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2018-19: Where did the winter go? Warm, dry forecast contrasts with last year’s winter Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com With extremely varied changes in the weather from month to month in the past few years — including last year’s weather that earned north-central Montana the dubious honor of having Weather Channel say the region had the worst winter in America — people might be wondering where this year’s winter went. Light snow fell in Havre Wednesday morning, shortly before printing deadline for this story, and a slight chance of snow was forecast over the weekend. But the weather through Christmas Day in December had been very warm and very dry, following a relatively wet period from September through November — which followed a very dry summer. Temperatures were hitting the 40s and 50s in December, 10 to 20 degrees higher than the norm, and precipitation just about disappeared in that month, with a total of .14 inches by Dec. 25, half of the normal value of .33.
Constant weather changes After a dry summer in 2017 led to drought conditions in the area — including a rash of major fires starting in July, culminating with the 21,000-acre East Fork Fire in the Bear Paw Mountains — the weather turned completely around. A record-setting snowfall dropped more than a foot of wet, heavy snow in Havre and across the region the first week of October. The snowfall pummeled trees, blocked streets and highways and knocked power out from Chester to Malta, with some people waiting more than a week for power to be restored. A cold, snowy December followed. Temperatures dropped below zero and stayed there from Christmas into January, with more snow and bitterly cold temperatures coming that month. It just got worse in February. By mid-month, Havre had nearly doubled its previous record amount of snow for February, blowing away the 1978 record of 18.6 inches for the entire month with a new record of 31.8 inches. Havre did not set a new record for cold, but it came close last winter, with the average temperature of 8.6 degrees the seventhcoldest on record. It avoided the dubious honor of setting the record for the most snow in the year.
Havre Daily News/File photo Boyces feed cattle in the Bear Paw Mountains during the winter of 2017-18. Cold temperatures and heavy snow last winter are in contrast with what cattle ranchers have had to deal with so far this winter, with the forecast calling for continued above-average temperatures but average precipitation in the next few months.
www.havredailynews.com five posts a day might not be the best strategy. For Richardson, posting too frequently interfered with her ability to make quality content. She considered time an asset as she spaced out the duration between her photographs. She described her account as less focused on farm education than others in t h e i n d u s t r y. S h e a d m i r e s C a b o t Creamery’s social media presence and runs questions by its marketing department. R i c h a rd s o n i n c l u d e s t h e h a s h ta g #Cabotfarmers on Instagram, and Cabot often reposts her content. Her numbers eventually grew, but one thing still alluded her: Building community with people she never actually met in person. For Richardson, when you have friends, “you see each other once in a while” — making it challenging for her to work with Instagram’s virtual relationship-building mechanisms. “I really decided I needed more,” she said. That led her on a trip to the United K i n gd o m , v i s i t i n g fa r m e rs s h e m e t through Instagram and offering help where she could. Narrowing the focus “I think the cows can sell it all — or tell the whole story,” Richardson said. She initially tried to promote all three of the farm’s businesses. Then she realized she could only post so many interest-
FARM & RANCH ing photographs of maple syrup bottles. Richardson made other small changes over time, like using the “Stories” feature on Instagram to show more about life on the farm — sometimes including music to personalize them. Richardson took more steps to make the account her own, like changing the name to “richardsonfamfarmer” — rather than “richardsonfamfarm.” S h e g r ew c o m fo r t a b l e fo l l ow i n g accounts unrelated to farming and chose to block those that left negative comments, saying she proactively “put up that barrier.” She turned off comments on her video of a cow giving birth — which had over 27,000 views when she checked — due to arguments between Instagram users. In her recollection, she thinks this infighting revolved around disagreements about helping a cow giving birth, as well as separating the calf after. Richardson also learned that showing the less savory parts of farm life is OK. “It’s taken me time to gain the confidence to do that kind of thing,” she said. While she feels lucky to be a farmer, she acknowledged there are trade-offs and that it is not always a necessarily “happygo-lucky-life.” Which brought her to #nakedfarmer. The Australian-born movement uses attention-grabbing tactics of semi/full-nudity to draw conversations that “support people in the agricultural industry who suffer from mental health issues.” “I didn’t go for family approval … I
just decided to do it,” Richardson said of her participation. She did, however, ask a few friends before posting a nude photograph of herself. The picture, posted on Nov. 1, 2018, depicts blue skies, green grass and a naked Richardson sitting on a cow, dangling maple syrup bottles over each shoulder. Her message indicated a love for her lifestyle, her initial hesitation to post the photograph, a Tom Petty lyric and an admiration for the campaign. She felt using her network to bring up the issue was important. There was concern that posting the photograph with the farm’s maple syrup jugs could be controversial for business. But ultimately she knew this was social media: Something new would eventually come along and draw attention elsewhere. “I’m not an expert at all but I’ve found k i n d o f a n i c h e t h a t ’s wo r k i n g , ” Richardson said. She found that a photograph really was worth a thousand words and sometimes you want to “let it speak for itself for a little while.” Richardson joined a Cabot marketing team to a conference a few years ago. A presentation given on Instagram helped
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her navigate the platform. Some of these tips included: • Ensuring your photographs are of decent quality. Richardson uses an iPhone for hers. • Understanding your message and being consistent with it. • Being uniform in the way you operate: Richardson noted five posts per day was too much for her account and eventually settled into a fairly regular posting schedule that suits her. But she would never drastically break that cycle without warning (for example, going on an unannounced month-long hiatus). Her own insights included two major points: • Your followers expect certain things from you. Richardson adapted, for example, by focusing mainly on the cows rather than other aspects of the business. • You need to commit time if you are trying to grow on the platform. But for Richardson, Instagram was not crucial to the farm’s livelihood — meaning having fun with it came first. —— Online: https://bit.ly/2AhJAfg —— Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/.
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100-year-old dairy farm adapts to digital age with Instagram By MALEEHA SYED Burlington Free Press HARTLAND, Vt. (AP) — You might think you have the Instagram game figured out. But the Richardson Family Farm offers some friendly competition. The farm, based in Hartland, Vermont, boasts nearly 14,000 followers on the social media platform. The feed is dominated by picturesque photographs of cows grazing on lush grass. Amy Richardson runs the account and updates it every few days, mainly focusing on scenic shots of life on the farm. But Richardson also takes risks like participating in the #nakedfarmer where she ditched clothes in support awareness for
mental health issues. She has adapted different techniques since she started the account in 2013, figuring out her own voice in the process. The farm does business in three key areas: Maple syrup, milk and split-rail fencing. Its longstanding history began in 1907. Richardson’s home is down the road from the cows. Her husband, Scott, grew up nearby in a house surrounded by trees. Richardson studied rural resource management at Sterling College and forest management at the University of Vermont, where she met Scott. Though she described herself as relatively outdoorsy, she had little experience working
Beef: Boss set to give welcome Jan. 24 n Continued from page 6 Department; Jan 24: 11-11:10 p.m. — Welcome, Darrin Boss 11:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. — Cheatgrass Control and Weed Invaders After Drought and Fire — Jane Mangold; MSU Extension weed and invasive plant ecologist; 12:10-12:45 p.m. — Lunch 12:45-1:25 p.m. — Weak Calf Syndrome from a Vet Perspective — Dr. Bob Sager, MSU Meager County extension agent and licensed
veterinarian; 1:30-2:10 p.m. — USDA FSA Programs for Livestock Producers — Russell Snedigar and Miranda Skoyen, local FSA representatives, Havre and Chinook 2:15-2:55 p.m. — Third Trimester Nutrition in Beef Cattle — Megan Van Emon; MSU extension beef specialist; 3-3:40 p.m. — Cover Crops and Cattle Grazing — Darrin Boss, NARC superintendent.
a farm — other than some exposure at Sterling. Until she got married and joined the farm’s operations in the early 1990s. The Cabot Creamery Co-operative to which the family farm belongs hosted a Farmers’ Gratitude Tour in 2013. This led Richardson to New York City, offering cheese samples to passers-by alongside her colleagues. Cabot organized the tour as a “way of saying thank you to folks in the New York metro region for buying Cabot cheese and other fine dairy products.” The subject of social media came up, p ro m p t i n g R i c h a rd s o n to c re a t e a n Instagram account. Richardson said the co-op’s board of directors and marketing
department needed a little help sharing what farmers do. Her account could help address consumers’ concerns about the dairy industry regarding management practices and subjects like animal/land care. “I had this idea in my mind of how I just wanted to share peeks into what we’re doing here,” she said. The farm also has a website run by Richardson’s brother-in-law — which she links to in the Instagram account’s biography — and a Twitter account run by Richardson’s husband. “It took me a little while ... to kind of figure out how it all worked,” Richardson said, remembering her children saying
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Havre Daily News/file photo A pasture lays submerged under 5 to 15 feet of water at the Gildford Colony north of Gildford in mid-April Havre missed by less than an inch beating the record set in the winter of 1981-82 — which also is sixth-coldest on record — when 93.4 inches of snow fell. Some other records for daily snowfall or coldest temperatures were set, and by midMarch had set some other alarming records. One was the length of time that more than 20 inches of snow has sat on the ground. March 23, Havre was on its 35th straight day where 20-plus inches of snow had sat on the ground. The previous record dates all the way back to 1916, and that was just 15 days straight of 20-plus inches of snow resting on Havre’s surface. It also set the coldest average daily temperature on record for a seven-week span. Starting in February and through March 23, Havre averaged a high daily temperature of a whopping 8 degrees, the coldest in modern times and the fourth-coldest winter of all-time in Havre. The previous three coldest winters on record were established in 1899, 1891 and 1957. March 23, Havre had averaged 13 degrees below normal for its daily high temperature for the month. Snowmelt leads to flooding Then the snow started to melt. And it had nowhere to go. Then the region had
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Winter beef symposiums set in Havre Press release Winter Beef Symposium will be held Thursday, Jan. 10, and Thursday, Jan. 24, from 11 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. each day at the Northern Agricultural Research Center of Montana State University southwest of Havre. Producers can attend one or both days. One pesticide credit can be earned each day, so people should bring their license numbers. The event is co-hosted by MSU’s Blaine County Extension, Hill County Extension and NARC and is free and open to the public. Lunch will be served. The Havre Area Chamber of Commerce’s AgriBusiness Committee is providing refreshments For more information or to register, people
can contact: Emi Smith, Northern Agricultural Research Center, 265-6115, emi.smith@montana.edu; Julianne Snedigar, Blaine County Extension Agent, 357-3200, julianne.snedigar@montana. edu; Shylea Wingard, Hill County Extension Agent, 406-400-2333; shylea.wingard@montana. edu Jan. 10, five workshop presenters will cover a variety of topics related to cow-calf production, including weak calf syndrome; winter nutrition, feed supplementation and grazing patterns; risks and opportunities in current cattle markets; expected progeny differences for commercial cattle operations; and controlling small animal vertebrates in the pasture
and on the range. Jan. 24, five workshop presenters will continue providing pertinent information for cowcalf operators. Topics discussed will include: cover crops and cattle grazing, cheat grass and weed control after drought and fire; third trimester beef cow nutrition; weak calf syndrome; and USDA FSA programs for livestock producers. 2019 WINTER BEEF SYMPOSIUM Speaker Schedule Jan. 10: 11-11:10 a.m. — Welcome, Julia Dafoe 11:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. — Control of Small Animal Vertebrates — Stephen M. Vantassel,
Montana Department of Agriculture, vertebrate specialist; 12:10-12:45 p.m. — Lunch 12:45-1:25 p.m. — Risks and Opportun-ities in Current Cattle Markets — John Mangus, Custom Ag Solutions, Wyoming rancher and consultant; 1:30-2:10 p.m. — EPDs for Commercial Cattle Operation – Jennifer Thomson, MSU associate professor of livestock genomics; 2:15-2:55 p.m. — Weak Calf Syndrome — Tim DelCurto, MSU Nancy Cameron endowed chair in range beef cattle production; 3-3:40 p.m. — Winter Feed Supplementation and Grazing Patterns — Sam Wyffels, doctoral student; MSU Animal and Range Science
n Continued Beef on page 8
Winter: Weak El Nino bringing a different winter to Havre area n Continued from page 5 another dubious honor — the fourth federal disaster declaration due to flooding in less than a decade. The previous declarations, in 2010, 2011 and 2013, were primarily due to rising streams and rivers due to snowmelt and rains in the mountains. In 2018, the flooding came from snow melting in the flatlands, inundating valleys and even flatlands and also causing rivers and streams to rise. By mid to late April, waterways including Milk River, Big Sandy Creek and Lodge Creek had flooded, causing flooding in Chinook and Harlem. The flooding also caused severe damage on county roads in the area, and led to fears that farmers might be kept out of fields for far too long. The Havre Daily heard reports, however, that most ag producers in the region had been able to get into their fields in time to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture deadlines for planting. Followed by a dry summer Then drier weather set in. By the end of May, although the month was short of its normal monthly precipitation — 1.31 inches versus 1.74 inches recorded at Havre — Havre was still almost an inch ahead of its annual average at that point, with 4.69 inches recorded for the year. June’s .89 inches in Havre was less than half of normal, and put Havre to just a halfinch more than normal for the year. July was drier. Its .49 inches was just more than a quarter of the normal 1.60 inches. August saw .62 inches of rain fall on Havre, again shy of normal, 1.08 inches for the month. M o re p re c i p i ta t i o n s ta r t e d to fa l l — Havre saw 1.77 inches in September, compared to the average for the month of 1.02 inches — but the area was still behind the average for the year, and the late precipitation caused another problem. Fields were too wet to plant winter wheat.
Problems planting winter wheat October saw 1.09 inches of rain fall on Havre, just short of the normal amount of 1.1 inches, but producers and ag officials said it was enough to cause some problems planting winter wheat. Farmers waited for some wetter weather to plant the crop, then the wet weather kept them out of the fields. Winter wheat seeding is down about 25 percent in the region this year. USDA reports that last year, 195,000 acres of winter wheat was planted in Hill County, compared to 145,305 acres this year. What will go into those acres is uncertain at this point, with producers saying it might be spring wheat or some might go with increasingly used alternatives like pulse crops and oilseeds. Much of that depends on the market and what happens with U.S. trade policy, they said. And how the winter wheat that was planted turns out is, as always, dependent on the weather. Some that was planted early enough is looking fairly good, some that was planted late is late developing, and it all depends on the weather. A warmer winter on the way National Weather Service is forecasting a winter the opposite of last year’s. A Dec. 14 analysis said a weak El Niño system, which typically produces warmer, dryer winters in this part of the country, followed by cooler, wetter summers, is 90 percent likely to develop and impact the next few months’ weather. In an El Niño, warmer water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean tends to bring the warmer, drier weather to the northwest, with a good chance for cooler, wetter weather in the south and east. The National Climate Center’s three-tofour week outlook for north-central Montana predicts a chance of warmer-than-normal weather and below-normal precipitation. The one-month and three-month predictions forecast a chance of above-normal temperatures and about normal precipitation.
Havre Daily News/Ryan Berry The sun sets over a wheat stubble field Dec. 19 north of Havre. The Havre area is producing about 50,000 fewer acres of winter wheat than normal this season.
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Winter beef symposiums set in Havre Press release Winter Beef Symposium will be held Thursday, Jan. 10, and Thursday, Jan. 24, from 11 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. each day at the Northern Agricultural Research Center of Montana State University southwest of Havre. Producers can attend one or both days. One pesticide credit can be earned each day, so people should bring their license numbers. The event is co-hosted by MSU’s Blaine County Extension, Hill County Extension and NARC and is free and open to the public. Lunch will be served. The Havre Area Chamber of Commerce’s AgriBusiness Committee is providing refreshments For more information or to register, people
can contact: Emi Smith, Northern Agricultural Research Center, 265-6115, emi.smith@montana.edu; Julianne Snedigar, Blaine County Extension Agent, 357-3200, julianne.snedigar@montana. edu; Shylea Wingard, Hill County Extension Agent, 406-400-2333; shylea.wingard@montana. edu Jan. 10, five workshop presenters will cover a variety of topics related to cow-calf production, including weak calf syndrome; winter nutrition, feed supplementation and grazing patterns; risks and opportunities in current cattle markets; expected progeny differences for commercial cattle operations; and controlling small animal vertebrates in the pasture
and on the range. Jan. 24, five workshop presenters will continue providing pertinent information for cowcalf operators. Topics discussed will include: cover crops and cattle grazing, cheat grass and weed control after drought and fire; third trimester beef cow nutrition; weak calf syndrome; and USDA FSA programs for livestock producers. 2019 WINTER BEEF SYMPOSIUM Speaker Schedule Jan. 10: 11-11:10 a.m. — Welcome, Julia Dafoe 11:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. — Control of Small Animal Vertebrates — Stephen M. Vantassel,
Montana Department of Agriculture, vertebrate specialist; 12:10-12:45 p.m. — Lunch 12:45-1:25 p.m. — Risks and Opportun-ities in Current Cattle Markets — John Mangus, Custom Ag Solutions, Wyoming rancher and consultant; 1:30-2:10 p.m. — EPDs for Commercial Cattle Operation – Jennifer Thomson, MSU associate professor of livestock genomics; 2:15-2:55 p.m. — Weak Calf Syndrome — Tim DelCurto, MSU Nancy Cameron endowed chair in range beef cattle production; 3-3:40 p.m. — Winter Feed Supplementation and Grazing Patterns — Sam Wyffels, doctoral student; MSU Animal and Range Science
n Continued Beef on page 8
Winter: Weak El Nino bringing a different winter to Havre area n Continued from page 5 another dubious honor — the fourth federal disaster declaration due to flooding in less than a decade. The previous declarations, in 2010, 2011 and 2013, were primarily due to rising streams and rivers due to snowmelt and rains in the mountains. In 2018, the flooding came from snow melting in the flatlands, inundating valleys and even flatlands and also causing rivers and streams to rise. By mid to late April, waterways including Milk River, Big Sandy Creek and Lodge Creek had flooded, causing flooding in Chinook and Harlem. The flooding also caused severe damage on county roads in the area, and led to fears that farmers might be kept out of fields for far too long. The Havre Daily heard reports, however, that most ag producers in the region had been able to get into their fields in time to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture deadlines for planting. Followed by a dry summer Then drier weather set in. By the end of May, although the month was short of its normal monthly precipitation — 1.31 inches versus 1.74 inches recorded at Havre — Havre was still almost an inch ahead of its annual average at that point, with 4.69 inches recorded for the year. June’s .89 inches in Havre was less than half of normal, and put Havre to just a halfinch more than normal for the year. July was drier. Its .49 inches was just more than a quarter of the normal 1.60 inches. August saw .62 inches of rain fall on Havre, again shy of normal, 1.08 inches for the month. M o re p re c i p i ta t i o n s ta r t e d to fa l l — Havre saw 1.77 inches in September, compared to the average for the month of 1.02 inches — but the area was still behind the average for the year, and the late precipitation caused another problem. Fields were too wet to plant winter wheat.
Problems planting winter wheat October saw 1.09 inches of rain fall on Havre, just short of the normal amount of 1.1 inches, but producers and ag officials said it was enough to cause some problems planting winter wheat. Farmers waited for some wetter weather to plant the crop, then the wet weather kept them out of the fields. Winter wheat seeding is down about 25 percent in the region this year. USDA reports that last year, 195,000 acres of winter wheat was planted in Hill County, compared to 145,305 acres this year. What will go into those acres is uncertain at this point, with producers saying it might be spring wheat or some might go with increasingly used alternatives like pulse crops and oilseeds. Much of that depends on the market and what happens with U.S. trade policy, they said. And how the winter wheat that was planted turns out is, as always, dependent on the weather. Some that was planted early enough is looking fairly good, some that was planted late is late developing, and it all depends on the weather. A warmer winter on the way National Weather Service is forecasting a winter the opposite of last year’s. A Dec. 14 analysis said a weak El Niño system, which typically produces warmer, dryer winters in this part of the country, followed by cooler, wetter summers, is 90 percent likely to develop and impact the next few months’ weather. In an El Niño, warmer water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean tends to bring the warmer, drier weather to the northwest, with a good chance for cooler, wetter weather in the south and east. The National Climate Center’s three-tofour week outlook for north-central Montana predicts a chance of warmer-than-normal weather and below-normal precipitation. The one-month and three-month predictions forecast a chance of above-normal temperatures and about normal precipitation.
Havre Daily News/Ryan Berry The sun sets over a wheat stubble field Dec. 19 north of Havre. The Havre area is producing about 50,000 fewer acres of winter wheat than normal this season.
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100-year-old dairy farm adapts to digital age with Instagram By MALEEHA SYED Burlington Free Press HARTLAND, Vt. (AP) — You might think you have the Instagram game figured out. But the Richardson Family Farm offers some friendly competition. The farm, based in Hartland, Vermont, boasts nearly 14,000 followers on the social media platform. The feed is dominated by picturesque photographs of cows grazing on lush grass. Amy Richardson runs the account and updates it every few days, mainly focusing on scenic shots of life on the farm. But Richardson also takes risks like participating in the #nakedfarmer where she ditched clothes in support awareness for
mental health issues. She has adapted different techniques since she started the account in 2013, figuring out her own voice in the process. The farm does business in three key areas: Maple syrup, milk and split-rail fencing. Its longstanding history began in 1907. Richardson’s home is down the road from the cows. Her husband, Scott, grew up nearby in a house surrounded by trees. Richardson studied rural resource management at Sterling College and forest management at the University of Vermont, where she met Scott. Though she described herself as relatively outdoorsy, she had little experience working
Beef: Boss set to give welcome Jan. 24 n Continued from page 6 Department; Jan 24: 11-11:10 p.m. — Welcome, Darrin Boss 11:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. — Cheatgrass Control and Weed Invaders After Drought and Fire — Jane Mangold; MSU Extension weed and invasive plant ecologist; 12:10-12:45 p.m. — Lunch 12:45-1:25 p.m. — Weak Calf Syndrome from a Vet Perspective — Dr. Bob Sager, MSU Meager County extension agent and licensed
veterinarian; 1:30-2:10 p.m. — USDA FSA Programs for Livestock Producers — Russell Snedigar and Miranda Skoyen, local FSA representatives, Havre and Chinook 2:15-2:55 p.m. — Third Trimester Nutrition in Beef Cattle — Megan Van Emon; MSU extension beef specialist; 3-3:40 p.m. — Cover Crops and Cattle Grazing — Darrin Boss, NARC superintendent.
a farm — other than some exposure at Sterling. Until she got married and joined the farm’s operations in the early 1990s. The Cabot Creamery Co-operative to which the family farm belongs hosted a Farmers’ Gratitude Tour in 2013. This led Richardson to New York City, offering cheese samples to passers-by alongside her colleagues. Cabot organized the tour as a “way of saying thank you to folks in the New York metro region for buying Cabot cheese and other fine dairy products.” The subject of social media came up, p ro m p t i n g R i c h a rd s o n to c re a t e a n Instagram account. Richardson said the co-op’s board of directors and marketing
department needed a little help sharing what farmers do. Her account could help address consumers’ concerns about the dairy industry regarding management practices and subjects like animal/land care. “I had this idea in my mind of how I just wanted to share peeks into what we’re doing here,” she said. The farm also has a website run by Richardson’s brother-in-law — which she links to in the Instagram account’s biography — and a Twitter account run by Richardson’s husband. “It took me a little while ... to kind of figure out how it all worked,” Richardson said, remembering her children saying
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Havre Daily News/file photo A pasture lays submerged under 5 to 15 feet of water at the Gildford Colony north of Gildford in mid-April Havre missed by less than an inch beating the record set in the winter of 1981-82 — which also is sixth-coldest on record — when 93.4 inches of snow fell. Some other records for daily snowfall or coldest temperatures were set, and by midMarch had set some other alarming records. One was the length of time that more than 20 inches of snow has sat on the ground. March 23, Havre was on its 35th straight day where 20-plus inches of snow had sat on the ground. The previous record dates all the way back to 1916, and that was just 15 days straight of 20-plus inches of snow resting on Havre’s surface. It also set the coldest average daily temperature on record for a seven-week span. Starting in February and through March 23, Havre averaged a high daily temperature of a whopping 8 degrees, the coldest in modern times and the fourth-coldest winter of all-time in Havre. The previous three coldest winters on record were established in 1899, 1891 and 1957. March 23, Havre had averaged 13 degrees below normal for its daily high temperature for the month. Snowmelt leads to flooding Then the snow started to melt. And it had nowhere to go. Then the region had
n Continued Winter on page 6
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2018-19: Where did the winter go? Warm, dry forecast contrasts with last year’s winter Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com With extremely varied changes in the weather from month to month in the past few years — including last year’s weather that earned north-central Montana the dubious honor of having Weather Channel say the region had the worst winter in America — people might be wondering where this year’s winter went. Light snow fell in Havre Wednesday morning, shortly before printing deadline for this story, and a slight chance of snow was forecast over the weekend. But the weather through Christmas Day in December had been very warm and very dry, following a relatively wet period from September through November — which followed a very dry summer. Temperatures were hitting the 40s and 50s in December, 10 to 20 degrees higher than the norm, and precipitation just about disappeared in that month, with a total of .14 inches by Dec. 25, half of the normal value of .33.
Constant weather changes After a dry summer in 2017 led to drought conditions in the area — including a rash of major fires starting in July, culminating with the 21,000-acre East Fork Fire in the Bear Paw Mountains — the weather turned completely around. A record-setting snowfall dropped more than a foot of wet, heavy snow in Havre and across the region the first week of October. The snowfall pummeled trees, blocked streets and highways and knocked power out from Chester to Malta, with some people waiting more than a week for power to be restored. A cold, snowy December followed. Temperatures dropped below zero and stayed there from Christmas into January, with more snow and bitterly cold temperatures coming that month. It just got worse in February. By mid-month, Havre had nearly doubled its previous record amount of snow for February, blowing away the 1978 record of 18.6 inches for the entire month with a new record of 31.8 inches. Havre did not set a new record for cold, but it came close last winter, with the average temperature of 8.6 degrees the seventhcoldest on record. It avoided the dubious honor of setting the record for the most snow in the year.
Havre Daily News/File photo Boyces feed cattle in the Bear Paw Mountains during the winter of 2017-18. Cold temperatures and heavy snow last winter are in contrast with what cattle ranchers have had to deal with so far this winter, with the forecast calling for continued above-average temperatures but average precipitation in the next few months.
www.havredailynews.com five posts a day might not be the best strategy. For Richardson, posting too frequently interfered with her ability to make quality content. She considered time an asset as she spaced out the duration between her photographs. She described her account as less focused on farm education than others in t h e i n d u s t r y. S h e a d m i r e s C a b o t Creamery’s social media presence and runs questions by its marketing department. R i c h a rd s o n i n c l u d e s t h e h a s h ta g #Cabotfarmers on Instagram, and Cabot often reposts her content. Her numbers eventually grew, but one thing still alluded her: Building community with people she never actually met in person. For Richardson, when you have friends, “you see each other once in a while” — making it challenging for her to work with Instagram’s virtual relationship-building mechanisms. “I really decided I needed more,” she said. That led her on a trip to the United K i n gd o m , v i s i t i n g fa r m e rs s h e m e t through Instagram and offering help where she could. Narrowing the focus “I think the cows can sell it all — or tell the whole story,” Richardson said. She initially tried to promote all three of the farm’s businesses. Then she realized she could only post so many interest-
FARM & RANCH ing photographs of maple syrup bottles. Richardson made other small changes over time, like using the “Stories” feature on Instagram to show more about life on the farm — sometimes including music to personalize them. Richardson took more steps to make the account her own, like changing the name to “richardsonfamfarmer” — rather than “richardsonfamfarm.” S h e g r ew c o m fo r t a b l e fo l l ow i n g accounts unrelated to farming and chose to block those that left negative comments, saying she proactively “put up that barrier.” She turned off comments on her video of a cow giving birth — which had over 27,000 views when she checked — due to arguments between Instagram users. In her recollection, she thinks this infighting revolved around disagreements about helping a cow giving birth, as well as separating the calf after. Richardson also learned that showing the less savory parts of farm life is OK. “It’s taken me time to gain the confidence to do that kind of thing,” she said. While she feels lucky to be a farmer, she acknowledged there are trade-offs and that it is not always a necessarily “happygo-lucky-life.” Which brought her to #nakedfarmer. The Australian-born movement uses attention-grabbing tactics of semi/full-nudity to draw conversations that “support people in the agricultural industry who suffer from mental health issues.” “I didn’t go for family approval … I
just decided to do it,” Richardson said of her participation. She did, however, ask a few friends before posting a nude photograph of herself. The picture, posted on Nov. 1, 2018, depicts blue skies, green grass and a naked Richardson sitting on a cow, dangling maple syrup bottles over each shoulder. Her message indicated a love for her lifestyle, her initial hesitation to post the photograph, a Tom Petty lyric and an admiration for the campaign. She felt using her network to bring up the issue was important. There was concern that posting the photograph with the farm’s maple syrup jugs could be controversial for business. But ultimately she knew this was social media: Something new would eventually come along and draw attention elsewhere. “I’m not an expert at all but I’ve found k i n d o f a n i c h e t h a t ’s wo r k i n g , ” Richardson said. She found that a photograph really was worth a thousand words and sometimes you want to “let it speak for itself for a little while.” Richardson joined a Cabot marketing team to a conference a few years ago. A presentation given on Instagram helped
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her navigate the platform. Some of these tips included: • Ensuring your photographs are of decent quality. Richardson uses an iPhone for hers. • Understanding your message and being consistent with it. • Being uniform in the way you operate: Richardson noted five posts per day was too much for her account and eventually settled into a fairly regular posting schedule that suits her. But she would never drastically break that cycle without warning (for example, going on an unannounced month-long hiatus). Her own insights included two major points: • Your followers expect certain things from you. Richardson adapted, for example, by focusing mainly on the cows rather than other aspects of the business. • You need to commit time if you are trying to grow on the platform. But for Richardson, Instagram was not crucial to the farm’s livelihood — meaning having fun with it came first. —— Online: https://bit.ly/2AhJAfg —— Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/.
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