Hi-Line Farm & Ranch November 2015

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A Lesson in Looking:

Northeastern Montana Through the Eyes of a Newcomer - Page 10 Photo by Carlos Valle

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November 2 2November 20152015

What do “low cost” ag suppliers

REALLY do for you?

When You Buy From Us, We Give You Added Value!

Let's Work Together

We Can Only Continue To Provide Service In Our Communities If YOU Support Those Services!

After The Initial Sale— WHAT Is Your "Discount" Supplier Offering You?

When you buy your chemical & fertilizer from us we can help you with . . .

• Crop Scouting • Weed Identification Services • Soil Analysis • Crop Spraying • Application Recommendations • Fertilizer Application • And Much More

We Have . . . A Full Agronomy Staff Available

To All Of Our Patrons Across Our Trade Area

The People, The Know How And The Products To Cover All Your Needs . . .

We Offer Many Services to Our Customers . . .

• On Farm Tire Service • Shop Services & Minor Repairs • Oil & Filters • Feed (Crystalyx) • Lawn Care Items • Fencing Equipment

• • • • •

Bulk Fuel Delivery Tires - Batteries - Brakes 24 Hour Gas & Fuel Oxygen/Acetylene Tanks Full-Line Hardware Store

We Also Offer Full Commodity Marketing

Value Added Services . . . Use them to your advantage and maximize your yields!

Are You Getting This Kind Of Value Where You Buy?

!

Plus, if you pay in advance, earn a 6% premium Or 6% discount for cash at time of purchase!

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Are You Ready for Winter Weather?

Tips to Help Protect Livestock from Frigid Temps GEORGIE KULCZYK FOR HI-LINE FARM & RANCH Northeast Montana winters are severe.

Temperatures, ice, snow, and wind chillsamong other things-can all contribute to a nasty winter. Plan ahead and be prepared to minimize the effect on your livestock.

One of the most important things you can do on the farm to protect your livestock is provide them adequate shelter. Shelter from the wind is especially necessary considering the extreme wind chills that can occur in Montana.

Before severe winter weather arrives, check any structures you use to shelter animals to ensure they will sufficiently be protected from weather. The roof should be able to withstand large amounts of heavy snow and be free from leaks. Windbreaks can be effective sources of shelter as well. Check the stability of the windbreak and inspect for areas that need to be repaired. Fences should also be inspected regularly for needed repairs.

For enclosed buildings, ensure that there is adequate ventilation and air flow. Livestock can be at risk of suffocating from lack of oxygen if ventilation is not properly maintained.

Have plenty of bedding on hand and keep it clean and dry. Straw is the most common bedding used for livestock, but corn stalks and other crop remnants work as well. As much as possible, snow that accumulates in pens, lots, and shelters should be removed. When the snow melts, the ground will dry faster and prevent mud from building up.

Make sure you have enough feed on hand for the winter and ensure water sources are functioning properly. Most animals die from dehydration in winter storms. If you’re not interested in hauling water all winter, purchase heated water tanks and check to make sure they are functioning properly before temperatures fall below freezing. Remove ice buildup in and around the tanks throughout the winter.

Feed must be readily available and it would be beneficial for you to keep it near feeding areas. Cold temperatures tend to increase feed intake in livestock – except when they are reluctant to leave shelter to find food. It’s also important to maintain feeding areas by removing snow and ice and placing sand or

Abandoned machinery south of Hinsdale attracts Valle's experienced eye.

See WEATHER, Page 3 PHOTOS COURTESY OF CARLOS VALLE FOR FARM & RANCH

Glasgow Stockyards, Inc. Linda & Mark Nielsen, Owners Iva Murch, Manager 263-7529 Dean Barnes, Yard Manager 263-1175 Ed Hinton, Auctioneer 783-7285

2015 – 2016 November, December & January Schedule

November 2015

A tractor rests exposed to the elements at a homestead south of Hinsdale.

Thursday

5

All Class Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction

12

All Class Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction

19

Angus Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction. Independence Bank of Glasgow will be serving a Complimentary Lunch Happy Thanksgiving - No Auction

December 2015

Thursday

3

1946 - 2016

December 2015 (cont.)

Thursday

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Serving AreA ✯ LiveStock ProducerS For 70 YeArS!

Big December Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction

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Annual Stock Cow & Bred Heifer Special & All Class Cattle Auction

17

Last All Class Cattle Auction of 2015

24

Merry Christmas - No Auction

31

Happy New Year - No Auction

One beauty in a herd of curious horses gazes at Valle & Co. on Oct. 28.

January 2016 Thursday

7

Annual New Year Feeder Classic & All Class Cattle Auction

14

Monthly Stock Cow & Bred Heifer Auction & All Class Cattle Auction

21

Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction

28

All Class Cattle Auction

Please call in consignments so buyers can be notified.

406-228-9306

P.O. Box 129 • Glasgow, MT 59230 • gsi@nemont.net www.glasgowstockyards.com

Seemingly arranged for the artistically inclined, this abandoned vehicle has a story of its own.

Details found in this pile of empty jars exemplify the kind of treasure that awaits the discerning photographer in this region.

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Fresh Perspectives

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Weather

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 other materials that will help provide good footing for animals.

Monitor your animals daily for signs of dehydration, frostbite and hypothermia. Extremities are particularly vulnerable to frostbite and can lead to impaired animal fertility and decreased milk production. Signs of hypothermia include extreme shivering, increased respiration, confusion or erratic behavior, and clumsiness-especially in younger animals.

Dehydration symptoms include lethargy, irritability, listlessness, loss of appetite, and

A New Glasgow Photographer Shares His Gifts

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changes in urine frequency or color-or both.

Contact your veterinarian immediately if you suspect any of these conditions or if you see any signs of distress in your animal.

After a winter storm, take inventory of your livestock and make a record of any animal deaths. Check fences and buildings for needed repairs and, ensure power sources are functioning properly. Continue monitoring livestock for adverse effects and seek treatment for any cold-related illnesses or conditions.

Winter will be here before we know it and readiness is the best defense. For more tips on how to protect your livestock during the winter months, contact your local veterinarian.

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NEWTON MOTORS, INC. NEW & USED TRUCKS AND CARS All In One Convenient Location

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A small herd of horses approaches Valle near the side of the road south of Saco on Oct. 28.

JAMES WALLING FOR HI-LINE FARM & RANCH Freelance photographer Carlos Valle is a recent transplant to Glasgow from Huntington Beach, California. We're very lucky to have him among us. After shopping for a new home over the summer, Valle was joined in July by wife June and children Isabella and Santiago. The young family is settling in nicely thanks to the proximity of Valle's sister-in-law, Joyce Stone (a Glaswegian for more than a decade) and mother-in-law, Judy Hawley.

The California native brings skills gained over a career as a commercial photographer, and will be traveling regularly to keep busy at his craft.

On a recent jaunt through south Phillips and Valley counties with Glasgow's Sean R. Heavey, Valle cataloged scenes of natural beauty and vacated homesteads while attempting to familiarize himself with a wholly new environment rich with imagery that longtime residents and artists often take for granted.

"I was expecting something like Missoula or Western Montana," Valle admitted on the way back to Heavey's vehicle near the end of a 12-hour tour on Oct. 28. He describes the plains as challenging subject matter, not least because of the monochromatic

Winter Wheat for Montana

CARLOS VALLE / FOR FARM & RANCH

aesthetic and largely flat or gently rolling horizons.

"I look for images that draw the viewer in," he explained, going on to discuss the ways in which tire tracks and close detail can encourage the eye to venture into a composition. Juxtaposed by the mountains and forests that typically make up the popular image of Montana, the northeastern part of the state has been something of a surprise for Valle, but his professionalism and taste shine through in the selections featured here.

Valle describes his family's decision to relocate in terms that many area residents will recognize and relate to. It all comes down to family, and a desire to raise his kids (6 and 8, respectively) in an area where they can play and attend school without the worries that plague parents in more populous parts of the country.

Since arriving, Valle has familiarized himself with firearms (with the help of brother-in-law Ryan Stone), collected a cadre of new friends, and begun plans to try his hand at fishing and other recreational activities popular in the region.

Readers interested in learning more about Valle's work — and his recent trek through the area with Heavey — can check out the Nov. 4 edition of The Glasgow Courier (Front Page), or visit vallephoto.com.

PVPA 1994—Unauthorized propagation PVPA 1994—Unauthorized propagation prohibited.

Plant variety protection granted or prohibited.

Plant variety protection granted or applied for Syngenta varieties. applied for Syngenta varieties.

Clearfield is a trademark of BASF. ©2002 BASF Corporation. All rights reserved.

Always read and follow label directions.

CARLOS VALLE / FOR FARM & RANCH

The Scandia Lutheran Church south of Malta offers sanctuary and some shelter from the wind on a chilly morning.

SEAN R. HEAVEY / FOR FARM & RANCH

A gentle reminder of the significance of agricultural production in the region greets visitors to Phillips County south of Malta.

The world awaits. (You don’t.)

Next time you travel, hop on one of our fast, daily flights to Billings Logan International for easy connections to wherever you’re going. And enjoy the ride.

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Abandoned playground equipment rests amid climbing grass at the Sun Prairie School.

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*Fares are subject to availability and other conditions. Fares may change without notice, and are not guaranteed until ticketed.

CARLOS VALLE / FOR FARM & RANCH

An empty kitchen inside a homestead south of Hinsdale tempts the imagination with scenes of domestic life.

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

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Tough year for north-central ag

Some farmers upset that hydroponic crops carry organic label

Pam Burke community@havredailynews.com

WILSON RING Associated Press

After a summer of widely differing weather across Hill County and a major hailstorm in July, the end of the 2015 growing season holds no surprises, or records.

“It was a miserable year,” said Les Rispens, executive director of Hill County Farm Service Agency.

Condtions across the northern portion of the county went from what Rispens described as “substantial drought” in the northwest corner of the county, with some farmers seeing near total crop loss, to average precipitation at the east side of the county.

In the southern portion of the county, crops were looking to come in with an average yield, and about two weeks early, but the July 4 hailstorm took out a large portion of those crops.

“The hailstorm on July 4th probably reduced our crops by over 30 percent, probably closer to 35 to 40 percent countywide loss, because of the damage of that hailstorm,” Rispens said. “In addition to that, the northwest corner of the county was extremely dry for the whole month of June. They almost had no rain and so crops in that part of the county had pretty much failed before the hailstorm even hit — we had about 20 percent of the county that was already headed toward about an 80 percent loss before the hailstorm.

Havre Daily News/Pam Burke Winter wheat planted on the Hi-Line in September shows strong growth Oct. 26 before the first hard freeze and winter weather sets in.

“Of course they had absolutely nothing left after the hailstorm and then throughout the rest of the county that hailstorm damaged … a substantial amount of acreage,” he added.

The region’s largest crop, winter wheat, was doing the best because of good subsoil moisture from substantial rains in late August 2014 when 3 to 6 inches of precipitation fell across the county. Below normal spring temperatures and a late season frost generally didn’t hurt crops enough to drop them below average yield in Hill County.

Producers in the Box Elder area, Rispens said, were looking at above-average yield before the hailstorm, which hit that area the hardest.

In June, Chouteau County FSA Executive Director Bill Evans said that some farmers in the Carter area opted to hay their crops after the two-week period of late frost rather than sink more time and money into trying to salvage them.

Rispens said that the hailstorm, though, was a big game-changer in southern Hill County.

“The hailstorm knocked out about 30 percent of (winter wheat), maybe a little more.

The stuff that did get harvested the yields for winter wheat were really average — high 30s maybe 40-bushel yields — and, of course, there was a whole lot of it that did get harvested that was damaged but not completely

STOWE, Vt. (AP) — Some organic crop farmers don't want crops raised sans soil in hydroponic greenhouses to carry the "organic" label, and to make their point, they dumped a pile of compost in a parking lot Oct. 28 where a federal advisory board dedicated to the organic community was meeting.

A handful of tractors circled the lot and about 50 protesters carried signs that oppose federal rules that allow some produce grown without soil to be labeled as organic.

But others said the designation as organic shouldn't have anything to do with where the crops are grown.

The National Organic Standards Board is meeting in Stowe this week.

"Organic farming of terrestrial plants needs to happen in the soil," said Dave Chapman, of Long Wind Farm in East Thetford, who helped organize the protest.

"It's a basic principle of organic farming that you feed the soil, not the plant, that you cultivate the life in the soil."

Chapman said he believes hydroponic agriculture has its place, but not with the label organic.

Proponents of the practice say the label "organic" is something that should refer to the nutrients that are used to grow the crops, not where they are grown. To grow something hydroponically, sand, gravel or water is used, instead of soil. Nutrients are added in.

"The science and the processes are exactly the same. There are a lot of people who have a religious belief, almost, around soil," said Colin Archipley who, with his wife Karen, runs an organic farm outside San Diego with some of their crops being grown hydroponically.

Philip LaRocca, an organic winemaker from Forest Ranch, California, said hydroponic farmers work as hard and as diligently as farmers who farm in soil.

"As long as they follow organic systems, organic plans, not using any synthetic materials," he said, "why not certify them organic?"

There's a competition to it all, too, said Chapman. Crops can be grown more efficiently and cheaper in hydroponic systems.

Archipley said it helps make organic food available to more people. He said many who advocate for dropping the organic label from hydroponically grown crops are really worried about losing market share.

The National Organic Standards Board is a volunteer group that makes recommendations on organic agriculture policy issues to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A new federal hydroponics task force is scheduled to have its first meeting in early November.

It will study current hydroponic production methods and report back to the board a year from now.

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Pasture to plate New facility moves meat from farm to table JASON RUITER The News & Advance LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — Seven Hills Food Company had its grand opening just off Campbell Avenue by the Lynchburg Expressway and will process Virginia meats for Virginians exclusively.

The plant employs 15 people, but that number is expected to increase to nearly 45.

"We're an end-point for the grower," said Ryan Ford, owner of the company and The O r g a n i c B u t c h e r, a m e a t s h o p i n Charlottesville and McLean. "Our job is really to cement the customer to stategrade cattle."

Local agricultural agents said the meat facility, at about 40,000 square feet, likely is the biggest in the state and opens options for Virginia farmers.

"There is sort of a bottle neck to get (meat) processed," said Kevin Camm, agricultural agent for Lynchburg.

Other facilities in the area are small, said Scott Baker, agricultural agent for Bedford County. W i t h t h a t b o t t l e n e c k , demand for another meat processor was there.

"As the industry consolidates, it opens up opportunities for a differentiated product," Ford said. That product is homegrown Virginia beef.

"It's very similar to the thing with craft beer," he said, adding, "We have a chance to make Virginia beef the best in the country."

But market conditions were just one factor in a confluence of events that made Seven Hills Food possible.

The space formerly was used by the Dinner Bell Meat Company, which closed its doors about eight years ago.

"There's not something like this that's going to work with local farmers anywhere," said Marjette Upshur, director of the office of economic development in Lynchburg, which applied for the grant. "It had just been sitting here. I've been bringing people to look at it, but it's really a special-use kind of building."

Upshur said there will be a "Seven Hills" food label for certain products coming through the facility, which will distribute and help market beef, pork, lamb and goat

Jill Nance /News & Daily Advance via AP People attend the grand opening of the Seven Hills Food Co. Oct. 19. in Lynchburg, Va. The meat processing facility will process Virginia meats for Virginians exclusively. The plant employs 15 people, but that number is expected to increase to nearly 45. meat, making custom packaging for Virginia farmers and wholesale orders for grocery stores, butcher shops and restaurants. The company currently has about six agreements with farms, like the Buffalo River Ranch in Amherst, and expects at least another half-dozen.

"And we could do more," Ford said.

The new processing plant used a $250,000 grant from the state's Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, which was signed into law by former Gov. Bob McDonnell in the 2012 assembly. That grant was matched dollar for dollar by the city, totaling half a million for Seven Hills.

AFID grants are applied through the locality and the business beneficiary for a facility that produces "valued-added agricultural or forestal products," according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

McAuliffe was quick to say since being sworn into office about 21 months ago, he's completed 481 economic deals with $7.9 billion in total investments.

"We are very vulnerable because we are

the No. 1 recipient of federal tax dollars," he said an interview afterwards. "We have to bring in new businesses."

During the announcement at Seven Hills, McAuliffe was interrupted by several protesters from the Farm Animal Rights Movement with yells of "It's wrong," and "It's violence." FARM's mission is to end the use of animals for food, according to its website. Protesters held signs calling the meat-processing facility a "death camp."

"Clearly, we're not going to shut down the slaughterhouse, but we want our voices to be heard," Bryan Monell, one of the protesters, said.

Lynchburg Mayor Mike Gillette said the new facility was important to a changing world and important for the city individually.

"One of the most important things we can do in a city like Lynchburg is to reuse the resources that we have," he said, adding locally grown resources are "an extraordinary part of a modern economy."

The property and infrastructure was purchased for $300,000 in January, according to the same records, and new equipment installations and renovations have since been done.

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destroyed by the hail — that had substantial reduction in yield below that,” he said. “So it was, overall, a pretty dismal year for these guys. They just didn’t have a good crop to harvest.”

Spring crops, such as barley and spring wheat, didn’t do well because of the cool spring temperatures and the excessively dry June, so even the acres that didn’t get hail had low yields — 30-bushel yields for spring wheat and 35 to maybe 40 bushels for barley, he said.

Normally, barley brings in mid-40s in bushels per acre for Hill County and spring wheat in the mid-30s to 40 bushels. This year saw about a 25 percent reduction in spring crop production due to drought, he said.

The livestock producers are often overlooked when talking about plant production in the area, Rispens added, and this year the weather hit them hard.

“The combination of early-season drought and hail had a really substantial impact on the availability of grazing in the county, and the summer pastures were probably reduced by close to 65 percent based on our best estimates so far,” he said. “That really hurt them. We had quite a few guys sell off some their cows to try to stay within the grazing that they did have. It was a pretty sad year — the grass just didn’t perform at all.”

Hay production had its own vagaries as well.

“Plants like alfalfa are pretty deep-rooted, and we had some good subsoil moisture, or reasonable, and so some of the alfalfa performed really well, but we don’t have much of that so what we harvest is grass hay and that was dramatically impacted by the early season drought, and then the hail as well,”

Rispens said. “So our hay was really poor.”

Many acres of CRP were hayed this year under the FSA managed haying provisions, so the availability of hay is OK, he said, but not all the best quality because CRP contains so much dead matter from previous years’ growth.

He estimated hay production at about 50 percent of normal on average.

Pricing

Crop prices right now are hovering around, and mostly just below, $5 per bushel, Rispens said. This is down from the past two years when the wheat prices were about $7, and even close to $8 per bushel at times.

Right now, he said, the only time farmers are getting as much as $5.25 is when elevators need to fill grain cars in a train load, he said.

“It seems like that is sort of a magic deal.

Guys will sell at about five-and-a-quarter but they won’t sell at anything less than five bucks, and so we’ve got this kind of strange standoff going,” he said, “where the market is just hovering below where the guys will sell the grain. And we have a great deal of grain in storage around the county.”

He said, though, that the lower prices shouldn’t be a surprise to producers. U.S. Department of Agriculture representatives talking about the new Farm Bill earlier in the year reported that Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, Office of Management and Budget and USDA all projected two to three years of low prices.

This prediction is based on a combination of factors, he said, but it has a lot to do with the value of the U.S. dollar compared to other currencies.

As other nations, grain-buying nations, go through economic problems the value of their currency falls dramatically compared to the U.S. dollar , he said, “so then it takes a whole lot more — you name your currency, yen, whatever you want — to buy a bushel of U.S. wheat because you have to get your currency converted into U.S dollars to buy our wheat.

When your currency has little or no value, it’s hard to buy our wheat.

“It’s an odd thing,” he said, “but when the U.S. economy is strong and the world economies are weak, it’s hard to sell U.S. wheat.”

These countries will go to producers in other nations where their dollar is performing better for wheat imports.

Livestock prices are a little bit softer than last year but they’re still continuing to be respectable and the price for that product seems to be staying right in there, he said.

And even producers who had to sell cows early in the year to reduce their herds to numbers their pasture could handle were satisfied with their prices.

This, in large part, has to do with many U.S. producers replenishing their herds — in the Southwest because of severe drought, and in South Dakota because of the October 2013 blizzard.

“That is the difference between the two markets is that the beef market has been internal and our grain market is mostly external,” he said. “... I think that’s the separation between the two is the U.S. economy has actually slightly strengthened over the past several months. You’ve seen U.S. consumers — we can still buy beef and we still do.

“We export so much of our grain, especially wheat from Montana,” he added. “Here, 50

www.havredailynews.com percent or more gets exported out of the U.S. and a lower percentage of beef production is exported.”

Future

The Trans-Pacific Partnership should be good for Montana producers, but just how good remains to be seen, Rispens said.

“These agreements tend to help commodities to move easier and faster between those markets, and that’s kind of part of what this does is remove some of those barriers that countries tend to throw up to protect their own farmers,” he said.

The problem, in the short term, is that while the TPP will help with ease and speed of trading, those two points do not matter much if those nations do not have the money to buy U.S. crops and livestock.

“This doesn’t change the fundamental economics, this doesn’t improve the economy of China (or other countries). It doesn’t,” Rispens said. “Until they have the money, they can’t buy the product. So while this sort of greases the wheels, it may not move the whole train.”

Economics does not change the benefits of the change in trade policies, though, and in the future it is likely to impact volume of sales and how quickly the sales react to upticks in economy.

“I don’t think there’s going to be any down side,” he said. “... It’s definitely positive, but how much of an impact will be seen.”

As for the weather, National Weather Service predicts that this winter’s El Nino conditions will bring substantially higher than average temperatures with below normal

n Continued on page 7

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Tough year: Lamb: Even though rain came in downpours, still better than no rain n Continued from page 5 moisture November through February, and in March through June above average temps with equal chances of above-average, average or below-average precipitation.

“We are actually sitting fairly well for moisture,” said Peggy Lamb, agronomist at Montana State University’s Northern Agricultural Research Center. “That August rain helped out a lot; the July rain helped out a lot. If it hadn’t been for those two events, we would really, really be in a bad situation right now.”

“The nice, slow, gentle, weeklong rain is always more useful,” she added. “If we can get two inches in a week rather than two inches in a day it’s always more helpful. On the other hand, it is more useful than nothing at all.”

Lamb said that the research center, about six miles south of Havre, has above average rainfall, due mostly to two rainstorms which gave them about 4 inches total of moisture.

The weather reporting station at Havre City-County Airport recorded 2.75 inches in July, .74 inches in August and 1.76 inches in September. The September moisture came primarily from a storm early in the month.

Weather Service said that as of Oct. 28, Havre has had 11.25 inches in 2015, which is almost an inch above normal.

Havre Daily News/Pam Burke Oct. 18 heifers and steers wait in pens at the Hill County Scale Association east of Havre to be shipped.

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Tough year: Lamb: Even though rain came in downpours, still better than no rain n Continued from page 5 moisture November through February, and in March through June above average temps with equal chances of above-average, average or below-average precipitation.

“We are actually sitting fairly well for moisture,” said Peggy Lamb, agronomist at Montana State University’s Northern Agricultural Research Center. “That August rain helped out a lot; the July rain helped out a lot. If it hadn’t been for those two events, we would really, really be in a bad situation right now.”

“The nice, slow, gentle, weeklong rain is always more useful,” she added. “If we can get two inches in a week rather than two inches in a day it’s always more helpful. On the other hand, it is more useful than nothing at all.”

Lamb said that the research center, about six miles south of Havre, has above average rainfall, due mostly to two rainstorms which gave them about 4 inches total of moisture.

The weather reporting station at Havre City-County Airport recorded 2.75 inches in July, .74 inches in August and 1.76 inches in September. The September moisture came primarily from a storm early in the month.

Weather Service said that as of Oct. 28, Havre has had 11.25 inches in 2015, which is almost an inch above normal.

Havre Daily News/Pam Burke Oct. 18 heifers and steers wait in pens at the Hill County Scale Association east of Havre to be shipped.

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Pasture to plate New facility moves meat from farm to table JASON RUITER The News & Advance LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — Seven Hills Food Company had its grand opening just off Campbell Avenue by the Lynchburg Expressway and will process Virginia meats for Virginians exclusively.

The plant employs 15 people, but that number is expected to increase to nearly 45.

"We're an end-point for the grower," said Ryan Ford, owner of the company and The O r g a n i c B u t c h e r, a m e a t s h o p i n Charlottesville and McLean. "Our job is really to cement the customer to stategrade cattle."

Local agricultural agents said the meat facility, at about 40,000 square feet, likely is the biggest in the state and opens options for Virginia farmers.

"There is sort of a bottle neck to get (meat) processed," said Kevin Camm, agricultural agent for Lynchburg.

Other facilities in the area are small, said Scott Baker, agricultural agent for Bedford County. W i t h t h a t b o t t l e n e c k , demand for another meat processor was there.

"As the industry consolidates, it opens up opportunities for a differentiated product," Ford said. That product is homegrown Virginia beef.

"It's very similar to the thing with craft beer," he said, adding, "We have a chance to make Virginia beef the best in the country."

But market conditions were just one factor in a confluence of events that made Seven Hills Food possible.

The space formerly was used by the Dinner Bell Meat Company, which closed its doors about eight years ago.

"There's not something like this that's going to work with local farmers anywhere," said Marjette Upshur, director of the office of economic development in Lynchburg, which applied for the grant. "It had just been sitting here. I've been bringing people to look at it, but it's really a special-use kind of building."

Upshur said there will be a "Seven Hills" food label for certain products coming through the facility, which will distribute and help market beef, pork, lamb and goat

Jill Nance /News & Daily Advance via AP People attend the grand opening of the Seven Hills Food Co. Oct. 19. in Lynchburg, Va. The meat processing facility will process Virginia meats for Virginians exclusively. The plant employs 15 people, but that number is expected to increase to nearly 45. meat, making custom packaging for Virginia farmers and wholesale orders for grocery stores, butcher shops and restaurants. The company currently has about six agreements with farms, like the Buffalo River Ranch in Amherst, and expects at least another half-dozen.

"And we could do more," Ford said.

The new processing plant used a $250,000 grant from the state's Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, which was signed into law by former Gov. Bob McDonnell in the 2012 assembly. That grant was matched dollar for dollar by the city, totaling half a million for Seven Hills.

AFID grants are applied through the locality and the business beneficiary for a facility that produces "valued-added agricultural or forestal products," according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

McAuliffe was quick to say since being sworn into office about 21 months ago, he's completed 481 economic deals with $7.9 billion in total investments.

"We are very vulnerable because we are

the No. 1 recipient of federal tax dollars," he said an interview afterwards. "We have to bring in new businesses."

During the announcement at Seven Hills, McAuliffe was interrupted by several protesters from the Farm Animal Rights Movement with yells of "It's wrong," and "It's violence." FARM's mission is to end the use of animals for food, according to its website. Protesters held signs calling the meat-processing facility a "death camp."

"Clearly, we're not going to shut down the slaughterhouse, but we want our voices to be heard," Bryan Monell, one of the protesters, said.

Lynchburg Mayor Mike Gillette said the new facility was important to a changing world and important for the city individually.

"One of the most important things we can do in a city like Lynchburg is to reuse the resources that we have," he said, adding locally grown resources are "an extraordinary part of a modern economy."

The property and infrastructure was purchased for $300,000 in January, according to the same records, and new equipment installations and renovations have since been done.

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destroyed by the hail — that had substantial reduction in yield below that,” he said. “So it was, overall, a pretty dismal year for these guys. They just didn’t have a good crop to harvest.”

Spring crops, such as barley and spring wheat, didn’t do well because of the cool spring temperatures and the excessively dry June, so even the acres that didn’t get hail had low yields — 30-bushel yields for spring wheat and 35 to maybe 40 bushels for barley, he said.

Normally, barley brings in mid-40s in bushels per acre for Hill County and spring wheat in the mid-30s to 40 bushels. This year saw about a 25 percent reduction in spring crop production due to drought, he said.

The livestock producers are often overlooked when talking about plant production in the area, Rispens added, and this year the weather hit them hard.

“The combination of early-season drought and hail had a really substantial impact on the availability of grazing in the county, and the summer pastures were probably reduced by close to 65 percent based on our best estimates so far,” he said. “That really hurt them. We had quite a few guys sell off some their cows to try to stay within the grazing that they did have. It was a pretty sad year — the grass just didn’t perform at all.”

Hay production had its own vagaries as well.

“Plants like alfalfa are pretty deep-rooted, and we had some good subsoil moisture, or reasonable, and so some of the alfalfa performed really well, but we don’t have much of that so what we harvest is grass hay and that was dramatically impacted by the early season drought, and then the hail as well,”

Rispens said. “So our hay was really poor.”

Many acres of CRP were hayed this year under the FSA managed haying provisions, so the availability of hay is OK, he said, but not all the best quality because CRP contains so much dead matter from previous years’ growth.

He estimated hay production at about 50 percent of normal on average.

Pricing

Crop prices right now are hovering around, and mostly just below, $5 per bushel, Rispens said. This is down from the past two years when the wheat prices were about $7, and even close to $8 per bushel at times.

Right now, he said, the only time farmers are getting as much as $5.25 is when elevators need to fill grain cars in a train load, he said.

“It seems like that is sort of a magic deal.

Guys will sell at about five-and-a-quarter but they won’t sell at anything less than five bucks, and so we’ve got this kind of strange standoff going,” he said, “where the market is just hovering below where the guys will sell the grain. And we have a great deal of grain in storage around the county.”

He said, though, that the lower prices shouldn’t be a surprise to producers. U.S. Department of Agriculture representatives talking about the new Farm Bill earlier in the year reported that Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, Office of Management and Budget and USDA all projected two to three years of low prices.

This prediction is based on a combination of factors, he said, but it has a lot to do with the value of the U.S. dollar compared to other currencies.

As other nations, grain-buying nations, go through economic problems the value of their currency falls dramatically compared to the U.S. dollar , he said, “so then it takes a whole lot more — you name your currency, yen, whatever you want — to buy a bushel of U.S. wheat because you have to get your currency converted into U.S dollars to buy our wheat.

When your currency has little or no value, it’s hard to buy our wheat.

“It’s an odd thing,” he said, “but when the U.S. economy is strong and the world economies are weak, it’s hard to sell U.S. wheat.”

These countries will go to producers in other nations where their dollar is performing better for wheat imports.

Livestock prices are a little bit softer than last year but they’re still continuing to be respectable and the price for that product seems to be staying right in there, he said.

And even producers who had to sell cows early in the year to reduce their herds to numbers their pasture could handle were satisfied with their prices.

This, in large part, has to do with many U.S. producers replenishing their herds — in the Southwest because of severe drought, and in South Dakota because of the October 2013 blizzard.

“That is the difference between the two markets is that the beef market has been internal and our grain market is mostly external,” he said. “... I think that’s the separation between the two is the U.S. economy has actually slightly strengthened over the past several months. You’ve seen U.S. consumers — we can still buy beef and we still do.

“We export so much of our grain, especially wheat from Montana,” he added. “Here, 50

www.havredailynews.com percent or more gets exported out of the U.S. and a lower percentage of beef production is exported.”

Future

The Trans-Pacific Partnership should be good for Montana producers, but just how good remains to be seen, Rispens said.

“These agreements tend to help commodities to move easier and faster between those markets, and that’s kind of part of what this does is remove some of those barriers that countries tend to throw up to protect their own farmers,” he said.

The problem, in the short term, is that while the TPP will help with ease and speed of trading, those two points do not matter much if those nations do not have the money to buy U.S. crops and livestock.

“This doesn’t change the fundamental economics, this doesn’t improve the economy of China (or other countries). It doesn’t,” Rispens said. “Until they have the money, they can’t buy the product. So while this sort of greases the wheels, it may not move the whole train.”

Economics does not change the benefits of the change in trade policies, though, and in the future it is likely to impact volume of sales and how quickly the sales react to upticks in economy.

“I don’t think there’s going to be any down side,” he said. “... It’s definitely positive, but how much of an impact will be seen.”

As for the weather, National Weather Service predicts that this winter’s El Nino conditions will bring substantially higher than average temperatures with below normal

n Continued on page 7

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Tough year for north-central ag

Some farmers upset that hydroponic crops carry organic label

Pam Burke community@havredailynews.com

WILSON RING Associated Press

After a summer of widely differing weather across Hill County and a major hailstorm in July, the end of the 2015 growing season holds no surprises, or records.

“It was a miserable year,” said Les Rispens, executive director of Hill County Farm Service Agency.

Condtions across the northern portion of the county went from what Rispens described as “substantial drought” in the northwest corner of the county, with some farmers seeing near total crop loss, to average precipitation at the east side of the county.

In the southern portion of the county, crops were looking to come in with an average yield, and about two weeks early, but the July 4 hailstorm took out a large portion of those crops.

“The hailstorm on July 4th probably reduced our crops by over 30 percent, probably closer to 35 to 40 percent countywide loss, because of the damage of that hailstorm,” Rispens said. “In addition to that, the northwest corner of the county was extremely dry for the whole month of June. They almost had no rain and so crops in that part of the county had pretty much failed before the hailstorm even hit — we had about 20 percent of the county that was already headed toward about an 80 percent loss before the hailstorm.

Havre Daily News/Pam Burke Winter wheat planted on the Hi-Line in September shows strong growth Oct. 26 before the first hard freeze and winter weather sets in.

“Of course they had absolutely nothing left after the hailstorm and then throughout the rest of the county that hailstorm damaged … a substantial amount of acreage,” he added.

The region’s largest crop, winter wheat, was doing the best because of good subsoil moisture from substantial rains in late August 2014 when 3 to 6 inches of precipitation fell across the county. Below normal spring temperatures and a late season frost generally didn’t hurt crops enough to drop them below average yield in Hill County.

Producers in the Box Elder area, Rispens said, were looking at above-average yield before the hailstorm, which hit that area the hardest.

In June, Chouteau County FSA Executive Director Bill Evans said that some farmers in the Carter area opted to hay their crops after the two-week period of late frost rather than sink more time and money into trying to salvage them.

Rispens said that the hailstorm, though, was a big game-changer in southern Hill County.

“The hailstorm knocked out about 30 percent of (winter wheat), maybe a little more.

The stuff that did get harvested the yields for winter wheat were really average — high 30s maybe 40-bushel yields — and, of course, there was a whole lot of it that did get harvested that was damaged but not completely

STOWE, Vt. (AP) — Some organic crop farmers don't want crops raised sans soil in hydroponic greenhouses to carry the "organic" label, and to make their point, they dumped a pile of compost in a parking lot Oct. 28 where a federal advisory board dedicated to the organic community was meeting.

A handful of tractors circled the lot and about 50 protesters carried signs that oppose federal rules that allow some produce grown without soil to be labeled as organic.

But others said the designation as organic shouldn't have anything to do with where the crops are grown.

The National Organic Standards Board is meeting in Stowe this week.

"Organic farming of terrestrial plants needs to happen in the soil," said Dave Chapman, of Long Wind Farm in East Thetford, who helped organize the protest.

"It's a basic principle of organic farming that you feed the soil, not the plant, that you cultivate the life in the soil."

Chapman said he believes hydroponic agriculture has its place, but not with the label organic.

Proponents of the practice say the label "organic" is something that should refer to the nutrients that are used to grow the crops, not where they are grown. To grow something hydroponically, sand, gravel or water is used, instead of soil. Nutrients are added in.

"The science and the processes are exactly the same. There are a lot of people who have a religious belief, almost, around soil," said Colin Archipley who, with his wife Karen, runs an organic farm outside San Diego with some of their crops being grown hydroponically.

Philip LaRocca, an organic winemaker from Forest Ranch, California, said hydroponic farmers work as hard and as diligently as farmers who farm in soil.

"As long as they follow organic systems, organic plans, not using any synthetic materials," he said, "why not certify them organic?"

There's a competition to it all, too, said Chapman. Crops can be grown more efficiently and cheaper in hydroponic systems.

Archipley said it helps make organic food available to more people. He said many who advocate for dropping the organic label from hydroponically grown crops are really worried about losing market share.

The National Organic Standards Board is a volunteer group that makes recommendations on organic agriculture policy issues to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A new federal hydroponics task force is scheduled to have its first meeting in early November.

It will study current hydroponic production methods and report back to the board a year from now.

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Fresh Perspectives

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 other materials that will help provide good footing for animals.

Monitor your animals daily for signs of dehydration, frostbite and hypothermia. Extremities are particularly vulnerable to frostbite and can lead to impaired animal fertility and decreased milk production. Signs of hypothermia include extreme shivering, increased respiration, confusion or erratic behavior, and clumsiness-especially in younger animals.

Dehydration symptoms include lethargy, irritability, listlessness, loss of appetite, and

A New Glasgow Photographer Shares His Gifts

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FARM & RANCH FARM & RANCH

changes in urine frequency or color-or both.

Contact your veterinarian immediately if you suspect any of these conditions or if you see any signs of distress in your animal.

After a winter storm, take inventory of your livestock and make a record of any animal deaths. Check fences and buildings for needed repairs and, ensure power sources are functioning properly. Continue monitoring livestock for adverse effects and seek treatment for any cold-related illnesses or conditions.

Winter will be here before we know it and readiness is the best defense. For more tips on how to protect your livestock during the winter months, contact your local veterinarian.

www.glasgowcourier.com www.glasgowcourier.com

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A small herd of horses approaches Valle near the side of the road south of Saco on Oct. 28.

JAMES WALLING FOR HI-LINE FARM & RANCH Freelance photographer Carlos Valle is a recent transplant to Glasgow from Huntington Beach, California. We're very lucky to have him among us. After shopping for a new home over the summer, Valle was joined in July by wife June and children Isabella and Santiago. The young family is settling in nicely thanks to the proximity of Valle's sister-in-law, Joyce Stone (a Glaswegian for more than a decade) and mother-in-law, Judy Hawley.

The California native brings skills gained over a career as a commercial photographer, and will be traveling regularly to keep busy at his craft.

On a recent jaunt through south Phillips and Valley counties with Glasgow's Sean R. Heavey, Valle cataloged scenes of natural beauty and vacated homesteads while attempting to familiarize himself with a wholly new environment rich with imagery that longtime residents and artists often take for granted.

"I was expecting something like Missoula or Western Montana," Valle admitted on the way back to Heavey's vehicle near the end of a 12-hour tour on Oct. 28. He describes the plains as challenging subject matter, not least because of the monochromatic

Winter Wheat for Montana

CARLOS VALLE / FOR FARM & RANCH

aesthetic and largely flat or gently rolling horizons.

"I look for images that draw the viewer in," he explained, going on to discuss the ways in which tire tracks and close detail can encourage the eye to venture into a composition. Juxtaposed by the mountains and forests that typically make up the popular image of Montana, the northeastern part of the state has been something of a surprise for Valle, but his professionalism and taste shine through in the selections featured here.

Valle describes his family's decision to relocate in terms that many area residents will recognize and relate to. It all comes down to family, and a desire to raise his kids (6 and 8, respectively) in an area where they can play and attend school without the worries that plague parents in more populous parts of the country.

Since arriving, Valle has familiarized himself with firearms (with the help of brother-in-law Ryan Stone), collected a cadre of new friends, and begun plans to try his hand at fishing and other recreational activities popular in the region.

Readers interested in learning more about Valle's work — and his recent trek through the area with Heavey — can check out the Nov. 4 edition of The Glasgow Courier (Front Page), or visit vallephoto.com.

PVPA 1994—Unauthorized propagation PVPA 1994—Unauthorized propagation prohibited.

Plant variety protection granted or prohibited.

Plant variety protection granted or applied for Syngenta varieties. applied for Syngenta varieties.

Clearfield is a trademark of BASF. ©2002 BASF Corporation. All rights reserved.

Always read and follow label directions.

CARLOS VALLE / FOR FARM & RANCH

The Scandia Lutheran Church south of Malta offers sanctuary and some shelter from the wind on a chilly morning.

SEAN R. HEAVEY / FOR FARM & RANCH

A gentle reminder of the significance of agricultural production in the region greets visitors to Phillips County south of Malta.

The world awaits. (You don’t.)

Next time you travel, hop on one of our fast, daily flights to Billings Logan International for easy connections to wherever you’re going. And enjoy the ride.

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Abandoned playground equipment rests amid climbing grass at the Sun Prairie School.

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An empty kitchen inside a homestead south of Hinsdale tempts the imagination with scenes of domestic life.

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

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November 2 2November 20152015

What do “low cost” ag suppliers

REALLY do for you?

When You Buy From Us, We Give You Added Value!

Let's Work Together

We Can Only Continue To Provide Service In Our Communities If YOU Support Those Services!

After The Initial Sale— WHAT Is Your "Discount" Supplier Offering You?

When you buy your chemical & fertilizer from us we can help you with . . .

• Crop Scouting • Weed Identification Services • Soil Analysis • Crop Spraying • Application Recommendations • Fertilizer Application • And Much More

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To All Of Our Patrons Across Our Trade Area

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Bulk Fuel Delivery Tires - Batteries - Brakes 24 Hour Gas & Fuel Oxygen/Acetylene Tanks Full-Line Hardware Store

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Are You Ready for Winter Weather?

Tips to Help Protect Livestock from Frigid Temps GEORGIE KULCZYK FOR HI-LINE FARM & RANCH Northeast Montana winters are severe.

Temperatures, ice, snow, and wind chillsamong other things-can all contribute to a nasty winter. Plan ahead and be prepared to minimize the effect on your livestock.

One of the most important things you can do on the farm to protect your livestock is provide them adequate shelter. Shelter from the wind is especially necessary considering the extreme wind chills that can occur in Montana.

Before severe winter weather arrives, check any structures you use to shelter animals to ensure they will sufficiently be protected from weather. The roof should be able to withstand large amounts of heavy snow and be free from leaks. Windbreaks can be effective sources of shelter as well. Check the stability of the windbreak and inspect for areas that need to be repaired. Fences should also be inspected regularly for needed repairs.

For enclosed buildings, ensure that there is adequate ventilation and air flow. Livestock can be at risk of suffocating from lack of oxygen if ventilation is not properly maintained.

Have plenty of bedding on hand and keep it clean and dry. Straw is the most common bedding used for livestock, but corn stalks and other crop remnants work as well. As much as possible, snow that accumulates in pens, lots, and shelters should be removed. When the snow melts, the ground will dry faster and prevent mud from building up.

Make sure you have enough feed on hand for the winter and ensure water sources are functioning properly. Most animals die from dehydration in winter storms. If you’re not interested in hauling water all winter, purchase heated water tanks and check to make sure they are functioning properly before temperatures fall below freezing. Remove ice buildup in and around the tanks throughout the winter.

Feed must be readily available and it would be beneficial for you to keep it near feeding areas. Cold temperatures tend to increase feed intake in livestock – except when they are reluctant to leave shelter to find food. It’s also important to maintain feeding areas by removing snow and ice and placing sand or

Abandoned machinery south of Hinsdale attracts Valle's experienced eye.

See WEATHER, Page 3 PHOTOS COURTESY OF CARLOS VALLE FOR FARM & RANCH

Glasgow Stockyards, Inc. Linda & Mark Nielsen, Owners Iva Murch, Manager 263-7529 Dean Barnes, Yard Manager 263-1175 Ed Hinton, Auctioneer 783-7285

2015 – 2016 November, December & January Schedule

November 2015

A tractor rests exposed to the elements at a homestead south of Hinsdale.

Thursday

5

All Class Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction

12

All Class Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction

19

Angus Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction. Independence Bank of Glasgow will be serving a Complimentary Lunch Happy Thanksgiving - No Auction

December 2015

Thursday

3

1946 - 2016

December 2015 (cont.)

Thursday

26

Serving AreA ✯ LiveStock ProducerS For 70 YeArS!

Big December Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction

10

Annual Stock Cow & Bred Heifer Special & All Class Cattle Auction

17

Last All Class Cattle Auction of 2015

24

Merry Christmas - No Auction

31

Happy New Year - No Auction

One beauty in a herd of curious horses gazes at Valle & Co. on Oct. 28.

January 2016 Thursday

7

Annual New Year Feeder Classic & All Class Cattle Auction

14

Monthly Stock Cow & Bred Heifer Auction & All Class Cattle Auction

21

Feeder Special & All Class Cattle Auction

28

All Class Cattle Auction

Please call in consignments so buyers can be notified.

406-228-9306

P.O. Box 129 • Glasgow, MT 59230 • gsi@nemont.net www.glasgowstockyards.com

Seemingly arranged for the artistically inclined, this abandoned vehicle has a story of its own.

Details found in this pile of empty jars exemplify the kind of treasure that awaits the discerning photographer in this region.

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A Lesson in Looking:

Northeastern Montana Through the Eyes of a Newcomer - Page 10 Photo by Carlos Valle