Brothers win farming award

Three northwestern Iowa brothers have won a national award for their farming practices. Craig, Brad and Kirk Utesch are all in their 40s, farming land and raising livestock near Correctionville with their father, who farmed the same land with his father. Craig Utesch says preserving the environment is a top priority for the next generation of farmers.The Utesch brothers’ “Triple-U” Ranch won the National Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The farm stretches into both Woodbury and Cherokee counties. Utesch says he and his brothers don’t do anything that unusual to have earned the honor. He says they’re a good example of the typical cattleman in Iowa.Among the brothers, the operation includes about 22-hundred acres of cropland in corn, soybeans and hay; a cow/calf operation of about 200 head and about 25-hundred head of cattle on the feedlot. Utesch says they employ the use of conservation tillage and terracing.While the brothers are all “third generation” farmers, the 48-year-old Utesch says the real challenge is to continue land preservation for the fourth generation. He says they all have children who they hope will someday join them in the profession and take over the family operation.Utesch’s grandfather bought the land in 1944.