Big Country Farmers Feel Impact Of Harsh Weather

Feb 07, 2023

By Shelly Womack

Extreme weather over the past couple of years have impacted Big Country residents and businesses.

At the Abilene's farmers market, Co-Owner of Chrane Ranch Beef, Daphna Chrane says she has never seen the pastures so dry and bare after this past drought. "We’re really hoping for a wet spring, but right now we do not have much grass for our cattle so the momma cows get fed hay.”
The drought impact and inflation have prompted Chrane Ranch to almost double what they charge for their products. Chrane also added that water prices have been skyrocketing.
Randy Billings from Abilene Pecan said that even though the cold has killed crops for many, it is also a blessing.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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