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Nearly 250,000 Fewer Cattle | Flytraps, NASA & Harvest | Daily Farm Brief · Farm Tales Unplugged - Daily Farm Brief

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly a quarter million fewer cattle entered America's feedlots in September than a year earlier.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was the lowest September total in 30 years.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Farm Nation and Hello Truck City.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is FarmTale's unplugged daily farm brief for Wednesday, October 28th.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rick Portonova.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: USDA's report released Friday shows 12% fewer cattle coming into those feedlots, and fewer finished cattle went out to processors, too.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Those shipments fell 7%.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yet the number already on feed stayed close to 11.4 million, slightly lower than below last year.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's the interesting part.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly the same number in the yards, but fewer coming and going.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Those incoming cattle help tell us what beef supplies could look like months from now.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: A smaller group entering today can mean fewer animals ready for market later.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Can you take a second and hit like or follow or share?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sarah Hunter bought her husband a Venus flytrap.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now they take live crickets to sales events so customers can watch their plants eat.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sarah and Ross Hunter had moved to South Carolina when she discovered fly traps were native to the Carolinas.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: She bought one for Ross.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: It thrived.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: They bought more.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, their collection grew big enough that they started selling plants outside their house.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: But customers wanted more than a pot to take home.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Sarah says a sale could turn into a half-hour conversation about keeping the plants alive.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: They opened an online shop, figured out how to ship the plants safely, and began breeding their own fly trap varieties.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Today, their family business, hunter fly traps, also grows sundews and pitcher plants.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the trap itself is part of a leaf.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: An insect disturbs tiny trigger hairs, the two halves snap shut, and the plant digests its catch.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: One gift became a family nursery and a sales demonstration where the merchandise catches its own lunch.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Your crop can still look green while it's running short on water.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: NASA has a way to spot that trouble from space.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: An instrument called EcoStress measures the heat coming from the ground, including farm fields.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Plants cool themselves by releasing water through tiny openings in their leaves.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: When water gets scarce, those openings close.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Cooling slows and the plants warm up.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: NASA says those temperature changes can reveal stress before you see obvious damage.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: That could help a farmer decide where water is needed while there's still time to help the crop.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: The instrument is already operating.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: The new development is a broader NASA USDA agreement signed Saturday and announced by NASA on Monday.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: The agencies want to improve crop monitoring, drought assets, and estimates of acreage and yield.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Those improvements still have to be delivered, but measuring a thirsty field's temperature from orbit is already real.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: America's combines brought in another 16% of the corn crop in one week.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Monday's USDA report put harvest at 60% through Sunday.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: A week earlier, it was 44%.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's a strong week, but the usual pace by now is 66%.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Iowa shows why the national average needs a closer look.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Less than half of its corn was harvested, 47%, when the normal pace is about two-thirds.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Soybeans have caught up faster.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly four-fifths of that crop is harvested nationally, slightly ahead of average.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Winter wheat planting has also moved along, reaching 66% just behind its normal pace.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Some hawks that hunt America's farm fields make a round trip of more than 12,000 miles.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: The birds circle upwards in columns called thermals, then glide towards the next one.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Those swirling gatherings are called kettles.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Most migrate to Argentina.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: The birds nesting farthest north can log 12,000 miles round trip.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the menu changes along the way.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: While raising young, they eat plenty of rodents.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Outside breeding season, they feed almost entirely on insects, including grasshoppers and dragonflies.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: They'll even run along the ground chasing them.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: These are birds you might see on a fence post or irrigation rig, watching your fields.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: To watch the migration, try a sunny mid-morning once the warming ground starts producing those rising currents.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: A bird that looks like it's circling aimlessly may be gaining altitude for the next leg of its very long trip.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Here's our Tuesday, October 27th market snapshot.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: These are indicative quotes, not confirmed closing prices.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: December corn,$4.53.5 per bushel.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: November soybeans,$12.49.5 per bushel.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: December Chicago wheat,$6.16 per bushel.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: January feeder cattle, about$345.93 per 100 pounds.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Local cash bids will differ.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And there you have it.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's your FarmTales Unplugged Daily Farm Brief for Tuesday, October 27th.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's a matching blog on our website, farmtailsunplugged.com.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Brought to you by World Trade X empowering farmers.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rick Portanova, and I'll see you Thursday morning.