Welcome to the maternity ward. It’s starting to get packed,” Tim Kaldenberg says with a smile as he guided a calf into a barn on his Albia farm last week. This spring Kaldenberg, like many cattlemen across the state, is literally knee deep in mud while trying to provide care for calves that are being born daily.

Because of a wicked chain of events that started last year with above-normal amounts of rain, spanning into record-setting snow and now a quick thaw, Kaldenberg is battling Mother Nature and the mud to take care of his animals. To do that, Kaldenberg is vigilant night and day, checking on the newborns and watching their health in the harsh spring weather.

It’s exhausting work, but that’s what livestock farmers like Kaldenberg do to make sure their animals are safe and healthy, even in the toughest conditions.

You can also find out more about Kaldenberg and his farm at www.farmersfeedus.org. He is one of five Iowa Farm Bureau members who are featured at Iowa Farmers Feed Us program which has been developed to connect the state’s consumers to the farmers who raise their food. While catching up with Tim and other farmers, you can register at the Farmers Feed Us Web site to win free groceries for a year.

Photographs and Story by Joe Murphy
Joe is a Photographer/Writer for Iowa Farm Bureau.