The Montana Stockgrowers Association, a non-profit membership organization, has worked on behalf of Montana’s cattle ranching families since 1884. Our mission is to protect and enhance Montana ranch families’ ability to grow and deliver safe, healthy, environmentally wholesome beef to the world.
– by Krista Lee Evans
Water rights are a property right critical to agricultural production, that water users need to protect.
In the early 1980’s, at the beginning of the adjudication process, the Montana Supreme Court issued an order that all water users who wanted to claim a right to use water that was put to use before 1973 had to file a claim with the Montana Department of Natural Resources (DNRC). The Court did, however, provide two exceptions to this requirement – instream stock use and domestic use – that was used prior to 1973. These are the “Exempt From Filing” Water Rights that we now have the chance to address.
This year’s passage of HB 110 provided a means to protect these property rights by clarifying the opportunity to file a claim for any “exempt” instream stock or domestic rights that were put to use prior to 1973, and that have not been claimed in the adjudication process.
It is important that we recognize the significant opportunity that this provides to Montana’s water users because it most likely will not occur again in the future.
Remember, it is not mandatory that you file; and if a water user chooses not to file for their pre-1973 “exempt from filing” claims, they do not lose their water right, but those rights will be subordinated to all other water rights on the stream.
Landowners should double check all of their water rights to make sure that they reflect their water use.
My advice is that if your property has any instream livestock water rights (meaning where stock drink directly from the source with no diversion), or domestic water rights (such as a home or stock well) that were put to use prior to 1973, and have not been claimed in the adjudication process, then you should seriously consider submitting a claim under the current process.
You can search for your water rights online by going to DNRC’s website water right query at http://wrqs.dnrc.mt.gov/default.aspx
From a long-time ranching family in central Montana, Krista Lee Evans now lives in Helena where she owns Blake Creek Project Management, Inc. Evans has worked as a consultant in Montana’s water rights policy arena for over 15 years.
In response to a request from Brian Haugen, Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) acting State Executive Director in North Dakota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated Dunn, Emmons, Grant, Logan, McIntosh, McKenzie, Mountrail and Sioux counties in North Dakota as primary natural disaster areas due to losses and damages caused by a recent drought.
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Montana qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Montana
Richland, Roosevelt and Wibaux
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on July 6, 2017, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for FSA’s emergency (EM) loans, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.
Other FSA programs that can provide assistance, but do not require a disaster declaration, include Operating and Farm Ownership Loans; the Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program; and the Tree Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA service centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.
Additional information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
By SUE ROESLER, The Prairie Star
USDA-ARS (Agricultural Research Service) center closures affect not only the producers in the state they are located in, but also farmers throughout the nation lose out on the benefits of national collaborative ag research.
Seventeen USDA-ARS research centers/labs may be closed under the administration’s 2018 final budget proposal delivered to Congress in June.
Of those 17, four ARS labs are part of this upper northern region, including centers in Dubois, Idaho; Miles City, Mont.; Morris, Minn.; and Brookings, S.D.
The USDA-ARS Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Lab in Miles City, Mont., mirrors what producers do in the real world – raise cattle on native prairie and improved grasses on pastures and rangeland – and it has been conducting research there since the 1930s.
“Fort Keogh researches not only cattle but grazing rangelands, grasses and forages – that’s for a start. The center is a such a big fact-finder for those of us who run cattle on grass,” said Fred Wacker, first vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association and the owner of Crossfour Ranch near Miles City, Mont.
Wacker, a third-generation Montana rancher, has never been hesitant to pick up the phone and call Fort Keogh when he has had any questions. He wants to know the kind of grasses and other forages his herd would thrive and perform best on.
What he has learned at Fort Keogh has translated over to his all-natural beef program. He said his program is the exact fit for the beef program newly opened in China.
Fort Keogh is one of the largest research facilities in the world with 50,000 acres of native rangeland; 4,000 acres of pastures and 1,500 acres of irrigated crop and pasture land.
Line 1 Herefords originate from Fort Keogh and have had profound impacts on the cattle industry. Nearly 70 percent of all Herefords in the U.S. have Line 1 genetics in their pedigree, and descendants still form the herd at Fort Keogh.
Scientists at the ARS Fort Keogh Livestock lab participated in sequencing the cow genome as part of an international consortium. L1 Dominette 01449, a Line 1 Hereford, was the source of the DNA used to decode the bovine genome.
“Fort Keogh is very important to cattlemen in the U.S. They researched the reasons for bloat, when and how to condition my cattle, and they’ve done a lot of research on water and minerals,” Wacker said.
Their studies on grasses have been unmatched – what grasses perform better in drought situations, for instance. Fort Keogh is the expert on burning parts of the range to bring back better grasses.
The lab’s research feeding heifers and cows prior to breeding to maximize pregnancy rates found producers didn’t need to feed the industry standard to have females breed back.
Andy Roberts, ARS animal scientist at Fort Keogh, said, “The beef industry has traditionally recommended that cows be fed to a minimum body condition and heifers be fed to a recommended 60-65 percent of mature body weight pre-breeding in order to achieve high pregnancy rates.”
Roberts and other scientists at Fort Keogh found nearly the same pregnancy rates occurring in the limit-fed heifers as in the controls. Both were fed a mixture of corn silage, alfalfa, and a supplement, and the limit-fed heifers received 80 percent of what the controls were fed. The controls could eat as much as they wanted.
Another lab that could be closed in the Mountain region is the ARS U.S. Sheep Experimental Station (USSES) in Dubois, Idaho, near the borders of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
“It is the only ARS sheep research center in the nation – the only one,” said Mike Corn, president of American Sheep Institute, who runs a cow/calf and sheep operation near Roswell, N.M. “Without it, sheep and wool growers couldn’t operate in today’s economy.
This is the third time the USSES has been on the chopping block, and sheep producers and organizations have gone to bat to save it every time.
Corn said the U.S. would become more dependent on sheep and wool imports from other countries if the USSES were closed.
The station was established in 1915 by President Woodrow Wilson and has been grazing sheep on the diverse landscape for more than 100 years.
“If we close the station that is in such a unique environment in the intermountain west where 62 percent of all sheep in the country are raised, we will be losing relevant research to most sheep producers, especially those with large flocks,” Corn said.
No other station conducts research into the unique challenges that confront sheep producers across the nation. The station regularly conducts research such as, the best grazing techniques, diseases and prevention, and developing new breeds.
“The sheep station has made germplasm available to ranchers and has developed three of the most important sheep breeds – the Columbia, the Targhee and the Polypay,” Corn said.
USSES has also conducted extensive research on the effects of fire on rangelands, the health and recovery of the sage grouse and its habitat, controlling invasive and noxious plants, and grazing management plans.
“They have found that grazing sheep can coexist with other wildlife – including the sage grouse, the grizzly bear and elk can coexist and have been doing it for more than 100 years,” Corn added. “That is huge for all us sheep producers.”
The North Central Soil Conservation Research Lab in Morris, Minn., is also on the proposed closure list.
Sue Dieter, the coordinator of the Barnes Aastad Soil and Water Conservation Research Association, said North Central has provided invaluable research to rural farming and ranching in the region and across the U.S.
USDA-ARS (Agricultural Research Service) purchased 15 acres of land near Morris, on which to construct the laboratory buildings. But there was no land available on which to conduct long- term water run-off and soil erosion research. Since the Morris research program was part of a larger national study on soil erosion, certain criteria had to be met with respect to soil type.
The Barnes-Aastad Association was thus formed as a non-profit organization for the purpose of purchasing land, which in turn could be leased, to the Research Laboratory for long- term field experiments.
Soil is an invaluable resource. Without knowledge of how to feed biology underneath the soil with crop diversity, farming practices and adequate residue, soils are subject to wind and water erosion.
North Central’s top 10 accomplishments include:
• Developing new and alternative oilseed cropsthat provide new revenue streams for improved cash flow, pollinator health and nutrition, and soil erosion control.
• Pioneered development of novel double-cropping strategies to sustainably intensify food and biofuel productionwhile promoting soil health and efficient use of agricultural resources.
• Improved pollinator health, abundance and diversityby the development of new crops and cropping systems.
• Led development and supported a large nationwide data baseto quantify the impact of agriculture on greenhouse gas emissions.
• Led development and supported a large nationwide network databaseto quantify the impacts of crop residue, such as corn stover, on soil properties.
• Developed best management practicesfor protecting soil resources.
• Created new non-chemical and environmentally friendly weed control alternatives(abrasive grit applicator) for organic weed control.
• Identified heirloom wheat and cornfor improved food security and nutrition.
• Developed economical wintercrops that sequester nitrate and eliminate nitrate losses to ground and surface waters.
• Accelerated development of green jet fuelfrom oilseed feedstocks.
Another USDA ARS lab closure is the North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory or Integrated Cropping System Research Lab in Brookings, S.D.
Shannon Osborne, Ph.D., a research agronomist with North Central in Brookings, S.D., has been conducting research on incorporating cover crops in current production systems for the past 10 years.
Cover crops feed the biology in the soil in unique ways because they utilize many different types of crops.
One producer in North Dakota, Gabe Brown, said the use of cover crops has allowed him to not have to use fertilizer anymore. His yields have increased substantially, as well as the organic matter in his soils.
Other proposed USDA-ARS research laboratory closures include two ARS labs in Arkansas, one a partial closure; one in Florida; one in Illinois; one in Louisiana, one in Maine, one in Massachusetts, one in Mississippi; one in Missouri, one in Texas, one in Oklahoma and a partial closure at the Aquaculture Production worksite in Wisconsin.
This year, in 2017, the USDA-ARS is officially 54 years old. It continues to serve U.S. producers, and the labs work in concert with each other, so vital research is available to anyone.
As conditions deteriorate and drought expands across much of the Northern Plains, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is offering assistance to farmers and ranchers through numerous federal farm program provisions and continues to monitor the situation to ensure all viable program flexibilities are offered to producers. Today, USDA Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) acting State Executive Director in South Dakota, acting SED Jamie White, announced that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has authorized emergency haying on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands beginning July 16 through Aug. 30, 2017 for counties in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota designated as D2 or greater on the U.S. Drought Monitor. Similar to the authorization for Emergency Grazing announced last month, this authorization includes any county with any part of its border located within 150 miles of a county eligible for emergency haying of CRP based on the U.S. drought monitor.
Increased demand for hay has further depleted already low levels of hay stock. As of May 1, 2017, Montana and North Dakota reported the lowest hay stock since 2013 and since 2014 in South Dakota.
“We are offering any and all USDA program options that will provide farmers and ranchers relief from the devastating impacts of prolonged drought,” said acting SED White.
Landowners interested in emergency haying of CRP acres should contact their local FSA office and meet with their local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff to obtain a modified conservation plan to include emergency haying. Not all CRP practices qualify for emergency haying. July 15 marks the end of the Primary Nesting Season in Montana. Due to the severe drought conditions, authorization for emergency haying may begin July 16 in North Dakota and South Dakota. Individual conservation plans will take into consideration wildlife needs.
Eligible CRP participants can hay their acreage for their own use or may grant another producer use of CRP land for haying purposes. There will be no CRP annual rental payment reductions assessed for acres hayed under this emergency authority.
According to acting SED White, this emergency CRP haying authorization is an added resource to an extensive portfolio of drought assistance programs and emergency provisions offered by USDA agencies and currently available to eligible producers having a qualifying drought loss or related need.
Emergency CRP Grazing – In June, Secretary Perdue authorized emergency grazing of CRP acres during the primary nesting season in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota in counties indicated as D2 or greater on the U.S. Drought Monitor. This authorization was further expanded to include any county with any part of its border located within 150 miles of a county designated as level “D2 Drought – Severe” or higher according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Grazing is authorized through Sept. 30, 2017 unless conditions improve. In South Dakota, 977,553 acres are currently enrolled under CRP.
FSA Farm Loan Livestock Physical Control Requirement Flexibility – USDA will authorize up to a 12 month exemption to the FSA farm loan requirement that borrowers maintain physical control of livestock during the term of the loan. This exemption will allow livestock producers the option of sending livestock to feedlots, drylots or otherwise relocate livestock to locations where feed, forage and water needs can be met. FSA has 4870 direct loans totaling 408 million dollars in South Dakota.
Emergency Loan Program – Available to producers with agriculture operations located in a county under a primary or contiguous Secretarial Disaster designation. These low interest loans help producers recover from production and physical losses.
These and a number of other disaster assistance programs are available to farmers and ranchers. For more information on disaster assistance programs and loans visit www.fsa.usda.gov/disasteror contact your local FSA Office. To find your local FSA county office, visit http://offices.usda.gov.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry voted overwhelmingly on June 29, 2017 to confirm the nomination of J. Christopher Giancarlo as Chairman for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He has served as Acting Chairman since January. This paves the way for his nomination to move forward to consideration on the Senate floor.
“I am humbled by the bipartisan support in the Senate Agriculture Committee for my nomination as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and I look forward to consideration by the full Senate. During my time as a Commissioner, I have witnessed firsthand the enduring commitment of Chairman Roberts, Ranking Member Stabenow and members of the Committee to our common purpose of serving the American people and the agricultural producers upon which we all rely. I am confident that with their support, if confirmed by the Senate, we can fulfill the CFTC’s mission to foster open, transparent, competitive and financially sound markets, in a way that best fosters broad-based economic growth and American prosperity.
“Derivatives serve the needs of society to promote job creation and prosperity, and the CFTC’s oversight of global risk management markets is the reason American consumers enjoy stable prices from the grocery store to their home heating providers. There is more work to be done to make the CFTC a 21st-century regulator for our 21st-century markets, and I look forward to partnering with members of the Agriculture and Appropriations Committees in both the House and the Senate, if confirmed, to achieve this goal.”
In the five months he has served as Acting Chairman, Mr. Giancarlo has worked with Commissioner Sharon Bowen to unanimously advance 74 formal Commission actions, roughly one action for every two days. These actions include the launch of new initiatives such as LabCFTC and Project KISS, creating the new Market Intelligence Branch and the role of Chief Market Intelligence Officer and taking swift action on more than 20 important enforcement cases. This record of accomplishment demonstrates that the CFTC is moving forward to further its important regulatory mission on behalf of the American people.
From the Cow Sense Chronicle by Rachel Endecott – Beef Cattle Specialist
While forage and pasture conditions are in good shape on the western side of our state, the eastern half is suffering from a worsening drought. Reducing forage demand is an important part of a drought plan and selective culling and early weaning are two strategies that can achieve that goal.
The first level of selective culling is to remove cows with obvious production issues, such as age, bad teeth, feet, or udders, as well as open cows or cows with poor quality calves. The second level of culling is where things get more difficult. There are a couple of approaches to consider, and I suspect most producers would use a combination of them. The first approach is to identify cattle with the most value per unit of forage consumed. These may be young cows and heifers that are products of the most advanced gene cs in your herd. Retaining the young nucleus of the cowherd is important for future gene c improvement, so marketing older cows, some of whom may still be productive, may be the best option to retain a future genetic base.
On the other hand, young cows and heifers have higher nutrient requirements compared to mature cows and are more likely to not breed back. Additionally, young cows and heifers often command a higher premium, so a second approach may be to identify and retain cows who are done growing and will tend to breed back easier in tougher conditions while raising heavier calves.
Early weaning can reduce forage demand in a couple of ways. Lactating cows experience dramatically increased nutrient requirements compared to dry cows. Energy requirements decrease over 20% and protein requirements decrease over 30% as cows move from late lactation to mid-gestation. This decreases the forage intake of the cow, as well as removing the forage demand the calf had been placing on the pasture. One rule of thumb indicates that for every day calves are early weaned compared to normal, about 0.6 grazing days worth of forage are saved. This rule was calculated using a 1300-lb cow who weans a 600-lb calf at 7 months of age. Positive impacts from early weaning are generally observed for cow body condition and reproduction as well. Because of the decrease in nutrient requirements for lactation, more nutrients are available for the cow to partition to body weight gain. Reproductive responses and their timing depend on the timing of early weaning. If the breeding season is already over, cow condition improvements may have an impact on breed back the following year if cows go into winter and calving in better body condition. If early weaning happens before the breeding season (calves around 80 days of age), reproductive performance can be positively impacted for the current year.
Hard decisions will have to be made if the dry conditions persist. In the meantime, pray for rain!
Arrowquip is thrilled to introduce the newest member of the Arrowquip Family, Agri-Best Feeds of Billings, MT. As one of the largest dealers in Arrowquip’s growing dealer network, Agri-Best Feeds are bringing their knowledge and expertise of the livestock industry to ranchers in an all new way – by providing them with innovative cattle handling solutions designed to benefit the rancher and the ranch.
Of their newest Authorized Dealer, Arrowquip President Andrew Firth said, “Their success in the livestock feed industry has been substantial, and we are confident that their success will carry over to cattle handling solutions as well. We couldn’t be happier to have Agri-Best Feeds on board”.
Agri-Best Feeds was founded in 2006, and the family formed a corporation in 2007. To this day, Agri-Best Feeds remains a family-owned company, and in 2010 they were awarded “Montana Family Business of the Year”. Their expansion over the last eleven years has been rapid, and their reach has extended to include Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and the northern region of North Dakota. They bring a variety of feed solutions to ranchers across these states and beyond, providing producers with the opportunity to increase their profits by improving feed efficiency.
Arrowquip was founded in 1988 by the Firth family in Australia with the mission
“To influence the livestock handling industry globally through the practical application of animal science and welfare standards, and increase producer safety and profitability with innovative equipment”.
In the last 30 years, Arrowquip has become a world-renowned manufacturer of cattle handling solutions known for their innovative designs, technological advancements, investment in animal science, and forward-thinking equipment. They have become the most sought-after cattle equipment manufacturer in the market today.
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2017 – On June 23 Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue authorized emergency grazing of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres during the primary nesting season in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana in the counties meeting D2 or greater, as indicated by the US Drought Monitor. Since that time the drought has continued to deepen and the forecast is for hot, dry weather in the upcoming week in the northern plains. As such, the Secretary is authorizing emergency grazing of CRP for any county in which any part of its border lies within 150 miles of a county approved for emergency grazing of CRP.
In addition, for any county in which any part of its border lies within 150 miles of any county approved for emergency grazing of CRP, USDA will allow CRP contract holders who hay their acreage according to their mid-management conservation plan to donate their hay to livestock producers. CRP contract holders still have the ability to sell their hay with a 25-percent reduction in their annual rental payment as they’ve been fully authorized to do in the past.
Emergency haying is not authorized at this time. The Secretary will continue to monitor conditions and will consider expanding emergency authority if conditions worsen.
Eligible CRP participants can use the acreage for grazing their own livestock or may grant another livestock producer use of the CRP acreage. There will be no CRP annual rental payment reductions assessed for acres grazed.
A map displaying counties approved for CRP emergency grazing and the donation of hay under mid-contract management authority will be available at:
To take advantage of the emergency grazing provisions, producers should contact their local USDA Service Center. To find your local USDA Service Center visit http://offices.usda.gov.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will travel to China this week, joining with U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, to formally mark the return of U.S. beef to the Chinese market after a 13-year hiatus. In events in Beijing and Shanghai on Friday, June 30, 2017 and Saturday, July 1, 2017, Perdue will meet with Chinese government officials to celebrate the return of American beef products to the enormous market after shipments were halted at the end of 2003. On Friday in Beijing, Perdue and Branstad will ceremonially cut prime rib that originated in Nebraska and was shipped by the Greater Omaha Packing Company.
“I will be proud to be on hand for the official reintroduction of U.S. beef to China,” Perdue said. “This is tremendous news for the American beef industry, the agriculture community, and the American economy in general. We will once again have access to the enormous Chinese market, with a strong and growing middle class, which had been closed to our ranchers for a long, long time. There’s no doubt in my mind that when the Chinese people taste our high-quality U.S. beef, they’ll want more of it.”
President Trump, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, officials with the U.S. Trade Representative, and Secretary Perdue announced the deal brokered to allow the return of U.S. beef to China on May 11, 2017 as part of the U.S.-China 100-Day Action Plan. The first shipment of U.S. beef arrived in China on June 19, 2017. China has emerged as a major beef buyer in recent years, with imports increasing from $275 million in 2012 to $2.5 billion in 2016. The United States is the world’s largest beef producer and in 2016 was the world’s fourth-largest exporter, with global sales of more than $5.4 billion.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the final details of a protocol to allow American companies to begin shipping beef exports to China. To date, producers and processors in Nebraska and Kansas are eligible to ship beef products to China, having followed requirements set forth in the USDA Export Verification Program and according to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service export requirements. USDA maintains a public list of companies that are eligible and will continue to update it as more companies complete the export documentation requirements.
China has emerged as a major beef buyer in recent years, with imports increasing from $275 million in 2012 to $2.5 billion in 2016. The United States is the world’s largest beef producer and in 2016 was the world’s fourth-largest exporter, with global sales of more than $5.4 billion.
Perdue will make the following public appearances in Beijing and Shanghai (times local to China):
Friday, June 30, 2017
10:45 a.m. Meeting with Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture
Secretary Perdue will meet with his Chinese counterpart to discuss
additional market access goals.
Ministry of Agriculture
Beijing, China
12:00 p.m. Ceremony Reintroducing U.S. beef to China
Secretary Perdue, Ambassador Terry Branstad, and other officials
will ceremonially cut a Nebraska prime rib.
Intercontinental Beijing Sanlitun Hotel
Beijing, China
3:00 p.m. Meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang
Secretary Perdue will discuss expanding U.S. trade with China.
Zhongnanhai Leadership Compound
Beijing, China
Saturday, July 1, 2017
10:15 a.m. Media event and tour of Chinese supermarket
Secretary Perdue will participate in a cooking demonstration, tour
the store, and highlight other American products in a major Chinese
supermarket.
City Super IAPM
Shanghai, China