"America's Heartland is made
possible by..."

Farm Credit - financing
agriculture and rural

America since 1916.

Farm Credit is cooperatively
owned by America's

farmers and ranchers.

Learn more at
farmcredit.com

The United Soybean Board
whose "Common Ground"

program creates
conversations to help

consumers get the facts
about farming and food.

There's more at:
findourcommonground.com

The American Farm Bureau
Foundation for Agriculture.

Dedicated to building
greater awareness and

understanding of agriculture
through education

and engagement.

More information at:
agfoundation.org

The Fund for Agriculture
Education - A fund created

by KVIE to support
America's Heartland programming.

Contributors include the
following:

♪

We're on a pretty
tight schedule.

There are sheep to
be fed at sunrise.

My children get up earlier
than most children.

They don't know
any different.

I like to keep it that way.

The children need
to get to school.

And cows need to be moved
to greener pastures.

It's this Kansas family's
first year as full-time

farmers.

Dealing with the daily
schedule...they face a

larger challenge.

Have you ever
seen it like this?

No, I've never
seen this dry.

A historic drought drying
up crops in the fields.

What does their future hold?

What insights can they get
from the farmers that came

before them?

You are running
out of daylight.

Exactly.

That's normally
how our days go.

Come along as we spend dawn
to dusk with a hard working

Kansas farm family.

It's all coming up on a
special America's Heartland.

We thank you for this good
food and your blessings.

Amen.

We try to head out the
door at six o'clock.

Sharp.

A little blurry-eyed in
the dark every morning.

While much of Kansas
is still sleeping,

the Brunkow family
is up before dawn.

But breakfast can wait.

The first chores we do are
to go out and feed the

sheep.

Right now we have six lambs
that the children are gonna

take on to the state
fair in Wichita.

And then we have a pen of
four butcher lambs that

we're raising up.

We've got orders
for some lambs.

We think it's important that
the kids understand that we

need to take care
of the animals.

And to understand that
their needs come first.

It doesn't matter if it's
30 below or 105 degrees,

we need to take
care of them first.

The Brunkow's
other livestock is

waiting...impatiently to
move to a new pasture.

More on why they are
moving early in a bit.

So how was lunch yesterday
with the new lunch?

Wasn't bad.

Did you get enough?

No, I went up and got a
double order of nachos with

poptarts.

Killer, you're in charge.

The kids and Jennifer head
out the door at 7:30

And my day is just startin'.

So Glenn the kids
are off to school?

Things are quiet now.

Time for you to
get some work done.

Exactly.

Exactly.

What do you have
to do today?

Well the herd of cattle that
are a mile up the road at

one of the pastures
we rotate them to.

We're going to move
them down here.

But before you move any
cattle you have to...

Got to make sure
the fences are up.

What happened to this one,
this looks like a mess over

here.

The sheep went through it.

They went through
an electric fence?

Yep, they went through
the electric fence.

They eventually figure
out that their wool,

and obviously there's is no
electricity to it right now,

they figure out that their
wool doesn't allow the shock

to get to them.

So they go right through it?

They go right through it.

Then that means they go back
to jail and get locked up.

Winter project is to get
this fence done, this year.

Permanent so we don't have
to worry about this every

time.

♪

How far down does
this fence go?

It goes clear to the top of
the hill the property line.

My cows are so conditioned
to the electric fence a lot

of the time they
won't even try it.

Is that your dad coming
in the pickup truck?

Yeah.

Yeah.

He will take the lead and
I'll bring up the rear.

Dad and I work really
closely every day we get

along pretty well
most of the time.

If Jennifer could drive
straight to the school from

their farm it would be a
three mile trip in the

morning.

But navigating around the
Flint Hills on gravel roads

turns the journey into
a 15 minute drive.

We have two children.

Isaac is 14.

And a 12 year old
daughter, Tatum.

You like the KSTATE ram?

You don't?

I said 'do you'?

Like the new one.

I hadn't really
looked at it to see.

Jennifer drives the kids
to the nearby town of

Westmoreland.

Oh my god.

Okay, go.

Have a good day.

I drop them off.

They hop on the school
bus to go to Rock Creek.

We have a shuttle bus
that runs to the school.

Back on the farm Glenn's
father Darold is ready to

help out with the livestock.

He's delivering a bale of
hay to feed the sheep.

It's a two man job to get
the pickup through and not

let the ewes out.

And we put the
feed around them.

Do you need my knife, dad?

It's just a real blessing to
get to work with him each

day and to spend
time with him.

That's one of the benefits.

Like any good teenager I
assumed that my Dad didn't

know anything and I was
gonna go to college,

and I was gonna learn
what he didn't know.

And the more I
learned in college,

the more I realized
that he knew a lot.

Well that was easier
than I thought.

Here at Westmoreland
Elementary School I'm the

school librarian.

I help kids check out books
and help them with their

accelerated reading.

Did you go anywhere
this summer?

I went to Hawaii.

That's right.

You went to Hawaii.

This has been a
popular book too.

Have you read the Olympians?

We have a mixture of
farm kids and town kids.

Some of our kids are
military children.

Who is the person
in front of you?

Are you going to
pass that person?

No.

No.

Okay.

This is a full time job.

I work from
August till June.

My job pretty much anymore
is to pay for insurance.

My husband gave up a
full time 8 to 5 job.

But decided this year
to farm full time.

Our monthly income is a lot
more sparse than it was.

We're looking at getting two
or three paychecks a year

vs.

every two weeks.

It was a big leap.

Jennifer and I talked
about it for a long time.

You know, you can always
find an excuse why not to.

And I didn't want to look
back on it later in life and

say, "I wonder
if I'd a tried".

Ok.

Now for the toughest
part of the day.

Glenn and his father now
need to move a herd of

cattle to another pasture.

Our cows are so used
to rotating pastures,

pretty much you just gotta
kind tell 'em what they're

gonna do and they do
it...And generally we can

move 'em.

Sometimes they can
get cantankerous.

But most of the time
they do pretty well.

One of the side effects of
this record breaking drought

across the heartland
is wandering cattle.

Farmers and ranchers across
the state are dealing with

it here in Kansas.

The situation is there's
just not a lot of forage

left in any pastures because
conditions are so dry.

All you need is a break in
a fence or an open gate and

you've got farmers spending
their nights rounding up

cattle that have wandered
onto their neighbors'

property or even
onto the road.

♪

The Brunkow's cattle
have not escaped.

But when Darold shows
up to let them out,

their bellowing is a
telltale sign they are ready

to move.

The hay bale is a teaser
to get the cows moving.

The cattle march down the
lonely county road with a

little help from
today's farm visitor,

making sure they don't
wander down the neighbors'

driveway.

♪

The cattle are hungry, right?

Oh yeah.

You see them?

Ha.

They've got a lot to eat
out here for a while now.

They seem happy now.

Oh yeah.

They will be for
a week or so.

Normally the cattle could
stay on this grazing ground

for a few weeks.

But it is so dry they'll
have to move again sooner.

Glenn was saying this is the
worst he's seen it and he

hasn't been at it
as long as you.

No, no.

It's been - I don't
remember it any worse.

And how long have
you been at it?

All of my 69 years except
three years I spent at

Phoenix.

Is there anything
you can do about it?

Ha.

ha.

Pray.

Yeah.

That's it right?

You just need some rain?

Is it in the forecast?

Tomorrow a slight chance and
then all of next week no.

Is that how the
summer has been?

Pretty much.

We didn't get the rains in
May and June to grow the

grass out.

Glenn took me to a nearby
pasture to see just how dry

things are.

Look how dry this is.

You don't want drop your
cell phone down in this

crack.

You may never find it.

You probably don't
see that very often.

No, no not at all.

In fact we've got some
heavier clay ground that's

got even bigger
cracks in it.

And that's just
because it's so dry.

It's so dry the ground is
cracked and opening up.

Yeah, it is.

So this is supposed
to be a pond.

This is supposed
to be a pond.

Usually this is two or
three feet deep in water.

It's not much of a pond but
it hardly ever goes dry.

And look how dry it is now.

It's been dry for
a couple months.

Whew.

So on a normal year...

It'd be up about knee deep.

Knee deep in water.

Yeah, it will stay
ahead of the cattle.

There's a little bit of a
spring or something here.

It will stay ahead of the
cattle usually when we're in

here.

Have you ever
seen it like this?

No, I've never
seen this dry.

Usually there's some
water in here anyway.

Are you worried about
the water situation?

Yeah, I am, I am.

We're on a well
at our house,

and we're not
on rural water.

It could run, if we run out
of water at the house we're

in trouble.

Yeah I bet.

Disappointing.

It is disappointing it is.

But that's kind of what
we signed up for so...

Taking it in stride.

You've got to take it in
stride or it'll drive you

nuts.

You don't want anybody
to feel sorry for you.

No, no, no, this is the
lifestyle we chose and it's

just part of the game.

My uncle tells me this will
make every other year seem

good.

♪

It's mid-day and Isaac's
Agriculture class is underway.

Well Issac you wanna tell us
a little about your summer

and what'd you do?

Well, all summer I pretty
much worked with my

show sheep and cattle.

And so I had to wake up
pretty much every morning

and walk my sheep down the
road and run them back,

so it's like weightlifting.

And since it's only the
second day of school Tatum's

classmates are working
on some name games.

I am "Rapid Reitz."

Rapid Reitz.

Curious Katie.

Wait.

Creative Katie.

I'm.

Curious Carmen.

Zany Zach.

Marvelous Meghan.

Itsy Izzy.

Humble Haley.

Faithful Faith.

Dancing Dylan.

Mad Marshal.

The values that I'm hoping
my children are getting is

working hard pays off.

Terrific Tatum.

We want our kids to be
able to talk to us about

anything.

And that's hard in
this - today's world.

But hopefully our kids grow
up to be good responsible

and make good choices.

They're like every
brother and sister.

They will fight
like cats and dogs,

but when somebody does
something to the other,

they're there
to defend them.

Glenn recently left his
full time job as a county

agriculture extension
agent to farm full time,

but he works about 15 hours
a week as the director of

two non-profit foundations
in nearby Wamego.

So, we don't want to handle
the money so can we work

with you on this?

Sure, that's what
we are here for.

It is a very worthy project.

Back on the farm Glenn's
father has his own

challenge.

A chain on the corn
harvester needs fixing.

Parts for this old equipment
are hard to come by so

they've been waiting days
on a new one to arrive.

After a quick stop for lunch
Glenn checks in on the

progress.

They may not get a big
harvest thanks to the

drought, but if this
equipment doesn't get fixed

they won't get anything!

There's a feeder chain
on one of the rows,

that feeds the stalks of
corn and ears of corn into

the combine and
it's just worn.

It look like it
was going to work.

We tried to put a new
sprocket on it and tried to

fix the chain.

It just didn't work.

Just going to have
to go without it?

Fortunately there are two
chains on either side...so

Glenn and Darold decide to
give it a try without that

broken chain.

It's a triage a lot of times
that you do in the field and

just make it work.

Hey Rock Creek!

It has been a
great two days.

Back at school -
classes are out.

We'll see you back
here on Monday morning,

you are dismissed.

♪

Tatum plays volleyball
and basketball

and softball.

Isaac plays football
and baseball.

We try to give our kids
every opportunity that they

can if they want
to do something.

These beans don't
look so good, Glenn.

No, they're turning yellow,
they're pretty close to the

end of their life cycle.

Let's grab one here and
we'll take a look at it,

and then I'll show you
one of the good ones.

They have pods on
there, I can see.. Yeah,

there're pods on there,
they're gonna start dropping

off and they're
not filling up.

This one is
starting to fill,

it's about the
size of a pea.

How big should
that be right now?

Oh it should be, a full size
soybean it should be at

least twice that big.

So fill up your
hand essentially?

And look at them there.

And then these would all
make beans if we got some

rain and if the plant
lived long enough.

Each one of these blooms.

You can see they are already
starting to drop off.

I mean there should be three
pods there on that nodule.

There should be two or
three pods on each nodule.

So you'll get nothing
out of that essentially.

Yeah.

There will be
hardly anything.

But this patch back here
looks a little greener to

me.

Yeah, there is some
hope out here yet.

So these are taller.

Yeah, they're
much better beans.

You can see the difference
in all the pods are on here.

The pods are
starting to fill.

If we get some rain
these pods will fill.

This is probably only 15-20
bushel beans as they stand

here.

And what typically
would it be?

37-39 is our average.

So half.

Half, if we are lucky.

I see this stubble in here
from old corn stocks.

You said that
is helping out?

That is last year's residue.

That actually holds in the
moisture and adds organic

matter, so we are building
our soil up over time.

But it did help this year,
you could really tell the

difference between the
conventionally tilled and

the no till because we held
our moisture in longer.

This field has
held on about 2,

3 weeks longer than
I thought it would.

And that's, you think
because of the no-till

practices?

I definitely do.

Today's harvest is just a
test of their mechanical

issue, also to see if the
corn is dry enough to

harvest and to get a sense
of just how much corn

they'll get out of
their fields this year.

I think it is pretty
wet yet, isn't it?

Yes.

It's pretty soft.

That is some really
sorry looking corn.

Yeah, I've never
seen ears like that.

Glenn drives a small sample
of the corn back to Wamego.

It gets tested for moisture
content at the local co-op.

Hi Glenn.

Hello.

What ya got?

Some corn.

Really bad corn.

Really bad corn.

We don't like
really bad corn.

Well it looks a lot like
what you got it in that

bucket there.

Dad's not cutting the
combines in the barn.

Oh, so this is hand shucked?

No, no.. Oh, 16-4.

Yeah, that's not too bad.

The corn is not quite
dry enough for harvest.

Well we'll get
out of your hair.

Okay.

Volleyball and football
practice are done and the

Brunkow kids are
on the move again.

The activity bus takes
them into Westmoreland.

There's a lot of running
back and forth I noticed

today.

There is a lot of
running back and forth.

It takes a few minutes for
you to get off the gravel

and to a highway
that is paved.

Yeah, in the winter time we
have bad weather it can be a

little rough.

When it snows we've been
snowed in for a couple days.

Is it worth it living
out here in the country?

It's worth it.

It really is.

It occurs to me it is 6:00pm
you still have to pick the

kids up, do chores,
go to a meeting,

have dinner and
maybe homework,

if there's homework.

You are running
out of daylight.

Exactly.

That's normally
how our days go.

♪

The day is winding down
but like breakfast,

their dinner will
have to wait.

After evening chores the
family needs to head back

into town for a 4-H meeting.

You don't just raise
something that goes down to

the sale barn
and goes through.

You're raising that.

You are raising beef.

This year the Brunkow
children raised cattle that

got sold and
processed for beef.

At this meeting they get to
see just how that beef was

graded and how they stacked
up to their fellow 4-H'ers.

Roy and Todd are passing out
the how the cattle placed

out.

I got a check for how much
my steer graded and weighed.

My participation check,
and here's the results.

I got 15th place which
is better than last.

♪

It's well past dinnertime,
and Glenn is at the grill.

Unsurprisingly, beef
is what's for dinner.

These aren't just hamburger
patties for the family.

Glenn is testing
his latest product.

He sells custom cuts of
beef fresh from the farm.

It's one of my
favorite things.

Jennifer laughs cause I can
hardly ever get more than

one delivery in a night.

Because I go pick it
up, I take it to them,

I help them take it out.

I like talking to
them about what we do.

I explain it to them
why we do what we do.

How we handle our cattle.

How we feed our cattle.

And tonight - all these
customers want is something

to eat now.

Lord, we thank you for this
day and thank you for all

the blessings today.

We ask for your guidance and
thank you for this good food

and your blessings.

Amen.

A day that started with 6 am
chores...draws to a close

after 9 at the dinner table.

These full-time farmers
will be back at it again

tomorrow...from
dawn to dusk.

That's going to do it for
this special edition of

America's Heartland.

Thanks for visiting Kansas
and the Brunkow family with

us.

Always remember you can
catch more of our show

online at
americasheartland.org and

find us on many of your
favorite social media sites

as well.

We'll see you next time
right here in America's

Heartland.

♪You can see it in the eyes
of every woman and man ♪

♪in America's Heartland
living close to the land. ♪

♪There's a love
for the country ♪

♪and a pride in the brand ♪

♪in America's Heartland
living close, ♪

♪close to the land ♪

♪

"America's Heartland is made
possible by..."

Farm Credit - financing
agriculture and rural

America since 1916.

Farm Credit is cooperatively
owned by America's

farmers and ranchers.

Learn more at
farmcredit.com

The United Soybean Board
whose "Common Ground"

program creates
conversations to help

consumers get the facts
about farming and food.

There's more at:
findourcommonground.com

The American Farm Bureau
Foundation for Agriculture.

Dedicated to building
greater awareness and

understanding of agriculture
through education

and engagement.

More information at:
agfoundation.org

The Fund for Agriculture
Education - A fund created

by KVIE to support
America's Heartland programming.

Contributors include the
following: