Iowa farmer details his life for national audience

A north central Iowa man introduced cable tv viewers to life on the farm during an interview on C-SPAN. Forty-nine-year-old Allen Ose of Williams sat on his farm yesterday, talking via satellite with an interviewer in Washington, D.C.The C-SPAN reporter asked Ose how much he made each year, and was a bit shocked by his response.Ose said his income has ranged from zero to something in the six-figures — due to fluctuations in crop and livestock prices. The Iowa Farm Bureau estimates 15-thousand dollars as the average annual net income of an Iowa farmer. Ose raises hogs in open lots as well as a confinement, and talked about how he transports baby pigs onto his farm.He transports three-week-old pigs from a farm 30 miles away to his farm — in an old school bus that’s minus all its seats. Ose says the school bus can be heated, which is essential when trucking the pigs in the wintertime. C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” program on Thursday focused on farm issues and the upcoming re-write of the farm bill.