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Auctioneer Mike Ostrem opens bidding on a cowcalf pair at the Rugby Livestock Auction June 28.
Drought-driven selling, buying pace shows no signs of slowdown
Sue Sitter/PCT
Editor’s note: This is a follow up to a story published last week about Rugby Livestock Auction and the flood of cattle being sold.
By SUE SITTER
own, said ranchers in Pierce and McHenry Counties are feeling inSpecial to the News ssitter@thepiercecountytribune.com creasing pressure from exceptional drought conditions to market their A hectic pace of buying and sell- cattle. “Moving forward, it’s going to be ing at the Rugby Livestock Auction tough to find a lot of feed around here shows no signs it will slow down soon, according to Auction owner without having it shipped in and payCliff Mattson and buyer Kyle Shively. ing a lot money for it,” Mattson said. Mattson said the cattle, mostly “So, a lot of people are thinking ahead from drought-stricken Pierce County and selling off part of their herds so and west central North Dakota, have they can maintain and get enough hay to hopefully hang onto the stock a mix of destinations. “The majority of the cow-calf pairs they’ve got.” “A lot of these guys have put years are staying together and going to ranches,” Mattson said. “We sell pairs and years of breeding and genetics to to ranches in North Dakota, South get that cattle herd they want built up Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and now it’s unfortunate they have to Minnesota and pretty much all the sell out because Mother Nature’s not cooperating,” Mattson added. states south of here.” Mattson said he anticipates a Mattson said some pairs would stay in North Dakota, where they’ll be “huge” impact on the cattle industry grazed in parts of the state where the from the drought. “Right now, we’re extremely busy, drought is less severe. “Ranchers will be able to take on a few more pairs (in but this fall, with all the cattle that are other parts of North Dakota),” Matt- leaving the area, it’s going to take a long time to get those numbers back son noted. “Some of the cattle are actually up and when we do get those numgoing to feedlots and they’ll sell the bers back up, it’s going to be really excows off to slaughter and the calves pensive,” Mattson said. “It’s not going to happen will be in the background,” Mattson overnight, but the kind of impact it added. Backgrounding is a method of will have is going to be huge. It’s going feeding weaned calves before they’re to be huge to the sale barn; it’s going to be huge to the local economy. A lot of sent to a feedlot for finishing. “Since January 1, we’ve sold a total these small towns rely on the ag busiof around 49,000 head,” Mattson said ness to keep them going and you take of the cattle sales at the auction. “It’s two thirds or even half of the cattle unusual. The month of June, we sold out of the area, that’s going to play a just about 12,000 alone. Normally, we huge role on all these small towns sell every other week in June and that rely on that for business,” he exwe’re getting a couple of hundred plained. “They’ll sell less products, head of slaughter cows and the last people are going to move. Anything three weeks, we’ve been selling 800 involved with ag, it’s going to hurt.” Shively, a buyer for the auction to 1,000 pairs. This is every week.” Mattson, who has a ranch of his who ranches near Pleasant Lake in
Pierce County, agreed. “You look at the amount of people that sale barn brings from way outside of our area – they’re coming to eat at our restaurants and shopping at our convenience stores or Home of Economy and places like that – it’s going to hurt substantially,” Shively said. Mattson and Shively said the short-term glut of cattle on the market would mean problems for ranchers and rural economies. “They’ve been getting decent prices for their pairs, but if all of a sudden a whole bunch more people have to start selling and the whole state stays dry, then that market could get saturated and who knows what’ll happen then,” Mattson said. “(Prices) might get cheaper.” “Overall prices look pretty good for the feeder calves,” Mattson said of young cattle ready for fattening. Mattson, who’s owned the Rugby Livestock Auction for less than a year, not only feels the pinch caused by the drought; he witnesses how younger ranchers struggle as well.
“It’s pretty awesome when these young guys bring their cattle to us and they do well and we’re excited for them for how they do. But now, it’s just taken away from them,” Mattson said. “It’s not any fun right now for anybody.” Mattson divides his seven-day workweeks between his ranch near Rolette and Rugby Livestock Auction. In a year with normal rainfall, he said he and his family would spend less time in the barn and more time haying. Sales at the auction normally happen every other week in summer. This year’s turn of events has meant weekly auctions and hard choices for the summer. Mattson said he’s met with sellers who’ve asked him to choose which of their cattle to auction. Others “drop them off and go. They don’t want to stay for the sale. Ranchers love their animals so much that they don’t want to part with them. Unless you’re a rancher, it’s hard to explain. It’s a passion.” Mattson and Shively said they
help ranchers get the best prices for their livestock and hope to stave off any price drops. “We know it’s going to be an uphill battle,” Mattson said. Cheaper prices for some cattle won’t translate into cheaper beef prices at the grocery store, Mattson explained. “The packers control so much of the prices. The prices in stores will go up, but unfortunately, the ranchers don’t get paid their share of it. The packers will get most of it,” Mattson said. “Because the packers will get more money, the stores will have to pay more for beef and the price of beef in the stores could go up, but that doesn’t mean the ranchers are going to get paid for it, because they never do.” Mattson and Shively said ranchers from North Dakota and the rest of the United States have seen their profit margins shrink due to changes in the meat packing industry in recent years. Shively said multinational com-
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JULY 2021 panies from Brazil and other nations now dominate the meat packing industry, putting cheap beef into the food supply. This complicates the picture for American ranchers and cattle buyers. Much of the foreign meat is of lower quality than American beef, Shively said. “I’m all for playing fair and everybody making a profit. But what has gone on in the past five years is complete greed,” Shively said. Adding the drought to the picture might cause small producers and buyers in central North Dakota to drop out of the business and send even more profit to large, multi-national corporations, according to Shively. And when more people in the beef industry leave, communities like Rugby and Towner will feel the effects, Shively cautioned. “The consumers think the farmers or ranchers are just crying but at the end of the day,
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Sue Sitter/PCT
A sign at the entrance of the Rugby Livestock Auction lends encouragement to devastated ranchers. we’re hurting bad right now, absolutely,” Shively said. “This fall or next year, you guys will be hurting. You’ll be having the effects of the drought hit you and the businesses in Rugby,” Shively added. “It’s the trickle-down effect but this drought is going to hurt everybody at the end of the day. Your food cost will be increased without a doubt. The crops aren’t out there.”
“Whether they need to or not, they’re going to use that as an excuse to increase your food costs,” Shively said of the large meat packers. “Some of us in the cattle industry in the last three to four to five years have lost money and yet you guys have had to pay more,” Shively said. “You guys should be as upset with the (meat processing industry) as we are.”
“That’s where our bread and butter comes from, these cows,” Shively added. And we’re selling them off at an alarming rate.” Shively said he attended a town hall meeting in Minot with Sen. John Hoeven in late June “to try and get some information and try to help out any way I can to make it easier on some of these guys on what they’re going through and try-
ing to keep the price up.” “It’s a bad deal that you’re having to sell off but we need to get the most amount of money that we can from these cattle to really benefit our ranchers and help them the most so we can try to get them back in the business where they were, whether it’s four or five years down the road or sooner,” Shively added. “Even if a producer had 20 head total, we don’t want to see them get out of the business because they’re one of our customers,” Shively said of small cattle producers. “Whether they have 20 head or 500 head, every one of them means the same to Rugby Livestock. It means the same to me or Cliff (Mattson) or any one of us. We need them all.” “We’ve lost enough ranchers in the last 15-20 years,” Shively said. “We can’t afford to lose any more. Because at the end of the day, we’re losing our rural communities more each day.” Shively urged residents of
Rugby and small agricultural communities to thank their ranchers and farmers, whose stress levels are soaring. “Try to help out any way you can,” Shively said, adding, “Well, there really is no way to help out on this deal, but there’s a lot of stress on a rancher’s back right now, so check in with them and give them a hello. I think a lot of that would go a long way.” “It’ll make them feel good for a few minutes anyway,” he added. Shively said Rugby Livestock’s buyers and staff do what they can to help ranchers in need. “I went down to Powers Lake to help a guy out and round up his cows,” Shively said. “He was 65 years old and didn’t have anyone to help him do it.” “But that’s what America’s about,” Shively added. “It’s not just in the Ag industry; it’s what everyone should be doing.”
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Kyle Shively, left, field representative for Rugby Livestock Auction, tells about the high number of cattle being sold at the livestock auction. Also shown, from the left, are agriculture producers Tyler Stafslien of Makoti, Ryan Pederson of Rolette, and Pat Murphy of Carpio. They were among agriculture producers attending the June 30 drought meeting held in Minot.
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Eloise Ogden/MDN
Faced with a crisis Livestock and crop producers echo drought concerns DROUGHT RESOURCES
By ELOISE OGDEN
Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com Tyler Stafslien, Makoti, an agriculture producer about 50 miles southwest of Minot, said at a recent drought meeting, “I’m 44 years old and I won’t harvest a wheat crop this year. It’s the first time I recall that happening on my farm.” Stafslien and other agriculture producers shared their concerns about the drought, their crops and livestock and the drought impact on communities to Sen. John Hoeven, North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and two officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a June 30 meeting at the North Central Research Extension Center, south of Minot. Hoeven, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriatons Committee, invited Risk Management Agency
Acting Administrator Richard Flournoy and Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux, both in Washington, D.C., to come to North Dakota to review the severe drought conditions and gather input from agriculture producers. Besides Minot, the meetings were held in Mandan, Carrington and Argusville June 30-July 1. Stafslien, also representing North Dakota Farmers Union, said the quicker Risk Management Agency (RMA) can release acres, the better. He along with a number of other crop producers who spoke, said, ‘I’ll survive but there isn’t going to be extra money in the countryside. Communities are going to start suffering this fall whether you’re selling farm machinery, vehicles, whatever. So there’s going to be a long-term effect of this that’s going to continue for some time. We don’t know when the drought is going to end. It could continue
into next year and hope that’s not the case. Concerns were high among the group for those who have cattle. “What I said is I’ll survive because of crop insurance. Should we have a longterm program in the future that provides some type of back-stop for these cattle guys. They don’t have that and it just seems like a solution we should try and come up with,” Stafslien told Hoeven, Goehring, Flounoy and Ducheneaux. Kyle Shively, field representative for Rugby Livestock Auction, said in the month of June the livestock auction sold four times as many cows as it normally does. “We’ve been going steady every week, mainly culled cattle and cow-calf pairs. Between May and June we sold 17,500 cows and I think we’ve just kind of touched the tip of it at this point,” he told the group. See LIVESTOCK — Page 6
For more information on drought resources (i.e. crop production, farm/ranch management/livestock production, feeds and forages, range and pasture management, drought webinar recordings, livestock water, lawns, gardens and trees, farm and ranch stress, weekly drought updates, hay and feed resources) contact your local NDSU Extension county office: www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension/directory/counties.
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Livestock
JULY 2021
USDA to allow haying, grazing cover crops anytime without penalty
Continued from Page 4
He said generally at this time of the year they sell 120 or 150 culled cows a week but during the third week in June they sold “900 and some.” “Some of our concerns is the amount of cattle leaving this country that won’t be back for three, four or five years. It’s going to hurt these rural communities big time,” Shively said. “The margins have been so small in the cattle industry for the last four or five years that I think we’re going to have to get some extra help for these farmers in order for them to stay afloat and try to rebuild over the next three to four years,” he added. He reiterated as others said to get CRP released. “There’s not much green in Pierce or McHenry counties, it’s all pretty brown” but, he said, the CRP would help “to try to keep some of these guys going.” Paul Thomas, who farms at Velva and is a N.D. legislator, also represented the N.D. Corn Growers Association. He said the small grain crops in his area are fairly well decimated as a result of the drought. When producers comment on the two worst drought years ever, he said they would say the years 1961 and the 1988 harvest. But he said they are now saying the current drought has surpassed 1988. “1961 is still debatable,” he added. “This is definitely one of the most devastating droughts that have ever happened in this region, specifically up here so it’s very serious,” Thomas told Hoeven, Goehring and the USDA officials. “We have pastures that livestock are not even being turned into at all.” He said the number one thing that ranchers are asking for is the release of CRP for hay as soon as possible. “This heat that we’re experiencing right now is obviously diminishing the amount of forage that’s there. They’re losing that every day. My neighbors are still hauling their cow-calf pairs to the livestock barn in Rugby. They’re still holding out hope but each
Eloise Ogden/MDN
From the left, agriculture producers Paul Thomas of Velva, Cale Neshem of Berthold, and Kevin Hansen of Ryder told Sen. John Hoeven, North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials what is needed now because of the drought. week they’re having to take more and more there so the timeliness of releasing that CRP so at least they know there may be some forage this fall to feed them would be extremely important,” he said. As as a crop producer, he said crop insurance will get him through this year. “We have that, we know we’ll be collecting on it, the levels are probably going to be adequate,” he said.
“This is a historic drought,” said Hoeven. “We know we got to get out there and get it done. This isn’t like every other year.” Cale Neshem, a farmer from Berthold, said, “The only drought I really have in my timeline – I’m 26 – to compare it to is 2017. I know in 2017 I think my worst wheat stand would be far and away my best wheat stand this year.” He went on to say, “It’s obvi-
ously a much more difficult situation for these livestock guys. We’ll have crop insurance and we’ll be alright.” Also representing the N.D. Grain Growers at the meeting, he said that group would like to see the Risk Management Agency have someone stationed in North Dakota because this is such a high crop insurance usage state. “We feel it would be very beneficial if there were some boots on the
WHIP+ & QLA
Drought meetings held in North Dakota June 30-July 1 followed Hoeven’s efforts to finalize the Quality Loss Adjustment (QLA) program and the Wildfire, Hurricane and Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+). The senator is urging USDA to send out the recently-announced payments to producers as soon as possible, which will cover their full QLA payments and additional WHIP+ payments covering 90% of 2019 indemnities as a result. Prior to this, Hoeven secured funding and eligibility for the programs, including: – $1.5 billion for WHIP+, along with authorization to establish the QLAprogram, including coverage for excess moisture and D3 drought in FY2020. – $1.5 billion for QLA and WHIP+ in FY 2021 Agriculture Appropriations to ensure program funding to meet the demand from producers who were impacted by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019. Producers affected by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019 were eligible to apply for QLA, which covers losses from hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, typhoons, volcanic activity, snowstorms, wildfires, drought and excessive moisture. Additional information on QLA and WHIP+ is available from USDA at www.farmers.gov.
– Source: Sen. John Hoeven’s office
Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer said the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency will now allow producers to hay, graze or chop cover crops on prevented plant acres at any time while still receiving their full crop insurance indemnity. The announcement was made July 6. Prior to this, producers would face a penalty for haying, grazing or chopping cover crops on prevented plant prior to Nov. 1. “We’ve worked to advance this flexibility as it empowers farmers and ranchers to better care for their land and adapt to local challenges, like severe weather, drought, flooding and feed shortages,” said Hoeven. “The one-size-fits-all approach didn’t work for our producers, especially those in northern states like North Dakota, and I appreciate USDA for working with us to remove the November 1 requirement for utilizing cover crops.” “The Agriculture Department eliminating the November 1 penalty for haying or grazing on prevented plant acres will give North Dakota producers more flexibility to properly utilize their land. I am grateful the department heard our calls to make this move and for the leadership of my colleagues Senators John Hoeven and John Thune who helped make this happen,” said Cramer. The announcement is effective for the 2021 crop year and beyond. Producers should contact their crop insurance agent or visit rma.usda.gov for more information.
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JULY 2021 ground that were here in this state and see first hand and better utilize our resources that are available at the time,” Neshem said. Kevin Hansen, Ryder, on the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association board of directors, reiterated the concerns of other to open CRP as soon as possible. He told the group among his requests is the importance of the Farm Service Agency having in-person meetings with cattle producers. “It’s important that we have face-to-face contact. This really can’t be done over a phone or over a computer. We need to have the offices open and available to take appointments and get producers in to meet with those involved with FSA,” he said. Kim Saueressig, a producer from McClusky in Sheridan County and representing N.D. Pulse Growers,
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Available Emergency assistance (As of June 30)
– Emergency Grazing: Producers in 50 North Dakota counties are currently eligible for emergency grazing of CRP acres at limited capacity. – Livestock Forage Program: Provides payments to livestock owners for feed costs, up to 60 percent of the total monthly cost. Producers in 50 North
Dakota counties are currently eligible. – Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP): Provides assistance to livestock producers for losses not covered by other disaster programs, including assistance for the cost of hauling water to livestock. Efforts are being done to
secure additional disaster assistance including: – Urging Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to allow both emergency haying and grazing of CRP acres in North Dakota before Aug. 1. CRP acres in 50 N.D. counties are currently eligible to be grazed at limited capacity, they are not eligible to be hayed.
In a recent letter to Vilsack, Sen. John Hoeven led the delegation in stressing the risk of poor forage conditions if producers wait until the required date to hay. – Pressing Risk Management Agency to work with approved insurance providers to ensure quick and fair crop adjustments and payments.
said that county has been in exceptional drought for three months? It shouldn’t be rocket science that if you’re in an exceptional drought for three months there’s not going to be a whole lot there. Granted there is pockets of rain that have popped up in the last three or four weeks so the possibility is there for some of these late season row crops.
“My biggest question is where are all the insurance adjusters going to come from to do the adjusting?,” Saueressig asked. “You’re talking hundreds of thousands of acres that have to get looked at. We’ve had some hailstorms go through our farm in the last three of so years where you talk to the adjuster and it’s not his fault, he’s busy, but a month goes by and they
don’t get out there.” Flournoy said they have been looking into the situation of adjusters and there are adjusters who can come in from other areas of the country. He said that discussion will be going on over the next days and weeks. Ryan Pederson, a farmer in the Rolette area and representative of the N.D. Soybean Growers Association,
said, “In 1988, I was 12 years old so I got to hear my dad talk about the drought.” Indicated his 13-year-old daughter, he said she now gets to hear about the drought. “But certainly on behalf of the Soybean Growers, truthfully this meeting has to be about the cattle (producers).” “As the commissioner said, soybean growers have a lot of small chunks of CRP
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and we can either get those released and let these guys get their cattle fed. That would be our number one priority,” he said. Pat Murphy, a Carpio area farmer also representing Northern Canola Growers Association, said, “I’ve been doing this for a long time and crop insurance has come a long way. There’s maybe a bump or two along the way but I think everyone has worked on it pretty well. We’re pretty well covered this year I think.” He said he thinks the crop insurance program has some things in it for the cattle people too and maybe that hasn’t been explored or pushed quite enough. “My only concern long term is this going to last more than a year or whatever? We’ve been pretty dry for a year now,” Murphy said.
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JULY 2021
Blister beetles danger to people and livestock, especially horses By ELOISE OGDEN
Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com Paige Brummund, Ward County Extension Agent – Agriculture and Natural Resources, has found blister beetles in alfalfa fields in the local area. Farmers and ranchers are being advised that the drought conditions this year have increased the number of blister beetles,which are toxic to livestock, especially horses, as well as humans. In humans, the blister beetle can cause a local reaction or skin irritation if the beetles are crushed on the skin, Brummund said. The irritation and blisters that form can be painful but usually are not life-threatening to humans, according to the National Capital Poison Center. For more information about human contact with blister beetles vist the center’s website at www.poison.org/articles/blisterbeetles-do-not-touch-194.
Submitted Photo
Drought conditions are increasing the blister beetle threat to cattle and other livestock. Photo from NDSU. The immature stage of blister beetles feeds on grasshopper eggs, said Jan Knodel, NDSU Extension entomologist. She said blister beetles produce a poison called cantharidin, which is toxic to people and livestock, especailly horses but cattle and sheep also can be poi-
soned. The cantharidin oil is released when the beetles are crushed and even dead beetles have high levels of the toxin. According to NDSU information, the level of toxicity to livestock varies by blister beetles species. The species include black,
spotted, three striped and ash-gray blister beetles. It is estimated 30 to 50 of the striped blister beetles could be potentially lethal to horses. Symptoms of toxicity in horses include sores on the tongue and in the mouth, depression, colic, sweating, diarrhea, blood in the feces and frequent urination. Cattle also may have sores in their mouth. Anyone suspecting cantharidin poisoning in their livestock should contact their local veterinarian. NDSU officials said after alfalfa is cut, the beetles often move into blooming canola and other blooming field crops. Ways to reduce the threat of blister beetles include cutting alfalfa at less than 10% bloom and/or late in the season (mid-August to early September. If the beetles are sprayed, Brummund said the dead beetles still are toxic. For more information about blister beetles contact your local NDSU Extension office.
Here are some ways to reduce the threat of blister beetles:
– Control blooming weed hosts near or in alfalfa fields. – Cut alfalfa at less than 10% bloom and/or late in the season (mid-August to early September). – Check fields 24 hours prior to cutting to ensure that new swarms of blister beetles have not re-infested the fields. – Allow cut hay to fully dry before raking to encourage the beetles to move out of the hay. Raking may dislodge dead beetles from hay; however, the potential still exists for cantharidin in the hay. – Scout harvested hay and underneath windrows closely for blister beetles and allow blister beetles to move out of drying hay before baling. Turning the windrows may be helpful to get blister beetles to move out. – Use equipment without hay conditioners or crimpers that may crush blister beetles because the crushed beetles can contaminate the hay. – Source: NDSU Extension
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Jen Skoog of Family Roots Farm at Christine feeds a flock of chickens, which produce eggs for her family and her customers, in this photo from M. Schleif Photography.
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Submitted Photo
FARRMS helps small farmers find success
Nonprofit offers resources to promote sustainable farms By JILL SCHRAMM
Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com Farming is not an easy field for newcomers to break into. That’s true even for small operations looking to cater to a niche, a local market. In North Dakota, the nonprofit FARRMS (Foundation for Agricultural and Rural Resources Management and Sustainability) can help. Because of the investment and expertise needed to get into agriculture, Adam Mawby of Bisbee sought assistance for his small farm to be successful. “FARRMS was there. FARRMS put me through the Farm Beginnings program, which really helped give me an education on the business of agriculture,” said Mawby, who enrolled in the course in 2019. “They meet a couple of times a month in person. You get to actually See FARRMS — Page 14
JULY 2021
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FARRMS
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experience and see other people’s financial books and their farm progression and learn to handle different aspects of farm setbacks.” From webinars to farm tours, FARRMS has given him a network of people he can turn to for advice and encouragement, he said. Mawby and his wife, Apryl, took over his family’s Gardendwellers operation and are merging it with a traditional farm they are acquiring. It brings them a little closer to their dream to move away from off-farm jobs to full-time farming. “We are here to help those who want to try their hand at farming, to help them succeed,” said Stephanie Blumhagen, FARRMS executive director and operator of a small farm, Meadowlark Granary, near Bottineau. “Smaller scale farmers are the ones who are attracted to our program, and in many cases, it’s a farm that’s diversifying,” she said. An example is a traditional farm operator who wants to add pastured lamb, goats, chickens or produce eggs and garden produce for farmers markets. Blumhagen said sustainability is at the heart of FARRMS. Its programs teach farmers to consider how their practices impact their community, natural environment and financial bottom line. FAARMS also helps producers who want to add value through baking or preserving, creating mar-
“Smaller scale farmers are the ones who are attracted to our program, and in many cases, it’s a farm that’s diversifying.”
—Stephanie Blumhagen, FARRMS executive director and operator of a small farm, Meadowlark Granary, near Bottineau. ketable products from their production that enhance the business and extend its season beyond the harvest. Since 2007, more than 200 students have taken FARRMS’ Farm Beginning course, which is U.S. Department of Agriculture and Farm Services Agency certified. “We help them create a business plan for their enterprises and help them get off the ground and succeed,” Blumhagen said. “Every year we have between eight and 15 students. They are all people who want to farm sustainably.” Jen Skoog of Christine took a Farm Beginnings course four years ago. She launched Family Roots Farm in 2017 to produce fresh and pickled vegetables, herbs, raw honey, eggs, jam, chicken, pork and lamb for direct sales to consumers at two farmers markets and through an online food cooperative. “My dream was to grow sustainable, ethically raised food for my family and to give others the opportunity to enjoy it, too,” she said in a release from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in North Dakota, a major funder of
FARRMS. “I would have been really lost when I started my own farm business, if it were not for FARRMS.” A Farm Dreams course, a farming readiness study that leads into the Farm Beginnings course, also drew more than 30 people last year. Blumhagen said interest may have increased due to the course being offered online for the first time, but the enrollment also shows the extent of interest in everything from mushroom, microgreens and medicinal herbs to all types of livestock. Most enrollees were from North Dakota but a few were from Minnesota and one was an Illinois physician who works with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients and wants to start a therapy farm for the geriatric population in North Dakota in his retirement. “Interest in local foods has been growing for the past decade but COVID definitely caused a surge,” Blumhagen said. Seeing grocery store shelves emptied by panic buying and the breakdown in traditional food supply chains, people made a psychological shift regarding their food, she said.
JULY 2021 “There are increased opportunities for people who want to grow local food,” Blumhagen said. “We don’t have enough farmers producing to meet the demand.” In addition to educating farmers of the future, FARRMS provides internships, workshops, tours, mentors, webinars and microloans with funding from government agencies and private foundations and donors. The organization has awarded 62 grants and loans totaling nearly $479,000 to farmers. It has placed more than 60 interns on farms or at farmers markets since 2016. Marvin Baker, a graduate of an early Farm Beginnings course and owner of North Star Farms at Carpio, has hosted several FAARMS interns. One intern, stationed at Minot Air Force Base, went on to purchase a farm in South Carolina, where he and his wife have an operation similar to North Star Farms. “It’s kind of refreshing to see that,” Baker said. Baker said one of the greatest benefits of FARRMS is the educational component through networking with other farmers and utilizing FARRMS’ resources. The Mawbys acknowledge those benefits, too. “There’s just so much out there in order to make a farm a full-time living that it really does pay off having other people, and organizations especially, that help advocate and help show you what to do and where to go,” Adam Mawby said. Apryl Mawby said it is worth taking time out of her busy sched-
ule to teach an intern. “For most of us host farmers, we want to expand local foods and encourage young people to become farmers. So that’s where it stems from – just our love of agriculture and wanting to share that with others,” she said. She said their current intern, an aquaponics student at Dakota College at Bottineau, has taken an interest in horticulture due to his exposure to garden production and high tunnels. The Mawbys’ farm is not just vegetables but pastured chickens and lambs, culinary herbs and medicinal herbs. Adam Mawby also mentored this year an individual from Spirit Lake Nation, who was looking to start a livestock operation. “It’s really about sharing our knowledge, our experiences. Not one person or family can grasp the full scope of everything you truly need. We are trying to run a business that has commercial standards, Department of Health and Department of Agriculture rules to follow,” he said. The Mawbys hope to eventually make agri-tourism a part of their business model, but they also want to share their knowledge to support others seeking to start small farms. “You need somebody else doing it just to be able to service an area. Otherwise we’re traveling so far, and so much money is lost in the distribution of products,” Adam Mawby said. “The more people we can get doing it, even if they’re small scale, it makes a big difference.”
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Minot Daily News, “Inside Ag”, P.O. Box 1150, Minot, ND 58702
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Drought-stricken pastures Forage, water limited By KIM FUNDINGSLAND
Staff Writer kfundingsland@minotdailynews.com “We are experiencing the driest conditions in 126 years. The Drought Monitor has us as D4, exceptional drought. That’s the highest it goes,” said Paige Brummond, NDSU Extension Office for Ward County. Brummond has seen first-hand the effect of the ongoing drought conditions in Ward and surrounding counties where “severe” and “exceptional” drought is hitting both farmers and ranchers very hard. “It’s bad everywhere, especially south of Minot, Max, Makoti, Ryder,” stated Brummond. “It’s bad all the way around. In the sandier soils in McHenry County it’s pretty tough out there too, pasture and forage.” Brummond estimated that forage production, feed needed for livestock, is 1/5th to 1/4th of normal. “Even if it’s green after some rain in June, it was too little, too late,” explained Brummond. “The yield potential just isn’t there. Even if it started raining now it won’t grow anymore. It has reached maturity. That’s all we’re going to get. It’s going to put a huge strain on our forage this winter.” A growing number of livestock producers have faced difficult but necessary decisions, some selling out their
“We are experiencing the driest conditions in 126 years. The Drought Monitor has us as D4, exceptional drought. That’s the highest it goes.” — Paige Brummond, NDSU Extension Office for Ward County
herds completely because of a lack of good pasture and feed. “It pretty bad, a dire situation,” said Brummond. “Crops are doing so poor. Early planted small grains, wheat, durum, and barley. Wheat is running as low as 5-6 bushels an acre. A lot of producers are deciding to put it up for hay if it’s tall enough to make a bale. If they don’t have cattle to feed they can sell it to somebody who does.” There’s other problems caused by exceptionally dry conditions too. Grains can become high in nitrates, even reaching toxic levels. Brummond advises livestock owners to test grains before feeding it to livestock. “The drought exacerabates a lot of problems,” said
Brummond. “In drought years in particular, plants tend to accumulate nitrates.” If poor pasture and forage growth wasn’t bad enough, water is also becoming a big issue. Sloughs and potholes and stock dams and streams are drying up and water quality is a growing concern. “The salts and sulfates become more concentrated as water supplies dry up like we’ve seen in Ward County and surrounding areas,” said Brummond. “Water sources need to be tested to see if they are acceptable or not.” Of approximately 60 water samples tested by Brummond’s office, she said, at least 15 have come back as not acceptable and some with a recommendation to not let livestock drink any of it. The on-going drought has also caused many livestock owners to search for alternative water supplies. “There’s a huge waiting list for drilling wells,” remarked Brummond. “This region has a lot of work to be done. People are hauling water and running pipelines to get water to certain areas. It’s a struggle. Our best hope is to have enough snow next winter to refresh water holes.” With pasture-land grasses vital to providing livestock with a place to graze being particularly hard hit by dry conditions, a number of ranchers have had no other option than to sell their livestock. For some it can be a career-ending decision. “Many don’t know if they’ll come back in the future or not,” said Brummond. “There’s some pretty emotional decisions. It’s not an easy thing to do, to look at a cow herd and decide what to sell.”
Send Your Historical Farm Or Ranch Stories, Photos Is your farm or ranch in northwest or north central North Dakota 50 years old or more?
Is so, please send us a story about your farm or ranch along with photos (not less than 200psi resolution). Email is preferred. Please send your information and photos to eogden@minotdailynews.com as soon as possible. Items sent by mail should be addressed to: The Minot Daily News, c/o Historical Farm or Ranch, P.O. Box 1150, Minot, ND 58702. Or you can also stop by The Minot Daily News office at 301 4th St. SE.
Be sure to include your name, city and a daytime phone number with your information and photos.
Your farm or ranch may be selected for the next edition of the Historic Homesteads publication.
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Inside
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The Big Sombrero brings fresh, local beef to North Dakota By SUE SITTER
Special to the News ssitter@thepiercecountytribune.com A decision to stay local more than ten years ago has led the Zimmerman family to establish a business dedicated to supplying fresh, local beef to North Dakotans. Lee Zimmerman, his sisters and parents had owned Sandhills Dairy near Denbigh in McHenry County for several years when they considered a move to Texas in 2010. “We went through the permitting process down in the panhandle of Texas,” Zimmer recalled. “My sister got to pick the name of the new dairy, and it stuck. Then, we decided not to move. We wanted to expand the business we had locally,” Zimmerman added. “So, we teamed up together, my mom and dad and sisters and myself and we built a feedlot facility.” Zimmerman said his family gave the feedlot the name his sister had chosen for the dairy they almost established in Texas. “We named it the Big Sombrero. Since we couldn’t have it in Texas, we would have it in North Dakota.” Zimmerman said after his family built the feedlot, he thought about moving into a new direction. “We had so many inquiries about selling hamburger over the last five years,” he recalled. Zimmerman began thinking about selling farm-fresh beef. “We milk cows at Sandhills Dairy, then we raise all our replacement animals for the dairy, then anything extra, the surplus, we finish out at The Big Sombrero feedlot,” he said. “I just wanted another little enterprise because there was a lot of demand for it, a lot of inquiries, and we’d always get calls at the dairy, you know, ‘Do you sell beef? Do you sell hamburger?’ That’s where it started. So, about three years ago, we got permitted by the First District Health Unit,” Zimmerman said. Zimmerman, his wife, Kristi, and family launched their farm-fresh
beef business. “Then, we had to find a processor in this state that was inspected, that would slaughter the animals under the inspection and also cut and wrap the product under inspection. After searching for a meat processing facility in North Dakota, Zimmerman found Bowdon Meat Processing in Bowdon. “They do all of the inspected beef for resale. Now, we can do so many pounds of hamburger, so many steaks, whatever the consumer desires,” Zimmerman said. The Big Sombrero not only keeps its operation and processing local to central North Dakota; much of its daily operations involve the family as well. Even Lee and Kristi’s children help out. “Our kids are 13, 12, 10 and 7,” Zimmerman said. “The kids do all the beef bundles. They box all the beef. They come down to Bowdon to pick up all the beef that’s been packaged and ready for delivery and different beef orders.” “Ethan, our oldest, is 13 and we call him the Beef Master,” Zimmerman said with a chuckle. “He’s in charge of packaging all the different bundles that are available and separating the quarters of beef and knowing what’s the freshest and which inventory needs to be moved. Kristi works with a young woman in Minot who does our advertising for us between Instagram, Facebook and our website. She does some fun, cool things with giveaways and sponsorships. They keep everything local and help out surrounding businesses and keep the product right here.” “We pride ourselves in farmraised, fresh beef,” Zimmerman added. “We know how the cattle are being cared for and we know what the consumers want for an end result.” “There are so many people that are misled in that area. They’re not sure what they’re buying at the grocery store,” Zimmerman said. “The feedback that we get on re-
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The Zimmerman family poses with their Holstein steer, Bowser. From left are Emerson, Bryson, Mason, Ethen, Kristi and Lee. Submitted Photo
ferrals from customers over the last couple of years has been just outstanding,” Zimmerman added. “I can’t say we’ve never had a bad review - we had one person complain about a steak, one time. You’re not going to satisfy everyone, but as long as you satisfy 99.9 percent of your consumers and you educate them about the product that you’re raising and the importance of it, it goes great locally.” Zimmerman noted, “Last year with the pandemic, it just really showed how important it was to support local people or to be in the industry that we’re in and be able to provide a product at an affordable price right to the local consumers.” Like many North Dakota farmers and ranchers, Zimmerman said he was concerned with the impact of foreign-raised beef on the American food supply. Much of the beef from foreign countries is packed by large global companies. “Eighty percent of the market share belongs to four packers,” Zimmerman said. “It’s huge. It’s a tough deal for the local guy. So, the more
small processors that have started, the better. In fact, there’s one just starting west of Minot in Berthold. We just delivered a few beautiful finished steers to them this afternoon that they sell out of their showcase. Good things come from good products.” “It’s more than fair to say word is really spreading about our products,” Zimmerman added. “A big part of it is the processor we work with. Bowdon has done an outstanding job for us. The steaks are table ready. All the meat is packaged, pristine, consumer-ready, looks great. Presentation is everything. You’ve got to have a great product that you’re marketing and you’ve got to have somebody on your side who’s doing the cutting and wrapping that’s of outstanding quality, too.” The Big Sombrero’s fresh beef comes in several different package sizes, ranging from small packs sold by the pound to full freezer beef. Zimmerman said The Big Sombrero’s hamburger packages are top sellers. “Our number one staple we
started with was the hamburger. People just couldn’t believe the quality of the hamburger for the price. It’s not watered down, it’s not like grocery store hamburger. It’s outstanding burger. We just get lots of compliments on the burger and the hamburger is as good as the steaks.” Like other ranchers and farmers in McHenry County, Zimmerman’s feedlot has felt the pain of exceptional drought in 2021. “The drought is definitely a big factor with cost of production and increased cost of feed,” he said. “But the more we can keep the business local, the more we can help each other out. “I really think the outlook for the industry is great from the processing side and from the farm and ranch beef raising enterprises out there,” Zimmerman added. “The more we can spread the word and educate the local community how important it is to keep the dollars local, I think that’s an important part of it. I think it’s got a great outlook.” Ordering information can be found at www.thebigsombrerond.com.
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