The Latest in Farming at Big Iron

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 Big Iron is underway at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds in West Fargo.
 
It’s a chance for farmers and ranchers to come together and talk about their love of agriculture while learning about the latest technology.
 
Whether its sprinklers, big machines, or a weather tracker right at your fingertips, the Big Iron farm show has the latest in farming.

Bob Cheney is at the show from Motley, Minnesota.
He raises cattle and farms hay.

Even though his operation isn’t the biggest, he and his wife enjoy browsing.
 
“We’re very small scale compared to here, but it gives us some ideas and some of the things that are new and new and very interesting,” said Cheney of Motley.
 
He says this show is very unique.
In one of the buildings, you’ll find a health screening team ready to help you out.

They take free blood pressures and test your blood for a fee.
Something many farmers find helpful.
 
“They come to us every year and they really look forward to being with us and many of them say that this is their once a year check–up,” said Elizabeth Skoy with the NDSU School of Pharmacy.
 
There’s a lot of state of the art technology like this weather machine.
There are many scattered throughout the valley and farmers subscribed to the service get real time data.
 
“With the weather you’d be able to see your growing degree days; you’d be able to see your wind speeds, your humidity’s, your liquid. It also has a rain gauge,” said Bill Swisher with Progressive Farmer/DTN.
 
It’s one of many technologies farmers like Cheney find useful.
 
“Very helpful and they got a lot of good ideas and you see a lot of different stuff here as far as the farming aspect goes,” said Cheney.
 
This is the 35th year for the event.
Organizers expect around 70,000 people to pass through Thursday.