Hard Work Pays Off

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Partners & Friends,

This past weekend was the Illinois State Fair, where Harper and Abbott showed their goat herd. The Hess goats did very well on Friday at the Junior Show and Saturday in the Open Show. The girls placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the respective doe classes, and the wethers all placed 1st in their classes, despite very tough competition!

The annual Parade of Champions in the Coliseum took place Saturday evening, featuring the top ten top meat goat wethers of the 2023 Junior Show, three of whom were from our herd. Harper's heavyweight wether was awarded Reserve Champion overall at the 2023 Illinois State Fair! He will remain on exhibit at the Fair the rest of this week along with the Grand and Reserve Champions in the Steer, Barrow, and Market Lamb divisions.

One year ago, Harper set her sights on winning Grand Champion at the Fulton County Fair and to have a goat in the Coliseum for the 2023 Grand Drive. We are all so happy for her, because she not only achieved, but surpassed those two goals. All the hard work and decisions, along with the chores, sweat, early mornings, late nights, and sacrificed family and friend time paid off and came to fruition with these winning goats. A huge 'thank you' goes out to everyone who has been there to watch and support our family in this project!

Meanwhile, back on the farm, we are wrapping up summer projects, including construction and building updates, semi inspections, prepping equipment for harvest, maintaining and prepping the bins and grain system for new crop, hauling about 700 tons of lime to be stockpiled and spread after harvest, and cutting hay. We might make 5 cuttings from the alfalfa this year! We will likely bale some grass also, because the late rains have prompted enough growth to make that worthwhile. Harvest here at the Hess Family Farm is anticipated to begin sometime mid-September.

One correction from my last post: natural gas is lower than last year, although our supplier is raising hookup fees substantially for commercial accounts. 😐

The farm bill renewal is taking center stage in DC. There is much positioning for renewable fuels and biodiesel. China's economy is weakening. The Crop Tours are predicting good crops, meaning no supply shortages for the next year. Brazil's soybean crop is doing quite well.

School is starting this week; how can that be?🤔 College is back in session shortly. Our fall safety meeting is not far off. 

Fall Prices:

Corn—4.59

Soybeans—13.04

Steve