Today, we got to
sleep in, for the first time the whole time!! It was amazing!!!!!! We had a
very nutritious lunch at Subway. Then we made our way to Mr. Dennis Gienger’s
house, he is a member of the Tama County Pork Producers and the owner of Gienger
Farms. He works in close partnership with the Florida FFA by providing pork for
the Pork Trailer at the state fair, Strawberry Festival and State FFA
Convention.
After a brief
overview of the agriculture in Iowa and, more specifically, Tama County, we
went to the Match Stick Marvels Museum. We got to see many very intricate and
cool models such as The Millennium Falcon and an eagle. Patrick Acton, the man
who made the models, was not able to tell me how much it cost to make each one,
but each model had a sign telling us how long each took. The Millennium Falcon
took 14 months to make! Most of his models are sold to Ripley’s Believe It or
Not and are put on display in their many museums.
Following our
experience at the Match Stick Marvels Museum, we took a short journey to the
Gienger’s home farm. Mr. Denny’s son, Jason, talked to us all about growing
corn; he was very intelligent and spoke to us about more than we can possibly
understand at this age. We learned about the science that goes into growing,
from genetics to soil science. In fact, they test their soil, getting samples
every 3.3 acres, every 4 years to know what nutrients the soil have. They use
this information to determine how much nutrients they need to apply to specific
areas that need it most. For example, Mr. Jason used to apply 2 tons of
fertilizer per acre. After using the soil sample analysis, he was able to see
which areas of the field were in need of fertilizer in the soil and which areas
did not need any because they already had adequate nutrients. Using this
technique has saved lots of time and money for the farm.
Mr. Jason
utilizes new technologies like Auto Track and Variable Application to enhance
his farm efficiency. Auto Track is a technology that is used in tractors to
give a more detailed scope of where the tractor has been so they don’t waste as
much chemical by overlapping where they have already sprayed. In turn, this
will greatly reduce the cost of the farm operation. Variable Application uses
the maps generated from the soil tests that tell what areas need more of any
nutrient to apply the needed nutrients to the right places.
There was also a
cool thing for the sprayer that helps keep the boom (which holds all the spray
nozzles) from hitting the ground when the tractor hits a bump or hole. Mr.
Jason said that in the past he would often have the boom hit the ground
numerous times before he even finished an acre of land. This new technology
prevents that from happening. Which helps saves money!
Then we went the
short trip to his other farm that has a grain dryer and pig barns. We even got
to go inside the grain dryer! It stores 26-27,000 bushels of corn (a bushel is
56 pounds). So this bin can hold 1.456 million pounds of corn!!! He showed us
where the loaded grain trucks will pull in to dump the grain from the fields
into the system to be dried from about 20% down to 14% moisture. To do this,
they have two 6.5 million BTU heaters that blow air into the dryer bin which
makes the corn sweat. He also showed us where the semi trucks will pull in to
load grain. Inside of the grain bin there is a big auger that pulls the corn up
the grain leg to be dumped into the open semi truck trailer. 
Because of
biosecurity, we were not able to go inside the hog barns, but we were able to
look over the curtains to see the pigs. There are four separate barns on that
farm that hold approximately 1,250 pigs each, for a total of 5,000 piggies! He
is a contract grower for Brenneman Pork, which we visited on Friday. The pigs
in his facility stay for 20-22 weeks, they grow from 35 pounds to market
weight, 280 pounds. Mr. Jason has his whole system connected to his cell phone,
where he can view all the different details in the barn. If there is a problem
in a barn with temperature or the water being off, he receives a text message
alert on his phone that specifies which area has an error. This is the newest
and latest technology in the hog industry.
FINALLY, after a
very long day on the farm, we returned to Mr. Denny’s home for a wonderful pork
burger dinner provided by the Tama County Pork Producers. Afterwards, we all had fun playing in their yard.
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