A new business opens in downtown Batavia

A new business in Batavia

Dash Ten Works recently opened at 19 N. River St. in downtown Batavia and offers hand-crafted wooden signs, boxes and gifts. Good luck and best wishes for a successful year.

Save the dates

The Kane County Farm Bureaus annual Touch-A-Tractor is scheduled for April 16-18 at the Farm Bureau, 2N710 Randall Road, St. Charles. The event features a variety of heavy-duty farm equipment and attractions for all ages. For more information, call the Farm Bureau at
630-584-8660.

Art Fair Applications

Artist applications for the St. Charles Business Alliance Art Fair are now available. The fair is scheduled for May 29 and May 30 (during Memorial Day weekend) in downtown St. Charles. The fair includes juried artist displays in a variety of mediums.

Foundation marks anniversary

Our friends at the Corron Farm Society Foundation in Campton Hills marked the group's 10th anniversary in February. The foundation supports the historic Corron Farm, 7N761 Corron Road, Wasco. The historic dairy farm provides visitors with a look at what farm life was once like in rural Kane County. It's one of my favorite places to visit. Congratulations on the anniversary.

Food, gas prices continue to rise

If you think your weekly groceries are more expensive today than just a short time ago, you are correct, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

"The all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of economy-wide inflation, increased by 0.4 percent from December 2020 to January 2021 before seasonal adjustment, up 1.4 percent from its January 2020 level. The CPI for all food increased 0.3 percent from December 2020 to January 2021, and food prices were 3.8 percent higher than in January 2020," according to the USDA.

And alert consumers know retail gas prices are rising, too.

"U.S. Retail Gas Price is at a current level of 2.717, up from 2.588 last week and up from 2.518 one year ago. This is a change of 4.98% from last week and 7.90% from one year ago," according to YCharts.com.

And now you know:

As of Jan. 1, 2021, there were 93.6 million head of cattle and calves on U.S. farms, according to the USDA. That number represents a one-percent increase over last year's count.

Here's some more cattle-related information you might find interesting:

• Of the 93.6 million head inventory, all cows and heifers that have calved totaled 40.6 million.
• There were 31.2 million beef cows in the United States as of Jan. 1, 2021, down 1% from last year.
• The number of milk cows in the United States increased to 9.4 million.
• U.S. calf crop was estimated at 35.1 million head, down 1% from the previous year.
• All cattle on feed were at 14.7 million head, up slightly from 2020.

--Thanks for reading. Email news and photos about your organization or business to kbotterman@gmail.com.