Kansas wetlands education center will host hunter breakfast October 11

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October 8, 2014

Breakfast will be accompanied by info booths, raffle, silent auction

PRATT – Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area offers fantastic duck hunting opportunities and memories to last a lifetime, but now the wildlife area has even more to offer. On Oct. 11, opening day of the Low Plains Early Zone duck season, the Kansas Wetlands Education Center (KWEC), 592 NE K-156 Hwy, Great Bend, in conjunction with Great Bend Regional Hospital, will host a hunter appreciation breakfast from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Not only can hunters come away from a hunt with dinner in hand, but a stomach full of hot biscuits and gravy, coffee, and juice.

After filling up on good eats, hunters can learn about the wetland’s history at the education center, peruse through items in the Cheyenne Bottoms Ducks Unlimited Chapter raffle and silent auction, as well visit waterfowl identification and waterfowl hunting information booths.

For more information about the breakfast, call the KWEC at (877) 243-9268.

Broiler hatchery

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Editor

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October 8, 2014

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ISSN: 1949-1840

Released October 8, 2014, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA).

Broiler-Type Eggs Set in the United States Up 5 Percent

Hatcheries in the United States weekly program set 203 million eggs in
incubators during the week ending October 4, 2014, up 5 percent from a year
ago. Hatcheries in the 19 State weekly program set 195 million eggs in
incubators during the week ending October 4, 2014, up 5 percent from the
year earlier. Average hatchability for chicks hatched during the week in the
United States was 83 percent. Average hatchability is calculated by dividing
chicks hatched during the week by eggs set three weeks earlier.

Broiler-Type Chicks Placed in the United States Up 3 Percent

Broiler growers in the United States weekly program placed 170 million
chicks for meat production during the week ending October 4, 2014, up 3
percent from a year ago. Broiler growers in the 19 State weekly program
placed 164 million chicks for meat production during the week ending October
4, 2014, up
3 percent from the year earlier. Cumulative placements from December 29,
2013 through October 4, 2014 for the United States were 6.89 billion.
Cumulative placements were up slightly from the same period a year earlier.

Broiler-Type Eggs Set – 19 Selected States and United States: 2014
—————————————————————————-
————————————–
: Week
ending
State
:—————————–———————————————-
——–
: August 30, :September 6, :September
13,:September 20,:September 27,: October 4,
: 2014 : 2014 : 2014 :
2014 : 2014 : 2014
—————————————————————————-
————————————–
: 1,000
eggs
:

Alabama ………………….: 28,729 28,027 28,593
26,497 27,904 26,776
Arkansas …………………: 21,592 21,725 21,399
20,107 21,484 21,478
Delaware …………………: 4,400 4,416 4,424
4,504 4,531 4,565
Florida ………………….: 1,225 1,224 1,222
917 1,225 1,222
Georgia ………………….: 34,363 34,459 33,795
33,847 33,608 33,556
Kentucky …………………: 7,823 7,836 7,845
7,627 7,943 7,712
Louisiana ………………..: 3,787 3,585 3,585
3,605 3,605 3,454
Maryland …………………: 7,806 7,218 7,125
7,123 7,738 7,315
Mississippi ………………: 17,536 16,758 17,529
16,784 17,369 15,633
Missouri …………………: 8,354 8,533 8,503
7,893 8,181 7,668
:

North Carolina ……………: 20,681 20,550 18,224
20,150 20,516 19,873
Oklahoma …………………: 6,615 6,700 6,259
6,572 6,617 6,524
Pennsylvania ……………..: 4,480 4,422 4,579
4,280 4,024 4,347
South Carolina ……………: 5,123 5,416 5,037
5,158 5,217 5,196
Texas ……………………: 14,267 13,596 14,585
14,449 14,003 13,328
Virginia …………………: 6,447 6,461 6,393
6,495 6,562 6,058
California, Tennessee, :

and West Virginia ………..: 10,880 11,085 11,019
10,306 10,604 10,787
:

19 State total ……………: 204,108 202,011 200,116
196,314 201,131 195,492
Percent of previous year …..: 101 103 103
102 102 105
:

Other States ……………..: 7,845 7,757 7,746
7,491 7,295 7,469
:

United States …………….: 211,953 209,768 207,862
203,805 208,426 202,961
Percent of previous year …..: 101 103 103
102 102 105
—————————————————————————-
————————————–

Broiler-Type Chicks Placed – 19 Selected States and United States: 2014
—————————————————————————-
————————————–
: Week
ending
State
:—————————–———————————————-
——–
: August 30, :September 6, :September
13,:September 20,:September 27,: October 4,
: 2014 : 2014 : 2014 :
2014 : 2014 : 2014
—————————————————————————-
————————————–
: 1,000
chicks
:

Alabama ………………….: 21,175 21,639 22,194
22,042 21,343 22,733
Arkansas …………………: 19,869 19,343 19,315
20,851 20,489 19,673
Delaware …………………: 4,790 4,985 5,547
4,651 4,487 4,786
Florida ………………….: 1,375 1,290 1,182
1,265 1,178 1,274
Georgia ………………….: 27,761 26,957 27,767
27,143 26,807 26,469
Kentucky …………………: 6,646 6,713 6,703
6,055 6,029 6,243
Louisiana ………………..: 3,331 3,395 3,404
3,352 3,218 3,213
Maryland …………………: 6,336 6,419 4,814
6,065 6,656 5,220
Mississippi ………………: 15,217 15,095 15,009
14,478 14,068 14,489
Missouri …………………: 5,989 6,082 6,166
5,601 5,631 6,032
:

North Carolina ……………: 16,588 16,315 16,250
16,278 15,495 14,321
Oklahoma …………………: 4,033 4,342 4,387
3,706 4,292 4,203
Pennsylvania ……………..: 3,519 3,349 3,545
3,666 3,587 3,591
South Carolina ……………: 4,621 4,507 4,539
4,583 5,261 4,799
Texas ……………………: 11,913 12,289 12,060
11,318 10,968 11,645
Virginia …………………: 5,395 4,673 5,868
5,399 4,985 5,209
California, Tennessee, :

and West Virginia ………..: 9,574 10,389 9,737
10,645 10,383 10,234
:

19 State total ……………: 168,132 167,782 168,487
167,098 164,877 164,134
Percent of previous year …..: 100 101 101
101 102 103
:

Other States ……………..: 5,988 6,030 6,109
6,077 5,680 5,650
:

United States …………….: 174,120 173,812 174,596
173,175 170,557 169,784
Percent of previous year …..: 101 101 101
101 102 103

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural – Annie Wilson – Tallgrass Express

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October 8, 2014

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kksu — K-State Research and Extension, Candice Shoemaker

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

There are many balladeers in the music business, and there are many beautiful Flint Hills in eastern Kansas, but there is only one official Flint Hills Balladeer. Annie Wilson was named a Flint Hills Balladeer by Gov. Sam Brownback in recognition of her wonderful musical talents and her love of the Kansas Flint Hills.

Annie Wilson (no relation to this author) grew up in Wichita. She spent time at her grandfather’s Flint Hills ranch. “I fell in love with the Flint Hills,” Annie said. Her education took her far away, however, as she went to college at Tufts University in Massachusetts. She came back to KU law school and then practiced law, but found that the part of the practice she enjoyed the most was working with youth.

“I wanted to do something for kids,” Annie said. So she made a career change and became a teacher, earning a teaching certificate at Emporia State. She also met and married John Wilson, who was ranching near Elmdale in the heart of the Flint Hills.

Annie also enjoyed music. She had learned to play guitar at age 11 and played with a duo in the early 1980s.

Then the Emma Chase café in downtown Cottonwood Falls started having jam sessions with local musicians on Friday nights. These went so well that they became a regular event. One of the artists who joined the jam sessions was Annie Wilson.

“I suffered from stage fright,” Annie said. “But the people here were so open and non-judgmental.” Annie started playing and singing and learning from the other musicians. In 2004, she and others formed the musical group, the Tallgrass Express String Band.

“We always played bluegrass,” Annie said. “But those songs were about back in Virginia or my old Kentucky home. I thought to myself, `we could write songs about things right here in Kansas.’”

So, Annie began to write. She didn’t get much encouragement from the music industry. “People say, if you want to make it big, you have to write about lost loves and universal themes,” Annie said. “But I didn’t care about making it big. The audience I want is local.”

Annie Wilson wrote about the things she knew and loved: The tallgrass prairie, rural lifestyle, farmers and ranchers, life on the ranch, and the wildlife and prairie flowers of the beautiful Flint Hills.

“My husband John has taught me so much about ranching and the land and the people of the Flint Hills,” Annie said.

Annie and John know these things first-hand, living near the rural community of Elmdale, population 55 people. Now, that’s rural.

Tallgrass Express produced CDs in 2005 and 2007 which mostly included traditional songs that others had written. But the songwriting bug had bitten Annie and she started to write and then record her original work. In 2010, Tallgrass Express produced a new CD of original songs of the Flint Hills, virtually all of which were written by Annie.

“The Flint Hills are worth singing about,” Annie said. In January 2013, at the annual Flint Hills visioning summit, Gov. Sam Brownback named Annie as a Flint Hills Balladeer. True to her title, she kept writing and recorded 24 more Flint Hills songs which were featured in a two-CD set produced by Tallgrass Express in 2014. She has now written more than 50 Flint Hills songs.

At the summit, the governor presented Annie a certificate of recognition for her “outstanding contributions to the State of Kansas … for her endeavors to share the beauty of the Kansas Flint Hills through words and music, and to inspire an abiding love for the Kansas Flint Hills.” For more information, go to www.tallgrassexpress.com.

There are many balladeers in the music business, and there are many beautiful Flint Hills in eastern Kansas, but there is only one official Flint Hills Balladeer. We commend Annie Wilson for making a difference with musical talent and a heart for the Flint Hills. She makes a wonderful musical ambassador of Kansas.

And there’s more. The most recent CD includes original songs by two authors: Annie Wilson and one other. We’ll meet her fellow songwriter next week.