall. Hot, dry conditions all summer long – plus the likelihood of warmer than normal temperatures at harvest time due to an early harvest – mean even more sparks could ignite during the 2012 harvest season.
Prevention is a key to avoid personal and property damage.
Preparation is also key. Carry these items with you during harvest:
Since fires can start from plant materials that have smoldered unnoticed for 15 to 30 minutes or more, it just takes a gust of wind to literally blow it out of control. Hanna advises farmers to discuss a plan for emergency tillage in the event of a fire break, so harvest crews know what to do should the need arise. Remember, personal safety is more important than harvest loss.
For more tips, click here.
Today will be bittersweet.
“The Big Show” will be broadcasting live from Latham headquarters to cover preparations underway for our company’s 65th anniversary celebration on Saturday, Aug. 23. Unfortunately, we’ll be doing today’s broadcast without one of the ag community’s most-loved personalities.
But Mark Pearson, longtime host of WHO Radio’s “The Big Show” and Iowa Public Television’s “Market to Market” program, will be with us in spirit! That’s why today through Saturday we’ll be honoring Mark’s memory in a way that’s fitting of his fun-loving spirit.
Tune into Newsradio 1040 WHO today between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. CST to hear the details of our Cow Chip Bingo game. WHO listeners and Mark Pearson fans even will have an opportunity to participate “virtually” through lathamseeds.com. Visitors to the Latham Country Fair on Saturday can participate “in person.”
Proceeds from our Cow Chip Bingo game will benefit the Mark Pearson Endowment, a scholarship program available to junior and senior students at Iowa colleges who have chosen to major in agriculture journalism. (Side bar: This scholarships is also near and dear to my heart since I majored in agricultural journalism at Iowa State University.)
How to “Place Your Chips” to Benefit the Mark Pearson Scholarship Endowment
Those attending the event will select one of 64 Bingo squares. Those who cannot attend the event are invited to pledge online by visiting www.lathamseeds.com and selecting the “Cow Chip Bingo” icon at the bottom of the page or by mailing a check to:
WHO Radio
c/o Janine Van Vark
Note: Cow Chip Bingo
2141 Grand Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50312
Virtual and mail pledges will be put into a drawing for prizes, including $100 worth of beef certificates from the Iowa Beef Industry Council.
The national school lunch program is becoming one “hot potato” of an issue! I deliberately chose to use the word “one” as much of the changes revolve around limiting the portion size, especially of meat, offered through the school lunch program. In her blog post this week, Missouri pork producer Chris Chinn describes it as a One Size, Fits All Lunch Program.
Chris is not alone in her concern. Even school hot lunch managers are concerned. Here’s a comment one area hot lunch manager posted on my Facebook page:
Oh, you sure hit a sore spot with me. It just me over two weeks to formulate a menu that usually takes less than two hours, and I have Middle School and Elementary ages to go. The meat allowance for students in grades 9-12 is 2 ounces. I can hardly wait until some of my older kids come through the lunch line on the first day and can’t find the meat on their sub sandwich! Our schools have always served at least 1 fruit and 1 vegetable a day. We can serve it, but we can’t make them eat it! And now I’m adding more fruits and vegetables, but I’m sure there won’t be a rush for Garbanzo beans, black beans and kidney beans. Get this… lettuce and dressing must fit into the calorie ranges.
How long will a 2-ounce portion of meat satisfy a 240-pound football player, who has already been at school for hours and has to attend practice right after school? The above-mentioned hot lunch manager goes on to write that she’s concerned about the number kids that will go hungry thanks – ironically – in part to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. She encourages concerned citizens and interested parents to contact their congressman. She emphatically writes, “School cooks need all the help they can get to get back to basic cooking!!!!”
Even school administrators are concerned about the new regulations. Last Thursday a group of area superintendents met with the Franklin County Board of Directors. When talking about school food, one of the supers confessed that he takes his lunch break in his office where he can use his own “secret” salt shaker. He said the food is so bland that he couldn’t tolerate to eat it otherwise.
Another super said that the “Food Gestapo” stopped in and checked their food last year. His school failed the inspection, and one reason was because that particular school added too much salt to the food. They all agreed that there will be major problems with the program.
As classes resume, I’m sure we’ll hear even more “school lunch stories.” You can be sure that I haven’t written my last word about it either. To be continued…