All about that BEEF!

This month it's all about the beef, 'bout that beef, no turkey! (anybody else singing with me now?)

That's right, I know you're used to hearing about turkey on this blog, but May is Beef Month!

Since I started working for the Iowa Cattlemen's Association last fall, I've learned a LOT about cattle and beef production. And when I say a lot, I mean, a lot. Don't tell my boss, but when I interviewed for the job, I had a hard time remembering the difference between a steer and a cow. Now, I'm able to actively participate in conversations about best weaning practices and cattle handling and feed efficiency and pasture management. I'm not an expert, by any means, but like I said, I've learned a lot.

It's more than money...

My mind is on the farmers in New Mexico this morning, dealing with the aftermath of Winter Storm Goliath.

One article I read estimated that 5% of the dairy cows in New Mexico were killed by the storm. Five percent doesn’t sound like a lot. But there were around 150 farms affected.
Many of those farms were forced to dump their milk when trucks were unable to reach them. Dairy farms do not have long-term milk storage – they depend on a regular schedule to transport their milk from the farm. Two days of milk, literally down the drain.

The media coverage in events like this usually focuses on the financial fall-out. How much were the cows worth? How much production was lost because of the storm? How much was the dumped milk worth?

The Stauffer Family, dairy farmers in Washington.
www.thefarmerswifee.com

But for the farmers, the impact is so, so much more than financial. That fact became very apparent to us when we were living in daily fear of bird flu last spring. The financial aspect is scary – no doubt about that. Farming is a risky business and there’s a huge capital investment that makes today’s farms run. With tight profit margins, one disaster can be enough to ruin a farm that’s been in the family for generations.

How a Turkey Farmer Roasts a Turkey

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I know – the title makes it sound like I’m an expert. I should be, since I am a turkey farmer (or at least I’m married to one.)

Interested in learning more about our turkey farm? Click here.

The truth is, I cook a lot of turkey. But I don’t roast one very often. In fact, I’ve roasted a turkey exactly once in my life.

But here’s the deal. It’s so easy, I promise I’ll be doing it again. 

Do you use RoundUp in your garden? (And a Garden Tour)

A few weeks ago. I shared my free, green weed barrier, and I mentioned that I used RoundUp in my garden.

One of my readers emailed, concerned about the safety of RoundUp . She said, “Please find any alternative to weed control besides using RoundUp .  You have young boys and, frankly, even your husband or you should not be spraying this deadly product.”


I am emailing her back personally, but I want to clear some things up here, too. But let me preface it by saying that I’m generally not scared of “chemicals.” And as a farmer, I actually have a high amount of a trust in the industry and the chemicals that are widely used by farmers.

Of course, I know that other people have a different level of comfort with “chemicals.” (I put chemicals in parentheses because everything contains chemicals…water is a chemical, oxygen is a chemical…but most people think of chemicals as something artificial and scary.) And that’s okay. We all have different things that worry us. One of my friends only wears closed-toed shoes in grass because she’s afraid of spiders and snakes. One of my friends won’t let her children near large dogs. We all have our own things.

Personally, RoundUp is not something I worry about. I use RoundUp (glyphosate) in my flower garden, around the sidewalk, and in the driveway.

There are a few reasons I feel this way (and have a low level of fear associated with other “chemicals” as well.)

Why I Feel Okay Using RoundUp in My Garden:

1) The dose makes the poison. Most “chemical” exposure happens at very low levels.  And, compared to other “chemicals,” glyphosate (RoundUp ) is only “slightly toxic.” (Caffeine, on the other hand, and copper sulfate, an organic compound used in organic production as a fungicide, are “very toxic.”) Click on the graphic for a more in depth explanation of toxicity & RoundUp .

2) Pesticides are fatal for pests, not humans. We are not the same as bugs. We are not the same as plants. Glyphosate targets a specific enzyme found in plants that does not exist in humans or animals. (The ratings used in the graphic are for toxicity in rats.)

3) “Chemicals” including glyphosate (RoundUp ) are subject to a LOT of research and strict standards for safety.

Here is a blog post from my friend Jennie, a registered dietician and farmer in Maryland, about the organic and synthethic pesticides she uses on her crops.

Ultimately, everyone will have a different comfort level with different risks and everyone can choose whether or not to use RoundUp in their gardens. If you’re not comfortable using it, then there are many other ways to get rid of weeds.

If you’re on the fence, I hope this blog post gives you a little more information and insight into why I feel totally comfortable using RoundUp (glyphosate.)

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June Garden Tour

Now, let’s get to the fun stuff!

I decided to take some pictures of my flower gardens as they are right now. They’re not perfect, and there are weeds. But it’s fun to see the gardens change over time, so I plan to do semi-regular “tours” of our landscape for you to see!




On the southwest corner of our house, we have a small retaining wall. In front of the wall you can see (from left to right) a red twigged dogwood, evergreen vinca, a pretty hosta and coral bells (I think these are the “Hollywood” variety.)

On top of the wall, three more hostas, hydrangeas, and a juniper.



Another view of the upper section in front of the bay window. This part of the garden is slightly more formal than the rest. The back row is made up of hydrangeas, then there are some new (little) barberry bushes, daylilies, and catmint.


Speaking of catmint, it’s one of my favorite perennials. Drought tolerant, easy to divide, and keeps the deer away! What more could you want?

This catmint is part of a small bed on the southwest corner of the yard.

Last year, I had a small container herb garden over here, and I think that fluffy thing is a volunteer herb.  Anyone know what it is?




View of the house from the west side…



The north side…some pretty hostas, a hydrangea, a ninebark bush and a red twigged dogwood, then more hostas.



And the northwest corner:

Mini iris, two pulmonaria (there were supposed to be three, but one didn’t come back,) a couple of daylilies, and an arborvitae. And a vintage concrete turkey. Why not?



I hope you enjoyed the garden tour.  If you’d like to chime in about RoundUp , please follow the rules: Use Nice Words.

Related Posts:

Our Exterior Makeover

June is Turkey Lover’s Month

 

and turkey farmers in the Midwest could use some extra love right now.

 

The last few months have been stressful for all of us, but especially for those directly affected by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (bird flu.)

I know that many of my readers don’t know a turkey farmer in real life. I try, through my blog, to put a “face” on turkey farming. And your support has meant so much to me – the comments on my facebook page have been so great. Everyone that has said they’re praying for us…you have no idea what that means to us.

But, we have lucked out so far. We don’t have bird flu on our farm right now. So just as I asked on facebook last week, please pray for those who haven’t been as lucky, whose farms have been infected by avian influenza. You may not know them, and their faces may not be familiar to you, but they are hurting and need our support.

 

Iowa’s turkey farms are all family farms, and around 1/5 of those families have been directly impacted by the bird flu outbreak. The same is true for Minnesota, which raises more turkey than any other state.  Roughly 1/5 of their turkey farm families have also been affected, bringing the total to more than 120 turkey farmers in the two states. Some of the families live on century farms, and have been raising turkeys for generations. Some of them, like us, have young children and plan on raising turkeys for decades. All of them have been devastated by the outbreak.

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Q & A about Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about bird flu and how it’s affecting farmers.  Here’s a quick run-down of the basics.

What happens when a farm gets bird flu?

All the birds on the farm are euthanized using USDA approved methods to prevent the disease from spreading and prevent the flock from suffering. On turkey farms, the birds are then composted inside the barns. Composting heats the bird carcasses enough to kill the virus.

Is there insurance for poultry farmers for this kind of thing?

No. There is no insurance that covers poultry disease losses. The government pays an “indemnity” for healthy birds that have to be euthanized, but that only covers 70-80% of the farmers costs for that flock.

Is there a vaccine for HPAI?

There is no vaccine that matches this strain of HPAI. And even if there were, there are several barriers to overcome before farmers could begin using it. (Here’s an article about the vaccine.)

What happens next?

We don’t know. The timeline for “repopulation” is unknown. Many farmers are facing 9 months or more without turkeys (and income.)

How is it being spread?

Again, we don’t know. We know that the outbreak started with wild waterfowl, who carry the disease but don’t show any symptoms.

Can you do anything to prevent it?

We are trying our hardest to increase biosecurity. Clean boots, clean vehicles…we try not to let any germs enter our buildings. But the virus just keeps spreading. Scientists and farmers are baffled.

Everyone in our county is testing their flock 3x a week, to try and catch an outbreak as soon as possible. Farmers are also sending their flocks to market early, in order to save them from the disease.

Why are only commercial farms being affected?

Backyard flocks are also at risk. In fact, about 1/10th of the outbreaks have been in backyard flocks. (More Bird Flu Myths)

Can humans get bird flu?

There have been no human infections from this strain of the virus. It’s possible that it could mutate, but even then, only people with close contact with infected birds would be at risk. Public health officials are closely monitoring employees/owners of infected farms, but so far, no one has contracted the virus.

Should you quit eating turkey?

Nope! Infected flocks to do not enter the food chain, so there is no food safety risk to consumers. We’d love for you to eat MORE turkey to show your support!

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Speaking of eating turkey – here are a few of my favorite turkey recipes for summer.

 

Do you have more questions about avian influenza? Or another favorite turkey recipe? Please share in the comments! And remember to join me in praying for the turkey industry and the farmers affected!

7 Miles from a Bird Flu Nightmare

Wednesday morning, we got baby turkeys.  20,000 one-day old poults.


Less than two hours later, we got a call – bird flu was found on a turkey farm 7 miles from us.
7 miles!

We were scheduled to load out turkeys in 10 days.

We market 5 or 6 flocks a year. So loading out is a big deal.  A successful flock means that we get paid.  And it’s a big check. Not only does it cover the expenses for the flock (which has been on the farm for 5 months) but it also allows us to make payments on our barns and equipment.

And it’s our main source of income. A successful flock = 1/6 of our annual income.

We HAVE to get these birds to market. One more flock means 2 more months of normal-ness.

We’ve started cutting back expenses.  And I’ve been looking for a full time job (I work 10 hours a week for the Iowa Turkey Federation right now.) But if we got bird flu, we’d be in a world of hurt.

Because if we had a bird flu outbreak on our farm, we wouldn’t lose just one flock.  We’d lose the infected flock, of course, but other flocks on our farm would be euthanized. Right now, we have 3 flocks.  3 flocks = 1/2 of our annual production. The gov’t would pay us for the euthanized birds – just enough to cover the expenses (feed, etc.) – but not enough to make barn payments or equipment payments, and certainly not enough for us to draw any income.

And then, the clean out process and repopulation process could take months. We would sit out at least 2 flocks, and it would take another 6 months after that to get back up to full production.  Are you doing the math with me? We’re talking about at least 5 flocks, plus a few more months before our birds would be ready for market.  That’s huge. Mostly because our barn payments are gigantic.

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So, it was 10 days until we load out.

And the latest turkey farm with bird flu is 7 miles from us.  7 miles! I know people that regularly jog 7 miles.

Within a few hours, we were getting ready to load out sooner.  ASAP, really. First, fat samples had to be taken (and tested) and another blood test to make sure that our birds weren’t infected with avian influenza (it’s standard – we test every single flock and always have.) The tests came back “clean” yesterday and Bart loaded out last night, 8 days ahead of schedule, in order to keep from losing a fully-grown flock.

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I’m trying to stay positive and look at this with some perspective.  We DON’T have bird flu on our farm right now.  We have good friends who have had outbreaks – the worry we feel right now is nothing compared to the devastation they feel. Our family is healthy, and there are literally millions of people going through worse situations as we speak.

We’re not (yet) in a bird flu nightmare – it’s still just a bad dream for us.

But it’s still sort of hard. Okay, fine, really hard.
There are times when I can’t think about anything else.  There are times when I feel like all my brain power is going towards this one thing.  There are times when I just want to curl up in a ball and binge on netflix and Candy Crush.

(On a side note, I’m SO GLAD Wade and Zoe ended up together, and the last episode of Hart of Dixie was just perfect.)

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Bart’s been a rock during this.  He has always been more laid back than me.  We’re both pretty optimistic, but he’s a lot better at managing his worry.

Wherever I go, people ask me how I’m doing, and tell me they’re praying for us.  It means so much to me. Lately, when they ask how I’m doing, I’ve been able to truthfully say that I’m doing well! Minnesota had gone 10 days without a new case of bird flu! And it’s been slowing down in Iowa, too!  We were starting to feel a lot better about the situation!

And now, it’s 7 miles away.

So much for “feeling better.”

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Last night, the boys and I ran to the gas station to get snacks for Bart & the load out crew. They usually load out in two nights, but they did the entire flock last night – it took them from 8 pm to 5 am.

While we were picking out our goodies, a few guys walked in to the gas station. When I turned around and saw their shirts, I wanted to puke. They work for the contractor who has been cleaning up infected farms – they’d spent all day on the infected farm and were stopping for supper on their way to their hotel. And we were at the gas station at the same time.

They assured me they’d properly decontaminated, but I know they hadn’t showered yet. Experts say the virus isn’t airborne, but it can be “vector-borne through the air” meaning it hitches a ride on dust or feathers.

As we headed home, I realized that the crew was driving right past our farm. It makes me feel dirty just thinking about it. Maybe I overreacted, but we stopped at the end of the driveway, washed the truck with disinfectant, and I made the boys strip down outside. I took their clothes straight to the washing machine and threw mine in, too (reds and whites and blacks – oh my!) and then the three of us showered.
Seems crazy, doesn’t it? This is our reality.

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This blog – I know my blog has been sort of inconsistent lately.  A serious post about a bird flu, surrounded by home décor and gardening posts. Sort of random, right?  But it’s how I deal. At least part of my life needs to feel “normal.” I can’t just wallow in worry everyday, and neither can this blog.  Focusing my attention on something as trivial as home décor (because let’s face it, in the grand scheme of things, it is trivial) is a way of coping.

Plus, knowing that I may be going back to work full time for the first time in 5 years has lit a fire beneath me. I know that there will be a definite transition, and it will be made easier by an organized house, which has led to the closet projects and garage sales and purging.

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People keep asking if we’ll replace the flock we just sent to market.  The answer is YES! As I said before, we are committed to this, even though it seems crazy risky right now.  The 2 day old poults in the brooder house will end up in the finishers we just loaded out. This flock will load out in about 135 days.

We just keep on keeping on, because that’s the only thing we can do right now.

That, and pray.

Faith and Farming and Bird Flu

When we started considering raising turkeys, we were told it was a lifetime commitment. We couldn’t just try it out for a while and quit if we wanted. We were in it for the long haul.

And for the most part, our decision has paid off. We’ve had it good – truly been “living the dream.” Although Bart works long hours and has a lot of responsibility, we’re comfortable financially, and I’m able to prioritize flexibility and family over finances in my career. Our boys get to work side by side with their dad and learn the values that are important to us – hard work, dedication, and faith.

Faith. Farmers have to have faith. Our livelihoods are full of risk, but most of the time, we are able to keep the faith that everything will work out. Every spring, farmers take out loans and make an investment – one that’s riskier than almost any on Wall Street. They risk their family’s financial future on tiny little seeds in the ground, praying that the weather and pests cooperate so they will have a crop to harvest (and a return on their investment) in the fall.

As bird flu rages in Northern Iowa, we are trying to keep the faith. Like the grain farmers around us, we continue to make an investment in the future – every two months, we get a new flock of turkeys and try to have faith that nearly 6 months later, they’ll be healthy and ready to go to market.

The news seems to focus on the financial implications of the outbreak. And those are important. The poultry industry in Iowa is huge – we’re #1 in the nation for layer hens (eggs) and #9 for turkeys. Poultry eat corn and soybeans, which means that devastation of the industry could have drastic effects on grain farmers, too.

But what’s really at risk? Farms like mine – family farms who have been raising poultry for generations. If this epidemic continues, poultry farmers may not make it.

So is it worth the risk to keep raising turkeys? Should we put another new flock in our barns in a few weeks, or is it smarter to wait it out and see if the epidemic subsides?

The answer to that question is that we don’t have a choice anymore. We chose, in 2009, to raise turkeys for the rest of our lives. Instead of taking out a loan in the spring and hoping it pays off in the fall, we took out a loan for 5 new barns and hope to pay it off in 2019. We are committed to this, financially and emotionally.

If bird flu hit our farm, it would mean 12-18 months without income from the turkeys. We live off our turkey income, but we also use it to pay the debts we owe on our barns. Quite frankly, we can’t make loan payments if we don’t have healthy turkeys going to market.

Bart and I have been playing out the scenarios in our mind since we heard about the first outbreak in Minnesota, more than 2 months ago. What would we do? What equipment could we “liquidate” to help us make payments? What would we do if we go bankrupt?

We’re trying really, really hard to keep the faith and believe that bird flu will NOT hit our farm. We’re also trying really, really hard to stay positive about the outcome if it does.

We could move to town, and live in a 1 story house with the washer and dryer on the main floor. Bart could have a “town job” where he would work normal hours and wouldn’t carry stress home with him (like when we were first married and he worked for the USDA.) I could get a full-time job – our boys will both be in school next year, so they don’t need me home during the day. The boys could ride their bikes to the park with their friends and play pick-up games of basketball with the neighbors.

But we couldn’t live where we’d have to drive by our farm – emotionally, we wouldn’t be able to handle seeing it regularly. It would just be too hard.

We’ll fight to the end for our farm. We will keep raising new flocks as long as we can. And if we get bird flu, we’ll do our damnedest to get through it and raise turkeys again. Because, as hard as it is at times, we have faith that everything will work out, and that the risks we take will someday pay off, hopefully in the form of a farm (and legacy) to pass down to the next generation of Iowa’s turkey farmers.

(Family photo by Joe Murphy)