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Agriculture
1:16 pm
Thu August 30, 2012

Longhorns, bluegrass and corn combining at the Farm Progress Show [Slideshow]

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Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
This 10-year-old Watusi steer named Stevie, who is owned by Garland Ranch, was on view at the Farm Progress Show. Stevie has horns that span more than five feet.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
Farmers were allowed to get up close and personal with the machinery.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
Hundreds of farmers left the show grounds to see corn combining demonstrations.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
An emcee gave visitors information about each combine that cut corn and churned up the ground at fields beside the show grounds.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
The harvesting equipment on view became part of the landscape.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
The Four Mile Creek Band was among the musical acts that performed for show visitors.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
There were tractors of all shapes and sizes at the show like this Oliver 1850.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
Wind turbines also were available for farmers to check out.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
Wind turbines also were available for farmers to check out.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Radio
Sukup set up these massive grain bins at the show.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Radio
Farmers braved the 97-degree heat on Wednesday to attend the show in Boone.
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Thousands of farmers from the heartland braved the 97-degree heat in Boone, Iowa on Wednesday for the 2012 Farm Progress Show.

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Agriculture
3:05 pm
Mon August 27, 2012

Drought could edge livestock producers out of business

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Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
Alfred Brandt says he will have to pay $100,000 in out-of-pocket feed costs to get his 150 Holstein cows fed through next spring.
drought
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
This pasture usually has fescue grass that's up to 10 inches high. But there have been just two inches of rain here in the past two months.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
Brandt will have to cull his herd this winter, and sell cows that are not making a profit. That’s sad since some of them have a lifetime of breeding ahead of them.
Credit . Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
Normally the corn Brandt chops fills his two upright silos. This year, the drought hit his crop so hard that he's not able to fill them, even with corn purchased from a neighbor.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
Dan and Laura Pugh wanted to graze their five new sheep on pasture. But the fields were too dry and instead they've had to buy alfalfa -- pellets and some of the fresh stuff -- to keep the sheep healthy. Soon they’ll have to buy some hay.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
The Pughs also buy feed for their 30 chickens.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
The Pughs were hoping their three Berkshire pigs would be able to help them plough up some of the ground to extend the boundaries of their garden. But it’s been so dry the pigs haven’t been able to burrow much.
Credit . Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
The creek that runs through the Pughs’ 50-acre farm is completely dried up.
Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
They bet they'll make $10,000 for the tomatoes, watermelons, potatoes, onions, beans, peppers, lettuce, spinach, eggplant, beets, carrots, peas, radishes, turnips, squash and zucchini are among the vegetables they've sold at the farmers’ market this year.
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Brandt Dairy sits on Swan Creek at the end of a meandering gravel road in Linn, Missouri. The farm is bucolic with its twin silos, red barn and black-and-white Holstein cows. But the brown pastures, dry river bed and burnt corn fields are a reminder that there have been less than two inches of rain here in the last two months.

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Agriculture
8:50 am
Thu August 2, 2012

Livestock farmers seek safety net, while Washington politics delay aid

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media
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Farmers growing crops have insurance to ward off the financial failure of their season during this terrible drought. But there’s no safety net like that in place for livestock producers. And any emergency aid is tied up in Washington politics.

The rock and the hard place where Stacey McCallister now sits looks like this:

Rock: McCallister’s herd of 200 dairy cattle in south central Missouri have feed for about the next 60 days.

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Drought
8:13 am
Fri July 27, 2012

Intense demand prompts Nixon to announce more water funding for farmers

Credit (via Flickr/KOMUnews/Malory Ensor)
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Originally published on Thu July 26, 2012 4:16 pm

More money is being put into an emergency program to aid farmers and ranchers battling water shortages in Missouri.

Governor Jay Nixon (D) has added $5 million to the $2 million set aside for crop and livestock producers who want to drill new wells or deepen existing ones during the ongoing drought.  More than 600 applications have been sent in since the program’s announcement on Tuesday.

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