Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 211
A talented, vivacious local young lady has won this year’s Miss Southeastern Montana Teen Rodeo Queen title. Jade Brunsvold, Crane, won top honors during this year’s Bucking Horse Sale, held at Miles City in May. In order to win the title of Miss Southeastern Montana Teen Rodeo Queen, Brunsvold had to study and know the Professional Rodeo Circuit rules, various winners of rodeo events, deliver a short speech, and ride a horsemanship pattern that included loping, trotting and backing. She also ha...
It’s time to plant summer gardens, and for those with extra garden space, consider planting a few extra rows of beans, corn, or other vegetables to donate to the Richland County Food Bank. This essential organization has seen an increase in people requiring emergency food, and farmers’ gardens provide an ideal way to help fill the food shortages. Remember the Food Bank when faced with abundant garden surpluses. “We will take garden produce,” says Food Bank volunteer Gloria Yockim. “We truly do...
Growing up on a farm can help define a person and shape her perspective of life. For those who have a passion for art, the farm lifestyle can also add depth and feeling to the artwork. North Dakota native and artist Naomi Pannell, who recently moved to the Sidney area with her husband, believes that her farm background fueled her love of animals and the land, both of which are recurring themes in her artwork. “I grew up on a farm and I developed my love of nature in the process,” Pannell say...
We all know farmers and ranchers continue to implement new technology and that they have the desire to try new methods and ideas which enables them to become more and more efficient in what they do. New technology helps farmers grow better crops with less inputs, and new equipment makes the farming process faster and more efficient. Stop and consider the enormous strides agriculture has taken in just the last one hundred years. We’ve gone from horse and oxen power to tractors and equipment t...
A love of animals combined with the ability to train those animals leads to a winning combination every time. Peggy Ann Strupp, Crane, trains her Dalmatians for field trials, and in May, her two dogs won first and second places in their class at the Dalmatian Club of America’s National Show and Field Trials, held this year in Tulsa, OK from May 3-9. Strupp’s two Dalmatians competed in a class of five judged obedience exercises and in a twelve and a half mile endurance test. Judges rated the dogs...
I am writing in response to the nauseating negative campaign tactics one of our candidates for legislature has decided to mount against his opponent. Any candidate who has to resort to organizing and encouraging an underhanded derogatory letter campaign against his opposition ought not to receive even one single vote from Richland County residents. The sanctimonious rhetoric spewing from the pens of these individuals who have chosen to go along with these questionable ethics is enough to gag a...
Long ago and far away I was a fresh-faced youngster, chomping at the bit to join the work force, earn my own money, and really make my mark on the world. I babysat and mowed lawns until I was sixteen and could work at a ‘real’ job, which in that day and age meant waiting on tables and working at the Doubleday book factory in the next town until I graduated from high school. I worked part time while attending university and I’ve been working full time, part time, or a combination of both ever...
Some people work hard their entire adult lives to make their community a better place. Sometimes this hard work gets noticed and acknowledged; other times it may not. However, the Richland County library staff and Library Director Renee Goss have done wonders for the community through their efforts at the library and this dedicated service to the residents of Richland County has been noticed and acknowledged by outside sources. Both Goss and the library itself received awards this year during th...
The US Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation celebrated the completion of Phase I of the Lower Yellowstone Headworks Project by hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony at Intake Dam on Monday April 30. The $17.8 million Phase I project saw the completion of a single diversion headworks structure that includes twelve double fish screens, sluice gates, and a new canal. The project allows irrigators within the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project (LYIP) to continue to receive irrigation...
I attended the candidates' forum on Thursday evening, April 26. I fully expected to come away knowing which person for Montana's legislature I intended to endorse and who I intended to vote for. I planned to choose the candidate with the strongest passion for agriculture; the candidate who laid out his or her action plan for agriculture complete with details as to how he or she intended to implement the plan and what top agricultural priorities he or she intended to tackle first. Imagine my...
I saw not one but two great blue herons the other day. The sight of these birds always inspires me and fills me with a sense of awe as they fly with slow strong wing beats across the sky. These magnificent creatures truly are a treat for the eyes. These graceful birds are not always easy to spot, but I generally see a great blue heron twice or maybe three times a season, so to spot two of them together provided me with an unexpected gift. I assume they are a nesting pair, ready to lay and incuba...
To help teachers obtain needed continuing education credits and at the same time educate them on area history and heritage, the Montana State University Extension Services will offer a two day teacher training workshop in Sidney that will explore pioneer life, agriculture as it was a century ago, and what farm children learned in school. Participating offices include Culbertson, Scobey, and Sidney. "Teachers need to accumulate credits over a period of time, and this workshop is a way of doing...
According to recently enacted legislation, by the year 2020, the US must have 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels in the market with 21 billion gallons made from advanced biofuels. Advanced biofuels produce 50% less carbon emissions as compared to petroleum-based fuels, and it appears that energy beets meet this advanced biofuel requirement. North Dakota State University (NDSU) recently concluded a lifecycle analysis of energy beets, and found that energy beets do meet this classification. An...
This has certainly been a strange weather year, with no winter to speak of, very dry conditions, and unusually warm temperatures this spring. Tanja Fransen with the Glasgow weather office reports that we can expect the odd weather to continue. “The latest Climate Outlook isn’t showing anything special in May (equal chances of above or below normal temperatures and precipitation),” she said in her newsletter. “The ones that did catch my eye were the probability of below normal precipitation for M...
Sugarbeet season started up in earnest for the season with the arrival of water in the irrigation canal. Extremely dry conditions prompted many growers to wait until irrigation water became available before they began the process of planting this year’s crop. “I thought we’d see an early planting year this spring, but we didn’t,” says Russ Fullmer, Sidney Sugars Agricultural Manager. “Growers waited for water before planting because the crop will need watered up. We really need rain; every...
If we stop and think about it, we all realize the value of agricultural research. Studies show repeatedly that federal and state funding for agricultural research and development produces high returns for the money spent and it also ensures a safe, abundant food supply for Americans. However, politics dictate the amount of money spent for agricultural research. Some politicians who have no understanding of agriculture still feel qualified to make decisions regarding this vital industry, and...
In recent years we’ve heard a lot about the green movement, or attempts to conserve natural resources and to find suitable alternatives to oil. Growing crops to determine their worth as a biofuel has become a focus for scientists and likely will continue to take precedence in the coming years. A group of researchers at the USDA/ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab in Sidney will collaborate on a long term study that will look at rotations using oilseed and pulse crops in rotation w...
Now that spring has come, those of us who like to hunt for wild asparagus will soon be rewarded for our efforts. These tasty, nutritious spears generally grow along ditch banks, and for those of us who have discovered where these tender shoots like to grow, we are ready to brave ticks and other insects in order to pick these luscious vegetable morsels. Wild asparagus looks like its cultivated counterpart; it simply grows wild without any cultivation efforts. Sprouting in early spring, this...
For many people, the approach of summer brings the anticipation of time spent on or near the water, seeking to snag that perfect specimen catch. Fishermen and women of all ages love the thrill and the challenge of reeling in a fish. Whether these fishing enthusiasts stay on shore or whether they cruise the waters in a boat, sportsmen enjoy this peaceful pastime spent out of doors in pursuit of fish of all types and sizes. Avid fisherman and fishing guide Scott Sundheim of Sioux Pass can’t i...
A former colleague made a comment a few months ago that brought to mind this joke: An old dog got lost in the African wilds. As he searched for his way home, he spied a young lion creeping up on him. Knowing he was no match for the lion, the dog thought furiously, spied some bones on the ground, and got an idea. The dog nonchalantly turned his back on the lion and began munching vigorously on the bones. At the moment the lion was poised to pounce, the old dog licked his chops and loudly...
After serving Sidney Sugars and the community for nearly ten years, Steve Sing, Sidney Sugars General Manager, will retire effective the end of May. During his tenure, Sing has seen many changes at the factory and he has helped initiate and implement goals for the sugar plant to meet. "We've made changes at the factory in efforts to improve the processing as much as possible," Sing remarks. "We always strive to be more efficient at what we do." Sing has emphasized safety procedures and training...
Easter arrives early this year. We will celebrate the occasion on Sunday, April 8, which doesn't leave a lot of time for those who like to plant their potatoes on Good Friday, as one tradition suggests that we do. The date falls in early April this year because Easter, unlike most of our other holidays, has no specified date; rather, Easter always arrives according to the moon phase. We celebrate Easter the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. Spring equinox fell on...
Crane Creek has several tributaries that feed it, and the little streams or runoff areas that I walk by on almost a daily basis always seem to call to me, inviting me to splash through the water and see what natural sights may present themselves. I've had a hankering to walk along or through two of these tributaries for the past several years, and this spring I finally made the trek. The easy stroll I anticipated did not materialize. First of all, I encountered far deeper water in spots than I...
Spring brings with it the chances for thunderstorms, and often these storms have the potential to produce dangerous lightning strikes. Most of us tend to look at lightning as a harmful side effect of storms, but in reality these bolts of electricity provide benefits to our planet. These benefits include assisting farmers by helping plants grow. Lightning, generally a negatively charged burst of energy, ziz-zags from cloud to cloud or from cloud to ground. The ground has a positive charge, so...
What a difference a year can make. Last year at the start of the planting season, sugarbeet growers worried about excessive moisture, a cool spring, flooding, and their ability to get a crop planted in time. This year they face opposite conditions, with unusually warm temperatures and very dry conditions the norm. If these conditions persist into the near future, many growers will begin planting sugarbeets earlier than usual. "In a normal year, growers start planting by the 20th of April," says...
