Sorted by date Results 1594 - 1618 of 2229
The Montana Department of Revenue’s Property Assessment Division mailed out property reporting forms earlier this month, and livestock owners should already have received their forms. “If you own livestock in Montana, you’re responsible for reporting the number owned and should receive a reporting form,” said Christian Mackay, executive officer for the Montana Board of Livestock. Livestock owners simply fill the form out by reporting the number of livestock owned on February 1 and return it to the local Department of Revenue office in the cou...
On Jan. 9 the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held its oral arguments on the COOL lawsuit. In this lawsuit, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and its meatpacker friends are fighting to get rid of COOL. R-CALF USA along with SD Stockgrowers Assn., Food & Water Watch and Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) are interveners in the case to help protect COOL. During the oral arguments, a number of issues only raised by R-CALF USA and its partners were discussed. The battle of COOL is not over and everyone’s help is needed to...
Did you miss our workshop earlier this week? No problem! You can still download Centennial Farms & Ranches forms from the MonDak’s website. If you run into any trouble filling it out, give us a call. Once complete, please submit to the MonDak. We want to recognize Richland County’s Centennial Farms & Ranches during the Centennial Celebration June 13-15! Mark your calendar!...
Richland County Ag Days will take place Thursday, January 9, 2014. Kick off the day with a KEYZ 660 breakfast and then go right into the educational sessions which will focus on agronomic topics and livestock production. There will also be a tour, whether actual or virtual. Thursday morning’s speaker is Dr. Hanson, who will speak on “Farm Business Ownership, Family Succession and the Transfer of Business Management to the Next Generation”. His talk will start at 8:30 a.m. and conclude about noon. Friday, January 10, Richland County Exten...
Mark Henning is the Area Agronomist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service Area (NRCS) office in Miles City, MT. He works with producers in eastern Montana to improve their soil health by using tools such as cover crop mixes, crop diversity, no-till and grazing.He views improving soil health as the foundation for helping farmers and ranchers improve their operations and overcome challenges, which means core problems have to be addressed versus only treating symptoms. Mark is currently...
At the age of six, Karen Redlin started gardening with her mother in their home garden. “Everyone had to work and be a part of the garden in our family,” she recalls. Five decades later, she integrates what her mother taught her years ago with what she believes is the best way to garden today; naturally. “I have always felt that chemicals alter the soil and the chemistry in our bodies. That is why I grow everything as naturally as possible,” she said. On Jan. 10, Redlin will be giving a seminar...
Agribusiness consultant, Bill Pelton, will be speaking on Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) on Thursday, January 9th from 1:30pm – 2:30pm. Pelton is a third generation ranch raised Montanan who has been in and around the industry all his life. He's been in the sales and marketing side of the industry since 1970. Pelton obtained a degree in Animal Science/Ag Production from Montana State University. He resides in Billings, Montana with his family where he owns and operates BILL PELTON Livestock, L...
Do you know where the meat in your child’s school lunch comes from? Does he or she know? With national-scale food distribution systems the norm, it can be difficult to know the place of origin of the beef or chicken served in school cafeterias. In Montana, a movement is underway to take the mystery out of meat by bringing more local livestock into the lunchroom. A new video produced by National Center for Appropriate Technology’s FoodCorps Montana highlights the burgeoning Beef to School movement that serves to connect students with Mon...
So You Thought You Were Buying the Family Farm - Guess Again! Dr. Ron Hanson, Neal E. Professor of Agribusiness at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will be speaking on four topics Thursday morning Jan. 9 at Ag Days in Sidney: 1) You Can Buy Our Family Farm But Remember That I Still Own It 2) How Much Did Your Lawyer Cost Our Family Farm Estate? 3) What If The “What If” Actually Happens In Our Family? 4) Keeping Your Farm In The Family For The Next Generation-Is There A Plan? Dr. Hanson wil...
A new resource guide developed by Farm Bureau and the Farmer Veteran Coalition Partnership is now available. Farm Bureau and the FVC are working together to train beginning farmers, make equipment available to veteran farmers and help find farm ownership or employment opportunities for members of the military transitioning into the civilian workforce. “Through this partnership, I am optimistic returning veterans will learn how to continue their service to our country by helping feed its citizens, nourish its land and make its rural c...
Amanda Radke, blogger, author, Ag advocate and fifth-generation rancher from Mitchell, SD., will be the guest speaker on January 9th, 2014 at the Ag Days banquet in Sidney, MT. Radke grew up on her family's purebred Limousin cattle operation in SD and is currently active in the day to day operations along side her husband Tyler and her parents. She became active in advocacy for the U.S. beef industry at a young age and continued her passion at South Dakota State University, where she obtained a...
The 129th Montana Stockgrowers Association Convention and Trade Show, held at the Holiday Inn Grand Montana in Billings, December 12-14, drew record crowds from the ranching community from across the state. The three-day convention featured a number of speakers to help ranchers learn more about available management tools, as well as outlooks on the current status of cattle markets, industry trends, environmental and wildlife issues. Members also had the opportunity to discuss and vote on resolutions that guide policy activity for the...
Hydroponics is a combination of two Greek words, “hydro” meaning water and “ponics” meaning labor. It is a method of growing plants using a mineral solution in water, without using soil. Research has proven soil is not required for plants to thrive. When a plant root is placed in a mineral nutrient solution or in an inert medium, such as gravel, mineral wool, expanded clay, coconut husk or pebbles, it will grow at a rate of 30-50 percent faster than plant roots planted in soil and will produce a...
Projected crop budgets generally show some return to labor and management for 2014, although the price of most crops declined significantly in 2013 and are not expected to improve, according to Andy Swenson, North Dakota State University Extension Service farm management specialist. A reduction in total costs per acre provides a slight cushion to the impact of lower crop prices. “The overall decline in costs was accomplished because of a 20 to 25 percent decrease in nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer prices and lower fuel prices,” Swenson says....
Many families have been in Richland County for 100 years or more. Is yours one of them? The Richland County Centennial Committee wants to recognize family farms and ranches that will be at least 100 years old in 2014 during the big Centennial celebration weekend this coming June. To apply, please come to a Centennial Farms & Ranches workshop at the MonDak Heritage Center on Tuesday January 21, at 6:00pm. Worksheets and research helpers will be on hand for the workshop. To learn more and download the short application worksheet, visit our...
The 2014 National Hard Spring Wheat Show has taken on a different look with the incorporation of NDSU’s Best of the Best in addition to several other keynote speakers and the ever-popular Bread Fair for area 5th grade students. The Best of the Best will offer some of the leading issues facing todays wheat growers. For example Dr. Fabian Menalled, Extension Crop Weed Specialist of Montana State University, will share the latest information on herbicide resistantKochia and other weeds, status a...
Learning to do. Doing to learn. Earning to live. Living to serve. Ask any local National Future Farmers of America Organization student the FFA motto and it will effortlessly roll off their tongue. For 75 years that mantra has served as the backbone of a local, state and national organization that strives to make a positive difference in the lives of students by teaching them leadership through agricultural education. The Sidney High School Chapter of the FFA will celebrate 75 years in January...
The North Dakota Department of Agriculture and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department have reopened the Coyote Catalog to connect coyote hunters and trappers with landowners who want fewer coyotes in their areas. The Coyote Catalog is an online database similar to the one the Game and Fish Department uses to connect deer hunters with farmers and ranchers. “We’ve had a lot of success matching deer hunters with landowners,” said NDGF Director Terry Steinwand. “We hope the Coyote Catalog works out just as well.” NDDA officials estimate...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 31 counties in North Dakota as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by multiple disasters that include spring snowstorms, significant rainfall, unseasonably cool spring, frosts and freeze damage, flooding, ground saturation, severe thunderstorms, hail damage, high winds, weather-related insects and diseases, and mid-summer drought conditions that began Jan. 1, 2013, and continues. Those counties are: Benson, Grand Forks, McLean, Pembina, Bottineau, Grant, Mercer, Pierce,...
The other day I stumbled upon a piece of food-related literature my husband bought for me several years ago. It caught his eye on a newsstand. In an article that included compelling pictures, an eyewitness reported the furry and ferocious Bigfoot’s amazing weight loss. The creature apparently dropped from 800 pounds to 650 pounds by eating more berries, getting more physical activity, log rolling on a swamp and consequently, wrestling alligators. Did I mention that my husband has a unique sense of humor? Unfortunately, there was not an o...
With the ever-growing databases and improved techniques and computer applications to access the data, reviewing records of old bulls to access the current genetics within the herd aids in understanding the herd. As the year wraps up, the process of buying a bull picks up. New bulls are great, but what about the old bulls? Although one wants to keep lots of openness when reviewing new bulls, the truth be told, there is a wealth of information available on most bulls that probably is not well...
Montana State University Extension has released two new publications, one to identify weed seedlings and one to answer frequently asked questions about herbicides and noxious weeds to help Montana’s farmers and ranchers keep weeds in check. The first publication, “Weed Seedling Identification Guide for Montana and the Northern Great Plains,” includes descriptions of seedling shape, leaf arrangement, attachment and surface, as well as identification tips and a picture of the mature plant. “Many weed identification tools focus on conspicuous trai...
Don Greytak calendars are on sale now. Don Greytak, a pencil artist from Havre, Montana showcases his work in these great calendars. Greytak’s portraits illustrate rural life and a down home way of living. The profits from these calendars will benefit the Montana 4-H Foundation. The Montana 4-H Foundation serves as a non-profit corporation that continually supports the state wide 4-H program, which allows youth and leaders to participate in many life changing experiences through the 4-H program. The calendars can be purchased at local f...
The North Dakota State University Extension Services has updated the Crop Compare program, which is a spreadsheet designed to compare cropping alternatives. The program uses the direct costs and yields from the 2014 projected crop budgets for nine regions of North Dakota, but producers are encouraged to enter the expected yields and input costs for their farm. The user designates a reference crop and enters its expected market price. Depending on the region, a broad selection of nine to 18 crops are compared. The program provides the prices...
Katelyn Dynneson can see it perfectly in her mind. The brilliant strands of white and colored lights. The misty steam of her horses’ breath against the frigid night air. She can hear the loud ringing of jingle bells dangling from their torsos, intermixed with Christmas music blaring from IPods connected to makeshift sound systems. What better place for two draft horses to pull an old style wagon than a parade during one of the most festive times of the year! She plans to showcase her team of h...
