Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 211
Under the new management of C.J. Johnsrud, Yellowstone Livestock Company continues to work tirelessly to provide top notch service and protection for its customers. Johnsrud, who assumed responsibilities of manager in June of this year, believes his knowledge of the value of cattle enables Yellowstone Livestock Company to get the best price for cattlemen. “Knowing what an animal is worth is key to managing the market and providing protection for customers,” he remarks. “Management needs to kn...
Agricultural injury jumped 15% in 2010. Those in agriculture typically suffer more injuries than most other professions simply because of the nature of the job. Farmers and ranchers handle pesticides and herbicides which can prove toxic if not handled correctly. Moving parts on equipment invite accidents, ATVs kill inexperienced drivers, unskilled drivers can overturn tractors or other large equipment, and dragging implements and negotiating turns can cause difficulties. People get kicked by...
The Richland County, McKenzie County and Williams County Extension offices will once again offer the Bovine Connection, scheduled this year for Dec. 1-2 at the Extension office in Sidney. “We have the dates set, but we do not have the agenda finalized yet,” says Richland County Extension Agent Tim Fine. “This two-day event held every second year for beef cattle producers and associated Ag businesses alternates every second year between Sidney, Williston and Watford City. This year it’s Sidney...
With all the flooding regional people have seen over the course of the past several months, protecting our precious water from contamination can become a major concern. Even without flooding issues, preserving the quality and the availability of our groundwater is of paramount importance to everyone. Considering 95% of all available fresh water comes from aquifers, and surface water bodies are connected to groundwater, good stewardship makes sense. Jon Reiten, Montana Bureau of Mines and...
It’s been a disappointing crop year for everyone. Yields are down, and in many cases quality also is not up to usual standards. Overall, this will not be a banner year for anyone, sugarbeet growers included. “Our last root sample taken last month was 16 tons, and last year at the same time it was 24 tons,” says Russ Fullmer, Sidney Sugars agricultural manager. “We’re expecting a 22-23 tons per acre crop, which is definitely not a record crop year.” He adds, “Other crops didn’t do so well eith...
Gearing up to finish last minute fall chores can mean digging in new fence posts, trenching in a water line, moving a bush or shrub using a backhoe, installing a sprinkler system, or any one of a dozen tasks that mean digging a hole of one sort or another. Both Montana and North Dakota law states that any kind of digging requires location of underground utilities prior to taking that first shovelful of earth. This includes people using any type of tool, equipment, or explosive while grading, tre...
The bow and arrow qualifies as one of the oldest weapons used by mankind. Arrowheads have been discovered in nearly every country of the world, from Finland to Germany. The oldest arrowheads, found in Africa, date back to 25,000 years ago. Humans first made their arrowheads out of wood but quickly learned how to make fire hardened stone and flint arrowheads. They also added feathers to the shafts which increased accuracy. By 2800 B.C. Egyptians had developed the composite bow, made from wood,...
Without a proper pulling sled, people could not enjoy the excitement of the Sidney Chamber’s tractor pull event, scheduled this year for Saturday, Aug. 27 at the Richland County Fairgrounds. The Douglas, ND, fire department makes this event possible by supplying its homemade sled to the Sidney Chamber each year for use in the event. This ensures that those who attend the event have a great tractor pull to watch, and it also garners funds for the Douglas Fire Department. The fire department u...
The MonDak Ag Days Committee is pleased to announce that Trent Loos, passionate advocate for agriculture, will serve as the Thursday night, Jan. 12 after-dinner speaker at the 2012 MonDak Ag Days banquet to be held at the Richland County Fairgrounds Events Center. Loos, a 6th generation rancher, began speaking out on behalf of agriculture in 2000 and uses radio, publications, the Internet and public speaking engagements as tools to get the positive message and the truth out about agriculture and...
Local volunteer fire departments kept busy on Thursday, Aug. 11 fighting three grass fires that broke out between Savage and Intake. A Burlington Northern train passing through the area started all three fires when sparks from the wheels ignited dry grass along the tracks. By the time volunteer firemen had the blaze under control, four local fire departments, Savage, West Glendive, Sidney and the City of Glendive, had responded to the situation. “There were three fires in all, started by a s...
The Richland County Health Department has hired Mary Friesz as its new Injury Prevention Specialist/DUI Task Force coordinator. Her responsibilities include informing and educating the public on safety issues of all sorts as well as working with the adult community on drinking and driving issues and concerns. “Both unintentional injury and drinking and driving are vital issues for Richland County,” Friesz remarks. “Unintentional injury is the number 1 leading cause of death in Montana and it is...
The Richland County senior commodities distribution center has moved to a new location, for what volunteer coordinator Eunice Lathrop hopes is for the last time. Qualified Richland County seniors can now collect monthly commodities at the old Extension Office, located in the Nutter Building, 123 W. Main. “Use the west door with the ramp,” says Lathrop. “We’ve waited for this move for two years. The ramp makes it easy to unload the semi and it also is user friendly for seniors using walkers...
Nothing beats a peaceful bike ride along a quiet little path, and nothing works better as a magnificent biking trail than the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project’s Main Canal road. This meandering gravel roadway along the edge of the main canal provides miles of hassle-free biking. I meet a vehicle or another person on that road perhaps once a week, and considering I spend a lot of time all spring, summer, fall and in winter until the snow gets too deep walking or pedaling a bike on portions o...
It’s one thing to see pictures and hear horror stories that others have to tell after a vicious weather system has passed through an area. It’s quite another to find oneself at the center of that raging storm, unable to do anything but wait until the event ends before picking up the pieces. Brad and Peggy Ann Strupp, Crane, found themselves caught on the road, pulling a 16 foot loaded cargo trailer when the horrific hail and 110 mph windstorm struck Savage on July 29. The wind flipped their trai...
Way back when the world was young and my sister and I rode pterodactyls to school, I remember the two of us looking at a picture of our mother, who must have been the frightful age of 40 or so at the time the picture was taken, and laughing as we pointed out the frumpy (to us) dress, the antiquated hairdo, and my poor mother’s sagging body parts. In our arrogance, we assured ourselves and each other that no way, never for all eternity would we ever look like our mother. Of course, as usual t...
During this year’s annual field day at the Williston Research Extension Center (WREC), held on Thursday, July 14, officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate the new Neil Riveland seed processing and research laboratories building addition. North Dakota State University (NDSU) and the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education named the new facility in honor of agronomist Neil Riveland, who served the WREC for more than 42 years. Riveland retired in June of this year. “He has mad...
Warm summer weather, coupled with plenty of moisture, has allowed beets to grow well this past month. Due to bad weather in early spring, however, Russ Fullmer, Sidney Sugars Incorporated agriculture manager, expects a light tonnage year even if the weather remains warm and sunny for the next few months. “The beets are growing well with lots of water, and the heat is good,” says Fullmer. “Beets love the mid 80 or lower temperatures; the 90º and higher temperatures shuts them down a bit during...
Each year, the Eastern Agricultural Research Center (EARC) holds a field day in July in order to provide information and updates on a variety of research projects. Many area producers attend this field day to learn about current research, and those who attended were not disappointed in their quest for additional information. The tour began with a talk on durum wheat presented by EARC Agronomist Dr. Joyce Eckhoff, who discussed her research to produce quality durum varieties. “Durum is the n...
The Sidney Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture will once again offer its very popular tractor pull event, scheduled for Aug. 27 at the Richland County Fairgrounds. The event features a steak fondue dinner sponsored by the Education Foundation beginning at 4 p.m., followed by tractor and truck pulls and pedal pulling beginning at 6 p.m. “We always look forward to this event,” says Sidney Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Wade Van Every. “This is a fun event for families. Everyone loves...
Maroun Atallah, Group Science technology and Quality Grains and Food Plant researcher from Barilla attended the Eastern Agricultural Research Center’s field day last week. Atallah, who traveled from the Barilla plant in Parma, Italy, came to the field day to inspect the quality of durum wheat grown in the area. “Quality durum wheat is important for our supply chain,” Atallah remarked. “This is an important area for durum wheat in America and we wanted to see the quality of the durum grown h...
With the completion of the new facility north of town, the Richland County Extension office and the Eastern Agricultural Research Center (EARC) will soon share their new modern building. Staff at both the EARC and Extension invites the public to stop in an visit at any time during normal working hours. The Extension staff moved to the facility in early June and the EARC staff will complete their move in the near future, depending on when the furniture for the EARC personnel arrives. Extension...
At the close of the Eastern Agricultural Research Center’s (EARC) field day, held on Tuesday, July 26, officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new $1.6 million EARC and Richland County Extension facility, located on the EARC grounds on the east side of Hwy. 200 just north of Sidney. The facility has a 150-seat meeting room and conference center, research laboratories, two greenhouses, and offices for both research and extension staff. “The capital campaign project raised $753,000 fro...
Gardeners face endless choices when seed catalogues arrive each winter. After wading through all the hype describing different varieties, people still face the choice of trying to determine what varieties will work best under northern conditions, which varieties will pay for themselves in yield and which ones will leave us disappointed at harvest time. Tom Kalb, NDSU horticulture educator, tries to answer these questions for gardeners by conducting garden trials that demonstrate what varieties...
Thanks to historic high water levels on both the Yellowstone and the Missouri rivers this spring, the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project (LYIP) faced unusual problems this season. Crews not only dealt with collapsed banks and washouts, but they also had to take steps to prevent the flooding of 1500 acres that lie below the river bank in the Nohly area. LYIP closed off three open drains in that area this spring to prevent water from flooding farmland. “We’ve never had this situation bef...
It takes a lot of effort and a tremendous amount of commitment to do the work required in order to prepare an animal for show at the fair. To win the Grand Championship validates the time required and makes the whole process incredibly sweet. After spending months preparing his animal for the fair, last year Brennan Gorder won the Grand Championship with his steer, an achievement he will never forget. “I’ve been in 4-H for 11 years, and I entered a steer every year,” he comments. “Last year was...
