Jeff Ryan is Guy No. 2 in the operation of Two Guys Farming, Inc., near Cresco, IA. Wednesday means hay storiesBy: By Jeff Ryan Wednesday is the day when the weekly Fort Atkinson Hay Auction is held in beautiful downtown Fort Atkinson, Iowa. Forage producers from near and far bring in loads of ... My kind of placeBy: By Jeff Ryan So you finally get yourself off the farm for a little time to see some country. And where do you go?... Get a piece of the rockBy: By Jeff Ryan For several years, one of my cousins, Jerry, rented a farm that was not what you would call tremendously productive... Had I been a horse…By: By Jeff Ryan Last summer I almost broke my ankle answering a phone call that let me know my cows were standing in my front yard ... We’ll leave the light on for youBy: By Jeff Ryan Cattle have always been part of my life. When I was 14, my dad more or less turned over control of the beef cattle operation to me. ... And for dessert? RecessBy: By Jeff Ryan Have you ever hit one of those dietary mental brick walls where you just can’t come up with any good ideas for what to eat? Me neither. That’s why my phone has a lot of carryout numbers stored in it. ... To the last dropBy: By Jeff Ryan Cresco came awfully close to declaring martial law this winter. At least, some residents felt that wouldn't have been the worst course of action under the circumstances.... Please, have a seatBy: By Jeff Ryan “His humor was a little bit off-balance.” Sometimes you will hear such a statement after a comedian’s performance. ... Sliding into an Amish existenceBy: By Jeff Ryan Do you know what keeps winter interesting up here by the North Pole? Is it the brisk air? The fluffy snow? ... Fueling the FunThere I was, fresh off my 25th annual A.I. season with nothing really pressing on the schedule. It was a beautiful August day, so the solution was...... Let me get my bearingsAs I made my way across a field of raked cornstalks with the baler a couple of weeks ago, it was going quite well. The stalks were bone dry, the wind was quite brisk and I was getting a bale made, wrapped and dumped every 69 seconds. This was productivity ... Scratching a nicheI got a message several years ago from someone looking for some timothy hay. Calls about hay are not completely out of the realm of possibility for me... This is only a testBy: By Jeff Ryan When you think about making a major purchase of some kind, do you go out to the store/dealership and just pick up the item on a whim? Probably not. Most people like to... Or what we could do...By: By Jeff Ryan Not all buildings were meant to be preserved. If you saw nothing but Roman ruins every time you turned around, they would soon lose their significance and appeal... One ringy-dingyBy: By Jeff Ryan Sometimes all the pieces come together just right. We had everything planted, but the ground was still too wet to cut any hay. There really wasn’t anything on my agenda that was ... When the Schedule Takes an Unexpected TurnBy: By Jeff Ryan Last spring I asked my hog marketing coordinator to schedule some of my hogs for market. Working with her and... Properly CoatedThe clothes make the man, as the saying goes. It’s somewhat similar if the man is in agriculture. The more accurate phrase is, “The vendor makes the farmer.” Farmers aren’t exactly NASCAR drivers, but if you want to give us an article of clothing ... Marketing InertiaWe have reached that point in the hay-marketing year where buyers are chasing an increasingly small supply. They are being forced to pay historically high prices to feed their critters. If you have ruminants who like to eat hay, they don’t suddenly go on a diet when your feed supply runs out a month before new stuff is available from the field.... Like a magnet for nails…and nutsOne day a couple of summers ago, I had to deliver hay to a new customer. I found the place and ran around the circle driveway to get into position to unload. As soon as I got out of the truck and went to unhook my straps (Remember, class, batten down those hatches when hauling hay!!!), I heard a familiar sound... Historic sandwich expeditionBy: By Jeff Ryan You probably already know that May is Beef Month. My accountant, my banker, my John Deere salesman and anyone else who gets a piece of me are extremely grateful for your ongoing support of the beef industry... Newman hits RidgewayBy: By Jeff Ryan When the cost of a stamp rose from 32 to 33 cents, I stopped at the friendly post office in Ridgeway, population 300, to invest in some 1-cent stamps. This should have been a painless and short transaction. Not so in Ridgeway... Tipping the scaleBy: By Jeff Ryan My maternal grandfather grew up in Chicago. He came from a family of bricklayers, but that line of work didn’t interest him after he became familiar with it. It wasn’t the work he disliked. It was the work ethic of some of the employees he disliked... Life Is Full of ChoicesBy: By Jeff Ryan On the off chance you didn’t notice, we had us one of those fancy election things here in Iowa last January. Gotta make some choices. But we can’t just step into the handy voting booth and flip a lever or fill in a couple of ovals. No, we caucus. I decided to participate anyway... The hair of a goatBy: by Jeff Ryan We take winter seriously here in the Upper Midwest. Very seriously. Overnight lows this winter were anywhere from the 15- to 30-below-zero area. Daytime highs don’t create a lot of melting. So how does a person stay comfortable in weather like this if, let’s say, you have to work outside?... Ranger Rick and his posseBy: by Jeff Ryan Sometimes life gives you challenges. A few of them are brief. A few of them seem constant. I have had one in recent years that I would classify more as "ongoing" than constant... |
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