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Change to student aid formula would hit Iowa farm families

Darcy and Eric Wemark and their family milk nearly 600 cows at their dairy operation in Ridgeway, near Decorah in northeast Iowa.

The family also has 450 heifers, a 2,500-head swine facility and farms about 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans on land it mostly rents.

The couple’s eldest son, Carson, is finishing his first year at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, where he’s studying agronomy. The 19-year-old plans to carry on in the family business, as does their eldest daughter, Addison. The high school senior plans to head to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville to study dairy science next fall.

Carson currently receives federal financial aid through a Pell Grant to help the family pay for the roughly $16,000 annual expense to send him to college, including tuition, fees, room and board, and other expenses.

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What Drives Profitability in Farrowing? - Dr. Daniel Gascho

Video: What Drives Profitability in Farrowing? - Dr. Daniel Gascho


In this special episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, marking World Veterinary Day, we welcome Dr. Daniel Gascho, swine production veterinarian and partner at Four Star Veterinary Service. He discusses how farrowing decisions must align with each farm's business model, why labor execution defines protocol outcomes, and how PRRS strategies should be tailored to each operation's health status and market position. Listen now on all major platforms!

"Protocols are only as strong as the labor that executes them, and that final step is what separates a plan on paper from results in the barn."

Meet the guest: Dr. Daniel Gascho / daniel-gascho-4a1bbb242 is a swine production medicine veterinarian and partner at Four Star Veterinary Service, based in Indiana. He focuses on individualized health strategies, vaccination planning, biosecurity, and practical protocol implementation across farrowing, nursery, and grow-finish systems.