The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast
The Farmer's Greatest Asset podcast is dedicated to supporting and empowering farmers by recognizing that their greatest assets are the knowledge, experience, mind and health. Hosted by husband-and-wife duo Jesse and Dr. Leah, this podcast combines their unique backgrounds to provide valuable insights. Together, they explore topics that help farmers thrive both personally and professionally. Tune in for a blend of practical advice, real conversations, while having a little fun along the way as they talk about all thing's agriculture and family.
The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast
Sweat, Showmanship, and Six-Horse Hitches: Our State Fair Adventure
The countdown to harvest begins as we return from a successful but scorching State Fair where our kids showed their home-raised cattle and Henry lived his fitting dream.
• Kids earned reserve breed championships with their self-raised shorthorn and simmental heifers
• State Fair heat reached 95 degrees with heat index over 100, requiring gallons of water daily
• Henry spent weeks fitting champion animals across multiple species and herds
• Six-horse hitch competition featured 26 teams with approximately 120 horses
• Pro Farmer crop tour indicates good yields with corn moisture already dropping to 40%
• Planning to use grain bagging instead of paying high elevator storage rates this harvest
• Lucy will drive grain cart this year as she catches the "heifer bug" for showing
• School starting and harvest approaching with corn likely ready in just two weeks
• Midwest Wagyu Beef offering 40% inventory reduction sale - check Facebook or Instagram for details
the farmer's greatest asset podcast. We believe the farm's greatest asset is the farmer, their knowledge, experience, mind and health. Welcome back from the fair and survived. It was good it was a good fair Got a little toasty there.
Speaker 2:Very toasty Like sit in the chair and sweat toasty.
Speaker 1:It was rough 95 degrees probably Plus I don't know over 100 index. It was warm.
Speaker 2:It was really toasty.
Speaker 1:For the open show. We were stalled in that stalling barn, so that wasn't bad.
Speaker 2:No, it was, I think, besides the entryway to the Jacobson Center, I think it was the second coolest place in the entire Fairgrounds the entryway to the Jacobson Center. I think it was the second coolest place in the entire fairgrounds.
Speaker 1:The entryway to the Jacobson Center.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause, because when we were over there and you were watching the horse show, there were so many people in there it was not cool. It was not cooler in there than it was outside in the shade. It was hot. I was like I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1:Speaking of that horse show, holy moly that you should have stuck around for it. 26 horse hitches in that arena 26 horse hitches.
Speaker 2:Not 26 horse hitches, but 26 horse hitches 120 horses, yeah. Lots. It was amazing like go and check out the state fair photos, because there's some videos and stuff out there. It was, it was amazing I mean, the pictures were cool, I didn't. I was not there for it they had 20 hitches.
Speaker 1:they're competing in the national Six Horse Hitch Championship. It was pretty amazing. I'm glad I got to see that on the last day. So we went up and participated in the 4-H breeding heifer show and the kids took heifers that they raised. That was kind of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a good experience for them.
Speaker 1:They actually got reserve bred and owned shorthorn heifer and reserve bred and owned scimital heifer. When you can raise your own stuff and go, it's kind of fun, yeah, rewarding. So then we packed up and come home for 24 hours maybe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, around there. Loaded back up and went back to the open shell, the shorthorn, 24 hours Maybe. Yeah, around there.
Speaker 1:Loaded back up and went back To the open show.
Speaker 2:So the short horn show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, henry stayed up there and fit on a lot of Different critters, species. He got a fit on Some pretty good animals this Last week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he did.
Speaker 1:Got a fit on A grand champion Bull, scimital bull and some other champion.
Speaker 2:Congratulations, Ethan Graber.
Speaker 1:Yeah, way to go.
Speaker 2:Super excited for him. He also won. He won the open show and the FFA show.
Speaker 1:FFA bowl show. Yeah, had a pretty good run on his own bowl that he has raised.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So then Henry got to fit on some goats, then he fit on some mini Hereford cattle.
Speaker 2:For the open show.
Speaker 1:yeah, and they did really well. And then he fit on our short horns and then Dewey's champion short horn bull. Maybe it's all because Henry's fitting on bulls.
Speaker 2:I'm sure it's not the cattle no, totally not, it's the fitter so yeah, what was the best part of the fair for you, babe the best part of the fair for me was watching henry and lucy show for the 4-8 show. Excuse me, lucy had a short horn and Henry had a scimitar and they were out there showing at the same exact time. Oh, that was for. That was for showmanship. Was that for showmanship?
Speaker 1:They were shown in separate rings, right Showmanship.
Speaker 2:That was it. That's fine, so that was my favorite. Like watching them out there for the showmanship. They were in the ring together. I think it was challenging because those two heifers saw each other there and they wanted to be with each other. Lucy said that Sassafras was acting up. She was being a little sassy.
Speaker 1:She's appropriately named Sassafras.
Speaker 2:She's a sass, so to me that was really fun to watch them out there in the ring and I thought they did an amazing job both of them. Lucy hadn't shown for a year, so it was good for her to be out there. She decided not to do the county fair this year, so it was fun watching her show I think she got the bug. She caught the bug she's got the heifer bug. She's never gonna do a steer again, but she's got the heifer bug, she's ready the heifer bug being that she.
Speaker 1:Now she wants to keep showing. Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:And Lizzie caught the bug.
Speaker 1:She did.
Speaker 2:Henry's excited he's going to. He's getting ready to go out and shop for some heifers.
Speaker 1:It has started. Sales are starting. He's working for a couple of different guys getting sale cattle ready.
Speaker 2:So he is living his dream. If that is his dream, he has been living it for the last couple days. I mean really, though after the county fair. Then he just kept going to all the county fairs and fitting all the different species.
Speaker 1:That is all he has done.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's all he has done since the beginning of July is fit animals.
Speaker 1:Go to fairs and fit animals.
Speaker 2:He's been living his best life, that is for sure.
Speaker 1:Pretty much. What is my favorite part? I don't know, obviously watching the kids' shows and, like I said, we've got to take stuff that we raised, so that to me is the most rewarding. Didn't win the grand champion overall or anything, but just when you can take your own stuff to any show, it mean something to me.
Speaker 2:Good stuff. What about favorite food?
Speaker 1:Uh, I got the platter from the rib shack a couple of times. It was pretty good. That was probably the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, keto, keto diet at the state fair is not easy.
Speaker 1:It's nearly impossible.
Speaker 2:Pork chop on a stick by number five. I was like, oh, I guess I'll have another pork chop a stick by number five. I was like, I guess I'll have another pork chop, but I, I did the best I could. I mean, it was I. I did have some, you know few bites of ice cream here and there.
Speaker 1:It's hard to not have all the other junk at the fair I did like the chicken pickle, ranch rocket. I think they called it Something like that. It was like chicken kebab.
Speaker 2:Yeah, with pickles and it was really good, especially when it was hot. That was good and really the one thing. I actually felt really good at the fair and did a lot of walking around and I drank about a gallon of water a day. That was good.
Speaker 1:It was exhausting, though, man I'm still recovering. I think it was a long week.
Speaker 2:It was, and it was a total detox program too, like cause you're sweating so much, and I got my little foot detox done too. That helped suck out some sugar. I had a couple of cups of watermelon. It was good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was good, it was a good pair. A lot of uh, some of the kids from the area that Henry knows did really really really well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, lee County was well represented.
Speaker 1:Really well, yeah, lee County was well represented.
Speaker 2:Congratulations to Brody Moeller.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He won market and breeding goats so he kind of swept the species.
Speaker 1:Yeah, took it home. So then, weisinger's, they did well with their Charlay.
Speaker 2:Mm.
Speaker 1:Reserve overall bred and owned.
Speaker 2:That's a good show.
Speaker 1:It was it was a good fair. We rented a house. That is the way to go.
Speaker 2:I believe the kids maybe we shouldn't let everybody in on that secret oh, I let it out of the bag, didn't I? No, the airbnb was awesome. It was nice having a house and henry could just hang. Could just hang out up there all week.
Speaker 1:Well then, everybody gets their own bed in their own bedroom and nobody fights over beds. Hotel rooms are so expensive.
Speaker 2:And we were there pretty much to sleep, shower and sleep.
Speaker 1:Basically.
Speaker 2:And it was a place to cool off, because it was not cool at the fair no, it was not.
Speaker 1:It was a warm one. Third of the fairgrounds ran out of power that one day. That was interesting. Luckily they had generators portable generators anyway for extra outlets in the cattle barns and so fans were able to continue running. But talk to one of the Clydesdale um exhibitors as they were loading out the next day and he said that horse barn got pretty darn hot in a hurry. He invited us to come up on his trailer as he was loaded. A nice old guy just wanted to show, show us everything, and they pack some stuff on man and you think cattle showing, you take a lot of stuff oh yeah, that's a whole different entity, yeah so they would show a six horse hitch.
Speaker 1:um, so they'd take six you know big horses, clydesdales, and then three babies. They'd show three babies also. Then they got to have their full hitch and then a cart and then six harnesses and all the stuff. It is work just to pack that trailer. It's interesting.
Speaker 2:You always love watching the draft horse shows. I do.
Speaker 1:I'm fascinated with the big horses Always have been. Someday I'll drive a six horse hitch. That'd be fun, I'll do it. If you're listening and you've got a six horse hitch and you need a driver, call me.
Speaker 2:How about just a rider? That too Okay. That'd be like hey, you have that million dollar combine. Can I just go take it for a test drive? I've never done it before.
Speaker 1:What the hell? Wide open field. What could go wrong?
Speaker 2:Oh shoot. Except you got to steer them with these two things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you pull on the right side and you turn right. You pull on the left side you turn left.
Speaker 2:I'm sure it's just that easy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's got to be, I could do it.
Speaker 2:Oh shoot, you are funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just got back from the fair and then we're trying to get the combine ready.
Speaker 2:Hey.
Speaker 1:Probably do our last cut in the hay here. Shanayn buying ready and hey, probably do our last cutting here. Oh wow, the 90s saturday night live, oh shoot. So we'll do our last cutting of hay here, probably of alfalfa and grass do you think it will be the last one?
Speaker 1:typically it is depends if it grows fast enough, if we can, if we can get another cutting in before you know the freeze. This is usually the last cutting for us trying to get the combine ready and have all that stuff ready to go, because it won't be long the grass is still growing very well, still green like it's I don't remember a summer that we have had to mow this much.
Speaker 2:There was a couple years I don't know what year it was where it was really hot in j June and it kind of went dormant and then we got a bunch of rain and so we were mowing in August, july, in August then. But usually it's like just knock off the top of the weeds, right it's been non-stop it is like I had I mean I mowed before we left. Did we mow when we came back?
Speaker 2:no, yeah, I mowed when we came back and then I have like, so I have mowed three times in the last nine days.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's been crazy.
Speaker 2:And what I didn't get mowed at the halfway point is like I'm gonna have to go out and pick it up. It is going to kill grass, it's that. It's really thick.
Speaker 1:So the pro farmer tour is also going on at the moment. A friend of ours is doing the tour, keith, and checked one of our fields and I think he said moisture was 40-ish percent. He is a fancy tester, so the corn is good, sounds like it's good. Everywhere across the country, according to Pro Farmer Tour, bean pod counts are high. We've got a good crop on our hands, which is good. It's not helping our prices, yeah. So then he said uh, our corn, we don't have southern rest. If we do, it's very little, but he's seeing a lot of it. He does quite the tour. He'll go probably a couple hundred miles west of here and kind of loop back up towards Iowa City and he's seeing a lot of southern rust. So I would think that's going to have to hurt the yield.
Speaker 2:How does the rust hurt the yield? I mean rust is because the plant is not healthy.
Speaker 1:It's a fungus, right yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's going to affect something in the growth but all in all we have a really good crop on our hands that's good it is good it's hard to believe that we are approaching the end of august and beginning of september because, like we're just weeks away from harvest, things this year has just flown by yeah, so if he tested corn and it was 40 today, it is going to be cooler next week, so it's going to be in the 70s he tested corn um a week ago.
Speaker 1:He's been checking the same spots in the same fields I think for three weeks in a row now. Last week was 53%, so we lost 13% moisture. It's been hot so it really baked the corn, which isn't good, so we probably took some off the top. It's going to cool down and be like a high in the 70s here, so things should slow down. But if we lose another 10% in a week, you know we're down to 30. We'll start 25% probably. So we're two weeks away. Start about 24, 25%, especially in the river bottoms.
Speaker 1:Oh, right, yeah, the rivers stayed within its banks so far, but it's getting to be hurricane season, so one big rain won't take much for that river to go out, I believe. Get the river bottoms off and not have to worry about that well and it dries.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's really sandy down there.
Speaker 1:It dries out faster not that one field is sandy, the other one's not. But yeah, it's only a couple weeks away. I was talking to somebody the other day and something about an auction that's coming up and like, yeah, I heard the radio ad this morning. It's it's not for another week, it's on the 21st. He's like, yeah, that's this week yeah, that's tomorrow it's's like holy cow. It's the end of August, sheesh time flies.
Speaker 2:It's been flying.
Speaker 1:for sure I need to get some meal preps done so we're ready for field work. Get Lucy out there in a grain cart this year. We've broken the news to her. She's got to do it this year. See how that goes.
Speaker 2:I think she's going to love it.
Speaker 1:I know she can do it.
Speaker 2:Well, I know she can do it, but I think she's going to like it. I mean, I think she's going to love doing it and she's she'll probably be like I don't. I can just sit out here and drive and unload the corn and soybeans and not have to fight with my sister and I don't have to make all the food and clean up twice a day. She's going to think it's amazing. She's just going to be worried about her chickens and her ducks.
Speaker 1:She'll have time to do those chores in the morning. So yeah, our plan this fall is we have a pretty good crop, so we are going to actually bag quite a bit of grain this fall. So we'll see how that goes. New little operation on the ranch, old homestead. Instead of taking it straight to town, we'll put it in a bag the bag is definitely cheaper than storage rates. Taking it to the elevator.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Right. So instead of taking a hit for the lower harvest price or everybody's also raising their storage rates. I mean, it's crazy. I remember I talked to the ethanol plant. Their price later is like $0.22, $0.24. $0.24. $0.24 a bushel.
Speaker 2:Well, I think our feed store is $0.24.
Speaker 1:And then, is it like $ cents? Three cents a bushel? No, it's? I think it's four whatever it is, it's high. Right there you have 26 27 cents right off the top if you store it for four months or better but, man it's. That's a big hit. So that's why we're putting bags out. Have a bunch of great big old marshmallows, long marshmallows, sitting in the fields.
Speaker 1:So a lot of guys do it. It's simple, makes the harvest go quicker. They say it's just got to be dry, you put it in there at 15, it comes out at 15. So we're going to try, try it, see how this goes it will be an experience that we will all learn together that's the motto down on the farm we'll try some new stuff.
Speaker 2:We're never afraid to try new things. Spend some time with family. Before we went to the fair, your brother and his wife were back from Seattle.
Speaker 1:And kids were home. That was good to see them.
Speaker 2:Got some pictures taken, which is great. We haven't done those for a while.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mom showed us one little picture. Not one little picture, but one picture that the photographer sent in.
Speaker 2:That was turned out really really, really good, so I'm excited to see them. Henry's getting his senior pictures next week you know he's a senior senior year starts next week. Yeah, wow, it's going to fly by.
Speaker 1:It is. It has fun. He's got a couple jobs I guess they are jobs. He's working for a couple different people, so he has grown up.
Speaker 2:So what do we got going on over the next week or so? We're mowing hay, oh hey get equipment ready.
Speaker 1:Senior pictures cattle shopping, I guess.
Speaker 2:I have a the Farm Wives Club coming up, no boys allowed, I guess. That's right. That's right, it's the farm, ladies. Only I'm excited to go, yeah that'd be good. That's the first weekend, but I am going to miss the rodeo.
Speaker 1:Right we have the Tri-State Rodeo, and just before that we have the Old Threshers.
Speaker 2:That's this weekend. Yeah, it's crazy, actually, old Thresh weekend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's crazy actually old thresher's parade, isn't it wednesday?
Speaker 2:it was probably this afternoon might have been. It's crazy. It's really early this year. I mean it's the earliest it can ever be labor day's on the first right so that threw me off this year.
Speaker 2:It's all good. Oh, and another thing we are going to be having an inventory reduction sale for Midwest Wagyu beef. So if you're looking for some American Wagyu beef, head on over to our Facebook page, midwest Wagyu Beef, midwest Wagyu beef, um or to Instagram to be able to get the link to sign up to get the discount code. We're going to be offering 40, four zero, 40% off. So now would be a great opportunity for you to try it or to fill your freezer fill the freezer up, man, good stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, get some shit mitts out, and that will be until supplies last.
Speaker 1:Get in early. First come, first serve, that's right. So yeah, Rodeo happens and then we'll basically be in the field in a couple weeks. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:I always feel like I'm really just not ready. But it's now that the kids are older and so helpful. I like to come like last year. I could come out and I'd ride in the combine with you and help you. You know, close things up for the night and it felt like we had more time together we did it was really nice. I look forward to that again.
Speaker 1:We also quit a lot earlier than normal. Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 2:It was good. Remember we did do a podcast about how much better you felt with all of that.
Speaker 1:Not push it so hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And still basically finished in the same amount of time. Take your breaks and don't work so long, so enjoy harvest. Yeah, with that said, things are flying by. Summer's basically over. School has started. For some starts here Monday. Thanks for listening. As always, go out and find us on all of the socials.
Speaker 2:We would love to hear from you all. You send us an email at farmersgreatestasset, at gmailcom. Ask us any questions or let us know what you'd like us to talk about.
Speaker 1:It's a good day have a great day.
Speaker 2:Bye.
