Hi-Line Farm & Ranch March 2016

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FARM & RANCH FARM & RANCH Hi-Line Hi-Line Hi-Line were photographed includeFARM a bobcat, an & & RANCH eagle, and a fish. AlthoughFARM those are animals FARM & RANCH RANCH

12 March 2016 12 March 2016 12 2015 Shooting May 2015 12 12 March March 2015

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common to the area, it is fascinating to be able to get close to these animals and shoot them in their still form.

This opportunity to work alongside Carlos allowed me to see how studio photography works which is something I’ve never done before.

I am thankful for opportunities like this because they remind me of the importance of photography no matter what kind it is.

Photography in all forms is art.

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State from Around Around the the State State State FFA FFA Conventions Conventions Draws Draws Students Students from Exhibit at the museum.

From birds to bears and even a zebra, the World Wildlife Exhibit displays an exotic menagerie of animals. My day involved assisting Carlos in setting up and adjusting various studio lights and props - all to get the perfect shot of each animal.

I even got the opportunity to capture a few shots myself. Some of the animals that

O C U H NT R T R Y NO Performance to Profit

Humbert Angus

Fossum Angus

Lee (406) 783-5341 Jim (406) 724-3327 FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH (406) 783-7771 (406) 724-7119 Creed third place winner and greenhand second place winner Mickayla Johnson acceptingan anaward awardatatthe the Lukas Johnson, Brett Johnson, Dallas Capdeville, Kyle Albus, Wyatt Pattison and Advisor Patti Armbrister at Creed third place winner and greenhand second place winner Mickayla Johnson accepting Lukas Johnson, Brett Johnson, Dallas Capdeville, Kyle Albus, Wyatt Pattison and Advisor Patti Armbrister at the thestate stateconvenstion convenstionininBillings.

Billings.

80 Yearling Angus Bulls WYATT WYATTPATTISON PATTISON HINSDALE HINSDALECHAPTER CHAPTERREPORTER REPORTER

Also Selling Yearling Heifers The State (Future Farmers of American) FFA Convention was held in Billings on March 25 - 28.

The State (Future Farmers of American) FFA Convention was held in Billings on March 25 - 28.

Over Over1,500 1,500FFA FFAmembers membersfrom fromaround aroundthe thestate stategathered gathered to to compete compete in in State State CDEs, CDEs, ranging ranging from from   Fertility Tested Peformance Tested mechanics to public speaking. mechanics to public speaking.

Ten chapter, competed Tenmembers membersofofthe theHinsdale Hinsdale chapter,including includingSophomore SophomoreCache CacheYounkin, Younkin, competed in in mechanmechanEPDs   Delivered ics, agronomy, farm business management, star greenhand and state creed speaking.

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IfIf save both. both. time is money, money, save If time time is is money, Glasgow Stockyards Getting Gettingback backand andforth forthto toBillings Billingsminus minusthe thedrive drivejust justmakes makes Getting back and forth to Billings minus the drive just makes sense. sense.Next Nexttime, time,hop hopon onone oneof ofour ourfast, fast,daily dailyflights flightsand and sense. Next time, hop on one of our fast, daily flights and arrive the ride.

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Connealy Capitalist 1922 Reg. #17585540 RA Identity Reg. #16919860 Havre Havre A52Glasgow Glasgow Havre WolfPoint Point#17386405 Glasgow Wolf Humbert HD 2677 Reg. Wolf Point Sidney HAR Program 2938 Reg.Sidney #17386433 Sidney

state convention in in Billings.

Billings. state convention competing they went to various various workshops workshopspresented presentedby bypast paststate stateofficers officersand andeven evennational nationalofficers. officers. competing they went to Three of our younger members, Elise Strommen, Chaykota Christensen and Halle Beil Three of our younger members, Elise Strommen, Chaykota Christensen and Halle Beil served on the courtesy corp and helped out with contests whenever needed.

Our five seserved on the courtesy corp and helped out with contests whenever needed. Our five seniors, Lukas Johnson, Johnson, Brett Brett Johnson, Johnson, Dallas Dallas Capdeville, Capdeville, Kyle Kyle Albus Albus and and Wyatt Wyatt PattiPattiniors, Lukas son were awarded awarded their their State State Farmer Farmer Degrees Degrees at at the the State State Degree Degree dinner dinner on on Friday Fridaynight. night. son were There were over 500 members, advisors and their families attending that dinner.

Mickayla Johnson There were over 500 members, advisors and their families attending that dinner. Mickayla Johnson competed for star star greenhand greenhand and and received receivedsecond secondplace. place.She Shealso alsoAMY competed with other creed speakers NELSON / FOR FARM & RANCH competed for competed with other creed speakers around the the statedoors and and received third.

Iffrom you couldn't see state the walls third. in the background, you'd think this image of a bobcat taken by the from around and received Courier's photo intern was captured in the wild.

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each each way way each taxes way including includingall all taxes and and fees fees including all taxes and fees

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Enjoy Enjoythe theride. ride.

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ANDREWMCKEAN MCKEAN/ /FOR FORTHE THEHI-LINE HI-LINEFARM FARM&&RANCH RANCH ANDREW

Lih-An Yang, Merlin, Iris and Ellis Ellis McKean McKean work workon onclearing clearingout outaabeaver beaverdam damalong alongthe theLittle LittleBrazil BrazilCreek, Creek, southwest of Glasgow.

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March2016 2016 March

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2016 11 11 March March 2016

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WHITNEY PAJU / FOR FARM & RANCH

Bob Walden leads Jim Uphaus's "cow convoy" as it rolls into its final destinaton at the Glasgow Stockyards on Feb. 09.

Shipstead Clan Attends Ag Conference in Spokane

ELIZABETH SHIPSTEAD FOR FARM & RANCH At the beginning of February, my family and I were able to travel to Spokane where my husband and I attended the Young and Beginning Producers Conference put on by Northwest Farm Credit Services. It was a two day conference with a variety of speakers geared toward’s education on issues especially relevant to producers who have been in the ag business for 10 years or less.

There was quite a group of us! 59 producers attended. There was also quite a variety of businesses from an Alaska-based fishing company, a winery, dairies, and people just starting out in farming with 25 acres.

Let me tell you, there were a lot of ball caps, button-up shirts, jeans and work boots in that room. It was wonderful to be in the company of folks in similar lines of work. Conversation flowed easily because we had such a big part of our lives in common.

The organizers of the conference worked hard to make sure that there was time to mingle, discuss the things that we were learning, and learn from each other. It was a wonderful and integral piece of the conference.

Before we even got to the conference, we were asked to complete a personality/ communication style questionnaire. I thought this was kind of an odd thing to be asked to complete for a conference, but I soon found out it wasn’t. The first part of the conference

was discussing how effectively understanding your family/coworker’s communication style is important. Karl from the customer insights team described each communication style and as he did, I realized that the results from the questionnaire I took described me to a T. As I began to understand the strengths, tendencies and limitations of my own communication style and that of my husband’s, I could see how this would make a difference in the way we discussed plans for our business and even family issues. It was very insightful.

As the conference went on I realized that I kept referring back to what I now knew about each of our communication styles as we discussed the other presentations that were made.

Another presenter, Kevin Spafford, presented on succession planning. He shared a recent study which showed that US small businesses are the third largest economy in the world, but business owners aren’t confident in addressing certain issues on their own even though they feel the need to protect their businesses and families. He stated that across families in agriculture there are similar concerns and values. I have definitely seen that as I have spoken to women in agriculture.

Families in agriculture definitely want to pass on their lifestyle and agricultural livelihood but many don’t know where to start. Spafford stated that when transferring the family agriSee SPOKANE, Page 3

WHITNEY PAJU / FOR FARM & RANCH

This month's cover image and the following shots of Jim Uphaus's stock were taken near the 6th Avenue Bridge in Glasgow on Feb. 9. The bottom-right image graced the cover of the Courier on the following day. The latter image features Jim Uphaus, left, and Bob Walden, right, along with 110 head of cattle bound for the Glasgow Stockyards. Keeping up the rear are (L-R): Josey Uphaus, Call Shipp, and Bill Murch.

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AMY NELSON / FOR FARM & RANCH

It isn't everyday that you get a chance to attend a photo shoot with dead animals, but that's just what local photographer Carlos Valle (bottom right) and Courier photo intern Amy Nelson did at the Children's Museum in Glasgow Feb. 18.

AMY NELSON FOR FARM & RANCH From landscape photography to fine art photography, photography is an art form all its own.

Although some may argue that photography does not require as much effort or talent as other art forms such as painting or drawing, I strongly disagree. In my opinion the talent required to be an excellent photographer is not something you are taught, but a talent you innately possess.

To me, perspective is the most important piece of creating any kind of art. Something many people learn as they experiment with photography is that they cannot be taught perspective. You can be taught how to set a camera and all the technical aspects of photography, but you can’t learn to see things in an artistic way if you don’t already.

I discovered just a few years ago that I

have an artistic eye. After experimenting with cameras, I learned that I have a unique eye for photography that many don’t have.

Photography has served as my artistic outlet and I couldn’t imagine a better way to express the things I see when out in nature or anywhere else.

My love for photography has taken me far in just a few short years. My latest endeavor with photography is working as the photo intern for the Courier.

As intern, I was given the opportunity to work alongside talented photographer Carlos Valle on Feb. 18 at the Children's Museum in Glasgow.

Carlos is new to town, but comes with extensive experience in photography. He was assigned to shoot some of the taxidermy on display at the World Wildlife See SHOOTING, Page 12

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Spokane CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 cultural business from the first generation to the second-generation, there is a failure rate of 70 percent. When transferring it from the second to the third generation there was a 90 percent failure rate. And from the third to the fourth generation a 96 percent failure rate. Such statistics are shocking and very saddening. He impressed upon us that succession planning could not start early enough, that the needs and motivators for each party involved needed to be specified, and that sometimes there needed to be a neutral facilitator.

Northwest Farm Credit Services does offer help and a facilitator for succession planning. It is wonderful to know that this service is available especially from an entity that understands agriculture, business and family. He said that succession planning worked well when all parties believed that they were, “temporary stewards whose job was to care for and then pass on to the next generation of stewards.”

Another session was devoted to online security and was presented by Mike Levin. He encouraged us to never do anything important on free Wi-Fi, to change passwords frequently and not to use a word in the dictionary for a password. He also said that it was important to use different passwords for different accounts and to never write your whole password down.

He recommended an app called 1password that has encrypted protection with their login, where you can safely store your passwords for different accounts.

Websites with “two factor authenticity” are the safest. This is where you have to provide two different forms of information to access the account. For example, you would use your password for the first step and the second step might be a security question or a code that is sent to you via text or phone call. I have run into this “two factor authenticity” with a couple of sites that I visit. It does take longer to get to your account but not that much longer. He also spoke of the importance of owning a shredder, not posting on Facebook when you are away from home and keeping the malware protection up-to-date on your home computer.

The next session was on mega global trends of agriculture by Dr. David Kohl from Virginia Tech. What a character and knowledgeable man he is! I’ve never been more interested in economics, though I have to admit that a lot of the things he talked about were well beyond my understanding. I’ll do my best to share some of it.

Kohl stated that economics is really about human behavior. He talked of “super cycles,” “economic resets,” and how global economics of countries including Russia, Brazil, Argentina, China and Japan, as well as countries in Europe and Asia and other countries such as played into the economics that affect our agricultural businesses. He said he could tell where economics were going after watching and visiting with airport shoe shiners and over-the-road truck driver’s. He also spoke of the millennial generation, how it exceeds the baby boomers in size, and how they will be on the forefront

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of consumer social and political trends.

According to Kohl, millennials will be 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. He stated that it is important for them to receive feedback and recognition. It is also important to them to achieve a balance between work and lifestyle.

Even though they can be a challenge to work with from an employer’s standpoint, if you can find millennials who have “old time” work habits paired with their knowledge of innovation/ technology, they will be unstoppable.

Personally, Dr. Kohl feels that they may take longer to mature but will be excellent employees. This was encouraging to hear as the comments that I have seen people make about the millennial generation are not usually positive ones.

Dr. Kohl also felt that there was definitely a place for organic and traditional farming techniques and that determining which farming technique you used should be determined by what your specific market wants. He also gave 15 strategies for how to exploit volatility.

Some of those included focusing on keeping 10-20% of current assets in cash, “better is better” before “bigger is better”, recognizing opportunities, and recognizing and being willing to adapt, transition and evolve. Another list that he offered was the 10 best management practices for producers. Some of these included investing in productive assets, being lifelong learners, having a good set of the mentors, and balancing between head/heart or numbers versus passion.

He offered 10 quotes for our current economic times. “Good times don’t last forever neither do bad times.” “If it grows too fast, then it’s a weed”. “It is difficult to take a cat drinking cream and switch it to skim milk”. “success in business is about sweating the small stuff”.

“The best opportunities come along in challenging times”. “The best crop you will ever raise will be your children, grandchildren and other young people.”

The last session was led by Dr. Alex White from Virginia Tech who presented on personal finance. He spoke about managing money wisely, setting up a budget, having a business plan and setting goals for not only your business but your personal finances. He really brought home teh fact that the fortune is in the details. He spoke about credit cards and how that they can be a powerful tool when used wisely, and also how important it is to increase your credit score and check your credit history.

This producer’s conference covered so many issues that are important to the day-today life and business of producers. In two days we were given so much insight and information that will help us succeed down the road.

I would highly recommend this conference to any young and beginning producers. It was well worth the time. Northwest Farm Credit Services did a great job in assisting producers getting there by assisting with travel costs and making sure that meals were taking care of.

If you work with Northwest Farm Credit Services and you have been in business for less than 10 years, consider talking to your agent about going to this conference. You’ll be glad you did.

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Feast or famine for farmers Alex Ross aeross@havredailynews.com

For most people, unseasonably warm weather in the winter is a cause for rejoice, not unease.

But in a state where agriculture is a significant portion of the state’s economy, unusual swings in temperature can mean the difference between financial feast and famine.

This winter, from December to mid-February has seen unusually high temperatures.

Figures provided by National Weather Service show that in the first half of February, the average temperature was 13.7 degrees above normal for that month. Average temperatures were 3.4 degrees higher than usual in January and 1.7 degrees higher in December.

“Warm this time of year is definitely not good,” said Peggy Lamb, the agronomy research scientist at Montana State University’s Northern Agricultural Research Center.

“Warmer this time of year is definitely bad for us,” Lamb said.

Winter wheat crop can endure a five- to seven-day stretch of such temperatures. :amb said, adding that the area commonly sees warm spells in late February and March, but this year the warmth came earlier.

Havre has also seen above average precipitation so far, but half of that was from October.

Havre Daily News/file photo Wheat stands in a field in Hill County in 2010. What impact the warm weather north-central Montana is experiencing will have on this year’s wheat harvest is unknown, with much depending on the weather coming in the next few months.

In January, the amount of precipitation was 0.3 inches above normal, but more than halfway through February, the area has had only

.03 inches of precipitation, compared to the average of .27 inches during that same month.

These conditions can adversely affect the

health of the wheat along the Hi-Line.

Les Rispens, executive director of Hill County Farm Service Agency in Havre said that on average 5 or 10 percent of a wheat crop dies off in a given winter. However, when weather is extremely warm or cold, that percentage can rise.

“We’re in a pattern that could result in a lot of winter kill,” Rispens said.

One potential problem in this warm weather is if a sudden cold snap occurs.

Winter wheat crops rely on having several inches of snow cover, but given the high temperatures, most of the precipitation has melted into the furrows of the soil. Rispens said that if the temperatures then plumet, that water in the furrows can turn to ice, choking off the young wheat from getting the oxygen essential to its growth or outright killing the plant.

Rispens said such a situation happened about three years ago, costing area farmers about 25 percent of their wheat crop that year.

Warm weather causes more problems than wheat to break dormancy. It also makes the crop vulnerable to such pests as downy brome, or cheatgrass, the weed can endure cold temperatures and thrives in warm temperatures.

Lamb said the weed is already starting to grow in fields and rangelands, taking away nutrients from the wheat and other crops.

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USDA expands insurance options for organic From USDA WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new step to support farmers transitioning to certified organic production, by expanding a crop insurance option to allow producers to purchase insurance coverage that better reflects their product's actual value.

The expanded coverage is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) continued commitment to provide farmers with resources and tools to meet the growing demand for certified organic products. The Secretary made the announcement at the White House during remarks to participants at the USDA Market Summit.

"Consumer demand for organic products continues to increase and the industry has experienced remarkable growth, representing more than $39 billion in U.S. retail sales," Vilsack said. "This growth creates opportunities for farmers and businesses across the country. Expanding the safety net for farmers wanting to enter the organic market ensures they have the tools and resources they need to meet this growing demand while protecting their operation."

The organic sector is growing, and certi-

fied organic products often return higher profits for farmers. It can take producers three years, however, to transition from conventional to certified organic production.

Previously, producers of transitional crops were only able to insure them at the same price as a conventional producer. But today's announcement enables producers to insure transitional crops to their contract price (within approved limits).

Producers transitioning to certified organic production can now use the Contract Price Addendum to cover their crops at a higher price than traditional crops. The Contract Price Addendum allows farmers transitioning to organic production to insure certain crops at their contract price rather than the published U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency price election.

RMA has also expanded organic premium price elections to 57 crops, up from four in 2011, providing organic producers the option to protect their 2016 crops closer to the market value. Barley, rice and wheat are among the crops for which organic price elections have been added. New additions for 2017 will include grapefruit, lemons and oranges.

Bringing up biofuel

By Rosalie Bliss USDA The idea of replacing fossil-based fuel with a renewable source of sustainable energy is enough to get any env ironme nta list excited. U.S. De partm ent of Agriculture scientists have advanced a process to produce a crude liquid called “bio-oil” from agricultural waste. The team is headed by Agricultural Research Service ( chemical engineer Akwasi Boateng with the Sustainable Biofuels and Coproducts Unit at the Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.

Crude bio-oil is produced by pyrolysis—a process that chemically decomposes plant and other organic matter using very high heat. The modified technique, called

For example, under the Contract Price Addendum, a producer in Nebraska can use a contract price for millet up to a maximum of $7.34 per bushel (for transitional) or $8.44 (for certified organic production), as opposed to using the existing RMA price elections of $3.67 (for transitional) or $4.22 (for certified organic production). A Contract Price Addendum fact sheet is available online at http://go.usa.gov/cyFGR. Since 2009, USDA has strengthened programs that support organic producers as they grow, thrive and respond to increasing consumer demand for organic products. Last year, USDA reported that U.S. certified and exempt organic farms sold a total of $5.5 billion in organic products in 2014, up 72 percent since 2008. The U.S. retail market for organic products is valued at more than $39 billion, and in 2014 there were 19,474 certified USDA organic operations in the United States, representing nearly a 250 percent increase since 2002. Worldwide, in 2014 there were nearly 28,000 certified organic operations in more than 120 different countries.

More information about USDA's support under this Administration for organic producers and businesses can be found at

"tail-gas reactive pyrolysis," or TGRP, holds promise for improving the bio-oil that is ultimately processed into finished biofuels.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates the United States produce at least 36 billion gallons of biofuels by the year 2022. This effort will require, in part, the development of a new industry to produce 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, which are based largely on non-food sources.

The raw biomass material includes non-food-grade plant matter procured from agricultural or household waste residue such as wood and switchgrass, and animal manures. Using these materials, bio-oils are produced at an accelerated rate using a new high-output mobile processing unit. Instead of shipping large amounts of agricultural waste to a refinery plant at high cost, the mobile reactor allows conversion of the biomass into energy-dense bio-oil right on the farm.

The goal of using TGRP on the farm is to yield a higher quality bio-oil that is more marketable to biofuel producers than bio-oil made from traditional pyrolysis methods. TGRP is an important step toward the ultimate goal of producing cleaner bio-oils that can be distilled at existing petroleum refineries.

ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.

http://www.usda.gov/results.

Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents.

Contact a local crop insurance agent for more information about the program. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers or online at http:// www.rma.usda.gov/tools/agent.html.

The sales closing date is the last day to buy a new policy or change an existing policy's coverage level. Producers can find sales closing dates for the crops in their states by referring to RMA's regional office state directory at http://1.usa.gov/1PZAbcU. Current policyholders also have until the sales closing date to make any changes to their existing contracts.

A list of commodities eligible for the Contract Price addendum is available online at http://www.rma.usda.gov/news/currentissues/organics/cpa_eligibility.html.

More information on risk management tools available for organic farmers can be found on the RMA organic crops website at http://1.usa.gov/1UlWHjt. Visit http://www. usda.gov/organic to learn more about USDA's resources for organic agriculture.

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Nebraska again pumping water into Republican River Eastern Oregon man takes on 30,000 cage-free chickens OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Millions of gallons of water are being pumped into the Republican River again this year to ensure that Nebraska farms in the area can continue operating while Kansas gets the water to which it is entitled.

This is the third year in a row that Nebraska pumped groundwater into the river to satisfy its obligations under its compact with Kansas and Colorado.

But the amount of water being pumped into the river this year is about 60 percent less than past years because the three states reached a new agreement on managing the river.

"If this was 2014, we'd be pumping almost twice as much water as we're going to in 2016," said Nate Jenkins, assistant manager of the Upper Republican Natural Resources District in Imperial.

The use of the river's water is governed by a 1943 agreement that says Nebraska gets 49 percent of the river's water, Kansas receives 40 percent and Colorado gets 11 percent.

Nebraska started pumping water into the Republican River in October and will continue into the spring. That water will ensure farmers in northern Kansas have the water they are entitled to for this year's growing season.

And it will allow Nebraska farmers along

the river to continue raising a crop. Without the additional water, the state would have had to order farmers not to plant crops on about 330,000 acres of irrigated land in southwest and south-central Nebraska.

After the 2012 drought, the Upper, Middle, Lower Republican and Twin Platte Natural Resource Districts teamed up to buy irrigated farmland in Lincoln County and build a system to divert to the river water that would have been used for crops.

The $110 million project that links 30 highcapacity wells with 20 miles of pipeline started operating in early 2014.

During wet years, Nebraska doesn't have

much trouble meeting the requirements of the river compact. But during dry years, the state has struggled to ensure Kansas receives the water it is entitled to.

Kyle Shepherd of North Platte oversees the water pumping project. He said this has been a valuable tool for managing water because it has a more immediate impact than other measures the Natural Resource Districts can take.

"The NRDs have projects to increase stream flow, but this is reliable and immediate," he said. "You can turn it on in a drought.

It's here. It's invaluable."

Pulse crops front and center in agricultural research

By Jan Suszkiw USDA 2016 is the "International Year of Pulses," an initiative of the United Nations that aims to heighten consumer awareness of the nutritional and other benefits of pulse crops and to marshal the capabilities of agricultural research organizations worldwide to develop new, improved varieties. The Agricultural Research Service has long been a proponent of pulse crops. One research program—the Dry Bean Project in Prosser, Washington— dates back to 1958 and currently serves growers and other industry members in more than 11 states.

ARS researchers from five ARS labs located across the United States and Puerto Rico—including Prosser—are also making global contributions through their participation in the Feed the Future Grain Legumes Project, a food security initiative of the U.S. Agency for International Development .

Over the past five years, in partnership with USAID and through participation in the FtF Grain Legumes Project, ARS scientists have leveraged their considerable expertise to address some of the agricultural challenges faced by rural and small-holdings farmers in developing regions of the world where pulses, particularly dry beans, are staple

food crops. Their latest contributions include: • Creation of the Andean Diversity Panel (ADP), a collection of nearly 500 accessions of large-seeded dry beans of Andean descent obtained from around the world. The ADP includes genomic, biochemical and other valuable information.

Demonstration that certain genomic regions are responsible for "fast cooking," a trait that reduces the cooking time of beans and the amount of fuel needed to prepare meals.

• Use of a plant-breeding technique called "pyramid stacking" to develop red, pinto, great northern and navy beans adapted to a

broad range of conditions, including extreme heat.

• Identification of broad-spectrum resis-

tance to the bean rust fungus that can be bred into dry bean market classes for use by small-holdings farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific

research agency.

Read more about ARS's pulse crop team

in the February 2016 issue of AgResearch online at http://1.usa.gov/1R13V6Z.

GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — Mahlon Zehr walks carefully down the middle row of his cage-free hen house, clapping his hands to scatter the flock of chickens that gather close around his feet.

"They're very curious," Zehr said. "If you're working in here, they'll come right up pecking at your hands and pecking at your shoes."

For Zehr, the chickens came first — all 30,000 of them —and the eggs won't be far behind. Zehr signed a 10-year contract last July to raise commercial eggs for Wilcox Family Farms of Roy, Washington, and has built a production facility at his home on Edwards Road in Milton-Freewater.

The chickens arrived on trucks earlier this month, and Zehr said they should start laying eggs in the next week or two. He expects to raise 8.5 million eggs over the course of the year.

"It should be pretty busy here in the next couple weeks," he said.

At 20,000 square feet, the hen house is longer than a football field and divided into

three main rows where the birds are free to wander and roost. By summer, Zehr plans to turn the chickens out onto pasture, but for now he keeps them inside over concerns of avian flu.

An avian flu outbreak affected two backyard poultry flocks around the Tri-Cities early last year. If just one of his chickens gets sick, Zehr said the entire flock would be euthanized and that would put him out of business for at least six months, and possibly a year.

In the meantime, Zehr said he will build a meshed-in porch where the hens can go outside for some fresh air, while protecting them from other wild birds. The operation is cage free, which Zehr said is becoming increasingly important for consumers.

"The cage-free market is growing," he said. "It's what people want."

Wilcox Farms owns all the chickens and provides the feed, though Zehr has already invested $1.2 million on new equipment and labor. Nearly all the technology is automated, from the ceiling lights to the conveyor belts where eggs are carried off and sorted into trays.

"It's automated enough to where I should be able to handle it myself," Zehr said.

When the chickens are ready to lay eggs, they will head into one of many nesting boxes layered up and down each row. The eggs drop gently onto conveyors, which twist their way to the front of the barn. A separate line of conveyors also sweeps feathers and droppings into a nearby shed.

Zehr plans to sell the manure as fertilizer for organic farms and gardens. As for the eggs, Wilcox Farms pays by the dozen and sells at grocery stores across the Northwest.

"It's a fairly stable investment," Zehr said. "It'll provide a good living for us."

Zehr, who grew up in the Willamette Valley, moved to Milton-Freewater in 2008 to h e l p s ta r t B l u e M o u n ta i n C h r i s t i a n Fellowship, a Mennonite church where he serves as co-pastor. Two years ago, he sold his flooring and carpet business in town to buy 40 acres of land along Edwards Road, about halfway to Umapine.

As a child, Zehr lived on a small farm where his father bought and sold grass seed.

Zehr said he is excited to return to his agricultural roots, and jumped at the opportunity

Indiana lifts most bird flu-related restrictions

RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — Animal health officials who imposed tough restrictions in January on southwestern Indiana poultry producers facing a bird flu outbreak lifted those limits Feb. 23 after the affected region went more than a month without any new cases.

State Veterinarian Bret D. Marsh ended testing and permitting requirements shortly after midnight Monday for all poultry farms and backyard flocks within a 6.2-mile control area around a turkey farm where the H7N8 viral strain was first found in mid-January.

That means those farms no longer need special permits to ship poultry or poultry products, and those products no longer must test virus-free within 24 hours of shipment. A precautionary "surveillance zone" that extended another 6.2 miles beyond the control area also was lifted Monday.

Marsh called the H7N8 viral strain outbreak "an unprecedented event" for Indiana that was contained thanks to the tough work of state and federal officials and the poultry industry.

The bird flu cases were found in Dubois County, a county about 70 miles west of Louisville, Kentucky, that's Indiana's top turkey producer. More than 414,000 turkeys and chickens were euthanized on 10 farms to con-

tain the bird flu outbreak.

All farms within the state's 6.2-mile control area had gone 38 days without any new cases, allowing the restrictions to end under guidelines drafted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Indiana's last bird flu cases were found Jan. 16.

The strain found in Indiana was different than the H5N2 virus that led to the deaths of 48 million birds last summer, mostly in the upper Midwest.

Indiana's poultry industry, which is the nation's No. 3 egg producer and No. 4 in turkey production, believes government officials and the industry did a "masterful job" in containing the outbreak, said Paul Brennan of the Indiana State Poultry Association.

"Nothing motivates people more than what happened last spring and what happened here this year. It's got everybody's attention," said Brennan, the group's executive vice president.

Officials suspect the Indiana virus had, like last year's H5N2 virus, originated in wild birds.

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and its partners continue testing wild birds for flu viruses that could cause the next outbreak, said APHIS spokeswoman Andrea McNally.

"We remain vigilant against any future

detections after last year's significant outbreak," she said, noting that 43,000 wild bird samples had been tested since that effort began last year.

Although the control and surveillance areas have been lifted, quarantines will continue for weeks at the 10 poultry farms where the virus was found. Those farms must meet carcass-composting and cleanup requirements that came into play after they euthanized their flocks.

Those farms include Tip Top Turkey Farm, a Jasper farm where owner Stephen Sander had to euthanize 23,000 turkeys after the viral strain was found in some of his flocks.

Sander said Feb. 23 it will be a month or more before he can restock his poultry barns with turkeys. That won't come until he can thoroughly clean and disinfect those barns after the composting process that kills the viruses is completed.

"We'll have a lot of washing to do. I'll be glad for things to get back to normal," he said.

to raise eggs.

"It's a stay-at-home job. I'm working in my own back yard," he said. "It's a very family-friendly business."

Zehr said he's been working 14-15 hour days and walking 6-8 miles up and down the hen house getting everything ready for production. He'll have this flock of hens for about 14-15 months, until they're replaced by another shipment from Wilcox.

So far, Zehr said he's drawn some mild curiosity from neighbors, but no complaints.

As an animal lover, Zehr said raising chickens is a perfect fit for him.

"I'm pretty excited about it," he said.

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n Continued from page 4

n Continued from page 6

Farmers, who usually end up spraying to kill the weed early on just before they seed in the fall and before the spring growing season begins, may have problems this year.

February is still too early to start spraying and too early to know what the winter kill percentage is or effects from downy brome growth, Rispens said.

Some winter wheat and other crops, are more diversified, more genetically predisposed to withstand the negative effects of unseasonably warm weather, he added.

Lamb said that because of the dry weather, and the dearth of precipitation, farmers may be forced to start making their best educated guesses about what their crop yield will likely be.

In the end, however, once the winter wheat is planted, its fate is largely out of the hands of the farmer.

“The crop is completely at the mercy of its genetics and our weather,” Rispens said.

Looking ahead to the coming growing season, Jim Greytak, a wheat farmer from Hingham, said he will likely be seeding spring wheat as he does every year, but that doesn’t mean he is doing so without worry.

“Lack of water, I think, will be a concern,” he said. “If we continue on this pattern right now going into April, it could be a tough year.”

In the first two months of 2016, the amount of precipitation in Havre has slipped. Over half of the precipitation going into this growing season came in October according to the National Weather Service. Since the beginning

the first half of February.

This has an affect on snow pack, which Rispens said is now 25 percent below normal, which has longer-term ramifications for rivers, reservoirs and other bodies of water that farmers depend on for irrigated crops.

Though most rain usually comes around in spring, Rispens said, because of the diminished snowpack and lower precip numbers already, any moisture will be crucial for growing crops in north-central Montana’s arid climate, Rispens said.

But just because there is a shortage of snowfall or rain in one area of the state or even some areas along the Hi-Line, doesn’t mean that pattern is consistent everywhere.

Charles “Bud” Peterson, a farmer and rancher about 35 miles North of Havre and 4 miles from the U.S.-Canadian border, said it hadn’t been all that warm for him most of the winter. In mid-February he said that the last traces of snow in that area had melted away only two weeks earlier.

Where he farms and ranches, Peterson said, it is usually about 10 degrees warmer or 10 degrees colder than it is down in the communities such as Havre to the south.

He said that while the dry weather could portend a mean season for farmers and ranchers, weather can change things quickly.

Ranchers face their own challenges with the weather.

Rispens said in an average year, a farmer sets aside half the grass that grows in a give season to keep the pasture healthy.

Last year, Rispens said, drought in north-

Havre Daily News/file photo A farmer harvests wheat in Hill County in 2010. The warm weather north-central Montana is experiencing this winter could have a major impact on the quality of yields next fall. of 2016, those levels have fallen to 0.3 inches

below normal or more in some areas during

2,000 MORE MINUTES of music that motivates you

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n Continued to page 7

FARM & RANCH

March 2016

Havre Daily News/file photo Cattle graze in north-central Montana in 2010. While warm winter weather can help with calving season, early warm weather and a lack of moisture can hurt the yields of hay crops and grazing land. western Hill County prevented ranchers from

setting aside that entire 50 percent. This

rancher, who still helps his sons out with

depleted any reserve for 2016.

farming and ranching north of Havre, said

that while a thaw sometime in January is to

The warm weather is not all bad, though.

Bob Kaul of Havre, a retired farmer and

www.havredailynews.com be expected, the lengthy warm spell during the first two months of 2016 is “unreal.”

While Kaul, like many, is baffled by the weather, he said the warmth is actually good for the calves.

He said in cold and wet weather calves become more susceptible to conditions such as hypothermia, scours and pneumonia.

Come March or April, Kaul said he expects that conditions will become more wet just south of the border with Canada.

He said there has been fog up in that area and he posits that anytime there is fog if you look ahead 90 days and the chances are there will be some kind of moisture. Kaul refers to this as the “old timers way of predicting the weather.”

Bottom line, everything in terms of farming and ranching is reliant on moisture.

“Everything in this part of the country depends on moisture and growth,” Kaul said.

At the end of the day though weather is not something that can be controlled.

“It’s very frustrating and stressful but there is nothing you can do about the warm dry weather we are having right now,” Lamb said.

However, with February nearing its end, it is still too soon to know what exactly how the season will pan out in terms precipitation.

“I am hopeful we have a normal spring rain, and this does not mean a thing,” Rispens said.

6

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FARM & RANCH

March 2016

www.havredailynews.com

7

Hi-Line

n Continued from page 4

n Continued from page 6

Farmers, who usually end up spraying to kill the weed early on just before they seed in the fall and before the spring growing season begins, may have problems this year.

February is still too early to start spraying and too early to know what the winter kill percentage is or effects from downy brome growth, Rispens said.

Some winter wheat and other crops, are more diversified, more genetically predisposed to withstand the negative effects of unseasonably warm weather, he added.

Lamb said that because of the dry weather, and the dearth of precipitation, farmers may be forced to start making their best educated guesses about what their crop yield will likely be.

In the end, however, once the winter wheat is planted, its fate is largely out of the hands of the farmer.

“The crop is completely at the mercy of its genetics and our weather,” Rispens said.

Looking ahead to the coming growing season, Jim Greytak, a wheat farmer from Hingham, said he will likely be seeding spring wheat as he does every year, but that doesn’t mean he is doing so without worry.

“Lack of water, I think, will be a concern,” he said. “If we continue on this pattern right now going into April, it could be a tough year.”

In the first two months of 2016, the amount of precipitation in Havre has slipped. Over half of the precipitation going into this growing season came in October according to the National Weather Service. Since the beginning

the first half of February.

This has an affect on snow pack, which Rispens said is now 25 percent below normal, which has longer-term ramifications for rivers, reservoirs and other bodies of water that farmers depend on for irrigated crops.

Though most rain usually comes around in spring, Rispens said, because of the diminished snowpack and lower precip numbers already, any moisture will be crucial for growing crops in north-central Montana’s arid climate, Rispens said.

But just because there is a shortage of snowfall or rain in one area of the state or even some areas along the Hi-Line, doesn’t mean that pattern is consistent everywhere.

Charles “Bud” Peterson, a farmer and rancher about 35 miles North of Havre and 4 miles from the U.S.-Canadian border, said it hadn’t been all that warm for him most of the winter. In mid-February he said that the last traces of snow in that area had melted away only two weeks earlier.

Where he farms and ranches, Peterson said, it is usually about 10 degrees warmer or 10 degrees colder than it is down in the communities such as Havre to the south.

He said that while the dry weather could portend a mean season for farmers and ranchers, weather can change things quickly.

Ranchers face their own challenges with the weather.

Rispens said in an average year, a farmer sets aside half the grass that grows in a give season to keep the pasture healthy.

Last year, Rispens said, drought in north-

Havre Daily News/file photo A farmer harvests wheat in Hill County in 2010. The warm weather north-central Montana is experiencing this winter could have a major impact on the quality of yields next fall. of 2016, those levels have fallen to 0.3 inches

below normal or more in some areas during

2,000 MORE MINUTES of music that motivates you

Get more with Triangle’s Nationwide 4G LTE network.

TRIANGLE MOBILE

79/mo

$

16 GB DATA Save $21 /mo

AT&T

vs $100/mo 15 GB DATA

117 1st St in Havre | Fort Belknap Shopping Center | Todd’s Technology Store in Malta | 1.855.332.1221 | itsTriangleMobile.com |

#youdeservemore

n Continued to page 7

FARM & RANCH

March 2016

Havre Daily News/file photo Cattle graze in north-central Montana in 2010. While warm winter weather can help with calving season, early warm weather and a lack of moisture can hurt the yields of hay crops and grazing land. western Hill County prevented ranchers from

setting aside that entire 50 percent. This

rancher, who still helps his sons out with

depleted any reserve for 2016.

farming and ranching north of Havre, said

that while a thaw sometime in January is to

The warm weather is not all bad, though.

Bob Kaul of Havre, a retired farmer and

www.havredailynews.com be expected, the lengthy warm spell during the first two months of 2016 is “unreal.”

While Kaul, like many, is baffled by the weather, he said the warmth is actually good for the calves.

He said in cold and wet weather calves become more susceptible to conditions such as hypothermia, scours and pneumonia.

Come March or April, Kaul said he expects that conditions will become more wet just south of the border with Canada.

He said there has been fog up in that area and he posits that anytime there is fog if you look ahead 90 days and the chances are there will be some kind of moisture. Kaul refers to this as the “old timers way of predicting the weather.”

Bottom line, everything in terms of farming and ranching is reliant on moisture.

“Everything in this part of the country depends on moisture and growth,” Kaul said.

At the end of the day though weather is not something that can be controlled.

“It’s very frustrating and stressful but there is nothing you can do about the warm dry weather we are having right now,” Lamb said.

However, with February nearing its end, it is still too soon to know what exactly how the season will pan out in terms precipitation.

“I am hopeful we have a normal spring rain, and this does not mean a thing,” Rispens said.

8

Hi-Line

March 2016

FARM & RANCH

www.havredailynews.com

5

Hi-Line

March 2016

FARM & RANCH

www.havredailynews.com

Nebraska again pumping water into Republican River Eastern Oregon man takes on 30,000 cage-free chickens OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Millions of gallons of water are being pumped into the Republican River again this year to ensure that Nebraska farms in the area can continue operating while Kansas gets the water to which it is entitled.

This is the third year in a row that Nebraska pumped groundwater into the river to satisfy its obligations under its compact with Kansas and Colorado.

But the amount of water being pumped into the river this year is about 60 percent less than past years because the three states reached a new agreement on managing the river.

"If this was 2014, we'd be pumping almost twice as much water as we're going to in 2016," said Nate Jenkins, assistant manager of the Upper Republican Natural Resources District in Imperial.

The use of the river's water is governed by a 1943 agreement that says Nebraska gets 49 percent of the river's water, Kansas receives 40 percent and Colorado gets 11 percent.

Nebraska started pumping water into the Republican River in October and will continue into the spring. That water will ensure farmers in northern Kansas have the water they are entitled to for this year's growing season.

And it will allow Nebraska farmers along

the river to continue raising a crop. Without the additional water, the state would have had to order farmers not to plant crops on about 330,000 acres of irrigated land in southwest and south-central Nebraska.

After the 2012 drought, the Upper, Middle, Lower Republican and Twin Platte Natural Resource Districts teamed up to buy irrigated farmland in Lincoln County and build a system to divert to the river water that would have been used for crops.

The $110 million project that links 30 highcapacity wells with 20 miles of pipeline started operating in early 2014.

During wet years, Nebraska doesn't have

much trouble meeting the requirements of the river compact. But during dry years, the state has struggled to ensure Kansas receives the water it is entitled to.

Kyle Shepherd of North Platte oversees the water pumping project. He said this has been a valuable tool for managing water because it has a more immediate impact than other measures the Natural Resource Districts can take.

"The NRDs have projects to increase stream flow, but this is reliable and immediate," he said. "You can turn it on in a drought.

It's here. It's invaluable."

Pulse crops front and center in agricultural research

By Jan Suszkiw USDA 2016 is the "International Year of Pulses," an initiative of the United Nations that aims to heighten consumer awareness of the nutritional and other benefits of pulse crops and to marshal the capabilities of agricultural research organizations worldwide to develop new, improved varieties. The Agricultural Research Service has long been a proponent of pulse crops. One research program—the Dry Bean Project in Prosser, Washington— dates back to 1958 and currently serves growers and other industry members in more than 11 states.

ARS researchers from five ARS labs located across the United States and Puerto Rico—including Prosser—are also making global contributions through their participation in the Feed the Future Grain Legumes Project, a food security initiative of the U.S. Agency for International Development .

Over the past five years, in partnership with USAID and through participation in the FtF Grain Legumes Project, ARS scientists have leveraged their considerable expertise to address some of the agricultural challenges faced by rural and small-holdings farmers in developing regions of the world where pulses, particularly dry beans, are staple

food crops. Their latest contributions include: • Creation of the Andean Diversity Panel (ADP), a collection of nearly 500 accessions of large-seeded dry beans of Andean descent obtained from around the world. The ADP includes genomic, biochemical and other valuable information.

Demonstration that certain genomic regions are responsible for "fast cooking," a trait that reduces the cooking time of beans and the amount of fuel needed to prepare meals.

• Use of a plant-breeding technique called "pyramid stacking" to develop red, pinto, great northern and navy beans adapted to a

broad range of conditions, including extreme heat.

• Identification of broad-spectrum resis-

tance to the bean rust fungus that can be bred into dry bean market classes for use by small-holdings farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific

research agency.

Read more about ARS's pulse crop team

in the February 2016 issue of AgResearch online at http://1.usa.gov/1R13V6Z.

GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — Mahlon Zehr walks carefully down the middle row of his cage-free hen house, clapping his hands to scatter the flock of chickens that gather close around his feet.

"They're very curious," Zehr said. "If you're working in here, they'll come right up pecking at your hands and pecking at your shoes."

For Zehr, the chickens came first — all 30,000 of them —and the eggs won't be far behind. Zehr signed a 10-year contract last July to raise commercial eggs for Wilcox Family Farms of Roy, Washington, and has built a production facility at his home on Edwards Road in Milton-Freewater.

The chickens arrived on trucks earlier this month, and Zehr said they should start laying eggs in the next week or two. He expects to raise 8.5 million eggs over the course of the year.

"It should be pretty busy here in the next couple weeks," he said.

At 20,000 square feet, the hen house is longer than a football field and divided into

three main rows where the birds are free to wander and roost. By summer, Zehr plans to turn the chickens out onto pasture, but for now he keeps them inside over concerns of avian flu.

An avian flu outbreak affected two backyard poultry flocks around the Tri-Cities early last year. If just one of his chickens gets sick, Zehr said the entire flock would be euthanized and that would put him out of business for at least six months, and possibly a year.

In the meantime, Zehr said he will build a meshed-in porch where the hens can go outside for some fresh air, while protecting them from other wild birds. The operation is cage free, which Zehr said is becoming increasingly important for consumers.

"The cage-free market is growing," he said. "It's what people want."

Wilcox Farms owns all the chickens and provides the feed, though Zehr has already invested $1.2 million on new equipment and labor. Nearly all the technology is automated, from the ceiling lights to the conveyor belts where eggs are carried off and sorted into trays.

"It's automated enough to where I should be able to handle it myself," Zehr said.

When the chickens are ready to lay eggs, they will head into one of many nesting boxes layered up and down each row. The eggs drop gently onto conveyors, which twist their way to the front of the barn. A separate line of conveyors also sweeps feathers and droppings into a nearby shed.

Zehr plans to sell the manure as fertilizer for organic farms and gardens. As for the eggs, Wilcox Farms pays by the dozen and sells at grocery stores across the Northwest.

"It's a fairly stable investment," Zehr said. "It'll provide a good living for us."

Zehr, who grew up in the Willamette Valley, moved to Milton-Freewater in 2008 to h e l p s ta r t B l u e M o u n ta i n C h r i s t i a n Fellowship, a Mennonite church where he serves as co-pastor. Two years ago, he sold his flooring and carpet business in town to buy 40 acres of land along Edwards Road, about halfway to Umapine.

As a child, Zehr lived on a small farm where his father bought and sold grass seed.

Zehr said he is excited to return to his agricultural roots, and jumped at the opportunity

Indiana lifts most bird flu-related restrictions

RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — Animal health officials who imposed tough restrictions in January on southwestern Indiana poultry producers facing a bird flu outbreak lifted those limits Feb. 23 after the affected region went more than a month without any new cases.

State Veterinarian Bret D. Marsh ended testing and permitting requirements shortly after midnight Monday for all poultry farms and backyard flocks within a 6.2-mile control area around a turkey farm where the H7N8 viral strain was first found in mid-January.

That means those farms no longer need special permits to ship poultry or poultry products, and those products no longer must test virus-free within 24 hours of shipment. A precautionary "surveillance zone" that extended another 6.2 miles beyond the control area also was lifted Monday.

Marsh called the H7N8 viral strain outbreak "an unprecedented event" for Indiana that was contained thanks to the tough work of state and federal officials and the poultry industry.

The bird flu cases were found in Dubois County, a county about 70 miles west of Louisville, Kentucky, that's Indiana's top turkey producer. More than 414,000 turkeys and chickens were euthanized on 10 farms to con-

tain the bird flu outbreak.

All farms within the state's 6.2-mile control area had gone 38 days without any new cases, allowing the restrictions to end under guidelines drafted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Indiana's last bird flu cases were found Jan. 16.

The strain found in Indiana was different than the H5N2 virus that led to the deaths of 48 million birds last summer, mostly in the upper Midwest.

Indiana's poultry industry, which is the nation's No. 3 egg producer and No. 4 in turkey production, believes government officials and the industry did a "masterful job" in containing the outbreak, said Paul Brennan of the Indiana State Poultry Association.

"Nothing motivates people more than what happened last spring and what happened here this year. It's got everybody's attention," said Brennan, the group's executive vice president.

Officials suspect the Indiana virus had, like last year's H5N2 virus, originated in wild birds.

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and its partners continue testing wild birds for flu viruses that could cause the next outbreak, said APHIS spokeswoman Andrea McNally.

"We remain vigilant against any future

detections after last year's significant outbreak," she said, noting that 43,000 wild bird samples had been tested since that effort began last year.

Although the control and surveillance areas have been lifted, quarantines will continue for weeks at the 10 poultry farms where the virus was found. Those farms must meet carcass-composting and cleanup requirements that came into play after they euthanized their flocks.

Those farms include Tip Top Turkey Farm, a Jasper farm where owner Stephen Sander had to euthanize 23,000 turkeys after the viral strain was found in some of his flocks.

Sander said Feb. 23 it will be a month or more before he can restock his poultry barns with turkeys. That won't come until he can thoroughly clean and disinfect those barns after the composting process that kills the viruses is completed.

"We'll have a lot of washing to do. I'll be glad for things to get back to normal," he said.

to raise eggs.

"It's a stay-at-home job. I'm working in my own back yard," he said. "It's a very family-friendly business."

Zehr said he's been working 14-15 hour days and walking 6-8 miles up and down the hen house getting everything ready for production. He'll have this flock of hens for about 14-15 months, until they're replaced by another shipment from Wilcox.

So far, Zehr said he's drawn some mild curiosity from neighbors, but no complaints.

As an animal lover, Zehr said raising chickens is a perfect fit for him.

"I'm pretty excited about it," he said.

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www.havredailynews.com

Feast or famine for farmers Alex Ross aeross@havredailynews.com

For most people, unseasonably warm weather in the winter is a cause for rejoice, not unease.

But in a state where agriculture is a significant portion of the state’s economy, unusual swings in temperature can mean the difference between financial feast and famine.

This winter, from December to mid-February has seen unusually high temperatures.

Figures provided by National Weather Service show that in the first half of February, the average temperature was 13.7 degrees above normal for that month. Average temperatures were 3.4 degrees higher than usual in January and 1.7 degrees higher in December.

“Warm this time of year is definitely not good,” said Peggy Lamb, the agronomy research scientist at Montana State University’s Northern Agricultural Research Center.

“Warmer this time of year is definitely bad for us,” Lamb said.

Winter wheat crop can endure a five- to seven-day stretch of such temperatures. :amb said, adding that the area commonly sees warm spells in late February and March, but this year the warmth came earlier.

Havre has also seen above average precipitation so far, but half of that was from October.

Havre Daily News/file photo Wheat stands in a field in Hill County in 2010. What impact the warm weather north-central Montana is experiencing will have on this year’s wheat harvest is unknown, with much depending on the weather coming in the next few months.

In January, the amount of precipitation was 0.3 inches above normal, but more than halfway through February, the area has had only

.03 inches of precipitation, compared to the average of .27 inches during that same month.

These conditions can adversely affect the

health of the wheat along the Hi-Line.

Les Rispens, executive director of Hill County Farm Service Agency in Havre said that on average 5 or 10 percent of a wheat crop dies off in a given winter. However, when weather is extremely warm or cold, that percentage can rise.

“We’re in a pattern that could result in a lot of winter kill,” Rispens said.

One potential problem in this warm weather is if a sudden cold snap occurs.

Winter wheat crops rely on having several inches of snow cover, but given the high temperatures, most of the precipitation has melted into the furrows of the soil. Rispens said that if the temperatures then plumet, that water in the furrows can turn to ice, choking off the young wheat from getting the oxygen essential to its growth or outright killing the plant.

Rispens said such a situation happened about three years ago, costing area farmers about 25 percent of their wheat crop that year.

Warm weather causes more problems than wheat to break dormancy. It also makes the crop vulnerable to such pests as downy brome, or cheatgrass, the weed can endure cold temperatures and thrives in warm temperatures.

Lamb said the weed is already starting to grow in fields and rangelands, taking away nutrients from the wheat and other crops.

n Continued on page 6

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www.havredailynews.com

USDA expands insurance options for organic From USDA WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new step to support farmers transitioning to certified organic production, by expanding a crop insurance option to allow producers to purchase insurance coverage that better reflects their product's actual value.

The expanded coverage is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) continued commitment to provide farmers with resources and tools to meet the growing demand for certified organic products. The Secretary made the announcement at the White House during remarks to participants at the USDA Market Summit.

"Consumer demand for organic products continues to increase and the industry has experienced remarkable growth, representing more than $39 billion in U.S. retail sales," Vilsack said. "This growth creates opportunities for farmers and businesses across the country. Expanding the safety net for farmers wanting to enter the organic market ensures they have the tools and resources they need to meet this growing demand while protecting their operation."

The organic sector is growing, and certi-

fied organic products often return higher profits for farmers. It can take producers three years, however, to transition from conventional to certified organic production.

Previously, producers of transitional crops were only able to insure them at the same price as a conventional producer. But today's announcement enables producers to insure transitional crops to their contract price (within approved limits).

Producers transitioning to certified organic production can now use the Contract Price Addendum to cover their crops at a higher price than traditional crops. The Contract Price Addendum allows farmers transitioning to organic production to insure certain crops at their contract price rather than the published U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency price election.

RMA has also expanded organic premium price elections to 57 crops, up from four in 2011, providing organic producers the option to protect their 2016 crops closer to the market value. Barley, rice and wheat are among the crops for which organic price elections have been added. New additions for 2017 will include grapefruit, lemons and oranges.

Bringing up biofuel

By Rosalie Bliss USDA The idea of replacing fossil-based fuel with a renewable source of sustainable energy is enough to get any env ironme nta list excited. U.S. De partm ent of Agriculture scientists have advanced a process to produce a crude liquid called “bio-oil” from agricultural waste. The team is headed by Agricultural Research Service ( chemical engineer Akwasi Boateng with the Sustainable Biofuels and Coproducts Unit at the Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.

Crude bio-oil is produced by pyrolysis—a process that chemically decomposes plant and other organic matter using very high heat. The modified technique, called

For example, under the Contract Price Addendum, a producer in Nebraska can use a contract price for millet up to a maximum of $7.34 per bushel (for transitional) or $8.44 (for certified organic production), as opposed to using the existing RMA price elections of $3.67 (for transitional) or $4.22 (for certified organic production). A Contract Price Addendum fact sheet is available online at http://go.usa.gov/cyFGR. Since 2009, USDA has strengthened programs that support organic producers as they grow, thrive and respond to increasing consumer demand for organic products. Last year, USDA reported that U.S. certified and exempt organic farms sold a total of $5.5 billion in organic products in 2014, up 72 percent since 2008. The U.S. retail market for organic products is valued at more than $39 billion, and in 2014 there were 19,474 certified USDA organic operations in the United States, representing nearly a 250 percent increase since 2002. Worldwide, in 2014 there were nearly 28,000 certified organic operations in more than 120 different countries.

More information about USDA's support under this Administration for organic producers and businesses can be found at

"tail-gas reactive pyrolysis," or TGRP, holds promise for improving the bio-oil that is ultimately processed into finished biofuels.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates the United States produce at least 36 billion gallons of biofuels by the year 2022. This effort will require, in part, the development of a new industry to produce 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, which are based largely on non-food sources.

The raw biomass material includes non-food-grade plant matter procured from agricultural or household waste residue such as wood and switchgrass, and animal manures. Using these materials, bio-oils are produced at an accelerated rate using a new high-output mobile processing unit. Instead of shipping large amounts of agricultural waste to a refinery plant at high cost, the mobile reactor allows conversion of the biomass into energy-dense bio-oil right on the farm.

The goal of using TGRP on the farm is to yield a higher quality bio-oil that is more marketable to biofuel producers than bio-oil made from traditional pyrolysis methods. TGRP is an important step toward the ultimate goal of producing cleaner bio-oils that can be distilled at existing petroleum refineries.

ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.

http://www.usda.gov/results.

Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents.

Contact a local crop insurance agent for more information about the program. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers or online at http:// www.rma.usda.gov/tools/agent.html.

The sales closing date is the last day to buy a new policy or change an existing policy's coverage level. Producers can find sales closing dates for the crops in their states by referring to RMA's regional office state directory at http://1.usa.gov/1PZAbcU. Current policyholders also have until the sales closing date to make any changes to their existing contracts.

A list of commodities eligible for the Contract Price addendum is available online at http://www.rma.usda.gov/news/currentissues/organics/cpa_eligibility.html.

More information on risk management tools available for organic farmers can be found on the RMA organic crops website at http://1.usa.gov/1UlWHjt. Visit http://www. usda.gov/organic to learn more about USDA's resources for organic agriculture.

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AMY NELSON / FOR FARM & RANCH

It isn't everyday that you get a chance to attend a photo shoot with dead animals, but that's just what local photographer Carlos Valle (bottom right) and Courier photo intern Amy Nelson did at the Children's Museum in Glasgow Feb. 18.

AMY NELSON FOR FARM & RANCH From landscape photography to fine art photography, photography is an art form all its own.

Although some may argue that photography does not require as much effort or talent as other art forms such as painting or drawing, I strongly disagree. In my opinion the talent required to be an excellent photographer is not something you are taught, but a talent you innately possess.

To me, perspective is the most important piece of creating any kind of art. Something many people learn as they experiment with photography is that they cannot be taught perspective. You can be taught how to set a camera and all the technical aspects of photography, but you can’t learn to see things in an artistic way if you don’t already.

I discovered just a few years ago that I

have an artistic eye. After experimenting with cameras, I learned that I have a unique eye for photography that many don’t have.

Photography has served as my artistic outlet and I couldn’t imagine a better way to express the things I see when out in nature or anywhere else.

My love for photography has taken me far in just a few short years. My latest endeavor with photography is working as the photo intern for the Courier.

As intern, I was given the opportunity to work alongside talented photographer Carlos Valle on Feb. 18 at the Children's Museum in Glasgow.

Carlos is new to town, but comes with extensive experience in photography. He was assigned to shoot some of the taxidermy on display at the World Wildlife See SHOOTING, Page 12

YOU’RE READING HI-LINE FARM & RANCH – THE AG MONTHLY FOR NORTHEAST & NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA

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March 2016 March 2016

Spokane CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 cultural business from the first generation to the second-generation, there is a failure rate of 70 percent. When transferring it from the second to the third generation there was a 90 percent failure rate. And from the third to the fourth generation a 96 percent failure rate. Such statistics are shocking and very saddening. He impressed upon us that succession planning could not start early enough, that the needs and motivators for each party involved needed to be specified, and that sometimes there needed to be a neutral facilitator.

Northwest Farm Credit Services does offer help and a facilitator for succession planning. It is wonderful to know that this service is available especially from an entity that understands agriculture, business and family. He said that succession planning worked well when all parties believed that they were, “temporary stewards whose job was to care for and then pass on to the next generation of stewards.”

Another session was devoted to online security and was presented by Mike Levin. He encouraged us to never do anything important on free Wi-Fi, to change passwords frequently and not to use a word in the dictionary for a password. He also said that it was important to use different passwords for different accounts and to never write your whole password down.

He recommended an app called 1password that has encrypted protection with their login, where you can safely store your passwords for different accounts.

Websites with “two factor authenticity” are the safest. This is where you have to provide two different forms of information to access the account. For example, you would use your password for the first step and the second step might be a security question or a code that is sent to you via text or phone call. I have run into this “two factor authenticity” with a couple of sites that I visit. It does take longer to get to your account but not that much longer. He also spoke of the importance of owning a shredder, not posting on Facebook when you are away from home and keeping the malware protection up-to-date on your home computer.

The next session was on mega global trends of agriculture by Dr. David Kohl from Virginia Tech. What a character and knowledgeable man he is! I’ve never been more interested in economics, though I have to admit that a lot of the things he talked about were well beyond my understanding. I’ll do my best to share some of it.

Kohl stated that economics is really about human behavior. He talked of “super cycles,” “economic resets,” and how global economics of countries including Russia, Brazil, Argentina, China and Japan, as well as countries in Europe and Asia and other countries such as played into the economics that affect our agricultural businesses. He said he could tell where economics were going after watching and visiting with airport shoe shiners and over-the-road truck driver’s. He also spoke of the millennial generation, how it exceeds the baby boomers in size, and how they will be on the forefront

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FARM & RANCH FARM & RANCH

of consumer social and political trends.

According to Kohl, millennials will be 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. He stated that it is important for them to receive feedback and recognition. It is also important to them to achieve a balance between work and lifestyle.

Even though they can be a challenge to work with from an employer’s standpoint, if you can find millennials who have “old time” work habits paired with their knowledge of innovation/ technology, they will be unstoppable.

Personally, Dr. Kohl feels that they may take longer to mature but will be excellent employees. This was encouraging to hear as the comments that I have seen people make about the millennial generation are not usually positive ones.

Dr. Kohl also felt that there was definitely a place for organic and traditional farming techniques and that determining which farming technique you used should be determined by what your specific market wants. He also gave 15 strategies for how to exploit volatility.

Some of those included focusing on keeping 10-20% of current assets in cash, “better is better” before “bigger is better”, recognizing opportunities, and recognizing and being willing to adapt, transition and evolve. Another list that he offered was the 10 best management practices for producers. Some of these included investing in productive assets, being lifelong learners, having a good set of the mentors, and balancing between head/heart or numbers versus passion.

He offered 10 quotes for our current economic times. “Good times don’t last forever neither do bad times.” “If it grows too fast, then it’s a weed”. “It is difficult to take a cat drinking cream and switch it to skim milk”. “success in business is about sweating the small stuff”.

“The best opportunities come along in challenging times”. “The best crop you will ever raise will be your children, grandchildren and other young people.”

The last session was led by Dr. Alex White from Virginia Tech who presented on personal finance. He spoke about managing money wisely, setting up a budget, having a business plan and setting goals for not only your business but your personal finances. He really brought home teh fact that the fortune is in the details. He spoke about credit cards and how that they can be a powerful tool when used wisely, and also how important it is to increase your credit score and check your credit history.

This producer’s conference covered so many issues that are important to the day-today life and business of producers. In two days we were given so much insight and information that will help us succeed down the road.

I would highly recommend this conference to any young and beginning producers. It was well worth the time. Northwest Farm Credit Services did a great job in assisting producers getting there by assisting with travel costs and making sure that meals were taking care of.

If you work with Northwest Farm Credit Services and you have been in business for less than 10 years, consider talking to your agent about going to this conference. You’ll be glad you did.

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March2016 2016 March

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WHITNEY PAJU / FOR FARM & RANCH

Bob Walden leads Jim Uphaus's "cow convoy" as it rolls into its final destinaton at the Glasgow Stockyards on Feb. 09.

Shipstead Clan Attends Ag Conference in Spokane

ELIZABETH SHIPSTEAD FOR FARM & RANCH At the beginning of February, my family and I were able to travel to Spokane where my husband and I attended the Young and Beginning Producers Conference put on by Northwest Farm Credit Services. It was a two day conference with a variety of speakers geared toward’s education on issues especially relevant to producers who have been in the ag business for 10 years or less.

There was quite a group of us! 59 producers attended. There was also quite a variety of businesses from an Alaska-based fishing company, a winery, dairies, and people just starting out in farming with 25 acres.

Let me tell you, there were a lot of ball caps, button-up shirts, jeans and work boots in that room. It was wonderful to be in the company of folks in similar lines of work. Conversation flowed easily because we had such a big part of our lives in common.

The organizers of the conference worked hard to make sure that there was time to mingle, discuss the things that we were learning, and learn from each other. It was a wonderful and integral piece of the conference.

Before we even got to the conference, we were asked to complete a personality/ communication style questionnaire. I thought this was kind of an odd thing to be asked to complete for a conference, but I soon found out it wasn’t. The first part of the conference

was discussing how effectively understanding your family/coworker’s communication style is important. Karl from the customer insights team described each communication style and as he did, I realized that the results from the questionnaire I took described me to a T. As I began to understand the strengths, tendencies and limitations of my own communication style and that of my husband’s, I could see how this would make a difference in the way we discussed plans for our business and even family issues. It was very insightful.

As the conference went on I realized that I kept referring back to what I now knew about each of our communication styles as we discussed the other presentations that were made.

Another presenter, Kevin Spafford, presented on succession planning. He shared a recent study which showed that US small businesses are the third largest economy in the world, but business owners aren’t confident in addressing certain issues on their own even though they feel the need to protect their businesses and families. He stated that across families in agriculture there are similar concerns and values. I have definitely seen that as I have spoken to women in agriculture.

Families in agriculture definitely want to pass on their lifestyle and agricultural livelihood but many don’t know where to start. Spafford stated that when transferring the family agriSee SPOKANE, Page 3

WHITNEY PAJU / FOR FARM & RANCH

This month's cover image and the following shots of Jim Uphaus's stock were taken near the 6th Avenue Bridge in Glasgow on Feb. 9. The bottom-right image graced the cover of the Courier on the following day. The latter image features Jim Uphaus, left, and Bob Walden, right, along with 110 head of cattle bound for the Glasgow Stockyards. Keeping up the rear are (L-R): Josey Uphaus, Call Shipp, and Bill Murch.

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FARM & RANCH FARM & RANCH Hi-Line Hi-Line Hi-Line were photographed includeFARM a bobcat, an & & RANCH eagle, and a fish. AlthoughFARM those are animals FARM & RANCH RANCH

12 March 2016 12 March 2016 12 2015 Shooting May 2015 12 12 March March 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

common to the area, it is fascinating to be able to get close to these animals and shoot them in their still form.

This opportunity to work alongside Carlos allowed me to see how studio photography works which is something I’ve never done before.

I am thankful for opportunities like this because they remind me of the importance of photography no matter what kind it is.

Photography in all forms is art.

www.glasgowcourier.com www.glasgowcourier.com www.havredailynews.com www.havredailynews.com www.havredailynews.com

State from Around Around the the State State State FFA FFA Conventions Conventions Draws Draws Students Students from Exhibit at the museum.

From birds to bears and even a zebra, the World Wildlife Exhibit displays an exotic menagerie of animals. My day involved assisting Carlos in setting up and adjusting various studio lights and props - all to get the perfect shot of each animal.

I even got the opportunity to capture a few shots myself. Some of the animals that

O C U H NT R T R Y NO Performance to Profit

Humbert Angus

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Lee (406) 783-5341 Jim (406) 724-3327 FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH (406) 783-7771 (406) 724-7119 Creed third place winner and greenhand second place winner Mickayla Johnson acceptingan anaward awardatatthe the Lukas Johnson, Brett Johnson, Dallas Capdeville, Kyle Albus, Wyatt Pattison and Advisor Patti Armbrister at Creed third place winner and greenhand second place winner Mickayla Johnson accepting Lukas Johnson, Brett Johnson, Dallas Capdeville, Kyle Albus, Wyatt Pattison and Advisor Patti Armbrister at the thestate stateconvenstion convenstionininBillings.

Billings.

80 Yearling Angus Bulls WYATT WYATTPATTISON PATTISON HINSDALE HINSDALECHAPTER CHAPTERREPORTER REPORTER

Also Selling Yearling Heifers The State (Future Farmers of American) FFA Convention was held in Billings on March 25 - 28.

The State (Future Farmers of American) FFA Convention was held in Billings on March 25 - 28.

Over Over1,500 1,500FFA FFAmembers membersfrom fromaround aroundthe thestate stategathered gathered to to compete compete in in State State CDEs, CDEs, ranging ranging from from   Fertility Tested Peformance Tested mechanics to public speaking. mechanics to public speaking.

Ten chapter, competed Tenmembers membersofofthe theHinsdale Hinsdale chapter,including includingSophomore SophomoreCache CacheYounkin, Younkin, competed in in mechanmechanEPDs   Delivered ics, agronomy, farm business management, star greenhand and state creed speaking.

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Connealy Capitalist 1922 Reg. #17585540 RA Identity Reg. #16919860 Havre Havre A52Glasgow Glasgow Havre WolfPoint Point#17386405 Glasgow Wolf Humbert HD 2677 Reg. Wolf Point Sidney HAR Program 2938 Reg.Sidney #17386433 Sidney

state convention in in Billings.

Billings. state convention competing they went to various various workshops workshopspresented presentedby bypast paststate stateofficers officersand andeven evennational nationalofficers. officers. competing they went to Three of our younger members, Elise Strommen, Chaykota Christensen and Halle Beil Three of our younger members, Elise Strommen, Chaykota Christensen and Halle Beil served on the courtesy corp and helped out with contests whenever needed.

Our five seserved on the courtesy corp and helped out with contests whenever needed. Our five seniors, Lukas Johnson, Johnson, Brett Brett Johnson, Johnson, Dallas Dallas Capdeville, Capdeville, Kyle Kyle Albus Albus and and Wyatt Wyatt PattiPattiniors, Lukas son were awarded awarded their their State State Farmer Farmer Degrees Degrees at at the the State State Degree Degree dinner dinner on on Friday Fridaynight. night. son were There were over 500 members, advisors and their families attending that dinner.

Mickayla Johnson There were over 500 members, advisors and their families attending that dinner. Mickayla Johnson competed for star star greenhand greenhand and and received receivedsecond secondplace. place.She Shealso alsoAMY competed with other creed speakers NELSON / FOR FARM & RANCH competed for competed with other creed speakers around the the statedoors and and received third.

Iffrom you couldn't see state the walls third. in the background, you'd think this image of a bobcat taken by the from around and received Courier's photo intern was captured in the wild.

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ANDREWMCKEAN MCKEAN/ /FOR FORTHE THEHI-LINE HI-LINEFARM FARM&&RANCH RANCH ANDREW

Lih-An Yang, Merlin, Iris and Ellis Ellis McKean McKean work workon onclearing clearingout outaabeaver beaverdam damalong alongthe theLittle LittleBrazil BrazilCreek, Creek, southwest of Glasgow.

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Bull sales remain strong and the market remainsatataasteady steadyhigh high//Page Page2 2 remains