Farm Friday

This week's Farm Friday is getting out later than I normally like to get it out because things have just simply been busy around here today, and really, this week.  We finished planting corn on Monday of this week and then finished planting soybeans last night!  It feels good to have everything in the ground.  Now that we are done planting, My Farmer has promised to get my garden tilled!  I usually have a goal of getting this done by Mother's Day, but the farm comes first.  I figure one week after Mother's Day isn't too bad!

As for my "backyard" this week, the corn is growing well.  It would be nice to get a little rain though, and it sounds like we might get a little at the end of the weekend.

The corn is at the V4 stage today.  As you can see from the photos below, you can clearly see four leaves and collars.

And to end today's blog post, I wanted to give a few fun facts about turkeys.  Today I visited the Iowa Turkey Federation and had a great time catching up with Gretta Irwin, the Executive Director of ITF.

My Top Ten Favorite Turkey Facts:

• Iowa ranks 7th in the nation for turkey production and Iowa increases production every year.
• It takes about 14 weeks for a hen and 18 weeks for a tom to grow to market weight.
• The average market weight of a hen is 23 pounds and a tom is 35 pounds.
• Turkeys have around 3,500 feathers at maturity.
• In a turkeys' lifetime them will consume approximately 1 bushel of corn and 1/3 bushel of soybeans.  This results in Iowa's turkeys consuming 62,000 acres of corn and 69,000 acres of soybeans.
• Hormones are not used in raising turkeys.  It is illegal.  The use of hormones was banned in the 1950s.
• Turkey sandwiches account for 48% of all turkey consumption.
• West Liberty Foods, an Iowa-farmer owned company, is Subway's largest supplier of turkey.  They also supply a large amount of turkey to Jimmy John's.
• It is estimated that 46 million turkeys are ate at Thanksgiving, 22 million at Christmas and 19 million at Easter.
• Feeling drowsy after Thanksgiving dinner?  Recent studies show that turkey is not the cause.  The study showed that a carbohydrate rich, not protein rich, meal increases the level of tryprophan in the brain, creating drowsiness.