The December 22nd Wagner Rotary began its meeting with a loud bell ring and a cheery “Merry Christmas” from its President Bryan Slaba. Rotarian Laurie Kidd began with a prayer of Thanksgiving for our fine meal and the hands that prepared it. She asked all Rotarians to be moved by their love for all those less fortunate as we near the end of our Advent preparation.

Laurie then led us in singing two verses of “Silent Night” and another two verses of the new Rotary song we are trying to learn.

Rotarian Ken Cotton explained the duties of an Assistant District Governor for his Membership Minute. The Assistant Governor (AG) is appointed by and works under the supervision of the District Governor and is a key player in helping the clubs achieve their goals and objectives. The person appointed to be an AG should have membership in good standing in a club within the district; have served as a club president for a full term; be willing and able to accept the responsibilities of AG; demonstrate outstanding performance; and have potential for a continued future leadership in the district.

The AG must meet with the DG at least quarterly to problem solve, share experiences, and ask questions; provide input to the DG in goal setting for the district; assist with the administration of assigned clubs; attend and introduce the DG on official visits if possible.

The AG should also reach out to clubs that are not doing well in a particular area and provide or recommend relevant assistance; promote attendance at district training events and at the Rotary Leadership Institute; encourage area participation in all District activities; meet and help with President-Elects and help them complete their goals in Rotary.

The AG should develop a close working relationship with the club leadership and build their trust and confidence in the district; visit each club quarterly and try to attend one board meeting with a Rotary club; encourage clubs in their projects and fundraisers; identify and promote the development of future district leaders.

Rotarian Bill Frei of our Wagner Rotary is the Assistant District Governor for our Rotary area.

The Sergeant at Arms was not present, and the Assistant Sergeant at Arms had not been notified in time, so President Bryan Slaba declared this meeting free from all fines as a Christmas present! Jeff Doom offered up the only Happy Fine of $3.70 for his wedding anniversary this week.

President Slaba had distributed the tickets for the Queen of Hearts drawing and drew his own ticket number for a chance at the pot. He only drew a seven of hearts which made everyone happy.

Secretary/Treasurer Craig Krsnak announced that the Queen drawing is up to $244.00

The winners of the football books were Kristi Uecker sold by Scott McAdaragh and Adam Stedronsky sold by Joe Stedronsky.

President Slaba asked everyone to see if they could find the 2020 New Year’s predictions. They are believed to have been recorded on Ken Cotton’s iPad.

He also gave a COVID update for the Wagner Community. There are presently ten patients in the hospital, two have COVID and he is unable to move them to a larger facility as all the larger hospitals have a nursing shortage.

He repeated his concerns about vaccination again. The percentage of patients that are being hospitalized are unvaccinated; those patients in ICU are 90% unvaccinated; and those on a ventilator are in the ninety-eight percentiles.

Rotarian Brunsing was program chairperson and she introduced Lori Tonak who is employed by Mitchell Vocational College in the Center for Farm and Ranch Management. She has been in agriculture her whole life, high school FFA, received a Degree in Agriculture at SDSU and spent the last 40 years teaching. She was raised on a dairy farm in Nebraska. The Farm/Ranch Management program began in about 1982 by MVT. She has been employed by them the last nine years. Her territory runs from Highway 281 east all the way to the Iowa/Minnesota/North Dakota borders. She visits and maintains records and analyses on seventy-one farms presently. The fee for obtaining her expert advice is $1,800.00 This is paid to MTC; and another $400 for the actual software that is used for the program. If you want to read about the program in more detail, please check out Mitchell Vocational College and search for the South Dakota Center for Farm/Ranch Management. It is affiliated with the USDA, South Dakota FFA; and the South Dakota Wheat Commission.

Tonak makes on- the -farm visits and collaborates extensively with those farmers and ranchers and guides them through their first few learning years. Every year a report is printed and given for distribution to the students and the public. She had a handout which highlighted some of the high points of the past year of 2020.

Who is the Average Farmer? He or she is 46.7 years old who has been farming 22.6 years. Family size is 3.7 members. Owns 563.2 acres of land. Crop Acres: 22% own; 65% cash rent: thirteen% on shares.

What were the 2020 Family Living Expenses? $66,863.00 Forty-seven percent was household expenses; Nineteen percent was Health Insurance and Medical expenses not covered by insurance; Fifteen percent was spent for food; Nine percent for life insurance; Six percent for recreation; Five percent on personal vehicles; and Three percent on donations

The Economic Impact of Farm Dollars on a community was $601,877 with farm suppliers for crop production, livestock purchases, production, repairs, and fuel

$431,420 goes to Landlords for cash rent, hired Labor and Custom Hire; Lenders including interest; Insurance and Utilities; Local government for taxes; and some miscellaneous vendors.

About $125,433 is spent for Capital Purchases

Non-farm Expenditures amounts to about $95,762 for family living, personal assets, and income taxes. A more detailed breakdown is included in the annual report which can be found at: