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Crops remain in the field Issues linger from wet fall By KIM FUNDINGSLAND
Staff Writer kfundingsland @minotdailynews.com It was wet last year, especially in the fall when harvest season was getting underway. Then a late November snowstorm swept across much of the Minot area, further adding to an already soggy dilemma facing farmers seeking to get their crops off the land. Harvest troubles continued into this month. While some crop is still being removed despite the onset of winter, other fields were simply too wet to allow equipment to get the job done. One of the most affected areas is Renville County. While cropland along the Canadian border was particularly hard hit with rain and snow, crops elsewhere suffered too. “It dips down to Carpio, Berthold and Donnybrook with a lot of crops in the field,” said LoAyne Voigt, Renville County Agent in Mohall. “Conditions were really good
through the summer until fall. Then it started raining and never slowed down.” While the timing of precipitation was a problem for growers, so too was the overall amount. The 23.64 inches of precipitation received in Minot in 2019 was the 7th most in recorded history. “Old-timers tell me they’ve never seen anything this wet in the fall of the year,” said Voigt. Others compare conditions in the field to recent memory of 2011, also an exceptionally wet year that saw record flooding occur along the Souris and Missouri Rivers. In recent days and weeks farmers have been harvesting some corn and sunflowers, crops where the ground was too saturated to permit a fall harvest. The ground was too wet to support large equipment which became bogged down in muddy ground. Voigt said she was glad Renville County escaped a couple of major snowstorms that struck the eastern part of the state this winter, but notes
that the situation for growers is still far below normal. “There’s still wheat out there, some canola and flax as well,” said Voigt. “They’ve been harvesting some corn the last few weeks. There’s sunflowers still standing too.” Moisture was not only a problem for getting machinery into the field, it also was an issue for the plants. The moisture content of much of the corn, said Voigt, was over 30%. “Ideally you want that down to 23-24% for winter storage,” explained Voigt. Some farmers use dryers to reduce the moisture content in their crops, but with such a high moisture content and cold temperatures, the amount of propane needed to dry crops down is very costly and, in many instances, not very effective. “You worry about birds doing damage to standing sunflowers too,” said Voigt. That prospect was echoed by McLean Count Agent Calla Edwards of Washburn who
Kim Fundingsland/MDN
Much of this corn field north of Minot remained unharvested in early January due to excessive water that pooled in lower areas of the field.
noted that bird damage can be a concern when sunflowers are left standing. However, said Edwards, there’s hope that some of the sunflowers remaining standing in McLean County will find their way to the bin. “There’s some moisture issues and difficulty getting some of them, but as log as a combine can come through they can get the flowers off,” said Edwards.
Edwards said corn continues to be harvested in McLean County, albeit rather slowly. Some wheat crop has been lost. “A lot of wheat was left standing because it was so wet and started to sprout, so it wasn’t very good to harvest anyway,” remarked Edwards. “Farmers will probably do something with those fields so they can plant again. It’s not worth harvesting. They’ll prob-
ably just plow it under or flatten it.” An estimated 30% of the small grain crop in McLean County was lost because of late season rains. “Most of the soybean were harvested but we still have a lot of unharvested corn,” said Edwards. “There’s a lot of sunflowers in the fields too. It’s been somewhat lousy because of the struggles that guys we work with are going through.”
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‘Our farm policies have not done as good a job as they should in terms of directing more safety net programs towards folks in the middle so they have a chance of surviving and competing against the very large commercialsized operations.’ Roger Johnson, president, National Farmers Union
Farmers Union president reflects on decade of leadership Turtle Lake native ready to hand over NFU reins
By JILL SCHRAMM
Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com WASHINGTON – Roger Johnson has seen significant challenges facing agriculture in his nearly 11 years as president of the National Farmers Union. Having decided not to seek re-election when his term expires next March, Johnson said it’s time for new leadership to continue the discussion on trade, climate change and other policies impacting America’s family farms. “I feel good about the position that we’re at on the Hill. I think we’ve got a lot of credibility. I feel good about the organization as a whole. We are financially strong. We are growing members in most of the country right now,” Johnson said. “There’s very much a need for a voice that really is almost exclusively focused on what’s best for family farmers in rural America. And so, we’re well positioned to provide that voice.” A third-generation family farmer from Turtle Lake, Johnson grew up participating in the Farm-
Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, speaks at a farm event. Submitted Photo
ers Union’s youth programs and served as the McLean County Farmers Union president and chairman of the board of his local Farmers Union cooperative. He served as North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner and as president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture before becoming president of NFU. As his family farm transitions to a nephew, Johnson plans to retire to Colorado to be near grandchildren. Just before he came on as NFU president in 2009, the national board closed the organization’s Denver office to consolidate operations in the main office in Washington, D.C. “When I came out here we were sort of on a slow increase in prices and profitability that kind of peaked in ‘12 and ‘13. We had the big drought in 2012 that drove prices higher. There was a lot of optimism in those years,” he said. “We’ve been on a steady decline ever since then. There are lots of reasons for that, but certainly one of them is the fact that we’ve changed farm policy. We no longer have any sort of attempt at trying to reduce production
during periods of oversupply, and we’re very much in that spot right now.” Johnson said the United States has become a smaller player in the world commodities market, much smaller as the result of trade actions by the Trump administration. “The reputation that we have around the world, I would argue, is tarnished as a result of behavior from the president. The trade wars have certainly reduced agricultural exports in a significant way and depressed prices and, at the same time, incented significant expansion in Brazil, Argentina, Eastern Europe. In fact, the Chinese have significantly invested in infrastructure in those places in order to diversify their supply. That new production that’s come on is not going to disappear overnight,” Johnson said. “So we need to be thinking about ‘what does that mean?’ What kind of farm policy do we put in place to recognize that we are probably, for a lot of customers, going to be the supplier of last resort rather See NFU — Page 6
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JANUARY 2020
Wet finish to 2019 Soil moisture remains high By KIM FUNDINGSLAND
Open water on the Souris River in early January is an unusual occurrence, due a combination of warm temperatures and slight flow. Note the lack of snow cover.
Staff Writer kfundingsland@minotdailynews.com There was no shortage of precipitation in the Minot area in 2019. Much of it came late in the year, leaving very wet soil conditions throughout the region from harvest time to freezeup. Minot’s average yearly precipitation, both from rain and snow, is 19.19 inches according to 114 years of data compiled by the National Weather Service. In 2019 the final tally of precipitation for the year was 23.64 inches which is the seventh-highest total in recorded history. How much of that moisture will still be in the ground during the spring runoff and planting seasons remains to be seen, but it is likely that soil moisture will not be lacking during the first half of 2020. Wet ground in the first half of the year can be both good and bad. While ample soil moisture is desired during the planting season to help assure the germination of seeds, too much moisture can cause problems getting planting equipment into fields. There’s another concern, too, one that has ramifications well beyond the farming community. If soils are saturated during the spring melt it raises the possibility of the increased risk of flooding in many areas, especially if the ground is frozen and temperatures are such that the melt comes quickly. Given the soil conditions, the winter has been a favorable one to date in the Minot region which has escaped some of the big snowstorms that have swept through the southern and eastern portions of the state. What snow that did fall in the Minot area in the final months of 2019 has virtually disappeared due to favorable temperatures through the period. Temperatures reaching into the 40’s happened in the first few days of January. The long-range weather forecast issued in late December by the Climate Prediction Center calls for increased chances of greater than normal precipitation for all of North Dakota through March. While the outlook is considered a general guideline for weather watchers, it remains impossible to predict with any precision the exact path or impact of major weather events such as snowstorms.
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than the supplier first resort. That has implications for what our farm policy ought to look like,” he added. He noted current spending by the government on agriculture differs from any policy of the past, and it’s creating an expectation that it will continue. He explained the administration has poured money into the Market Facilitation Program, which compensates farmers impacted by trade practices. It is a new type of spending, not backed by public policy support, and payments are larger than the total of all the safety net programs in the farm bill, he said. Johnson said continuing the borrowing to support spending is unsustainable long-term, despite expectations, and the way it has been handled has undercut public support for farm programs. “We are starting to feel that when you talk to folks up on the Hill,” he said. “There’s just a lot more uncer-
tainty right now over what farm policy is going to look like over the next several years as a result of the some of the things that this administration has done.” He also cited the continued trend toward large, commercial farms as well as a growth in small farms that cater directly to consumers. The regret is the medium-sized farm is getting squeezed out by economic pressure to get bigger, he said. “Our farm policies have not done as good a job as they should in terms of directing more safety net programs towards folks in the middle so they have a chance of surviving and competing against the very large commercial-sized operations,” Johnson said. He called the administration’s “war on biofuels” another troubling matter for farmers who supply the ethanol and other biofuels markets. As it has led to less demand for ethanol, it has depressed farm prices, he said. The Farmers Union has been one of the most aggressive voices on addressing climate change, and Johnson says that will continue.
“We think also that if farmers aren’t at the table and developing policies, we’re going to end up with policies that are going to be nonsensical and counterproductive,” he said. “We’ve long argued that there ought to be economic incentives for farmers to sequester carbon, to take it out of the atmosphere, to put it in the ground. There are lots of ways that can be done if we change the practices, but those practices have costs associated with them, and farmers need to be compensated for that.” Despite the challenges, Johnson remains positive about agriculture in America. “Farmers are generally viewed very favorably. They have a good reputation with consumers. Consumers want to know where their food is coming from. They want to have a more direct connection, and I think there are a lot of farmers that really want to be in that space of providing them more information,” he said. “That’s a very positive development in my judgment because to the degree that you can provide that information and do it in a way that allows con-
Kim Fundingsland/MDN
sumers to directly buy things that have certain attributes that they want, that allows you to get a little more of that economic reward back to the farmer/rancher.” Johnson also said NFU has successfully worked to find common ground with other farm organizations to collaborate with them to the benefit of rural America. “We’ve done a number of things hand-in-hand with American Farm Bureau,” he said, citing awareness of opioid misuse in rural communities and farmer mental health as two areas of joint effort. Those efforts have led to more federal resources to address those issues, he said. “We have differences of opinion on certain policies, and that’s fine. That’s good. That’s the way the system is designed to work. But we shouldn’t be overlooking those areas where we have a lot of common cause. There are lots of those areas as well,” Johnson said. Looking ahead, Johnson sees trade, climate change and economic concentration remaining as issues affecting farmers. One of the reasons
the pressure for farms to get bigger is so strong is the industry is becoming concentrated on the input and output side, he said. Farmers have few choices and find less price competition because of consolidations among firms that control inputs and markets. Each of the issues facing farmers in the future will have a direct impact on the economic viability of their operations, Johnson said. Given that, it’s essential that NFU continue to advocate for the family farm, he said. “It’s important that voice remains and that it be increasingly robust,” he said. His advice to his successor when it comes to how to use that voice is to listen to the approximate 200,000 Farmers Union members who make up the organization’s grassroots. “Our members are the ones that live this every day, and they are the ones that establish the policies that we that we carry out. If there’s any one piece of advice I would give it is ‘focus on listening to what members really want,’” Johnson said. “As much as we do that, I think we’re going to be around for a long time to come.”
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JANUARY 2020
HELPING FARMERS RECOVER
Disaster funding available to help ag producers
By ELOISE OGDEN
Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com
Hoeven
Once farmers have completed harvest and all crop insurance claims are settled, they are eligible to apply through their county Farm Service Agency office for assistance covering production losses, according to Sen. John Hoeven’s office on Jan. 2. This past year was an extremely difficult year for agriculture producers with concerns about the drought conditions early in 2019, then turning into extremely wet conditions later in the year leaving many many crops left standing and problems for livestock producers to get enough hay for cattle going into the 2019-2020 winter months. What will happen in the next months is yet to be seen. Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, secured disaster funding under WHIP+. USDA offers the WHIP+program to help farmers hurt by natural disasters. The Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) provides disaster payments to offset losses from natural disasters. The funding’s currently available including the $3 billion passed last May and the additional $1.5 billion approved in December, Hoeven’s office said in an email on Jan. 2.
Jill Schramm/MDN
Many farmers faced harvesting fields with crops standing water this past fall. This photo was taken north of Minot in November 2019. Disaster assistance is being offered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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JANUARY 2020 “Further, we added coverage under WHIP+ for quality losses in the FY2020 Agriculture Appropriations legislation, and we are working with USDA as they write the regulations for this new coverage to ensure it works for North Dakota farmers. Producers can apply for quality losses once these regulations are finalized, and USDA has not imposed a deadline for WHIP+ at this time,” his office said. “In addition to disaster assistance, we are working with USDA to provide trade assistance under the Market Facilitation Program and have been advancing those payments as quickly as possible. To date (Jan. 2), North Dakota producers have received $537 million from the two tranches of MFP, with the latest tranche of payments having been released in November. We continue working with USDA to confirm the next tranche of payments, hopefully early in the new year,” his office also said. Shortly before the new year,
in late December Hoeven brought together North Dakota producers, agriculture leaders and officials from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) at a gathering in Fargo to discuss the additional disaster assistance he secured for farmers impacted by severe weather. He advanced the measures as part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Agriculture Appropriations legislation that was passed and signed into law last month. Specifically, Hoeven ensured the legislation, according to information from his office: – Provides $1.5 billion in disaster assistance, which is being reprogrammed from unspent FY2017 disaster funding. This funding is in addition to the $3 billion in disaster assistance approved by Congress in May. – Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make disaster payments to eligible sugar cooperatives. – Expands program eligibility to cover quality losses, in ad-
dition to production losses. – Clarifies eligible disaster events by including losses related to excess moisture and D3 drought. “With everything our farmers are working to overcome, this additional $1.5 billion in disaster assistance is an important step in providing certainty and helping them maintain their operations,” said Hoeven. “Our efforts in the Agriculture Appropriations bill were all about ensuring there was enough funding in place to help our farmers recover. Further, we worked to provide broad enough coverage to help producers with the wide range of challenges they face, from excessive moisture affecting grains to sugar beets frozen in the ground.”
FY2020 Agriculture Priorities
In addition to the disaster provisions, Hoeven worked to ensure the bill funds important risk management tools and agri-
culture programs, including: – Crop insurance. – Implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill. – Full funding for direct, guaranteed and emergency loans. – Hoeven’s Water Bank Initiative. – Funding for the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program (RISE) and the Agriculture Innovation Center Program (AIC) which will support the development of rural broadband and precision agriculture, including at Grand Farm. – Agriculture research conducted under the Agriculture Research Service (ARS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), including research to benefit wheat, barley, pulse crops, sugar beets, alfalfa, potatoes, small grains, livestock and the development of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) applications in precision agriculture.
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UPCOMING EVENTS: Jan. 17—2020 Crop Opportunities, North Central Research Extension Center, Minot
Jan. 22-23 — NDSU Feedlot School, Carrington Research Extension Center, Carrington Jan. 27-28 — National Pulse Growers Annual Convention, Minot
Jan. 29-31 — KMOT Ag Expo, North Dakota State Fair Center, Minot Feb. 5-6 — North Dakota Crop Improvement & Seed Association Annual Meeting, Minot Feb. 14 — Best of the Best in Wheat Research, Minot
Feb. 25-26 — 2020 Farming & Ranching for the Bottom Line Conference, Bismarck
– Provided by NDSU Extension, Ward County
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JANUARY 2020
For SPECIAL OFFERS come January 29-31, 2020
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see us at the KMOT AG Show
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Monte Peterson and his wife, Penny, stand atop a combine with daughter Hailee, and daughter Sarah with her husband, John Kirby, and their children, Lily and Elsie, in this photo from the ND Soybean Growers Association. Monte Peterson is a director for the state association and for the American Soybean Association. Submitted Photo
Producers see future in soybean market
Trade worries dampen price, not grower optimism over soybeans By JILL SCHRAMM
Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com Facing trade issues that dampened prices this past year, North Dakota soybean growers aren’t necessarily turning their backs on a crop that has attained a solid foothold in their crop rotation systems. Looking at crop profitability, risk diversification and long-term demand, North Dakota producers will continue to plant soybeans, say two farmers who have been active in the industry. “Soybean has just been a really sound rotational crop for us. It just works so well, whether you’re rotating with wheat
or corn or a number of other crops,” said Monte Peterson, Valley City, a director on the board of the North Dakota Soybean Growers and American Soybean associations. “On my farm, it’s been part of my rotation for three decades,” he said. “I just don’t see that changing. I think a lot of North Dakota producers want to grow soybeans, and they look for any way possible to continue growing soybeans.” Chris Brossart, Wolford, a member of the North Dakota Soybean Council, said farmers need to look at their individual operations in determining what is best for their diversification and profitability. He doesn’t expect farmers who raise soybeans to reverse course because of the beneSee SOYBEAN — Page 14
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Copies of Historic Homesteads magazine available By ELOISE OGDEN
Regional Editor • eogden@minotdailynews.com The newest edition of The Minot Daily News’ publication, Historic Homesteads including Centennial Farms & Ranches of North Dakota, is available. This is the fourth annual edition of the magazine. Copies of the magazine are available at various locations in Minot and the area. You can also stop in at the newspaper office at 301 4th Street SE, Minot, or The Pierce County Tribune office at 219 S. Main Avenue., Rugby, for magazine copies. It’s free to everyone. With this edition, the magazine is transitioning its title to Historic Homesteads – farms or ranches in northwest or north central North Dakota 50 years old or more. Yet we will continue to feature centennial farms and ranches of North Dakota. The newest edition has stories about farms and Send your historical farm or ranches in the area including the Brekke Farm at Simranch stories, photos coe, the Skinningsrud Farm in the Berthold-Carpio area, the Rodgers Farm in the Max area, the Bryn Ranch at Is your farm or ranch in northwest or north central Berwick, the Effertz Key Ranch at Velva and the Murray North Dakota 50 years old or more? Ranch at Beulah. If so, please send us a story about your farm or There’s also stories about the North Dakota Cowboy ranch along with photos (not less than 200 resolution). Hall of Fame, memories of North Dakota homemakers, Email is preferred. Send your information and photos an early technology to thresh grain – the threshing stone to eogden@minotdailynews.com as soon as possible. plus a listing of a number of farm and ranch museums in Be sure to include your name, city and a daytime the area where visitors can learn more about farms, phone number. Your farm or ranch may be selected ranches, machinery, Native American Agriculture and for the next edition of Historic Homesteads magazine. early-day life on the prairie or in the Badlands. The magazine includes Centennial Farms & Ranches The 2018-2019 edition of the magazine was an award of North Dakota. winner in the North Dakota Newspaper Association’s anSuggestions for stories on historic homesteads in nual member newspaper contest this past year. northwest and north central are also accepted.
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fits of soybean to diversification, soil health and crop rotation – and because of continued demand for the crop. “We have still seen some decent demand. That’s something we need to keep working on,” he said. The trade war with China that caused demand to drop rattled the market and left growers nervous. Prices dropped off significantly in mid-2018. The average soybean price hit a low of $7.81 and high of $9.46 during 2019, according to information from businessinsider.com. That’s down from prices that have seen highs from $15 to $17 nationally in the past several years. Prices strengthened as 2019 came to a close, following the announcement of new exports planned to China. Soybean futures rose to their highest level since June 2018. “If we look back six months ago, producers are questioning, ‘Are we going to get to trade negotiations resolved?’ and we’ve got poor prices, poor demand – demand that has been slowed down with trade negotiations,” Peterson said. “But over the last few months, we’ve also witnessed increased exports to other regions of the world. We’ve increased some market share into the European Union. We’ve had the good fortune of increasing exports into Egypt, Pakistan. Southeast Asia remains strong. So I think that while we were having difficulty exporting to China, we were having the good fortune of picking up some exporting into some other countries.” However, he acknowledged replacing the volume of the China market is tough to do. Soybeans made up more than half of China’s agriculture purchases from the United States in 2017, at about $12.2 billion, according to the news agency Reuters. China bought about 60% of all exports of U.S. soybeans before the trade war. Since the current marketing year started on Sept. 1, China has purchased about 10 million metric tons of soybeans, worth about $3.5 billion, according to government data reported by Reuters. “We may remain cautiously optimistic that we’re going to get a phase one signed agreement,” Peterson said of a trade pact with China, “and that’s going to lead to more exports. So I think that’s all good news, and because of that, we’ve added some sort of an uptick in the market here just recently that helps producers with the idea that soybeans are going to remain profitable to grow here in North Dakota.” “In this area, it looks just as good as anything else when you look at the budget,” Brossart said, noting the rise in price “is not where we would like to see it but it’s moving in the right direction.” Will soybeans be a factor in North Dakota agriculture for years to come? “My opinion is yes,” Brossart said. Even 10 years ago, he might not have been so sure, he said, but improved seed genetics and the potential new uses for soybean in non-food markets have him optimistic. “I think there’s a lot of potential new uses we haven’t discovered yet for soybeans,” he said. “It’s amazing the amount of new uses that have been found for soybeans in the last 10 years.” Peterson also believes soybeans will be profitable long term. “Demand looks like it will continue to grow worldwide for soy and soy protein. That’s reason to be optimistic,” he said. “One thing we probably have learned is that we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket. I think the U.S. soy industry has been diligent in seeking other markets around the world. We’ve always realized that we don’t want to just be marketing just to one country. We want to build a preference for soy worldwide.” Areas of potential market growth include Africa, South Asia, Egypt, Pakistan, Nigeria and India. In addition, Peterson said, there’s more market to be captured in China as African swine fever there is
Submitted Photos
TOP: A combine harvests soybeans on the Monte Peterson farm near Valley City in this photo from the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association.
ABOVE: Chris Brossart of Wolford stands in a soybean field in this photo brought in check and hog numbers begin to grow, creating a appetite from the North Dakota Soybean Counfor soy meal. cil. He is a member of the council. To sustain soybean production in North Dakota, producers need to look at adding value to their crop, Peterson said. A crushing facility could provide oil for commercial use and meal to fill domestic demand that could be enhanced by growing North Dakota’s livestock industry, he said. “We should be looking at exporting not only whole soybean but we should be looking at exporting soybean meal,” he said. “But even beyond that, we should probably think about how we could export animals that utilize that soybean meal here.”
LEFT: A soybean field is combined in this photo from the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association.
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JANUARY 2020
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WƵůƐĞ ĐƌŽƉƐ ʹ ĚƌLJ ƉĞĂƐ͕ ůĞŶƟůƐ ĂŶĚ ĐŚŝĐŬƉĞĂƐ ʹ ĂƌĞ ĂŵŽŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŽůĚĞƐƚ ĐƵůƟǀĂƚĞĚ ƉůĂŶƚƐ͕ ŐŽŝŶŐ ďĂĐŬ ƐŽŵĞ ϭϬ͕ϬϬϬ LJĞĂƌƐ͘ WƵůƐĞƐ ĂƌĞ Ă ĨŽŽĚ ƐƚĂƉůĞ ŝŶ ŵĂŶLJ ƉĂƌƚƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ǁŽƌůĚ͘ ZŝĐŚ ŝŶ ƉƌŽƚĞŝŶ͕ ĨŽůĂƚĞ ĂŶĚ ĚŝĞƚĂƌLJ ĮďĞƌ͕ ƉƵůƐĞƐ ĂƌĞ ĂůƐŽ ĞdžĐĞůůĞŶƚ ĂŶŝŵĂů ĨĞĞĚ͖ ƉƌŽǀŝĚŝŶŐ ĞŶĞƌŐLJ ĂŶĚ ƉƌŽƚĞŝŶ͘ DĞŵďĞƌƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ůĞŐƵŵĞ ĨĂŵŝůLJ͕ ƉƵůƐĞƐ ĂƌĞ ĂŶ ĞdžĐĞůůĞŶƚ ƌŽƚĂƟŽŶĂů ĐƌŽƉ ƐŝŶĐĞ ƚŚĞLJ Įdž ŶŝƚƌŽŐĞŶ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƐŽŝů ĨŽƌ ĨƵƚƵƌĞ ƉůĂŶƟŶŐƐ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ĞĂƐŝůLJ ƌĞĐŽŐŶŝnjĂďůĞ EŽƌƚŚ ĂŬŽƚĂ ĐƌŽƉ͕ ƐƵŶŇŽǁĞƌƐ ǁĞƌĞ ƌĂŝƐĞĚ ŚĞƌĞ ďLJ ŵĞƌŝĐĂŶ /ŶĚŝĂŶƐ͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ ϭϴƚŚ ĐĞŶƚƵƌLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ƉůĂŶƚ ǁĂƐ ƚĂŬĞŶ ƚŽ ZƵƐƐŝĂ ǁŚĞƌĞ ŵŽĚĞƌŶ ĐŽŵŵĞƌĐŝĂů ǀĂƌŝĞƟĞƐ ǁĞƌĞ ĚĞǀĞůŽƉĞĚ͘ EŽƌƚŚ ĂŬŽƚĂ ĨĂƌŵĞƌƐ ŐƌŽǁ ƚǁŽ ƚLJƉĞƐ ŽĨ ƐƵŶŇŽǁĞƌƐ͗ ƚŚĞ ůĂƌŐĞ ƐƚƌŝƉĞĚͲƐŚĞůůĞĚ ǀĂƌŝĞƟĞƐ ƵƐĞĚ ĨŽƌ ƐŶĂĐŬƐ ĂŶĚ ĨŽŽĚ ŝŶŐƌĞĚŝĞŶƚƐ͕ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ ƐŵĂůůĞƌ͕ ďůĂĐŬͲƐŚĞůůĞĚ ǀĂƌŝĞƟĞƐ ƵƐĞĚ ƚŽ ŵĂŬĞ Žŝů ĂŶĚ ĨŽƌ ďŝƌĚƐĞĞĚ͘ ^ƵŶŇŽǁĞƌ Žŝů ŝƐ ƵƐĞĚ ĨŽƌ ĐŽŽŬŝŶŐ ĂƌŽƵŶĚ ƚŚĞ ǁŽƌůĚ͘ DŽƐƚ ƐƵŶŇŽǁĞƌ Žŝů ƉƌŽĚƵĐĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ h͘^͘ ŝƐ ƚŚĞ EƵ^ƵŶ ǀĂƌŝĞƚLJ͕ ǁŚŝĐŚ ƉƌŽǀŝĚĞƐ ŽƉƟŵĂů ŚĞĂůƚŚ ďĞŶĞĮƚƐ͕ ďĞƩĞƌ ƚĂƐƚĞ ĂŶĚ ƐƵƉĞƌŝŽƌ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ͕ ĂŶĚ ŝƐ ƚƌĂŶƐͲĨĂƚ ĨƌĞĞ͘ EŽƌƚŚ ĂŬŽƚĂ ƚƌĂĚŝƟŽŶĂůůLJ ůĞĂĚƐ ƚŚĞ ŶĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ ƐƵŶŇŽǁĞƌ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ͘ Source: www.nd.gov/ndda
nsccu.com
JANUARY 2020
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Submitted Photo
A producer is using a bale processor to feed hay. (NDSU photo)
STRETCH LIMITED HAY SUPPLIES Producers may not have enough forage on hand to meet winter feeding needs. Although growing conditions for hay production were favorable throughout much of North Dakota this year, challenges associated with harvest and transport have left many livestock producers facing a shortage of hay. North Dakota State University Extension agents from across the state have reported that 10% to 30% of this year’s forage crop is unavailable (that is, it was not harvested or it was harvested but bales are still out in fields). Although conditions vary by county, agents in some areas reported that up to 50% of producers do not have enough forage on hand at this time to meet winter feed needs.
Inventory Available Feed “There are numerous strategies that can be used to help stretch limited forage supplies,” says Janna Block, Extension livestock systems specialist at NDSU’s Hettinger Research Extension Center. “However, the first step is to get a good estimate of what is currently available.” She recommends producers conduct an inventory of all forages, which includes bale weights and number of bales for each lot of hay. A lot is defined as the same species grown on the same field and harvested within a 48-hour period. Storage losses should be included by using estimates of 20% for hay stored outside and 7% for hay stored inside. The next step is to determine the number of
livestock in each production group (mature cows, bulls, replacement heifers, etc.) and estimate the number of feeding days. In general, dry-matter intake needs can be estimated at 2.5% of body weight. “This estimate can be refined further with known forage quality, but this is a good place to start,” Block says. Feeding waste also should be included in calculations for feed needs. Waste can vary significantly, depending on how forage is delivered to the herd, but rolling out bales on pasture typically results in the highest waste due to trampling, overconsumption and contamination from urine and feces. Research indicates that losses for this feeding strategy may range from 25% to 45%.
Assume that a 200-cow operation requires 553 tons of hay on an as-fed basis for a 150-day feeding period. If hay is valued at $80 per ton, monetary losses from hay waste easily could approach $20,000. That does not include additional hay or supplement that would have to be provided due to waste to meet livestock needs.
Use Barrier to Reduce Waste
“When substantial amounts of forages must be fed to livestock on a daily basis, it is a good idea to use some type of barrier to reduce waste,” Block says. “These could include hay feeders, panel feeders, bunks, tire feeders or some other type of barrier. Grinding and/or processing forage also can reduce waste and inSee HAY — Page 18
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Hay
JANUARY 2020
Also if possible, cows should be tremely limited, producers could sources this winter might be worthSort, Feed by Production sorted and fed based on nutrient re- consider developing a limit-fed ra- while. Ionophores are feed addiGroups
Continued from Page 17
crease utilization by livestock; however, increased costs are a factor that must be considered.” More information on assessing forage supplies and calculating feed needs is available from the archive of an NDSU Extension webinar titled “Assessing and Stretching Forage Supplies.” It can be found at www.ag.ndsu.edu/livestockextension/2019-ag-challenges-webinarseries. “An understanding of cattle nutrient requirements and nutrients supplied by forage is critical to use hay supplies in a cost-effective and efficient manner,” Block notes. “Proper sampling and laboratory analysis of forages is important for any given year and becomes even more so with extreme weather conditions like the ones experienced this year.” Results of a forage analysis can be used to allocate certain lots of hay to production groups and determine when or if supplementation will be necessary.
If possible, producers should sort and feed livestock by production groups to allow for the best use of forages with varying nutrient concentrations. For example, in general, lower-quality forages (minimum of 50% total digestible nutrients, or TDN, and 7% crude protein, or CP) can be fed to dry, mature beef cows in midgestation. Moderate-quality forages (55% to 58% TDN and 8% to 9% CP) can be used to meet cow requirements during late gestation. The highest-quality forages (59% to 65% TDN and 10% to 13% CP) should be reserved for first-calf heifers throughout pregnancy, growing calves and mature cows during early lactation. “It is important to remember that factors such as breed, cow body condition, milk production, age and environment will influence requirements,” Block says. “Computerized ration balancing is typically necessary to determine specific needs for an individual group of animals.”
quirements (that is, first- and secondcalf heifers, old cows, mature cows, etc.) to use forages most efficiently. In addition, producers should keep an eye on body condition scores (BCS) of the cow herd to evaluate the effectiveness of winter feeding programs. Mature cows should be fed to calve at a BCS of 5, with first-calf heifers fed to achieve a BCS of 6 to allow for increased nutrient requirements for growth. Research has shown a strong relationship between BCS at calving and subsequent reproductive performance. Cows in better condition also are better able to withstand extreme weather conditions. Therefore, achieving and then maintaining desired condition scores now will allow cows to manage colder temperatures without sacrificing condition. Feeding groups may need to be re-evaluated throughout the winter so that lactating, thin and old cows with increased requirements can be fed separately. “When hay supplies are ex-
tion that contains minimal amounts of forage and greater levels of nutrient-dense feeds such as corn silage, grain and/or byproducts,” Block says. “These alternative feeds will be in high demand this winter across the state, so it is important to determine feed needs as soon as possible to ensure an adequate supply.”
Consider All Expenses
When comparing feed options, include all transportation, storage, waste and feeding expenses. Depending on facilities, available feed resources, costs and management strategies, limit-feeding can be implemented with cows on the ranch or at a commercial lot. Visit https://tinyurl.com/NDSUDrylotBeefProduction and https://tinyurl.com/AlternativeFeedingStrategies for more information on this and other alternative winter feeding strategies. In addition to looking into alternative feeds, considering whether to use ionophores to stretch feed re-
tives that alter rumen microbial populations to increase efficiency of energy use. These products are inexpensive and can be mixed into dry or liquid commercial feeds or mineral mixtures. Research has shown that cows can maintain body condition while consuming 7% to 10% less hay when fed an ionophore. “Winter feeding represents a significant portion of input costs and is even more challenging when facing current market conditions,” Block says. “All options must be closely evaluated while keeping an eye on the bottom line to ensure that carrying animals through the winter is feasible. Culling strategies should be developed and producers should be prepared to reduce livestock inventory if necessary.” For more information about managing nutritional needs of livestock through the winter, contact your county’s NDSU Extension office. – From NDSU Agriculture Communication
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