Categories General Discussion

BQA Twilight Trainings full speed ahead

The first Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Twilight Training sessions of the spring are underway. The Twilight Training sessions are funded in part with a grant from the Montana Beef Council and are conducted by the Montana BQA team.

The community-based Twilight sessions generally run from 4:00-7:30 p.m. and include low-stress cattle handling demonstrations, chute-side cattle treatment and animal care discussions, and an industry update. They include a free dinner and attending producers can become BQA certified. Hosts also have the opportunity to conduct pre-Twilight session tours of their operations.

BQA Twilight Trainings scheduled to date are:
-April 21 – Miles City Livestock Auction, Miles City
-April 29 – Three Peaks Ranch, Pray
-May 6 – Dean Welch Ranch, Roy
-May 12 – Headwaters Livestock Auction, Three Forks
-June 4 – Rein/Indreland Ranches, Big Timber
-June 10 – MSGA Mid-Year Convention, Dillon
-Aug. 12 – Blackfeet Extension Service, Browning

We still have open dates through the summer and fall. Host operations can be ranches, feedlots, livestock markets or a combination of hosts including ranches and local livestock associations and county Extension programs.

In addition to the Beef Council funding for these events, Tim Evans, Billings, ruminant account manager for Novus International, Inc., has again committed funds to help support BQA programming in Montana. Stockman Bank and various local lending institutions are also committed to co-sponsoring the Twilight Trainings this year. Contact Rose Malisani at MSGA (406) 442-3420, or Clint Peck (406) 671-0851, for information on the BQA Twilight Trainings. There’s still time to schedule a Twilight Training in your community.

MSGA Statement on Ballot Initiative I-161

Montana’s family ranchers and farmers take pride in providing good stewardship of their working agricultural lands, which comprise 61 million acres and 65% of the state’s land. Their land stewardship practices provide excellent wildlife habitat and help maintain healthy wildlife populations. Ranchers and farmers are an integral part of managing the state’s wildlife and provide many hunting opportunities on their private land through public hunting, private leasing and participation in programs like Block Management.

Ballot initiative I-161 proposes to eliminate all outfitter-sponsored hunting licenses currently available in Montana and reallocate them to non-resident hunters through the general draw system. I-161 changes the revenue stream for Block Management and puts future funding in question.

Although this initiative was put forth under the guise of improving public access to private land, MSGA believes I-161 will erode landowner/hunter relations and will create an ineffective system for managing wildlife. For this reason, MSGA opposes I-161. MSGA has been a strong supporter of the Block Management program, which has opened up 8.5 million acres of private land to sportsmen and is considered a model for many other states. Block Management was developed through the Private Lands/Public Wildlife Council with active participation by ranchers. Rather than proceeding with initiatives like I-161, MSGA would advocate for landowners and sportsmen working together to build on programs like Block Management and trying to find new and creative ways to address changing needs of all parties involved.

“Successful wildlife management and hunter access programs are developed through hard work, a willingness to include all viewpoints,” said Tom Hougen, MSGA President, and former chair of the PL/PW Council. “Let’s make more of an effort to build relationships and stick with programs that work rather than potentially unraveling a proven program that works for both landowners and sportsmen.”

MSGA Video Update – April 16, 2010

Errol Rice, MSGA’s Executive Vice President, recaps this week’s events at the Montana Stockgrowers Association. This week, MSGA continued working on meaningful tax reform including work on the Estate Tax, which will jump up to 55% on most Montana ranches next year if Congress doesn’t act soon. This week, MSGA also joined the Montana Coalition to Prevent Double Taxation, a broad coalition of taxpayers, businesses and affordable housing groups to put forth a constitutional amendment (CI-105) to prohibit the state legislature from imposing a Real Estate Transfer Tax on property now or in the future. Also this week, MSGA President Tom Hougen sent a letter to the Montana Board of Regents expressing MSGA’s concern about Governor Schweitzer’s proposal to cut $1.2 million from the base budget of the Montana Agricultural Experiment Stations and $600,000 from the MSU Extension Service (Read more at our blog). MSGA was also in attendance at this week’s Interagency Bison Management Plan where Yellowstone National Park announced that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for vaccinating bison in the park for brucellosis is moving forward. Dr. Brian McCluskey from USDA-APHIS also gave us the heads up that APHIS’s final brucellosis rule will be released soon.

MSGA Concerned Over Proposed Slashing of Ag Research & Extension Budgets

The following letter was sent from MSGA President Tom Hougen today to the Montana Board of Regents regarding a proposal from the administration to cut ag research and extension budgets by over 10%. A meeting of the Board of Regents will be held in Helena tomorrow April 15th at 1:30 P.M. MSGA will be at this meeting.

April 14, 2010

Montana Board of Regents
Office of Commissioner of Higher Education
Montana University System
2500 Broadway Street
P.O. Box 203201
Helena, MT 59620-3201

Dear Montana Board of Regents Members,

On behalf of the Montana Stockgrowers Association I am writing to you to express our concern with the governor’s base budget reduction plan of roughly $1.2 million for the Montana Agriculture Experiment Stations (MAES) and $600,000 for the Extension Service. This is a severely disproportionate reduction to our agriculture research agencies under the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

These permanent base budget reductions will forever diminish the critical research component to Montana’s world renowned beef industry. These research and education tools are vital to ranching in Montana. Montana ranching matters because of its economic impact; the ethics and integrity and social values it brings to our state; providing a safe and healthy product to feed people in the U.S. and around the world.

We understand the need to cut back during tough economic times. However, please consider that a level playing field is vital when making budget reduction decisions. MAES and the Extension Service have been cut significantly in the past and future cuts are going to affect the viability of these programs and the services they provide to Montana’s largest segment of the economy.

We must preserve and enhance Montana family ranches through research and education, not eliminate our capability to grow and provide nutritious and healthy food for the world. The Montana public needs family ranches to ensure greater food security, maintenance of open space and environmental resources, as well as the preservation of valued traditions and lifestyle. Please make the decision to invest in Montana’s family ranches and rural communities.

Sincerely,

Tom Hougen
President

MSGA Video Update – April 9, 2010

Errol gives a recap of this week’s events at the Montana Stockgrowers Association. Errol discusses Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s visit to Japan to discuss beef trade, the 2010 Montana Livestock Forum and Nutrition Conference held at Montana State University, the reprint of MSGA’s book “The Weak Ones Turned Back, The Cowards Never Started: A Century of Ranching in Montana,” and details about the planning of our Mid-Year meeting which will take place June 10-12 in Dillon.

MSGA Video Update – April 1, 2010

Errol Rice, MSGA’s Executive Vice President, recaps this week’s events at the Montana Stockgrowers Association. On Wednesday, March 31, 2010, the Montana Stockgrowers Association’s Board of Directors met at Basin Angus Ranch in Hobson, Montana. The hot topic was the Designated Surveillance Area for brucellosis in Montana. Rice also addresses the values of the Montana Stockgrowers Association in this clip.

Tom Hougen on MSGA’s March 31 Board of Directors meeting

Tom Hougen, MSGA’s President, gives a recap of the March 31, 2010 Montana Stockgrowers Association’s Board of Directors meeting in Hobson, Montana.

MSGA President interviewed on NYC radio program about grasshoppers

MSGA’s President, Tom Hougen, was interviewed early this morning on a New York City radio program “The Takeaway” about the potential for one of the worst grasshopper infestations in the West in many years. Click here to listen to the interview.

Friday MSGA video update – March 26, 2010