Film for Bentley's Goodwill Tour to Western Europe and Russia, 1958

I'm cap Bentley market news editor of WOI radio and WOI TV at Iowa State College it's my privilege each day as well as my responsibility to visit with thousands of farmers throughout the state of Iowa and with the an equal number of trades people who assemble market and distribute the farm products of Agriculture these farmers who have livestock grain dairy products poultry products for sale in our highly competitive Marketing System what a know each day what the volume is coming to market of each product and what prices are being paid for the various grades and classes of farm commodities thousands of people throughout the state of Iowa are listening each day by means of radio and television as indicated by the pins on this Iowa mount not only do the farmers and tradespeople in our but also in the neighboring states as indicated by this chart and the pins on the farming area in the Western Corn Belt what to know what the supply and price pattern is so they can do a better job of marketing and distributing their farm products the main reason Iowa State College provides a hundred seven minutes of market news and outlook information daily is that Iowa possesses twenty-five percent of the grade a farmland in the United States that area surrounding our in the neighboring states we're listening is equal to that of Iowa possesses another twenty-five percent of the grade a land of the country I will each all states in the United States in hog production she leads all states in beef cattle production for market I was the third state in the production of sheep and lamb for market she leads all states in the number of chickens on farms and the number of eggs produced I was the sixth in milk production with average production per cow in 1957 at six thousand four hundred eighty pounds and the average production has been increasing annually for a number of years I will leads all states in corn and oak production and she is the second largest producer of soybeans from which a large quantity of our protein supplement for animal feed originates the farmers and trades people who market and assemble farm products in Iowa who are on this goodwill farm tour from America to your country represent all classes of and kinds of farming in the state of Iowa they come from all sections of the state of Iowa is represented by this map you see they are distributed throughout the entire state we are here in your country to visit with you to get acquainted with you and to learn how you farm and we would like to take you by means of camera back to Iowa and out onto the farms of several of the men that are here on this tour so you may get acquainted with how they farm and how they live we hope that one day you will come to America and that you will have an opportunity to visit some of these farms or other farms in our country and that these exchange visits will help us better become acquainted with each other and better understand our farm problems we have selected four farms at random each farm shows a little different combination of enterprises the first farm we visit is that of Jim Brooks just 11 miles southwest of Ames Iowa Jim farms 1,700 acres which seems like a rather sizable unit for three men to operate but it takes considerable pasture acreage to maintain a herd of 180 cows and their calves we better check at the house to see where Jim may be found on this widespread acreage we have a rather jumpy little terrier to announce her arrival mrs. Brooks tells us Jim is over with the cattle along the Des Moines River which is about 12 miles west to the cropland area the Brooks daughters are on hand to greet us Carolyn 16 and Anita 13 both girls are handy with livestock and they also help with the haying and other farm activities in season we find Jim in one of the upland Meadows were there about 65 head of the Angus cows and their calves Jim is busy spreading ass mixture for the herd because they require a considerable amount of salt during these hot summer days these calves could all be registered but since he is not selling them as breeding stock he has not gone to the expense of registration purebred deep bodied sires are used with the herd the Cavs show this beef type breeding which registers when these steers and heifers go to market from 20 to 25 of the best heifer calves are kept for replacement purposes each year and that many cows are retired from the herd and finished for market the cows never receive grain but they get some sugar Sargam silage during the winter months most of their winter feed is in baled hay this is put up from 150 acres of legume grass and another hundred and fifty acres of oat hay at the home feedlot the yearlings are put on full feed after cleaning up the corn fields last fall they are sorted off as they get up to choice grade and move to market this load will be headed for the terminal market in Chicago the cattle will be loaded in the middle of the afternoon head for the market some 350 miles away they arrive in the middle of the night they're bedded down for a few hours then are given an early feeding of hay and are ready for the morning market Jim's last shipment of steers average 950 pounds they brought twenty-eight dollars per hundredweight in Chicago during the year he will feed from 350 to 400 head of cattle takes lots of corn to finish that many cattle so jim has a good many of these mile long rows of corn his corn acreage is a total of three hundred acres per year so his cropping system is a rotation of corn corn oats and hay approximate is 600 acres of crops leaving 1100 acres in permanent pasture a visit to the gym Brooks farm would not be complete without some of mrs. Brooks fresh cookies and a refreshing glass of lemonade our next visit is to the farm of Irving anton who lives some 90 miles northeast of Ames Irving in contrast to the Brooks farm buys all of his feeder cattle and all of his feeder pigs from outside the state the feeder cattle are raised some seven hundred to a thousand miles to the west and northwest in the states of Wyoming or Montana the feeder pigs are raised over in the dairy section of Wisconsin some two to three hundred miles east of Iowa the Anton farm produces large quantities of hay and corn for silage as well as ground corn to feed out the eight hundred to a thousand beef cattle and the nine hundred two thousand head of hogs each year the first person we meet is david anton bringing in a load of chopped hey to put in the silo this is hey making time and everyone is busy getting the silos field while the weather is favorable 100 of the 500-acre anton farm is planted too hey while david takes his load to the silo and brings back another empty wagon Irving anton continues to fill another wagon of the mixture of legumes and grasses Irving has two men working for him the year round and with the two boys Larry and David to help during the summer they're about 800 tons of hay and corn silage put up each year there are 225 acres of corn land all but about 50 of this goes into silage there are 85 acres and oats and the remaining ninety acres in pasture and dry lots it seems there are silos and corn crib sticking up everywhere as we drive into the farmstead at one of the silos we find Larry Anton he's on the left feeding the chopped hay into the elevator larry has been home only a few days as he just finished his freshman year at iowa state college the feeders may come to the farm either as cares averaging from 350 to 450 pound or as yearlings 650 to 750 pound they go out as choice fat cattle averaging somewhere between a thousand and twelve hundred pound depending on what the market looks like as to prices for the heavy or the like your cattle Irving produces from 250 to 300 tons of dust beef each year and approximately 75 tons of dressed pork last fall the corn crop was very wet Irving chopped some twenty six percent moisture ear corn and fill this one silo it is just now being fed out and it is just as sweet and fresh as when it went in last fall with feeding operations of this size there is very little hand work on the Anton farm most operations are power operated either by electricity or gas tractor units there are from 350 to 400 head of cattle and from 300 to 400 head of hogs on feed at the farm at the present time the heifers are in a separate feedlot and are not as far along as are the steers they are still getting considerable silage and not much supplemental protein these feeder P come from south central Wisconsin some 300 miles from the Antron farm they arrived but truck some two weeks ago weighing in the neighborhood of 35 to 40 pounds self feeders containing groundcar protein supplement and minerals as well as running water are available for them throughout the day in from four to five months depending on the market outlook these hogs will be marketed the Elmer den herder farm is 200 miles northwest of aims his farm lies in a dairy producing area and in a cattle feeding area we arrived on his farm at just a little before five in the afternoon cars were going and coming as we approached the milkhouse people from the nearby town of Sioux Center are already taking away the chilled whole milk that is being produced this gives you a glimpse of Saturday evening milking the cows are let into the milk parlor one at a time are washed and prepared for the Malcolm machine each cow is given a feeding of protein mineral mixture and ground ear corn during the milking period the milk is strained into a 500-gallon refrigerated tank from which it is dispensed to the town folks as they come for the evening supply the milking got underway at a quarter of five and by six fifteen the 34 cows had been milked and the milking parlor cleaned with the running water mary had served 45 to 50 customers selling from 80 to 90 gallons of milk at a price of fifty cents per gallon this is considerably cheaper than the customer could have gotten it from the other commercial sources in the community and it pays Elmer better than hauling it to the creamery the surplus milk is collected in book tanks twice weekly at the farm by the SU brand dairy products cooperative Creamery one of the largest in the state after the milking the cows get all the alfalfa hay they can eat it takes lots of silage for a dairy herd like this and on Elmer's 360 acre farm there is a hundred and twenty acres of alfalfa 200 acres of corn 20 acres of oats and the balance in pasture and feed Lots Carol the youngest daughter 13 years of age is the tractor operator while baling hay Elmer does the lifting and stacking of the bales these bales will weigh from 60 to 65 pounds depending on the time of day and the moisture in the air Roger the eldest den herder boy is loading the baled hay into the elevator while Phil the youngest boy is up in the barn stacking the bales away for winter feeding not all of the hay can be inside the barn so it is piled pyramid style outside it was late in the evening when mrs. den herder got most of the family around the dinner table it was shared with Morris and Mrs T passkey mayor an attorney of Sioux Center Roger's wife assisted with the dinner but Roger and Carol were finishing up the last few rounds of bailing it rained the next morning but Elmer still prepared a load of fresh chopped alfalfa silage which he mixed with corn silage for the dairy herd the dairy herd is kept in dry lot throughout the entire year the feeder cattle received silage and ground here corn caliber now has a hundred and eighty-five head of western feeders in dry lot he feed between 400 and 500 head of these western cattle each year these calves were purchased last October averaging from 382 400 pounds they were roughed through the winter on silage hey and some ground ear corn they're still getting some silage but was soon beyond full feed Elmer also has a nice bunch of spring pigs ready for weaning and some 28 head of gilts ready for fall fair owing before leaving the Denver farm we saw Phil with the 4-h cares that carol mary and he are fattening for the county fair which is in august this is one of the big grill young people's summer projects which takes most of the year in preparation our fourth visit is to the farm of floyd thomas who lives 85 miles straight north of ames we learned that Floyd was on his way to town with a load of corn so we hurried into Rockwell to meet him at the elevator the farmers cooperative society at Rockwell Iowa which is our oldest cooperative elevator was organized in 1889 Floyd unlike the other three farms which we have visited sells cash corn and oats which he produces in excess of his feed requirements Floyd pulls onto the scales then into the elevator to dump his corn despite the very wet fall in winter last year the corn dried out wonderfully very little of it was damaged it is farms like Floyd's that furnish the corn for feeders like Irving and Elmer Floyd cells from three to four thousand bushels of his corn each year and around a thousand bushels of the olds but flight must have some protein supplement for his hogs so I backs in for a supply of protein which has been prepared by his own cooperative the Rockwell cooperative last year handled over 400 thousand bushels of grain 1,200 tons of mixed feed with a total sales of nine hundred thousand dollars the Rockwell cooperative as a member of the Iowa farmers grain dealers association along with some 333 other members the State Association handled better than 12 and a half million bushels of members grain last year Floyd picks up his check for the corn from Stan after the cost of the feed had been deducted each year Floyd receives a dividend check for the savings of his business which he did with the cooperative elevator during the year Floyd in his son Richard together with Wendell who lives nearby farm 520 acres 240 acres are in corn 130 acres in small grain 95 acres in hay and pasture and the balance in feedlots Floyd took us out to see the spring Pig crop he keeps about 40 brood sows for the spring leaders and 20 Brutes hours for the Fall big crowd he has about 300 spring pigs in these three Lots he has available running water pipe to the open pasture lots as well as Sun shelter for the pigs during the hot weather while we're in Northern Iowa we dropped in to see Leo Benson general manager of state band creameries Leo is in the eastern part of the country on business but Mac McQueen operations manager showed us through the plant state brand creameries is a merchandising cooperative that assembles butter from some 135 local cooperative cremonese across the northern half of Iowa here in the Mason City plant approximately 125 thousand pounds per day butter is printed packaged and shipped to consuming areas the butter comes in in refrigerated trucks and is placed in coolers samples are taken many tests are made such as the pH acidity control tests to maintain uniform quality of product the butter comes from the local creameries in both cartons weighing 64 pounds per carton these cartons are broken open and started through the printing and packaging process they are first cut into four sections then each section goes through the printer this machine is packaging butter in quarter pound squares these packages happen to be carrying the state brand label but they print butter for a number of outlets approximately seventy percent of the butter is sweet cream butter with about three-fourths of this butter going to markets east of Chicago this particular shipment is going to a change store outlet in Minneapolis Minnesota State brand creameries also receive skim milk in bulk tanks from some 27 creameries within a radius of 70 miles of Mason City about a million pounds of skim milk is processed into 90,000 pounds of powdered milk annually we were fortunate in catching two of the children of members of the farm tour on campus during the month of June just before the school year closed the two students who had examinations to complete were Larry Anton freshman and farm operations and Beth Roby sophomore and Home Economics they are taking a moment to check the summer plans before hurrying on to final examinations Beth was off to the Home Economics building for her last exam of the year following her examination we again see the two students starting across central campus to beard sheer hall here Larry will take his final examination of the year beth was back on campus just a week later acting as leader for her County 4-h girls who were attending the annual conference at Iowa State College this conference is a part of the college extension educational program which is carried on in each of the 99 counties for the Iowa rural youth the theme of the 4-h girls conference this year was learning to live in a changing world there were seventeen hundred for each girls and their leaders representing each county in the state attending this annual conference representing nearly 26,000 total enrollment for 1958 one of the curricula in the agricultural division at Iowa State College is that a farm operations in the senior year these students become the operating managers of a 187 acre farm they plan and execute the cropping and livestock program for the farm these students represent only a small proportion of our agricultural student body the agricultural division has 2,000 students of the nearly 10,000 student enrollment at Iowa State College the present cropping program is 126 acres of corn 30 acres of oats and 20 acres of hay they raised about 700 hugs each year with four fairings per year we find two of the students checking the small grain prospects they are also trying to determine how well the clover seeding is progressing these students have learned how to use their book and their classroom knowledge we hope that many of you will find it possible to come to American visit us on these and other farms we feel that these goodwill exchange visits will bring about better world relationships