Libertyville Savings Bank

Something We’re Not

2012-02-06T08:41:00.004-06:00

The Van Buren Players, Van Buren County’s theatre group, puts on a musical production for the community every February. I’ve been fortunate enough to have participated, at one level or another, in 15 or 16 of these productions. They are a great way to pass the dreary months of January and February. Many hours of group practice along with individual time memorizing songs, dialog and dance routines make the time fly.

I tell myself I participate because of the camaraderie and the community involvement. But ultimately I believe I do it because, every so often, it’s just fun to pretend to be something or someone you’re not. I’ve played lots of different characters over the years and they were all fun because, just for a little while, I got the chance to be someone else. To pretend. To make believe, if you will.

Banks need to be careful they don’t slip into this line of thinking. We can’t afford to pretend to be something we’re not. Our customers can’t afford it either. For example, when we stray too far from our area of lending expertise, bad things happen. The Bank’s assets are put at risk because we tried to be all things to all people and we wound up being the jack of all trades and the master of none.

The customer on the other end of this transaction didn’t benefit either. People choose a lender because they feel they can rely on them for an honest and accurate assessment of their business. They want a knowledgeable resource to bounce ideas off of. Someone who’s been there and done that. They don’t want a lender who’s looking for on- the- job training credits. It will wind up costing them time and money too.

We know our strength’s but, more importantly I believe, we know our weaknesses. It may be the hip, popular thing to do in banking right now, but the Libertyville Savings Bank won’t ever try to be something we’re not.

Permit Driving

2012-01-30T10:39:00.000-06:00

Many ofus have had the privilege of teaching our children how to drive. There is no doubt that we, “the parents”,have superior driving skills and will be able to perform this role withoutquestion. Well, here is the other side of my attempt to teach my 14 year olddaughter how to drive.

We wereheading home from dinner early one evening during the summer just before dusk.The weather was beautiful, so we were coming through town with our windowsdown. My daughter, Sydney, was at the wheel and I was her trusted ever so watchingparent/copilot. In the back seat of our family minivan was her father. As wecame west out of town on Hwy 34, Sydney says, “mom, there is a police carfollowing me”. I do a quick speed checkfor her and tell her to hold course and not to panic – which was alreadyevident in her voice. The cop car didnot have his lights on and was just driving along behind.

Nextthing I know he has his lights on and Sydney is in a full panic, as I instructher to pull over. He comes up to the passenger side of the van and asks for herpermit, my driver’s license, and of course, proof of insurance. He says it isgetting a little dark and maybe she should have had her lights on as hescurries back to his car to check us out. Sydney is now in full panic mode as Itry to keep her calm and tell her nothing is going to happen. When he returns,he stops at Steve’s back window and asks to see his driver’s license. I thenthink, this is strange, he has mine and Sydney’s now why would he need myhusband’s?

Then hedrops the bomb and tells me that my driver’s license expired two years ago. He then requested that I retreat to the rearseat and my husband take the copilot seat. Sydney, now in full tears, is afraidshe is going to get a ticket because her (less than prepared) mother has nolicense. The policeman was very funny and kind and we all laughed (exceptSydney) as he sent us on our way without any citations.

Not onlydid my daughter give me an ear full, my husband and I laughed all the way home. This is not the first time I have beencaught driving without a valid license. So, the next day, I once again had the privilege of taking the writtentest, plus I had to take the driving test, because it had been more than ayear. Luckily I passed without needingto study.

Word tothe wise, check the expiration date on your driver’s license today!

Happydriving!

JillBurnett

Estate Planning

2012-01-18T06:38:00.001-06:00

Earlier this week, my husband and I made the trip to DesMoines to meet with an attorney about our estate. What is it about wills, estates, and truststhat make us avoid or at least procrastinate? Maybe it is the discussions aboutmy death, when to pull the plug on my life support, who would raise my kids, whoto give our assets to if my entire family dies in a plane crash, or give powerof attorney to if I become mentally incapacitated.

While all these things were discussed, potentialpossibilities reviewed and some tough decisions are ahead, I left the officewith a sense of relief knowing I was setting a plan that will assist whoever isleft to deal with my estate. My young children will have a set guardian (notsomeone chosen by the State of Iowa) and monies to get them through school andbeyond.

I am encouraging all of you to make sure you have your plansset. Just during the last week therehave been two tragic losses of life from farming accidents. Think of estateplanning as a favor to those left behind and peace of mind for all.

Jill Burnett

My 1st 4-H Steer

2012-01-13T12:47:00.002-06:00

I can remember this day as if it was yesterday, although it was more than 20 years ago. Gretchen, my twin sister, and I were 9 years old. We had waited for this day to come forever. It was a Sunday in the middle of October. Dad, Gretchen and I loaded up in the pickup and trailer and headed to Bloomfield to their annual Simmental Hawkeye calf sale. We were headed to get our very first 4-H steers. We had already looked through the catalog to decide which steers we wanted to purchase but had to make our final decisions at the barn. We walked through the barn to find the steers that we had been looking at. Gretchen was looking at a nice little black baldie steer and I was looking at a red baldie. We headed to the sale ring as the sale began. I can remember setting on my hands afraid to move on account the auctioneer may think I was bidding on something. We sat there for what seemed like all day, waiting on these two steers to come through the ring. They entered and exited, the bidding was done and over with in a blink of an eye. We had no idea if dad had bought them or not. We waited a little while longer and finally dad told us that he had bought them. We paid for them and headed home. The whole way home we were trying to come up with their names. By the time we got home Gretchen had named hers Curly & I named mine Red Head. I don’t know what my thinking was his head was white and his body was red.

For the next several months Gretchen and I knew what we had to do. We had dreamed of this forever. We got up every morning before school to chore Red Head & Curly. We would tie them up and comb for hours. We worked together to clean their pin every weekend. Our first show was at the Iowa Beef Expo in the middle of February. I remember walking into the pavilion at the Iowa State Fair grounds for the first time. It was so big! To a 9 year old everything seemed enormous. I was so nervous before I walked Red Head into the ring. I have been in the show ring thousands of times since. I still get the same sort of feeling right before stepping in. I can’t remember how I did, I’m sure it wasn’t that great, but it was an experience and feeling that
I will never forget.

Red Heads next trip was the county fair. We worked the rest of the spring getting him ready. We tied them up twice a day to feed and wash, comb and brush to get their hair trained. We would work for hours on the show stick leading the calves around the circle drive. Dad would say, “10 more girls” so we would lead them 10 more rounds and set them up 10 more times. We would be headed back to the barn and he would say, “10 more girls” so we would do it again. They were broke so well that we would ride them around the farm. I remember standing in the show ring at the county fair with a 1350 pound steer. I wasn’t very tall so I had to look under his brisket to see the judge. I remember the judge making a joke about how short I was. We had to sell our calves the following Monday, our friends, our buddies that we had spent hours with. It was one of the hardest things that I remember doing as a child, every year, letting our calves go. We knew what their destiny was. I can’t remember what my calf brought that year but I remember crying the whole time they auctioned him off knowing that he was headed to the locker.

Many life-long lessons were learned at such a young age through 4-H:

1.) Always take care of others
2.) Team Work
3.) Respect
4.) Always do things right the first time
5.) Showmanship
6.) Life & Death

4-H is a wonderful character building organization with a lot of opportunity for children to learn leadership at a young age. I hope that my children get the same opportunity as I did.

Kendra Hellweg

Crunch Time

2011-12-27T08:34:00.000-06:00

“CrunchTime”

Whilemany Americans are enjoying the week off between Christmas and New Year’s,banks are experiencing one of their busiest times of the year. Due to the increased traffic flow during theholidays, ouremployees are not allowed to take vacation between December 15^th andJanuary 3^rd. You might callit the “crunch time” of the banking year.

Customersflood into the bank making deposits and withdrawals for the holiday purchasingseason. In addition, year-end tax planning occurs with the business and agcustomers. Our loan officers are in high demand meeting the needs of customersthat need to prepay expenses for 2012.

On thelast business day of the year, banks complete year end processing. As technology has evolved, our year end processingis expedited each year. 15 years ago, wemight be working until midnight. Nowadays it is about a five hour project, that ends with printing allthe forms (ie: 1099, 1098 etc) for our customers to use for their taxes. Wehave a core group of employees that stay to run all the programs. We have pizza and pop while we reflect onmemorable events from the year and wait on the printers to spit out thethousands of tax forms. Another year hascome and gone……it goes fast!

HappyHolidays

JillBurnett

A Christmas Memory on the Farm

2011-12-21T12:27:00.002-06:00

I grew up about 4 miles east of Mt. Sterling. I believe it was the winter of 1977 when we got the big ice storm over our Christmas break. Everything was covered in an inch of ice. Then it got cold and you just knew the stuff was there to stay for a while.

Initially, it really didn’t make much difference to us. Christmas was over, we’d been to Grandma’s and opened the presents. We didn’t really need anything at the moment, and the ice had always left in a day or two anyway. My two younger sisters and I could sled from our mail box north down the gravel road clear across the Indian Creek bridge on that inch of ice. That’s over half a mile. Lots of fun going down, but nearly impossible to get back. The family was still pretty care free until day 3 came and there was still no warm up and none in the immediate forecast. That’s when the folks started to worry. We had plenty to eat but what about the pigs? How was the Walnut Grove man going to get to the house? We’d be completely out of feed in three more days.

The party line phone was back in order and dad called the feed depot on Friday. He told them to send the truck on Monday just like always and we’d get him down the mile and a half of still unbladed gravel road somehow. We started wracking our brains for ideas. Even my sisters, who were just 5 and 8 at the time, were feeling the stress. We all knew the pigs couldn’t go without feed, even for a little while.

Saturday came and still no warm up. We ground the last of the feed and spread it amongst the different pens as best we could. We went to bed that night still wondering what we were going to do. The folks decided we’d turn all the hogs out on 50 acres of cornstalks down on the bottom Monday if the truck couldn’t get in. That was absolutely the worst case scenario and no one wanted to see 2000 head of hogs turned loose on the unfenced bottom.

Dad woke us all up Sunday morning at 5:00 am. He’d had an epiphany! He already had the tractor warmed up and hooked to the old manure spreader. We didn’t eat breakfast or brush our teeth. Just threw on our old clothes, grabbed the pitch forks and headed for the barn.

Now normally, manure hauling was not a family affair at our house. It was always just Dad and I in the barn, usually on Sunday afternoon. We’d have WHO playing on the radio and we’d pitch a couple of loads onto that old 75 bushel spreader. Today, however, it was all hands on deck. We still didn’t know what Dad had in mind but we started in anyway. We only had two pitch forks so Dad and I filled buckets for Mom and the girls to carry to the spreader. It was faster that way. We filled the first load in record time! It still wasn’t light yet but Dad pulled that spreader out on the road and turned her on. He spread that load of manure right down the middle of the road heading south then came back for a second load. Then it dawned on the rest of us what was happening.

It took seven spreader loads to get to the blacktop. The sun shone that afternoon and before it got dark there was gravel showing through the ice on the road. That black manure and a little sun had done the trick. The feed truck pulled in Monday morning like nothing had ever happened. The day was saved!

I’m sure we’d get fined by no less than six different government agencies if we tried something like this today. The DNR would probably load up all the pigs and my sisters too. But in 1977 you did what you could to get by. I can’t remember what I got for Christmas that year but I can remember that day in the barn, all of us pulling towards a common goal, like it was yesterday.

2011-12-21T09:01:00.002-06:00

Strategic Planning

2011-12-06T07:28:00.001-06:00

StrategicPlanning:

Inthe fall of the year, most CEO’s minds turn to strategic planning. This is an area I believe is vitally importantto any business; small, large, corporations and sole proprietors. If you don’t know where you are going, how doyou know if you got there? It is also aprocess our executive team enjoys.

Forthe past several years, we have used the “Rockefeller Habits” approach to ourplanning. As each year passes, our planshave become stronger and more congruent. The time our executive team spends out of the bank is priceless. Itgives us a chance to take a high altitude look at our operation, as the tendencyfor most is to get stuck in the everyday details.

Noplan works without all employees being involved. We will roll out our 2012 planto our employees at their quarterly reviews this December. At that point, theywill be challenged to add something to their personal quarterly goals that tiesdirectly to the organizations goals. This is where the rubber meets the road.

Finally,there is reporting and tracking. We report the ongoing status of our plan toour board of directors and employees quarterly. We compare where we are to what our goal was in each category. It helps everyone stay focused andchallenged.

Bestwishes to you on your endeavors in 2012. Happy planning!

Jill

“You’vegot to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you mightnot get there.”

YogiBerra

Fall Sampling

2011-11-25T09:32:00.002-06:00

We had a wonderful fall that has allowed our farmers to complete the harvest in a timely manner and do any fall tillage that was needed. Farmers that I have spoken with are saying the last rain we received has really helped mellow the soil up. I spoke with a local ag retailer this morning. He said they are close to wrapping up the ammonia season.

I want to remind you to get your fall soil samples taken before the ground freezes. The most useful soil sample is the grid sample. This is where there is a boundary put around the field using an ATV and a GPS system. Then using the GPS system the field is mapped out on a small 2.2 acre grid. There is a sample pulled from each 2.2 acres point, labeled and sent to a soil lab. That information is then compiled and made into a map. This is where the farmer can set down and analyze where he can best spend his money for fertilizer. The common goal is to put the fertilizer dollars where most likely to give the farmer the biggest bang for his buck. With high input costs such as fertilizer and seed you should stay up on soil samples. These soil samples should be the base of your operation. It's the measuring tool for the farmer to see how he is doing in maintaining the fertility on his farm. The growers are then able to take the soil sample and make a variable rate map that is put into the spreader when applying fertilizer. The belt on the fertilizer truck moves faster and slower to increase or decrease the amount of product being applied. This is the very first step in the variable rating process. If a grower has a yield monitor on his combine you can put these two maps together to make a variable rate + crop removal map. With the two layers together the farmer is building his soil fertility by using the soil sample map and replacing the fertility that he has taken off with the crop removal map. This is the best a grower can do to maintain good soil fertility.

Composite sampling is another way of checking your soil levels. This is the old standard way, were you go out and pull several samples from across the field. You get a good idea of what your average soil test results are but not a lot of information that you can use to place your fertilizer. The composite sample is phasing out. Most people straight spread their fertilizer when they use a composite sample. This means that they put the same amount of fertilizer on across the entire field.

If you get your fields soil sampled, weather it is gridded or a composite samples, I would be happy to sit down and analyze the maps with you. Remember phosphorus levels should be anywhere from 20-25 ppm and our potassium levels anywhere from 200-220 ppm. Lime also plays an important roll in soil fertility. A lot of times the cost savings in straight spreading lime will pay for your grid sample.

The key is to get a sample of your fields every 4-5 years so you know where you are and how you can best spend your soil improvement money.

Happy sampling!
Kendra

Travel

2011-11-15T07:46:00.001-06:00

Iview traveling as a great adventure. This last week I travelled to Scottsdale Arizona for a meeting with acouple of co workers.

Hereare a few tips/thoughts for the fun at heart:

· Beprepared that in many of the airport restrooms there now are plastic coveringson the toilet seats. I just thought I was in the wrong stall.

· Neverpack over 50 lbs of weight in your suit case or you will be unloading it in theairport lobby or paying an additional $90.00 charge.

· Neverattempt to take an aerosol can through security – it will not continue on thetrip with you.

· Alwaysclose your eyes when riding in a taxi – that way you won’t know when you aregoing to die.

· Alwaysbe one of the last to load on the plane, thus avoiding sitting in that verycozy seat any longer than necessary. Those first class seats aren’t thatmuch more comfortable.

Ileave for a family trip next week with 4 kids and my husband in the mini vandriving half way across the country. I am sure I will have some additional tipsafter that.

Theworld is like a mirror; frown at it, and it frowns at you. Smile and it smiles,too.

-Herbert Samuel

Bestregards,

Jill

Playing In The Mud

2011-11-09T10:20:00.001-06:00

Ilove the enthusiasm of children. Werecently received a couple of inches of rain and live very close to what I callthe “old dirt road.” As we all know, when it rains the dirt turns to mud. My oldest son, who is 13 years old, loves tohunt/trap/fish or do about anything outdoors. His tree stand for bow hunting islocated about 1 mile down this now very muddy road, and he was determine to sitin this stand Friday evening. He loadsup his bow and takes off on our Polaris Ranger for his stand and barely makesit through the road. Being the wise andnow worried 13 year old, he calls his dad upon arrival and tells him he wasalmost stuck and decides he should return home before dark just in case hecan’t make it back. I also have learnedthat there isn’t anything much more inviting to an adult male than thechallenge of driving in the mud.

WhenI arrive home on Friday evening at approximately 6:00 pm, here walking acrossthe yard comes my husband, 13 year old and 2 ½ year old son. The words I writewill not be able to emulate the story telling I was about to get from my 2 ½year old. His eyes were wide and hisface bright with excitement when he started to waive his hands around and talkso fast I couldn’t really understand much of anything other than at the endwhen his arms went straight out front of his body and he leaned back and saidrunnnn runnnn went the truck. I could just imagine the mud flying and thewheels spinning as they slid down the old mud road.

Hehad just experienced his first true Iowa mudding experience and obviously lovedit. He told me the story at least three times that night and each time with thesame enthusiasm.

Iwas thinking on the way to work today, where do we lose that sense of thrilland enthusiasm as adults. We are so busy and stressed – that we forget what asimple drive in the mud can do to add some fun in our heart.

“Toa young heart everything is fun.”

CharlesDickens

Bestregards,

Jill

High School Team Sports

2011-11-02T10:34:00.001-05:00

Mydaughter is the starting setter on a local high school varsity volleyballteam. Tonight the team is playing for achance to make it to the state tournament.

Theexcitement within the team, school and coaches takes me back to my high schooldays. While I participated in a different sport, the feelings are the same. I hadtwo opportunities during my high school years to play in a game like she willbe playing in tonight. The first was during my sophomore year when we played amuch larger Des Moines school. We lost that game by just a few points in frontof a sell out crowd. The thing I remember most about that game is we playedalmost flawlessly; and came up on the short end. My senior year we won theregional final, therefore sending our team and school to its first statetournament appearance! What I find odd is that my memories of the loss as asophomore are much clearer than the game we won my senior year. They are bothgreat memories! I know I learned much more from the loss than from the win, andpossibly would have never won without it.

Igave my daughter some advice as I left today, “Enjoy the excitement andfeelings you have today, visualize your sets, passes and serves as you havetime during the day, and lastly leave it all on the floor tonight.” Win or losethe ride has been incredible.

“Thedifference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength,not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.”

Vince Lombardi

Bestregards,

Jill

Out On The Farm

2011-10-27T10:33:00.002-05:00

My name is Kendra Hellweg and I’m a new face at the Libertyville Savings Bank. I started the first of April as an Ag Loan Officer. I’m starting to get settled in. I’ve been a LSB customer for over 20 years and always enjoyed banking here. Now I know what it’s like to be on the other side of the desk. I had no idea as a customer that the banking industry is so highly regulated, and what really went on behind the scenes. I’m really looking forward to the winter months, when I get to meet with our Ag borrowers for their annual reviews and to help prepare 2012 operating lines of credit.

For the past 9 years I’ve been working with farmers as a crop consultant. Never have I met another group of people that are so optimistic. They are always planning for next year, even when they get kicked in the teeth by Old Mother Nature. They always come back with a smile on their face and say “it will be better next year”. I love that!

I just got back from taking a week of vacation. I spent the week helping my family get our crops out. The first ½ of the week was in the Kenworth straight truck hauling corn to town. The corn yields were depressing! I rode with my husband in the combine a few rounds and we watched the yield monitor go from over 200 down to 0 in the same pass. We averaged anywhere from 75 BPA-125 BPA. For this area, I have heard yields averaging 50 BPA- 145 BPA. On a normal year we would experience yields 150 BPA- to well over 200 BPA. Multiply those losses and you wonder why it’s important that we stay so optimistic!

The second half of the week was spent in the hog confinement where we were power washing and getting ready for new baby pigs. For the past couple of weeks, it has been early mornings selling hogs. When our owner delivers pigs, they are considered “weaner pigs”. They are 21 days old and are anywhere from 10-15 lbs. They stay in our barns for around 6 months and then are taken to market. I wish my house could’ve gotten half the attention our hog barns did last week!

Looks like by the end of this week we will be out of the “Indian Summer” and back to reality. We have a chance of much needed rain on Wednesday. The rain would help with our fall tillage and ammonia application. I just looked at the soil temp map and we are reaching the low to mid 40 degree mark. If we don’t get a little bit of rain, I’m questioning how well the ammonia will seal. Currently there is quite a bit of dirt getting turned. I’m sure that a little rain would help pull the rippers through the field as well.

Well, until next time, be careful out on the farm! I look forward to visiting with you, so please stop by the bank or give me a call.

Kendra

2011-10-25T09:08:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of the FHS Wall of Honor? I am grateful to serve on the committee that supports honoring past Fairfield High School graduates who have accomplished amazing things in their lives. Not only have they all had extremely successful professional careers, but more importantly have given back to their communities on a grand scale.

Last Friday, another class was inducted into the Wall of Honor. The inductees and their families attended a breakfast at the high school, then spoke to the students of the school at an assembly, and finished off their day at an evening banquet. Every year I get goose bumps as I listen to them speak about their lives and tell stories of their days at FHS.

In a world that seems to thrive on victimization and bad news, it is good to know that there is greatness all around us; we just need to look around and pay attention.

"The only difference between successful people and
unsuccessful people is extraordinary determination."
Mary Kay Ash

Best regards,

Jill

Blain's Blog 10/20/2011

2011-10-20T09:27:00.003-05:00

What a difference a week makes this time of year! There must have been a 20 degree drop in the average temperature from last week to today. I’ve been through the change of seasons 47 times now but it seems to catch me off guard every year.

Man, is it dry out there. Trapping season is coming up and the kids and I have been doing our pre season scouting. Creeks and small ponds that have been bank full the past 3 years are all dried up. It could sure cause problems watering cows on stalks this fall, not to mention the pipes that could freeze this winter. I hate to wish for an early snow but that would keep the ground from freezing so deep.

The approach of winter means we’ll soon be gathering another round of financial information from our farm customers. As an ag banker, I think preparing a comprehensive financial statement and an accurate cash flow at least once a year is one of the most important tasks a farmer can perform. How else will you know if you made any financial progress last year?

This is a banker blog so let’s talk numbers for a little bit. As a farmer, you’ve got all sorts of numbers floating around in your head. You know the number of the hybrid you planted on the north 40 two years ago. You know exactly how many pounds of nitrogen you applied to your corn acres last fall and you even know what your neighbor got for his calves at the sale barn two weeks ago. But I’ll bet if I asked 10 farmers exactly what it cost them to produce a bushel of corn or beans I’d get 9 blank looks. If you only learn one new number this year, make it your cost of production!

How can you formulate a marketing plan without knowing your cost of production? How can you sell anything at a profit if you don’t know what it cost you to produce it? Reading tea leaves or calling into one of those radio psychics may not be the best way to sell your grain…

In order to help our farm customers with this problem, Kendra has added a great new line item to our cash flow sheet. All of our LSB farm borrowers will go into spring knowing exactly what it costs them to produce a bushel of corn and soybeans on their land. Based on your specific input costs and your estimated yields you’ll know your cost of production down to the penny! What better marketing tool could you have?

Stop in and see Kendra or myself any time. We’d be more than happy to help you with next year’s crop production plan.

Until next time, stay safe!

Blain

Change

2011-10-18T10:44:00.000-05:00

This year we are celebrating our 110th birthday at the bank. The
Libertyville Savings Bank was established in 1901. Unbelievable!

I have been pondering the topic of change the past several weeks. We recently had our annual employee celebration, and the speaker spoke to us about change, and how life is constant change. Just think; we’ve gone from snail mail to email to texting, now Facebook and blogging. We now have iPads and GPS in our vehicles, which just saved me last weekend coming home from Minneapolis when I35 South was closed.

The banking industry has also experienced a tremendous amount of change. All of our checks are now imaged and sent electronically. LSB is in the process of developing e statements and mobile banking to bring to our customers. We now have 4 locations and offer crop scouting and farm management.

I’ve heard some say “I don’t like change” or “I don’t do well with change”. I say to that, try going without your cell phone, your computer and your GPS. You might decide change is wonderful and fun!

“Among the things you can give and still keep are your word, a smile, and a grateful heart.” Zig Ziglar

Best regards,

Jill Burnett - CEO

Keosauqua Sales Co. Inc. Link

2011-10-17T09:36:00.003-05:00

www.keosauquasaleco.com

Blain's Blog

2011-10-13T08:59:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Since this is my first attempt at blogging I’m sure you’ll all cut me some slack if I’m boring, inarticulate etc. Of course next time you can hammer on me all you want! Here we go…

Harvest time. The beans are mostly done and lots of guys have even shelled some corn. Most of the yields I’ve heard are surprising me to the up side. Not always a lot but overall I’d say yields are better than most people expected for the year we’ve had. I’d hoped my beans would make 35 bpa and they came in between 41 and 42 bpa down on the Des Moines River bottom.

Harvest time is actually a very slow time for an ag bank. Many of our customers are in the field and they just plain don’t have time to stop in. The busy time starts when harvest ends. We’ll be taking inventories, getting money out there for fall fertilizer and helping customers assess their equipment needs for next year. We even help out with year end tax planning for several of our farm customers.

It’s a busy time for our farmers too. Grain to move, equipment to repair before it goes to the shed, calves to wean etc. Lots of decisions to make too. Maybe this is the year to trade that combine off? Do I have the pasture to run another 10 cows? Should I deep rip the bean ground or put it off another year? Lots of farm decisions are made in the fall. Don’t be afraid to stop in and holler at Kendra or myself if you need to bounce something off someone. A good banker is a good listener!

It looks like money may be a little tight here in southeast Iowa this coming year. I’m sure there will be lots of crop insurance claims and there will be producers who harvested just enough that they won’t collect any insurance. If you’re a Libertyville Savings Bank customer, please rest assured that we understand what you’re going through. We’ve lived and farmed around here all our lives too and we know about good years and bad. Like the old song says “put more water in the soup, there’s better times a comin’!”

Until next time, stay safe!
Blain