April 2008 - The Roundup

Transcription

48 Ag Roundup April 2008
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Published monthly by The Roundup
PO Box 1207 • Sidney, MT 59270 • 1-800-749-3306
April 2008 Edition
Farm & Ranch
Monthly Magazine
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of Glendive
Visit us at: www.agriindustries.com
Your Complete Irrigation Headquarters
• Water Professionals
• Underground Contractors
3 Locations To Serve
Your Irrigation Needs
Williston, ND
701-572-0767 or 1-800-735-4908
Sidney, MT
406-488-8066 or 1-877-488-8066
Miles City, MT
406-234-2309 or 1-800-207-0650
Ag Roundup April 2008 47
Natural, Conventional
Beef To Be Discussed
During April Forum
From MSU News Service
The risks and rewards of raising and marketing natural
and conventional beef will be discussed during the annual
Montana Livestock Forum and Nutrition Conference to be
held April 15 and 16 at the Gran Tree Hotel, Bozeman.
On the first day of the forum, experts and local producers will discuss how ranchers can continue to meet consumer demands for safe and wholesome beef, said Montana Extension Beef Specialist John Paterson. The audience will also compare the taste of various samples of beef
and hear an overview of Montana’s natural beef law.
“In 2003, the consumer purchases for natural foods
grew by 24%,” Paterson said. “What exactly is driving consumer demand for natural products? Ranchers want to
know if they will receive added value for producing natural
beef without the use of growth promotants and antibiotics,
realizing there could be a decline in weight gain and an
increase in morbidity.”
T h a t W a s Th e n
T
TH
HIIS
S
IIS
SN
NO
OW
W
1998 Chevy Suburban C1500
1999 Chevy Tahoe K1500
2002 Chevy 2500HD Crew Cab
2003 Chevy Trailblazer
2004 Chrysler Sebring LX
2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser
2006 Dodge Charger Ram
2006 Dodge Ram 2500
1990 Ford F150
1999 Ford F250 Super Duty
2000 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer 4x4
2001 Ford F150-Brown
2001 Ford F150-Black
2003 Ford Explorer
2003 Ford Winstar
2005 Ford 500 SEL
2005 Ford Explorer LTD
2005 Ford Explorer XLT
2005 Ford F150 FX4
2005 Ford F150 Crew
2005 Ford Freestar
2006 Ford Focus ZX4
2006 Ford Taurus SE
2007 Ford 500 SEL
2007 Ford F150 Crew XL
1.6 acres 2 1/2 miles NE of Sidney. Large shop and
out buildings. $69,500
2008 Ford Escape XL
2007 Hyundai Sonata SE
2000 Lincoln Town Car
2002 Mercury Grand Marquis LS
2002 Oldsmobile Alero GL
(4) 4 acre lots 2 1/2 miles NE of Sidney. $40,000
350 head ranch in the McKenzie County Grazing
Assoc. This ND ranch has 2200 deeded acres 1100
of which have been farmed, great hay base. Live
year round creek runs through approx. 4 miles of the
ranch. Nice house & out buildings & corrals.
Call for details!
Since 1973
Priced From
$6,990 to
$27,990
Call Nick, Denny
or Kristin
(406) 433-4445
Licensed in Montana and North Dakota
www.nickjonesre.com
Truck Route South, Sidney
Or contact one of our agents:
Craig Broe
Kip Kolden
Tammi Dickerson
Bill Atol
Kevin Kvamme
JC LaBar
Sandy Monek Jamie Hoggarth
w w w.select fordmercur y.com
202 1st Ave. E., Williston (701) 577-2142 • 1-800-594-9454
Nicholas J. Jones,
Broker
406-480-1544
Kristin Larson
406-480-5139
Home: 798-3115
Dennis Wick
406-480-1550
The second day of the forum will focus on Montana
beef research, residual feed intake, and the outlook and
issues in cattle markets.
The conference is open to the general public. Cost is
$60 per person for both days, or $45 per person for one
day. To register, call 406-994-3414 or send an e-mail to
mailto:[email protected] [email protected].
The schedule is:
Tuesday, April 15
11 a.m.- 12:45 p.m. - Registration
12:45-1 p.m. - Welcome by Kim Hager, beef nutritionist
in Billings. Comments via video by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus.
1-1:15 p.m. - Montana natural beef law. Ron de Yong,
director of the Montana Department of Agriculture.
1:15-2 p.m. - Global and local impacts of science and
technology. Gary Sides, cattle nutritionist with Pfizer Animal Health.
2-2:45 p.m. - Cow-calf producer view of natural and
conventional beef. Trey Patterson, Padlock Ranch.
2:45-3:15 p.m. - Feedlot view of natural and conventional beef. Cal Siegfried, owner of Cornerstone Cattle Co.
3:15-3:45 p.m. - Break.
3:45-4 p.m. - Can you taste the difference? Consumer
perceptions of beef. Charlene Rich, executive director of
the Montana Beef Council, and Dave Zino, executive director of the Culinary Center.
4-4:45 p.m. - Audience participation in beef evaluation.
4:45-5:30 p.m. - No-host social.
6-8 p.m. - Dinner/evening program. Student scholarships and results of afternoon beef evaluation will be presented.
Wednesday, April 16
7-8 a.m. - Breakfast/poster judging.
8-8:30 a.m. - Montana beef research update. John
Paterson, Jane Ann Boles, Rachel Endecott and Clint Peck,
Montana State University.
8:30-9:30 a.m. - Residual Feed Intake: Past, present
and future. John Basarab, University of Alberta.
9:30-10 a.m. - Practical application of RFI. Leo
McDonnell, Midland Bull Test.
10-10:30 a.m. - Break.
10:30-11:15 a.m. - Cattle market outlook and issues.
Jim Robb, director of the Livestock Marketing Information
Center.
11:15-11:30 a.m. - Poster winner presentations. Pat
Hatfield, MSU.
11:30-11:35 a.m. - Closing remarks. Bret Olson, MSU.
Meadow Muffins . . .
Forty Year
'fess Up...Honesty
By Ken Overcast
There are some things that a fella just shouldn’t spread
around…. take for instance the little story I’m about to tell you.
I’ve been pretty reluctant to share this information for several
reasons. Most of them concern the possibility of personal bodily
harm befallin’ the teller. I’m in hopes that there has been enough
water under the bridge by now to sort of dull the anger of the
afflicted parties, and they won’t seek me out and pound me to a
pulp.
The afflicted parties here are Roy and Sally Finley, and the
reason I’m so bravely volunteering this information after the passing of forty years or so, is that Sally passed on to her reward
several years ago, and I just saw Roy yesterday ... I think I can
out-run him. Besides, Sally was the one I was really afraid of.
Roy and Sally and a whole house full of kids lived just up
the road from my folks. They were our next-door neighbors, and
good ones they were too. Sally was a big hearted, no-nonsense
kind of a gal that said what she meant and meant just what she
said. There were some of the Moms in the neighborhood that us
kids could get one over on, but Mrs. Finley wasn’t one of ‘em. You
just didn’t mess with Sally.
She’d kind of taken a shine to me for some reason, and
thought I could do no wrong. (Boy, did I have her fooled.) Although I knew very well that I had a special preferential spot in
Sally’s big heart, even I was smart enough to know that crossin’
her wasn’t a good idea. It could possibly even prove to be fatal.
The Finley’s had a mile of county road by the front of their
house that doubled as emergency cow pasture. You know how it
goes out in the country, there is usually an emergency of some
kind brewin’ all the time, and so as a result, they generally had
cows out on the road. Our family lived on the end of that mile
long lane, with a cattle guard to keep the critters apart. It worked
out just fine ... most of the time, and Sally was sort of the official
cow watcher of that outfit.
Now, ever’ little boy needs a hero or two, and my little brothers and I had several. The names Jim Shoulders and Casey Tibbs
might not mean much to anyone that isn’t up on rodeo history,
but they were the best back then, and we were determined to be
at least that good … or maybe even better. It doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to figure out that to get good at ANYTHING, you’ve got
to practice, and it also doesn’t take a brain surgeon to determine
that the constant harassment of gentle domesticated livestock
by wild young cowboys with bull ropes and spurs isn’t consistent
with weight gains and profit.
Dad had threatened us within an inch of our lives if he caught
us ridin’ his cows one more time. We were pretty sure he meant
it, too. He would have been even more upset if he’d caught us
ridin’ Sally’s cows. So far we’d been lucky and nobody was the
wiser, and Dad had no idea we could even stoop THAT low.
Bless my little brothers’ hearts, but they have a real evil streak
in ‘em. I don’t recall for sure, but I think this whole deal must have
been their idea. The old cattle guard was getting’ kinda full of
dirt, and Sally’s cows crossed it and got into our place one day.
The folks weren’t home, so it really didn’t take a lot of creativity
to get them into the alley behind the buckin’ chute we’d rigged
up. We bucked them out a couple of times and then opened the
gate by the cattle guard and pointed them back up the road towards home.
For some strange reason they didn’t wander down to our
end of the lane near as often after that, but before long the grass
got a little short on the other end and back down they came. The
folks were gone again. What luck! We just had ‘em all loaded into
the alley behind the buckin’ chute and ready to go, when our
very worst fears were realized.
“Here comes Sally!” yelled one of my little brothers. Both of
the little cowards hit the brush, trying desperately to avoid impending death, and left me there to face the music all by myself.
I quickly threw the bull rope behind a post, and wisely positioned
my body in the line of sight between the window in Sally’s car
and her cows in the chute across the corral. Drawing my huge
four-foot eleven frame to its very largest dimension, and pushin’
my hat back, I flashed my best smile.
“Hi, Sally. What are you doin’ so far from home?”
“I can’t find those &*%$# cows anyplace. The only thing I
can figure is that they must have gone on down the ditch bank
into your woods. You seen ‘em?”
There were several rules that the folks had drummed into
us kids, and one of them was that lyin’ was right next to bein’ an
axe murderer. You always tell the truth…. no matter what. I must
confess that I didn’t always toe that line as close as I could have
as a kid.
I looked her right in the eye, and checking again to make
sure I was blockin’ her line of sight from the evidence, gave her
the only logical answer ... a bald faced lie.
“Nope, I ain’t seen ‘em,” I said lyin’ through my teeth. “But,
I’m sure that’s where they are. Don’t worry a thing about ‘em. I’ll
ride right down there and run ‘em back home for you.”
That was one of my closest shaves with death. We made
sure we “found” the cows, and never tried that little trick again.
The Finley herd coincidentally showed a dramatically increased
rate of gain, and the opportunity to see the Overcast name in the
Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame went down the drain.
Honesty is always the best policy ... but then if I had always
been totally honest, I’d have been dead 40 years ago.
Keep Smilin’…..and don’t forget to check yer cinch.
Ken Overcast is a recording cowboy singer that lives on Lodge
Creek in north central Montana, where he raises and dispenses B.S.
www.kenovercast.com.
USED 4-WHEEL DRIVE TRACTORS
1982 JD 8850, (370 HP), 16 SPD. TRANS., PTO, 4 HYDS,
20.8X42 DUALS ............................................................ $24,500
1975 JD 8430, (175HP), 16 SPD. TRANS., PTO,
3 HYDS., 23.1X30/18.4X34 DUALS. ............................ $16,500
USED MFWD & 2WD TRACTORS
USED SEEDING EQUIPMENT
JD 785 HOE DRILL, 40', 10" SPACING .................. $12,500
(3) 9350 JD HOE DRILLS, 8 FT UNIT, 10" SPACING
W/JD TRANSPORT .................................................... $6,500
CASE IH 8500 AIR HOE DRILL, 45', 7" SPACING $18,500
(3) JD 9350 DISK DRILLS, '10 UNITS, 6' SPACING,
JD HYD TRANSPORT HITCH .................................. $9,500
1997 JD 8200, (180HP), 16 SPD. POWERSHIFT, MFWD,
3 PT. HITCH W/QUIK HITCH, 4 HYDS.,
14.9R46 DUALS ............................................................ $62,500
PTO, 3 HYDS., 420/80R46 DUALS. ............................ $33,500
1988 CASE IH 7120, (150HP), 18 SPD. POWERSHIFT, 3 PT.
HITCH, 4 HYDS., 14.9R46 DUALS. ............................. $38,500
LOADER TRACTORS
2004 JD 7420, (115HP), 16 SPD. POWER-QUAD W/LH
REVERSER, MFWD, DUAL PTO, 3 PT. HITCH, 3 HYDS.,
18.4X38 SINGLES, W/ JD 740 SL LOADER W/ JOYSTICK, 8'
BUCKET, GRAPPLE ..................................................... $82,500
1990 JD 4455, (140HP), MFWD, 15 SPD, POWERSHIFT,
DUAL PTO, 3 HYDS., 18.4X42 SINGLES, JD 265 LOADER,
8' BUCKET, GRAPPLE, JOYSTICK ............................. $34,500
1982 JD 3140, (80HP) MFWD TRACTOR
W/JD 260 LOADER ......................................................... CALL
1976 CASE 1070, (107HP), POWERSHIFT, PTO, 2 HYDS.,
18.4X38 SINGLES, DUAL 3100 LOADER, BUCKET,
GRAPPLE ........................................................................ $9,500
1977 JD 4630, (150HP), POWERSHIFT, PTO, 2 HYDS.,
20.8X38 SINGLES, JD 168 LOADER, BUCKET, GRAPPLE,
INDEPENDANT LOADER CONTROL ........................ $14,900
LOW-RATE FINANCING ON
ALL USED TRACTORS (OAC)
LAWN & GARDEN
JOHN DEERE X485 LAWN & GARDEN TRACTOR
W/54" DECK & BAGGER ........................................... $6,500
JOHN DEERE 425 LAWN & GARDEN TRACTOR
W/ 54" DECK ............................................................... $3,950
JOHN DEERE 345 W/ 48" MOWER .......................... $2,850
JOHN DEERE LX 279 LAWN TRACTOR
W/BAGGER ................................................................. $2,495
JOHN DEERE LTR166 W/ DUMP HOPPER ............ $2,250
JOHN DEERE 525 RIDING MOWER ........................ $1,750
JOHN DEERE L120 LAWN TRACTOR W/48"
DECK ........................................................................... $1,350
JOHN DEERE LX 188 W/ 48" MOWER & BAGGER $1,350
JOHN DEERE LT 155 LAWN TRACTOR ................. $1,250
POLARIS 42" PULL TYPE MOWER ............................ $950
JOHN DEERE SE14 SELF PROPELLED MOWER .... $195
LAWN BOY 21" PUSH MOWER ................................... $175
SUNRISE EQUIPMENT
2900 W. Holly, Sidney
406-488-3112 • 1-800-967-3597
www.sunriseequipment.biz
Beet Growers Heading For
Fields With New Contract &
Roundup-Ready Seeds
By Russ Wells
Sugarbeet planting is expected to begin the middle of April following a oneyear contract agreement between Sidney Sugars, Incorporated and the Montana-Dakota Beet Growers Association in March.
A big change for the growers is the approval of Roundup-Ready beet seed
as part of the contact. “The Seed Committee made up of growers and Sidney
Sugars representatives met and selected several varieties of beet seed for this
growing season,” reports Russ Fullmer, agricultural manager.
Fullmer said Sidney Sugars will conduct beet variety tests in two different
locations this year to collect better data.
“In a year or two, there’ll be nothing but Roundup-Ready beets. They allow
much better weed control. There’s a bigger window to spray your weeds and
you can use broadcasting to get at all the weeds in the field instead of band
spraying,” Fullmer explains, adding, “The Roundup-Ready beets have a gene
spliced in that is resistant to Roundup. It has no affect on the sugar.”
Roundup-Ready beets are expected to cut down on cultivation and trips
through the field which will save the grower money.
Fullmer said that Sidney Sugars will be contracting with individual growers
soon. “Some growers will be planting the second or third week of April, depending on weather conditions. It’s dry right now. We need some soil moisture,” Fullmer
adds.
Sidney Sugars and growers will start negotiations this summer for a longer
term contract. “We’re hoping the Farm Bill will be passed by then,” Fullmer said.
Fullmer reports that this year’s campaign went pretty good with minimal
down times. “It could have been colder. The beets stored as good as could be
expected with the mild winter.”
“The beet purities weren’t as high as we would like to see, but the factory
did a good job of getting the sugar out.” This year’s slice was completed on Feb.
7.
New crop variety selection
tool can help ag producers
A new Web-based tool is available to help farmers
choose appropriate crop varieties for their conditions.
Kent McVay, Montana State University Extension cropping systems specialist at the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station’s Southern Agricultural Research Center, created the Web-based crop variety selection tool. The tool
has information to help spring and winter wheat growers
now, and will later include information on barley and alfalfa
varieties.
“The web tool can help producers select varieties that
fit their production needs and help meet their yield goals,”
McVay said.
“Basically, it changes reams of data into straightforward answers based on user-entered information.”
The site is a menu option from the Southern Ag Research Center’s main Web page: www.sarc.montana.edu.
Users would go to that page, select “crop variety testing” at
the left and its sub-option “crop variety selection tool.”
At the website, producers make selections to narrow
their choices.
They can look for research results that have been conducted near their farm. They can also choose varieties
Don't lose pounds to infertile
or subfertile bulls. All bulls
should have a breeding
soundness exam each year. Bulls
can be fertile one year
& go bad the next.
We can test your bulls according to Society for
Theriogenolgy (reproduction) standards. When we
test bulls we will:
1. Measure the scrotal circumference
2. Palpate internal sex organs
3. Inspect penis & sheath for warts & other problems
4. Collect sperm & observe them under high power
microscope for abnormalities.
We do bulls from 12 months to 12 yrs. of age. Larger
groups of bulls can be done on your ranch. Individuals
& trailer loads can be done every day in the clinic.
PLEASE CALL AHEAD!
Western
Veterinary Clinic
Williston, ND • 701-572-7878 or 1-800-828-6681
Doctors Lee Garbel, Vince Stenson, Jody Smith,Charlie Noland & Heidi Gabel
based not only on yield potential, but protein levels or other
characteristics such as milling and baking quality. If they
are interested in growing white wheat, rather than red, they
can select the preferred category using the “market class”
button.
Phil Bruckner, Montana Agricultural Experiment Station wheat breeder, said the variety selection tool is a good
way to look for varieties that are adapted to specific locations.
“We have lots of variety test data,” Bruckner said. “This
tool lets you zero in on the varieties appropriate for the
locations you are interested in. And the tool is flexible
enough that if you don’t have one piece of information, you
could still get information based on your distance from a
test site.”
However, both Bruckner and McVay said that the more
specific the choices a person makes, the more useful the
information will be.
After entering the climate and resistance preferences
for an area, results include the number of site-years of data
that generated the average value.
“The greater the number of site-years for a variety, the
greater confidence researchers have that this variety will
consistently perform at the specified level,” said McVay.
“Those results with only one or two site years should be
considered risky.”
McVay said he is still improving the site and values
feedback from users, who can send comments via a Weblink at the site.
No special software is needed.
“If producers can get to the Internet, they can use my
webpage,” McVay said. “If you don’t have internet access,
call or visit with your county ag agents and ask that they
navigate for you.”
The results from the producer’s selections are based
on all the variety trials at Montana Agricultural Experiment
Station research centers for 2004 through 2007. That includes Southern Agricultural Research Center near Huntley, the Eastern Agricultural Research Center near Sidney,
the Northern Agricultural Research Center at Havre, Western Triangle Agricultural Research Center near Conrad,
Northwestern Agricultural Research Center near Kalispell,
Western Agricultural Research Center near Corvallis and
the Central Agricultural Research Center near Moccasin.
In addition to Bruckner and research center scientists,
others contributing data to the site include Tom Blake on
barley, Dennis Cash on alfalfa and Luther Talbert on spring
wheats.
According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics
Service, in 2006 Montana farmers produced more than 5
million acres of wheat valued at $700 million. Barley was
grown on 670,000 acres, valued at $93 million. And more
than 1.5 million acres of alfalfa was harvested for nearly
$275 million in revenue.
Ramifications Of Recent
Conservation Easement Law
The term, perpetuity, key to conservation easement
contracts, guarantees that land will forever retain restricted
use with the exception of that agreed upon by the property
owner and the land trust. The holder of the land trust becomes the management agency with monitoring and supervisory authority enforced by law, while the property
owner, holder of the title, assumes forever all costs of liability, taxes and maintenance related to the property. Prospective buyers of easement encumbered property must consider these financial obligations, as well as specified restricted uses such as development rights.
Heirs to the property, generally offspring of parents who
signed the contract in perpetuity, must forever continue
paying taxes, insurance and all expenses related to the
land. They generally now live elsewhere with livelihoods
other than farming or ranching. If they become financially
unable to meet monetary obligations of inherited property
they will likely seek disposal. The larger the acreage the
fewer will be the potential buyers of land which cannot be
subdivided and is limited in number and style of personal
residences. Until this last legislative session it was reassuring that land trusts were willing to take encumbered land
off the hands of financially strapped owners that are eager,
if not desperate, to dispose of it.
Traditional real estate law extinguishes the CE contract
when the entity holding the easement also becomes holder
of the land and title. Senate Bill 317 passed by the last
Montana state legislature and recently codified into law,
amended previous law by no longer permitting this nullification of longer purchase encumbered land, thus freeing it
of restrictions, only to sell or use it profitably. It also removes the avenue for owners seeking an escape from financial obligations assumed through inheritance or ill-advised purchase of encumbered land.
Alarming amounts of federal money is funneling into
private land acquisition through CEs as well as programs
to convert federal multiple use lands into wilderness, representing a federal “land grab” epidemic nationwide.
Appealing federal tax write-offs as well as monetary
funding are offered land owners. These one-time-only perks
are not available to future owners whether by inheritance
or purchase. Highly heralded almost to the point of patriotism are the virtues of open space, wildlife protection and
preserving rural lifestyle. The fact that property taxes at
the local level remain the same, allows ever increasing
amounts of acreage to go unnoticed under conservation
easement, very likely to eventually erode into fallow, weedprone, empty space. Unsalable property falling to the county
through tax default, in essence represents a liability, basically becoming parkland maintained by local taxpayers similar to our National Parks and increasingly non-productive
Forest Service lands financed by federal taxes.
MSGA Announces 2009 Environmental Stewardship Award Program
The 17th Annual Montana Environmental Stewardship
Award Program (ESAP) has officially opened its nomination season for 2009. The Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) has recognized the outstanding stewardship
practices and conservation achievements of Montana cattle
producers for almost two decades. Award winners are honored for their commitment to protecting the environment
and improving fish and wildlife habitat while operating profitable cattle operations.
“America’s cattle operations are dedicated to doing what
is right for the environment and it is evident in the 16 operations the Montana ESAP program has recognized since its
beginning,” says Dale Johnson, MSGA’s Research, Education and Endowment Foundation (REEF) Chairman. “This
year, we are expecting another great pool of applicants and
encourage your participation in the process.”
Applications can be submitted by any Montana cattle
producer who is a member of MSGA. The state winner will
be nominated by MSGA to compete for the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association Region V Environmental
Stewardship Award.
“This is always a great program, which gets a great
deal of attention,” says MSGA President and previous ESAP
winner Steve Roth. “If you haven’t had a chance to apply
in the past, now’s the time! You have until May 15 to get
your application turned in.”
Montana ESAP was established in 1991 by the Montana Stockgrowers Association and is made possible by
the support of MSGA’s REEF with a grant from the Montana Beef Council. MSGA awards one winner, which is
selected annually by a committee of representatives from
universities, conservation organizations, and federal and
state agencies.
“This program has encouraged cattle producers to try
new techniques developed by the winners, and it continues to reward innovators for their stewardship,” says Roth.
“It also demonstrates to the world how producers are the
original, true environmentalists.”
The deadline for 2009 ESAP nomination packet is May
15, 2008. Go to www.mtbeef.org or contact MSGA’s office to
request a copy of the application at 406-442-3420.
SPRING PLANTING SPECIALS!
WDX 2302
Swather
Magnum
275
Puma
195 & 165
Used Tractors
1994 Case IH 7220, 3 pt, MFD, dual PTO, 18.4x42 tires,
6000 hrs ................................................................................ $49,900
JD 7800, MFD, PowerQuad, 3 pt, 14.9x46 duals, 8500 hrs .... $49,900
JD 4775, MFD, Powershift, 3 pt, 14.9x46 duals, 6900 hrs ..... $48,900
Steiger ST 325, 24.5x32 duals, 14' Dozer, consigned .............. $23,000
Ford 4000, Loader, 3pt, gas engine ............................................ $6,500
1967 JD 4020, recent engine overhaul, new clutch, 90% tires,
Dual PTO ................................................................................. $8,995
Used Combines
1983-1440 CIH Combine 2100 hrs always shedded 24' auger head,
Consigned .............................................................................. $19,000
CIH 1015, Pickup header, Like New ........................................... $6,995
1986 CIH 1660 Combine, 2600 hrs ........................................ $29,000
1989 CIH 1660 Combine, 1900 hrs ........................................ $36,000
1986 Case IH 1640 Combine, 2000 hrs .................................. $22,500
Used Haying Equipment
JD 566 Round Baler, mesh wrap, wide pickup .......................... $17,500
04 Case IH RBX 562 Baler, endless belts, mesh wrap .............. $27,900
1999 CIH RS 561 Baler ........................................................... $19,500
CIH 2001 RS 561 Baler ........................................................... $18,995
CIH 1999 8480 Baler .............................................................. $14,000
CIH 8480 Softcore Baler .......................................................... $11,900
1995 CIH 8465 Round Baler .................................................... $10,900
Vermeer 505 Super I Baler .......................................................... $7,750
Hesston 560 Baler, New Belt & Chains, Low Bales .................... $5,995
2002 RBX 561 Netwrap & Moisture Tester ............................... $22,500
Low Rate Financing
Available on All New
& Used Equipment
RB 564
Round Baler
7010
Combine
JX 95
w/Loader
NH 116 16 ft Mower Conditioner ............................................. $10,500
JD 1600 Mower Conditioner ...................................................... $7,995
Hesston 1170 Mower Conditioner .............................................. $6,990
2000 CIH SC416 Mower Conditioner, 16', dual knife drive,
excellent condition ................................................................. $15,900
Lawn Mowers
JD G100 Automatic, 235 hrs, 50" deck, bagger ......................... $2,995
JD L130, 175 hrs., 48" deck, bagger ......................................... $1,995
Air Drills & Sprayers
2001 Flexicoil 67XL, suspended boom, 90', 1000 gal., electric end
jets, auto rate ......................................................................... $24,000
(New) SDX40 w/ADX Tank 2230 .................................. Rental Discount
Concord 3212, 32', 12" spacing, single shoot, Nok-on sweeps, .. 1502
tow behind tank, bias packers ................................................... $25,000
Miscellaneous
1992 Ford F250, 4wd, V-8 engine, automatic,
service body with crane ........................................................... $6,450
Fox Corn Chopper ...................................................................... $4,995
Ford 3PT Rotary Tiller, 48" cut ................................................... $1,250
Artsway 6 row 24", defoliator, 3 drum, hyd scalpers,
rear steer ................................................................. Consigned $3995
H&S 12R24 Cultivator, guidecones, tunnel shields, flip up discs $4,995
Alloway 12R24 Cultivator, flipup discs, tunnel shields ........ Just Traded
Parma 24' & 30' Roller Harrow
Hygrade Grader 1400, 14'
Artsway 166 Plow, on land, 5 bottom
TRI-COUNTY IMPLEMENT
© 2007 CNH America LLC. All rights reserved. Case IH is a registered trademark of
CNH America LLC. CNH Capital is a trademark of CNH America LLC. www.caseih.com
Sidney, MT • 2429W. Holly
406-488-4400 • 1-800-624-6540
Visit our web site at tri-cnty.com
Northeastern Montana Counties
Qualify For Carbon Offset Credits
The National Carbon Offset Coalition (NCOC), a Montana-based organization, allows Ag producers and landowners to earn income by storing carbon in their soil through
no-till crop production, long-term grass seeding practices,
grazing management practices, grassland, forestry, and
methane capture projects.
NCOC is an aggregator of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) that enters carbon credits onto the market
place. NCOC enrolls landowners’ acreages of carbon
projects into blocks of credits that are then traded on the
exchange, much like other agricultural commodities are
traded.
Large companies and other entities that are members
of CCX purchase credits daily on the exchange to offset
their own carbon emissions into the atmosphere on a voluntary basis. Once credits sell, landowners earn income
based on the acres they have enrolled. As an example, this
month, NCOC distributed over a $230,000 to 66 landowners for the sale of their carbon. Carbon has been selling at
a rate of $4.50-$5.60/ton this month.
Philips, Roosevelt, Sheridan, McCone, Garfield,
Richland, and Dawson counties are qualified for enrollment
in the NCOC Program for conservation tillage, rangeland,
ag methane, forestry, and grassland plantings. Ted Dodge
with the National Carbon Offset Coalition will present information about the newest carbon credit opportunities which
landowners can apply their acreages of carbon through April
2008.
NCOC will be conducting workshops throughout northeastern Montana. The workshops are scheduled to begin
on April 8-April 11. All landowners and the public are invited to attend.
The following are the locations, times, and places for
the upcoming workshops.
Tuesday, April 8 - Philips County Library, (Basement)
in Malta - 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 9 - Nemont Telephone, 720 2nd Ave.,
Scobey - 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 9 - Sheridan County Courthouse
(Bicentennial Rm., Plentywood - 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 10 - Elks Lodge (Lodge Rm.), Sidney 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 10 - Hungry Joe Hall, 323 E. Berry,
Glendive - 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Friday, April 11 - Smidtz Banquet, Circle - 10 a.m.-12:30
p.m.
Friday, April 11 - VFW Hall, Jordan - 1:30-3:30 p.m.
For more information about the workshops, contact Ted
Dodge at 406-491-4471 or Emily Tafoya at 406-491-4472.
Visit the NCOC website at http://www.ncoc.us for specific
rates based on land use.
New Crop Sequence Calculator Available
By Dale Naze
NDSU Extension Agent/McKenzie County
The USDA Agricultural Research Service has recently announced that the latest version of the popular Crop Sequence
Calculator is now available. The newest version can be used to
investigate rotations for barley, buckwheat, canola, chickpeas,
corn, crambe, dry beans, dry peas, flax, grain sorghum, proso
millet, safflower, soybean, spring wheat, durum and sunflowers.
First released in 2001, the program provides crop-specific
information on production, plant diseases, weeds, water use and
surface soil properties to help producers make sound decisions
regarding different crop rotations and sequences.
Based on recorded results of multiple crop plantings dating
back to 1995 near Mandan, the Crop Sequence Calculator can
show the potential yield effect of any two-year combination of
the 16 crops listed above. The information, however, is not tied
to the Mandan area alone. Producers can modify the data for
soil, weather and other conditions to match their own area to get
a more personalized result.
In addition to the crop rotation and sequencing features, the
program also contains a database of resources and additional
information on plant diseases, weeds, insects, soil water, soil
quality, economics and other information. For example, clicking
the button for plant diseases will return an introduction to plant
disease, research data, Internet resources and photographs of
plant diseases to aid in their identification. The same holds true
for the other information databases as well.
Prior versions of the Crop Sequence Calculator did not include corn – the updated version does. The researchers included
corn as part of a greater emphasis on warm season crops and
the fact that corn has increased significantly in the past few years.
The latest version includes more research data as well as
new information on economics, insects and other pests in North
Dakota. And the program now provides an introduction to the
Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory crop sequence research project and dynamic agricultural systems.
To request a copy of the new Crop Sequence Calculator, go
to the following website:
www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=13698. And if you
don’t have Internet capabilities, stop by the Extension Office in
Watford City and we can access the Internet on your behalf.
About The
Ag
Roundup
The Ag Roundup is a monthly Farm & Ranch Magazine. It is delivered to
over 10,000 farm & ranch families in Western North Dakota and Eastern
Montana. The advertising and news deadline for the May 2008 issue is
April 22. Subscription Rate: $15 per year.
Telephone:
Mailing Address:
406-482-3306 or
The Roundup
1-800-749-3306
P.O.Box 1207
Fax:
Sidney, MT
406-482-4114
e-mail:
Production Office:
[email protected]
Located at 1511 S. Central in Sidney
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It Takes A “Village” Of Students And Researchers
To Set The Stage For A Camelina Market
By Carol Flaherty
MSU News Service
You’ve heard camelina oil has a potential in biofuels. Now
Montana State University researchers are working to bring you
camelina stove pellets, camelina in bread and peanut butter,
camelina for livestock feed and camelina mulch, in addition to
camelina growing recommendations.
It’s all part of a push to provide a well-rounded research
base for local economic development, said Alice Pilgeram, director of the MSU Biobased Institute, which supports bioenergy
and biobased research projects being done by faculty, staff and
students of MSU, MSU Extension and the Montana Agricultural
Experiment Station.
The goal is to find uses for the by-products of camelina oil
processing, as well as for the better-known omega-3-rich
camelina oil.
“The emphasis at MSU is development of value-added applications for camelina meal,” Pilgeram said. “Expansion of the
Montana camelina crop has been limited by the current high
prices of wheat and barley.
However, early research has indicated that camelina is a
valuable wheat rotation crop even in place of fallow.”
The work is taking place at many sites around Montana as
well as in Bozeman. At Havre’s Northern Ag Research Center,
Darin Boss is researching camelina meal as a beef cattle feed
while Peggy Lamb and Gregg Carlson look at camelina in comparison to other oilseed crops.
At the Central Ag Research Center at Moccasin, Chengci
Chen is investigating crop rotations and Dave Wichman the effect of planting date on camelina yields. At the Western Triangle
Research Center at Conrad, Grant Jackson is working on the
effects of fertilization on camelina yields, and at the Southern Ag
Research Center in Huntley Steve King is evaluating herbicides
for control of weeds in camelina.
At MSU in Bozeman, David Sands has completed a preliminary evaluation of camelina for use in poultry and dairy feeds
and is working with nutritionist Mary Stein to evaluate camelina
for use in peanut butters and breads; nutritionist Christina
Campbell is studying the effects of camelina oil on inflammation
in middle-aged women; plant scientist Chaofu Lu is investigating
the metabolism of oilseeds; Pilgeram is working with MSU land
resources student Carol Froseth to see how camelina waste
would do as a mulch, and with plant sciences master’s student
Brekke Peterson on camelina for odor eradication and
remediation of soils and water contaminated with aromatic compounds such as creosote and dichlorophenol. MSU Extension
Professor Mike Vogel is working with MSU Mechanical Engineering Professor Vic Cundy and his students to develop the bestburn mix for camelina heating stove pellets.
For various regulatory and economic reasons, Pilgeram says
she thinks the most likely first product to come to market from
these efforts may be the camelina-based pellets for home heating stoves.
Camelina heating pellet development has had an unusual
development path from conception to pasta maker to commercial pelletizer.
To take a step back, producing camelina oil for biofuels and
livestock feeds leaves a by-product called camelina meal.
Camelina meal is very similar to corn meal, although when
camelina meal gets wet it produces a jello-like substance. In
Europe and Montana, the meal has been evaluated for livestock
and pet feed. Commercial livestock feeding requires FDA approval, which has yet to happen. In the interim, MSU is evaluating the meal for other applications such as home heating.
Vogel, Extension’s housing and environmental quality specialist, says that when he got the idea of converting camelina
meal into heating stove pellets, one hurdle was having no commercial grade pellet maker available. He and Cundy approached
the problem with a “never-say-die” mentality and started looking
for alternative ways to extrude pellets.
“To begin, all we really needed was an approximation of standard pellets,” Vogel said.
When the pair heard of a pasta maker sitting idle, they investigated whether it could be adapted to create heating pellets
that would come somewhat close to heating pellet specifications.
Sure enough, instead of pasta they could get pellets.
“Our pellets out of the pasta maker weren’t the best, but
they were a start,” Cundy said.
Cundy had four students who worked on camelina pelletizing for their senior project during the 2006-2007 school year.
They developed preliminary recipes for camelina meal pellets
combined with other products such as ash, wood chips and straw.
Current undergraduate students Alex Yudell and Stephen Switters
are continuing the research.
Monte Bare, an MSU graduate in mechanical engineering,
donated a heating stove for the research. It and the pasta-pellet
mill were set up in 2007.
“Camelina heating value is at or above that of a premium
wood pellet,” Cundy said. Initial tests by an outside lab for MSU
showed that camelina meal averages a heating content of about
10,000 British thermal units per pound. When MSU students had
an outside lab test their camelina pellets, the heating value was
about 8,600 BTUs per pound compared to about 8,300 BTUs
per pound for premium wood pellets.
The student’s pellet recipe also produced more ash and
sulfur than wood, so the MSU work is now focusing on a pellet
recipe that increases the heating values while decreasing ash
and sulfur products of combustion.
This year, thanks to a grant from the USDA NRCS, the team
will use a commercial-grade pellet maker.
“We need to manufacture the pellets consistent with the standards of the industry,” Vogel said. “Once we are doing that, we
can say we’re comparing apples to apples.”
Those “apples” will be given to the middle school in Townsend
before long. The Townsend Middle School received a grant to
adapt its heater to use various fuels. As soon as the pellet team
thinks it has the right recipe, they’ll be taking enough pellets to
Townsend for a full test in a commercial heating system.
The bulk of the work to develop camelina has been funded
by the Biobased Institute at MSU. Additional research support
has been provided by USDA NRCS, USDA “Fuels for Schools”
Project, Montana Department of Commerce Research and Commercialization Board, USDA SBIR, and the US Egg and Poultry
Association.
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TA T-tank sprayers can be fitted with compact, trifolding 90- or 80- foot front-fold
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best meets your needs and make it part of your farming
family.
LINDSEY IMPLEMENT INC.
HWY 2 WEST, WILLISTON, ND
701-572-4128
1-800-735-6549
web site: lindseyimplement.com
Forage Peas Could Be
Promising Alternative To
Summer Fallow
MSU Presents Economic
Info For Ag Producers In
Great Falls, Billings
Pea forage could be an economic alternative to summer fallow in no-till systems, say Montana State University
researchers.
Recent research conducted by Dave Wichman, Montana Agricultural Experiment Station’s Central Agricultural
Research Center, and Perry Miller and Rick Engel, Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences
(LRES), indicated that pea forage management practices
can affect both yield and quality of the forage and subsequent wheat crop.
In this study, wheat yields following pea were superior
to wheat yields following hay barley at Amsterdam.
“This cropping sequence response has commonly been
observed in Montana where wheat yields on pea stubble
were intermediate between wheat yields following fallow
and cereal stubble,” said Miller.
At Amsterdam, wheat yields were not only affected by
the previous crop, but also by forage harvest timing and
nitrogen fertilizer rate, said Clain Jones, Extension soil fertility specialist in LRES. When forage was fertilized with a
relatively low nitrogen fertilizer rate of 45 pounds of nitrogen per acre and harvested and terminated at first flower,
wheat yields were 15 bushels per acre greater following
winter pea than when wheat was similarly fertilized, harvested and terminated following hay barley.
On average, pea forage yield at first flower was 58% of
the yield at the plump pod stage. In addition, harvesting
Agricultural producers are facing changes in agriculture due to volatile energy costs, global market conditions
and changing government policy. Factors influencing those
issues will be described during meetings in Great Falls May
6 and Billings May 8.
Duane Griffith, Montana State University Extension
farm management specialist, said sessions will be presented by people from North Dakota State University, South
Dakota State University and MSU.
The program will also provide information helpful to crop
and livestock producers who are concerned about very
short term issues, like locking in commodity prices for this
fall, rapidly rising production costs and renegotiating lease
arrangements.
Protecting expected high commodity prices will be covered with presentations on using the futures and options
markets and available insurance products for crops and
early at first flower, used 2.5 inches of soil water compared
with 3.1 inches when forage harvest was delayed until the
plump pod stage. Compared to spring pea, winter pea utilized about 0.8 inches less water.
In this study, wheat following winter pea forage consistently produced higher wheat grain protein, whereas wheat
following barley forage consistently produced the lowest
protein.
“Protein is higher following peas, because pea residue
contributes more available nitrogen to the soil than barley
residue,” said Jones.
At the Central Ag Research Center at Moccasin, wheat
yields were not affected by the previous forage treatment,
and were the same as following the chemical fallow control.
“The differences between sites are likely due to
Amsterdam’s considerably deeper soil compared to the
variably shallow soil at Moccasin,” Miller said. The results
confirmed that often there is not much of an advantage to
fallowing shallow soils, because shallow soils cannot store
much water.
This study was funded by Montana’s Fertilizer Checkoff. Summaries of pea and barley forage studies may be
found at http://landresources.montana.edu/fertilizerfacts
(#51). Contact your local MSU Extension agent (http://
extn.msu.montana.edu/localoffices.asp
http://
extn.msu.montana.edu/localoffices.asp) or crop adviser for
help with specific fertilizer decisions.
TRAD
BUY
E
work, Pfizer Animal Health and WALCO Animal Health.
The truck has already made an appearance this spring.
During Stevenson Basin’s Black and Red Bull Sale in
Hobson, MT on March 19-20, the truck was proudly displayed for people to view and sign up to win. The truck will
also make appearances at various stock shows, county
and state fairs and rodeos throughout the year. You can
see it, join MSGA, and sign up to win at Lithia Dodge, Billings.
For more information
please contact RaeMarie
in the MSGA office at
406-442-3420
or
raemarie@ mtbeef.org.
USED EQUIPMENT
Concord 40’ Air Drill
$48,500
ST280 Steiger Tractor ............... $22,500
CIH 9390 Tractor
w/triple & powershift ............................. $98,000
1993 JD 9600 Combine ............ $55,000
Haybuster Tub Grinder ............. $18,500
46’ Cattle Pot ............................. $15,000
Flexicoil 39’ Air Seeder
w/1720 tanks ........................................ $29,000
w/tow behind tank ................................. $12,500
Case 8500 45’ Air drill .............. $8,000
w/10” spacing & 2300 tank w/diesel engine
SELL
E
MOV
MSGA To Give Away Another Dodge Truck
The Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) is
once again giving one lucky member a 27-month lease on
a 2008 Cummins Diesel Dodge Truck, valued at $40,000!
The truck will be given away at the MSGA Annual Convention in December in Billings. All MSGA rancher, supporting
and young stockgrower members are eligible. New members that choose to join MSGA will also be eligible to win
the lease. If interested, existing members must submit an
entry ticket to qualify. If you do not submit an entry ticket,
you will not qualify! For every new member that an existing
member signs up between now and December 2008, the
existing member will be awarded one more chance to win
the lease. Sponsors of the truck include; Lithia Dodge, Billings; Montana Stockgrowers Association, First Interstate
Bank, Billings; Western Ranch Supply, Northern Ag Net-
livestock. Current cost of production estimates will be
shared, as will expectations about future costs of production. These estimates will be used as a basis for presentations on negotiating equitable crop share and cash lease
arrangements under the emerging commodity prices and
costs of production.
The May 6 workshop in Great Falls will be at the Holiday Inn. The May 8 presentation in Billings will be at the
Holiday Inn Montana on the King Avenue exit. Both programs begin with a sign-in at 8 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m.
Lunch will be provided.
Pre-registration is required so that lunch, breaks and
meeting materials can be planned. To register, contact MSU
at 406-994-3511, the Great Falls Extension office at 406454-6980 or the Billings Extension office at 406-256-2828.
Registration is $50 for the first person from an operation
and $30 for each additional person from the same operation, and payment can be made at the door.
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HEGGEN EQUIPMENT, INC.
701-842-3636 • Toll Free 1-800-584-9207
After Hours, call Clayton at 701-586-3336
1/2 mi. S on Hwy. 85 & 200 • Watford City, ND
Get Ready For Spring!
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A simple reminder for something that is simply vital: Look
up and locate overhead power
lines before using anything tall.
Then keep at least 15 feet away.
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West Plaza Shopping Center
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406-377-3645
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120 East Main St.
Village Square Mall
Sidney, MT 59270
406-433-4370
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Let Us Help You With Your
Building or Remodeling Plans!
Great Plains takes the worry and confusion out of remodeling. Our trained specialists come to you,
at your convenience, to design and measure your space to fit your remodeling needs.
Community Clinic-Western Dakota
Visiting Physicians
April 2008
2 - Dr. Robert Percell, Jr. - Cardiologist
7 - Dr. Tracy Hjelmstad - Podiatrist
Saturday, April 5 • 1:00 P.M. CDT
9 - Dr. Lane Lee - Surgeon
WILLISTON SADDLERY • HWY 2 WEST • WILLISTON
14 - Char Ferrell, FNP - Psychiatric
15 - Dr. Erdal Diri - Rheumatologist
15 - Dr. Alexandre Kindy - Orthopedist
17 - Dr. J. Moller - Pediatric-Cardiologist
The Services YOU Want:
• Knowledgeable project consultants.
• Design/Measuring service.
• Fast, accurate delivery... what you
need, where you need it.
• No-Hassle special orders...
we have a source for whatever
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The Perfect Complement
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30 - Dr. Samir Turk - Cardiologist
30 - Sandy Gilbertson
Pacemaker Check
To make an appointment with any
of these specialists, call 701-572-7711.
Lumber & Building Materials
1807 S. Central • Sidney, MT • 406-488-1702
1102 Main
Williston, ND
701-572-7711
1-800-735-4940
Everything We Do
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THE LATEST NEWS ON HORSE
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Purina
Performance.
New Durum Varieties
On The Horizon
By Russ Wells
It looks like 10 years of studies are finally going to pay
off for Joyce Eckhoff, research agronomist with the MSU
Agricultural Research Center in Sidney.
Eckhoff has been working with her durum variety tests
for 10 years. “We are evaluating several advanced lines for
release in the near future,” she said.
Eckhoff recalls her durum research experiences. “When
I came here, durum was grown in Eastern North Dakota
and Arizona. Because of the scab disease problem, most
of the durum up north has moved to Western North Dakota
and Eastern Montana.”
She would like to see more durum acres in the state. “I
feel we can grow a high-quality durum that can compete
with the quality of the desert durum.”
Eckhoff says she started from scratch with the first research cropping 10 years ago. “Right now it’s a long, slow
process. New technology can reduce the number of generations needed. There is no winter nursery here. We can
grow only one generation a year. To speed the development process up, you need a place that’s warm in the winter to grow a second crop.”
Eckhoff points out that durum is used to make quality
pasta products. She says, “Europeans have traditionally
purchased durum from the southwest to produce products
with desirable stronger gluten.” She hopes to see Montana
and North Dakota durum take over for the desert durum,
especially with some of the new varieties under development at the Research Center.
It is about time to
get out in the
fields.
Consider us
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Aaron Knudsvig
Williston
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701-965-6091
Williston
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701-577-2113 • www.fnbt.us
Williston
Ray Crosby Lignite
Joyce Eckhoff checks out durum plants being studied at the MSU Agricultural Research Center in Sidney.
BEEF
& BREW
Featuring the MonDak Area's
Finest Beef Restaurants
Enjoy Ranger Dining
Tuesday-Saturday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
NIGHTLY SPECIALS
Tues ....... Chicken Fried Steak ................... 8.00
with mashed potatoes, breadstick & salad
Wed ........ 16 oz. Ribeye ............................. 17.00
with 2 sides
Thurs ...... Philly Cheesesteak or
French Dip Sandwich .................. 8.00
with 1 side
Crab-Stuffed
New York Strip Steak
Coming Soon: New Fall Menu
Fri ........... Perch (grilled or breaded) .............. 10.00
Halibut ....................................... 16.00
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Sidney, MT
406-482-4566
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wider denser trees that are less likely to fall in a wind storm.
However, topping will change the shape of the tree so only do
this with careful consideration.
When in doubt about any pruning, consult with a qualified
professional arborist or refer to the MSU Extension tree pruning
guide for specific procedures. Pruning and caring for trees requires knowledge, skill and concern for your wishes. Always ask
for references and look at previous pruning work. Call your local
Extension agent if you have questions.
Do not use tree injections unless your tree has a problem
that is readily evident to you and has been diagnosed by an
expert. Drilling holes into trees to inject a systemic insecticide or
fungicide harms the tree. It is only warranted in specific situations as an expensive option to save the tree from an existing
insect or disease attack or proven local threat. In addition, injections typically only work for deciduous trees when applied in early
spring and summer, and do not work with most conifers. Never
use injections as a means of fertilizing. If your tree looks healthy
to you, it probably is and does not require anything other than
occasional watering and mild uses of fertilizer. An unsolicited
knock on your door by someone who says your tree is sick and
needs an injection, probably only wants easy money. If in doubt,
call your Extension office for advice.
Trees are beautiful and useful. A large deciduous tree planted
on the southwest side of a house can keep your house 10-20
degree cooler in summer yet allow for the sun to warm your house
after their leaves have dropped in the winter. A dense conifer
such as pine, spruce and juniper planted on the windward side
of your property also acts as a privacy screen and windbreak.
Energy-use studies have shown that windbreaks reduce heating
costs by 30 percent during the winter.
Choose and maintain your trees wisely.
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fail during windstorms if done improperly. Occasionally, a tree
will need the top pruned because of obstructions like power lines.
For shortening deciduous trees, a branch should be pruned back
to where another substantial branch forks off. This enhances the
natural shape of the tree and protects its structural integrity versus arbitrarily lopping off the top to some designated height. If
the tree is too large for you to prune safely or you are uncertain
where to cut, hire a professional.
Conifers or “evergreens” prefer to be cone-shaped. Every
year one main leader grows upward and a new “whorl” of side
branches grows off last year’s leader growth. To remain healthy,
their foliage needs full sunlight, so widely spaced trees can maintain foliage all the way to the ground. If lower branches become
shaded, they die. Lower branches that die or are pruned off will
never grow back with any size. Pruning for health and shape is
best done in early summer before the new growth has hardened.
Larger branches can be pruned any time of the year. When shaping a conifer, leave some new growth. It is almost impossible to
keep a tree the same size and healthy when it is genetically
programmed to grow big. Healthy conifers will keep their needles
for three years, thus leaving new needles every year is essential
to maintain healthy needles.
Evergreens such as pines, spruces and junipers can have
tops pruned back somewhat without significant damage to the
tree if a shorter squatter tree is desired, and a healthy crown is
available to work with. Typically no more than one-third of the
green crown should be pruned off. Spruce trees, which have short
needles with very prickly ends, are notoriously shallow rooted,
making them very susceptible to being tipped over by high winds
when they get taller than 40-50 feet.
Pruning the tops of these trees back a little will promote
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Taking Care Of Shade Trees
By Peter Kolb, MSU Extension Forestry Specialist
Shade trees are both an aesthetic and financial asset, but
keeping trees healthy in Montana, especially east of the continental divide, can be challenging.
Parts of Montana have some of the most difficult conditions
in the lower 48 United States to grow trees. However, careful
tree selection, planting and maintenance will help keep your trees
healthy.
The first thing a tree needs is space. Trees need as much
room for their roots as you expect to have foliage on top. Most
roots will be in the upper two feet of soil, though some species
also grow deep tap roots. The roots need oxygen as well as water, so keep a well aerated soil surface that is at least 1.5 times
as large as the crown of the tree is wide.
If you have poor soils, it would be ideal if you would plan a
year in advance about planting a new tree. That year would give
Peter Kolb pruning a tree
you time to not only dig a large a hole (three feet deep and at
least 1.5 times as wide as the root ball) but to backfill it with a mix
of original soil and 30-40% composted organic debris. Amended
soils settle, so waiting a year reduces the risk of a tree shifting
after planting. In addition, any newly planted tree taller than three
feet will benefit from being stabilized by a well-anchored stake
that is as tall as the tree and attached with a cord at about twothirds of the tree height. Pad the cord where it attaches to the
tree and keep it loose enough to allow for growth. If planting a
tree with a burlap-covered root ball, cut vertical slits in the burlap
three inches or more apart once the tree is in the hole to allow
for proper root growth.
Don’t add more than two inches of soil over an existing tree’s
root system in any given year, or the roots will have difficulty
getting air. Keep the new soil at least two feet away from existing
trunks that are larger than six inches in diameter.
Especially for new trees, water often and
deep during summer. Tree seedlings or balled
and burlaped trees need to grow enough
roots to supply the tops with water during
summer heat. Shallow watering promotes
shallow roots. Since most soils will only allow for water penetration of about one-inch
per hour, using a drip system or soaker hose
that applies about a gallon an hour, left running for 24 hours or more at a time, will create a deep water profile in the soil. This will
also prevent salt accumulations in the rooting zone, which could eventually poison your
tree. Most drought-adapted shade trees
suited for Montana will not break winter dormancy from fall watering, though some exotic ornamentals may.
Fertilize only in the spring with a well
balanced fertilizer. Most lawn fertilizers consist mainly of nitrogen, which stimulates
growth but not drought hardiness or defense
mechanisms in trees. Apply a generic 10-1010 (numbers denote the proportions of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) fertilizer
after your last expected spring frost with
ample water on the soil just inside and outside the tree canopy. Specialized fertilizer for
trees (that have additional other nutrients)
also works well, because sulfur and iron are
common deficiencies on Montana soils that
can cause tree foliage to appear yellow or
pale green.
Prune your trees properly, which for deciduous trees is best done in late winter before budburst or mid-summer. Most shade
trees want to be lollipop or umbrella shaped
for maximum energy production and water
conservation. Deciduous trees should generally be pruned up, which means removing
lower and inner branches so that you can
walk under the trees and look up into a cathedral-like tree canopy.
Top-pruning to shorten a tree creates
tangled growth and weakened crowns that
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Growing and Changing with You
Farming and ranching today are a lot
different than they were 30 years ago.
And those things that are the same,
sure don’t cost the same.
We understand that
financing for Ag operations
has to change with the
times. Our experienced Ag
lenders know you have to
keep up with technology,
from machinery to irrigation
systems, high value crops
to computer software
programs.
Biodiesel Production Unit Will
Compare Locally-Produced Plant Oils
By Russ Wells
Sidney’s MSU Eastern Ag Research Center has a new
high-tech research unit. It’s a biodiesel production and refining unit.
EARC Research Chemist Charles Flynn is in charge of
the biodiesel unit manufactured by Sun Bio Systems, Inc. “This
is the second unit built. They have one and we have one,”
Flynn reports.
Flynn says the unit is built to make biodiesel from vegetable oils. He plans to study seven crops that can be grown
in this area. They include oleic safflower oil, linoleic safflower
oil, soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, camelina oil and flax
oil.
“We plan to take these oils and make them a quality capable of being used to run a diesel engine,” Flynn said. “We
want to see how the biodiesel from the different crops compares in terms of storage, combustion, gelling properties and
energy.”
The biodiesel would most likely be used as a “bio extender” mixed 5 or 10% with regular diesel.
Flynn explained the process used: vegetable oil, methanol and a catalyst are heated and mixed. This forms biodiesel
and glycerol. The excess methanol is removed and the remaining mixture goes to the settling tank. The heavier glyc-
erol goes to the bottom of the tank and is pulled off. A water
wash then removes much of the unwanted materials and
settles to the bottom where it is removed. At that point, you
have fairly purified biodiesel. The biodiesel goes through a
resin tank and filters for a final cleaning.
“What you end up with is a product that meets ASTM
(American Society for Testing and Measurements) standards,”
Flynn said.
Early production of biodiesel products in Europe had a
lot of difficulties so the U.S. adopted ASTM standards so engines would not be damaged. Flynn says some homemade
biodiesels may not meet these standards.
Flynn explains that the production unit is rather expensive because the methanol used in the process is volatile and
highly flammable. All the pumps on the unit are air drawn and
there are no electric motors. All wiring and heaters are in conduit or containers. The electrical control boxes are mounted
20 feet from the unit. There’s safety gauges for everything.
The manufacturer plans to come to Sidney to do the final
setup before the maiden voyage. Right now, the biodiesel unit
will be used on site. Later, it may be set up for remote demonstrations. Flynn says plans are to send the locally-produced
biodiesel elsewhere for the comparison tests.
We’re dedicated to changing
with the times to best serve our
customers.
Williston’s Only Locally Owned Bank
Est. 1906
223 N Main • Williston, ND
701-774-4110
www.asbt.com
Marvin Stedman (left) assists Research Chemist Charles Flynn in setting up the new biodiesel production
and refining unit.
Considering An Agribusiness
Equipment Purchase? It
Might Be The Time To Buy
By Jodie Leland
Wells Fargo’s Community Banking president
Sidney & Circle
Considering an equipment purchase for your business? The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 might make
this the time to buy or lease new equipment. Two key
provisions benefit businesses that purchase equipment
and put it into use in 2008: bonus depreciation and an
increased cap on the Section 179 expense deduction.
Here’s how your farm might benefit:
Bonus Depreciation
The Act contains a provision for accelerated (“Bonus”) depreciation of 50% of the cost of qualified business assets purchased and put into use in 2008, in
addition to the regular MACRS depreciation on the remaining 50% of the equipment cost. This front-loaded
deduction may be able to provide a major tax savings
for your business or lower equipment lease payments
under a lease of new equipment. Typically, the depreciation deduction would be spread evenly over the
equipment’s scheduled useful life.
Equipment of all types-computers, trucks, trailers,
office equipment, milking machines, and many other
types of equipment your agribusiness needs-can receive the benefit of the bonus depreciation.
Expense Deduction
The available Section 179 expense deduction may
allow your company to almost double the amount of
equipment that can be expensed-from $128,000 to
$250,000 for the 2008 tax year. If your company buys
certain categories of equipment in the 2008 tax year,
you might be able to deduct the full cost of the eligible
equipment as an expense on your 2008 taxes, subject
to certain limits and assuming that your company has
taxable income to apply the deduction against.
To put that into a real life situation, let’s say a business purchases a $600,000 piece of equipment. Under Section 179, companies can deduct up to $250,000
in equipment expenses until they purchase more than
$800,000 in equipment. So, with a $600,000 purchase,
a business could take a $250,000 deduction for that
piece of equipment and then depreciate the remaining $350,000 under the bonus deprecation provision.
The incentives may seem complex. After all, it is
tax code. But there are experts to help you explore
your options. Take these five easy steps and determine if an equipment purchase may be right for you.
Think it over
Think about what equipment investment will position your agribusiness for economic growth and productivity. Is it a specific piece of machinery, a storage
facility, technology, a heavy-weight pick-up truck, or a
tractor?
Evaluate your business needs
Evaluate the equipment currently being utilized by
your organization and see if you could benefit from
updating, supplementing or replacing equipment that
gets used regularly. Also, consider if there’s additional
equipment you need to operate more profitably or to
expand the capabilities of your business.
Crunch the numbers
Add up your potential equipment purchases. The
amount you spend and the types of equipment purchased will determine your eligibility for one or both of
the tax incentives.
Consider the options
Is buying or leasing right for you? Talk to a banker
or equipment finance professional who can help you
determine financing options. The 2008 stimulus package could have an impact on leasing rates you might
want to consider.
Some lenders have equipment specialists on staff
that can help business owners select the best financing option for the equipment needed. They can help
you plan financing that can keep your company right
where you want it-ahead of your competitors and growing. Specialists also are knowledgeable about vendors
and costs and can assist with the review of competitive bids.
Get advice before you buy
Before making a purchase, talk to your accountant or tax advisor to learn how these tax incentives
can work for you. Talk to your advisors about the Economic Stimulus Act early in the year. Don’t wait until
the end of December to try and take advantage of the
tax benefits; make that equipment work for you all year
long.
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Miles Johnsrud, Sales Representative
for the Watford City Area
1-701-842-4277 • Cellular 1-701-770-3095
Russell Johnson, Owner, Sidney
Office, 510 10th Ave SE • Sidney, MT
Across From Sidney Livestock Market
1-406-488-1953 • 1-800-233-2499 • Cellular 1-406-480-2006
Scientists Turn Cheap Beet
Pulp Into Value-Added
Plastics Ingredient
ARS News Service
Sugar beet pulp may help cut the costs
of making biodegradable plastic, Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) studies suggest.
The pulp is a fiber-rich byproduct of sucrose extraction procedures used by
sugarbeet processors. Most of the 40 million tons of U.S. sugarbeet pulp generated
each year is used as an inexpensive livestock feed or pet-food ingredient. But ARS
chemists Victoria Finkenstadt and LinShu
Liu aim to breathe new economic life into
the pulp.
Finkenstadt is with the ARS National
Center for Agricultural Utilization Research
(NCAUR) in Peoria, IL. Liu is with the ARS
Eastern Regional Research Center in
Wyndmoor, PA. Since 2004, they’ve collaborated on a project to convert sugarbeet pulp
into a specialized filler material for polylacticacid-based plastics.
Polylactic acid (PLA) is considered a
promising natural alternative to petroleumbased thermoplastics like polypropylene because PLA has comparable tensile strength
and other mechanical properties, but is biodegradable. But PLA is costlier because of
the complex processes required to derive it
from fermented corn sugars, according to
Finkenstandt, in NCAUR’s Plant Polymer
Research Unit.
Working with Liu’s team at Wyndmoor,
Finkenstadt and her Peoria colleagues
showed that glycerol can be used to plasticize the pulp and reshape its particulate
matter into tendrils. Early tests have been
promising, but showed that the PLA’s tensile strength decreased in relation to the
amount of sugar beet pulp or plasticizer that
was added. To get around the problem, Liu’s
group plans on chemically modifying the
pulp so that its tendrils and the PLA matrix
form a stronger bond.
Potential uses for pulp-based PLA composites range from nondurable goods such
as water bottles, cups and packaging, to
lightweight indoor-construction materials
such as wallboard, tabletops and pressed
furniture.
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2030 West Holly • Across from Fairgrounds
Sidney, MT • 1-406-488-2355
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Coordinated Research Aims To
Improve Honey Bee Health
ARS News Service
In response to a fast-spreading syndrome called colony
collapse disorder (CCD) that’s striking honey bees nationwide, scientists at Agricultural Research Service (ARS) bee
laboratories across the country are pooling their expertise.
They want to learn what’s causing the disappearance of
the honey bees that add about $15 billion a year to the
value of U.S. crops by pollinating fruit, vegetable, tree nut
and berry crops. Some beekeepers have already lost onehalf to two-thirds of their colonies to CCD.
Jeff Pettis, research leader at the ARS Bee Research
Laboratory in Beltsville, MD, is a coordinator of the newly
established five-year Areawide Program to Improve Honey
Bee Health, Survivorship and Pollination Availability. Entomologist John Adamczyk, ARS Beneficial Insects Research
Unit, Weslaco, TX, helps Pettis coordinate the program,
along with Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman, Tucson, AZ, and Tom
Rinderer, Baton Rouge, LA. This is the first such initiative
to bring various components of all of the federal bee laboratories together to solve a single problem.
Researchers at Beltsville are attempting to improve the
longevity of honey bee queens, find effective controls for
Nosema protozoa and varroa mites, and reduce migratory
colony stress. In Weslaco, work also focuses on controlling
varroa mites and Nosema, reducing migratory stress and
developing disease-control measures.
At the ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Rinderer and
colleagues are looking into bee stock evaluation and improvement, with a view toward using genetic selection and
colony size to improve early spring buildup.
In Tucson, Degrandi-Hoffman is leading scientists at
the ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in studying
carbohydrate and protein supplements, Africanized bee
stock improvements and varroa mite controls.
The new bee-focused area-wide program will also incorporate university partners, apiculturists and many others. By the end of this coordinated five-year effort, researchers hope to have specific recommendations ready for beekeepers to use to manage their bees more efficiently and
improve colony survival, especially during long-range transport.
Rural Women Needed For
Chronic Illness Study
The Women to Women Project, a support network for
rural women with chronic illness, is seeking women to participate in a study group forming in September 2008.
The College of Nursing at Montana State University is
in its 12th year of this program, which enhances rural
women’s ability to manage their chronic condition and assesses its effect on their quality of life.
As one participant said, “We rural people are sometimes isolated from the real world. It was great to be part of
something that not only helps yourself but others as well.”
Owning a computer is not necessary, but women interested in participating in the group must be physically able
to use a computer, have a basic knowledge of how to use a
computer, be between the ages of 35 and 65 and be living
with a chronic disease such as arthritis, cancer, multiple
sclerosis, diabetes or heart disease. Participants also must
reside in a rural area. That is defined as living at least 25
miles outside of a town of 12,500 people or more, in or
around a town of less than 12,500, or on a farm or a ranch
in Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South
Dakota, Wyoming or Washington.
Women in the project are assigned to one of two groups.
One group is provided with Internet access that allows them
to participate in a self-help support group and gain information from health teaching units and group discussions.
The second group does not use computers but provides
important health-related data. All groups participate in a
telephone interview and complete three written mail questionnaires.
One woman who participated in the computer group
wrote, “It was a ‘Great’ experience, especially for those who
knew nothing of computers, as we were taught how to find
information on the Web, how to judge if it was good or bad
information, and how to gain knowledge on whatever subject you wanted.”
Women who are interested in enrolling are asked to
call toll-free 888-375-1317 at the MSU College of Nursing,
or
contact
the
program
via
e-mail
at
[email protected]. More information is available on
the MSU web at: www.montana.edu/cweinert.
Sitting Bull Auction • Williston, North Dakota
Reference Sires: Forest Coppertop 7165, Kuhn’s Kopper Rob, RPO High Hope
2321, L8 Trendsetter 523, DLC Mister Classic 5107, EMRA Frontrunner 324 &
Amber Light Grand Canyon 269
Visitors are welcome to view the cattle until April 15 at
Sheldon’s Feedlot south of Ray, ND & beginning April 16 until
sale day, at Sitting Bull Auction in Williston, ND
For Catalogs Call
Carl Frisinger
701-664-2668
A Guide To Soil Temps
And Accumulated
Growing Degree Days
By Dale W. Naze
Now that the weather has turned more “spring-like”, it
won’t be long until most farmers get started with spring’s
work.
During this early part of the growing season, soil temperatures provide an excellent indication of when conditions are right for seed germination. If crops are planted
too early, the potential for seed and seedling rot increases,
emergence and crop stand may be decreased and if you’re
using a soil applied herbicide, the potential for excess herbicide uptake and crop damage exists.
In order to help you keep track of soil temperatures
and accumulated growing degree days, readings will be
included as part of the weather report in each issue of The
Roundup for the coming growing season. Readings will be
taken Monday mornings at the site near Watford City.
Another concept important to crop production is “Growing-Degree Days” (GDD) and how you might use it.
The development stages of wheat can easily be determined visually by field inspection, however, not many have
the time (or desire) to walk fields on a daily basis. An alternative to daily field inspection would be to use growingdegree days (or heat units). Growing-degree days relate
the affect air temperature has on the development of a wheat
plant.
By keeping track of growing-degree days from the time
of crop emergence, one can easily predict the crop growth
stage. This information increases the accuracy of the timing of application of herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers.
Even if you don’t get out in the field to determine crop
emergence, it takes an accumulation of about 180 growing-degree days after planting to emergence when seeded
into black fallow. If planted in stubble, it takes another 1020 Accumulated Growing-Degree Days (AGDD) for emergence to occur.
Emergence is termed as when the first leaf of the plant
is about one-half its eventual length. This won’t be easily
visible from the road, but should be recognized from the
end of the row, so you need to get out into the field to check
this.
There are some variety differences to account for when
using growing-degree days. Early varieties might include
Grandin, Norpro and Hank. These varieties require about
137 GDD to develop each leaf where “standard” varieties
require about 146 GDD per leaf.
For more information on the use of soil temperatures
and/or growing-degree days, contact the NDSU Extension
Office at 444-3451 and ask for Extension Bulletin #37, “Use
of Growing-Degree Days to Determine Spring Wheat
Growth Stages”.
Below are the AGDD required to complete each stage
of the wheat crop and also the corresponding Haun growth
stage scale.
Crop Stage
Haun Scale
AGDD Early Var. AGDD Std. Var.
Planting to Emergence
180
180
1 Leaf
1.0
65
72
2 Leaf
2.0
195
215
3 Leaf
3.0
325
358
4 Leaf (Tillering)
4.0
455
501
5 Leaf
5.0
585
644
6 Leaf
6.0
715
787
7 Leaf
7.0
845
930
Flag Leaf
8.0
975
1075
Boot Begins
9.0
1105
1215
Heading Begins
10.0
1235
1360
Flowering Begins
11.0
1365
1500
Flowering Ends
12.0
1445
1590
Swathing
2620
2730
Straight Combining
2920
3030
Below is a guide for minimum germination temperatures for several crops grown
in North Dakota and some common weed species.
Crop
Min. Temp
Crop
Min. Temp
Wheat
40
Flax
48
Barley
40
Safflower
40
Oats
40
Sunflower
45
Corn
50
Crambe
40
Alfalfa
50
Canola/Mustard 40
Potatoes
45
Dry Beans
55
Sugarbeets
40
Peas/Lentils
40
WEEDS
Early Emerging:
Late Emerging:
Min. soil temp: 35-40
Min. soil temp: 50 or higher
Kochia
Redroot Pigweed
Wild Mustard
Wild Sunflower
Wild Buckwheat
Vol. Sunflower
Russian Thistle
Field Bindweed
Absinth Wormwood
Foxtails (pigeongrass)
Shepherdspurse
Cutleaf Nightshade
Canada Thistle
Lanceleaf Sage
Common Lambsquarters
Milkweed
Quackgrass
Cocklebur
Frenchweed
Ragweed
Tansy Mustard
Wild Oats
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• Dry Fertilizers are in short
supply for the spring season!
Now is the time to make sure
you are prepared by purchasing
your tons right away.
• Plan Ahead. Bring in your
maps and make plans with one
of our Certified Crop Advisors for
custom application of dry
fertilizer and chemicals.
• Large quantities of Glyphosate
are also available and in stock
for this spring, so make sure to
buy your gallons today.
• For your convenience and even
better services our New
Fertilizer Hub Plant will be up
and running, ready for the season.
www.horizonresources.co op
Williston, ND 866-572-8354 • Zahl, ND 701-694-4111
Culbertson, MT 406-787-6606 • Savage, MT 406-776-2489 • Fairview, MT 406-844-5775
How Well Is Your Well?
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) and the Montana Watershed Coordination Council
are encouraging all water well owners to keep their wells
healthy.
With private water wells homeowners need to take more
control of their water quality. Well owners have a responsibility to their families and their neighbors to protect ground
water from contamination and ensure that their water system is providing good quality drinking water. Conducting
an annual well check-up is an important step you can take
to ensure the proper operation of your well. A check-up will
allow you to monitor water quality and extend the life of
your system.
As a minimum, test your water annually for coliform
bacteria and nitrates. You can also test for any additional
contaminants that may be specific for your area. You should
also have your water tested if there is a change in your
water’s taste, odor, or appearance; after the well system is
serviced; or after a flooding event. Information about how
to collect samples can be provided by your closest water
quality district, your local county sanitarian, or by the DEQ.
File and keep all test results for future reference.
Inspect your well parts to make sure they are in good
repair. Look for problems like a cracked, corroded or damaged well casing or settling and cracking of the ground surface. Check to make sure your well cap is not broken or
missing. If your well doesn’t have a two-part cap with a
rubber seal you should replace it with one. Also, inspect
your pressure tank and associated plumbing by looking for
things like leaks or corrosion, which could lead to future
problems.
Check the area around the well to make sure there are
no hazardous materials nearby that could contaminate your
well water. Household items such as paint, cleaning supplies, motor oil and pet waste can be a health hazard if
released near your well. Never dump hazardous materials
on your property or pour them down the drain. If you’re on
a private well, you’re probably also on a private septic system. These systems do recharge groundwater and may not
remove some chemicals before the water is discharged to
septic drain fields.
Dispose of old or unwanted prescription drugs and other
medications by removing them from their original containers, mix them with an undesirable substance (e.g. coffee
grounds, kitty litter), put them into another container, and
throw them into your trash. Or you can remove any personal information from the container, add water or other
undesirable substances to the container, then seal it with
duct tape and put it in the trash. These are the best disposal methods we have now, but they are not ideal. Some
local pharmacies have unwanted drug take back programs.
The DEQ has created a webpage with more information about local water quality districts, proper well maintenance, water testing and other groundwater issues. You can
find it at www.deq.mt.gov. You can also contact the Montana Watershed Coordination Council’s Taylor Greenup at
406-444-3527 or the DEQ’s Source Water Protection Program and Jeffrey Frank Herrick at 406-444-1595.
New Safflower Lines Survive Winters
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Three new safflower germplasm lines developed by
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Pullman,
WA, are now available for improving the oilseed crop’s winter survival, or “hardiness”.
The germplasm lines—dubbed WSRC01, WSRC02
and WSRC03—owe their superior winter hardiness to three
Chinese safflower accessions maintained at the ARS Plant
Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research Unit in Pullman.
According to ARS agronomist Richard C. Johnson,
winter-hardy safflower varieties derived from the three new
germplasm lines should offer farmers a number of benefits. Among these are the option of fall plantings, winter
ground cover, rotation with other crops like wheat, better
weed control, improved water-use efficiency, and higher
seed yields than spring-planted safflower crops.
Safflower is primarily grown for three products: oil, meal
and birdseed. The oil is mainly used for cooking and in salad
dressings and margarine.
Safflower oil also is used in paint bases and can be
converted into biodiesel. High-fiber, high-protein meal from
crushed seeds is fed to livestock, while intact safflower
seeds are marketed as birdseed. Dyes are made from the
crop’s flowers.
Winter hardiness, which has been lacking in existing
varieties, could expand safflower use in the West and the
Southern Great Plains, notes Johnson. WSRC01, 02 and
03 are adapted to many sites in these regions and mark
the first U.S. safflower releases specifically for that trait.
During field trials in eastern Washington State, the three
lines showed winter hardiness superior to cold-tolerant
safflowers that were used as experimental controls for comparison. The new safflower lines grew to a height of nearly
three feet, stood upright and produced red flowers. On average, the lines’ seed contained 80% linoleic acid and 14%
oleic fatty acid.
Johnson, who is handling seed requests, co-developed
the safflower germplasm lines with fellow ARS agronomist
Vicki Bradley. Professor Li Dajue at the Beijing Botanical
Gardens in China also collaborated.
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406-433-7767
Newer Spring Wheat Varieties
Tested For Herbicide Sensitivity
By Ed Davis and Fabian Menalled
MSU cropland weeds research associate
and Extension specialist
When the herbicide triallate, which is often sold as Far-GO,
first entered the market 20 years ago, many crop varieties were
tested for sensitivity to it. However, current grain producers have
asked how newer varieties, particularly spring wheats, fare when
planted with triallate.
To answer that question, we did two years of studies on spring
wheat varieties at the Post Research Farm west of Bozeman,
which tends to have somewhat higher rainfall than the rest of
Montana. The tests were supported by a grant from Gowan, which
makes Far-GO.
In general, most of the 18 varieties tested did not show significant yield decreases in the presence of triallate, especially
when triallate was added via a hoe-style drill that keeps the
triallate to the side of the seed.
Triallate is a preemergence selective grassy herbicide commonly used in wheat, barley, triticale, peas and lentils. Its residual activity controls wild oat and suppresses winter annual
brome species for up to five months. Triallate is available as
emulsifiable concentrates and granular formulations. Whether it
should be incorporated into the soil before or after planting depends on the crop.
In 2006 and 2007, we evaluated spring wheat varieties for
tolerance to triallate applied at either its recommended rate (one
pound active ingredient per acre) or, to simulate an herbicide
overlap, at twice the label rate (two pounds active ingredient per
acre). We also included non-treated plots for comparison.
Triallate was applied in the early spring before planting. The
soil was worked with a Triple K cultivator to a depth of 1.5 inches
to incorporate the herbicide.
We tested 12 varieties in 2006 and 18 varieties in 2007. The
varieties represented a wide range of grain and stem types (see
Table 1 below or view it on the Web at http://www.montana.edu/
cpa/news/hires.php?img=2026&ArtID=5683). Each variety was
seeded at 60 pounds per acre to a depth of two inches using
either a hoe drill or a disc drill. The hoe openers create a furrow
while displacing triallate-treated soil to the side, allowing the wheat
seed to be planted in soil containing a lower concentration of
herbicide. The disc drill maximizes crop response as it opens the
soil, allowing the seed to drop and then be packed by wheels,
forming a shallow furrow with little displacement of the triallatetreated soil, which accentuates crop response to the herbicide.
Spring wheat grain yields varied among varieties each year,
and 2006 grain yields were greater than 2007 yields for all varieties.
As expected, response to triallate herbicide was most evident when seeded with a disc drill. We observed crop injury symptoms, including stand reduction, stunting and/or slight chlorosis
within the first weeks following emergence. However, these early
symptoms were associated with a reduction in grain yield in only
a few varieties and when using a disc drill.
In 2006, varieties demonstrating a yield decrease when
planted with a disc drill into triallate-treated soil (one pound active ingredient per acre) were Choteau, Conan, Explorer, McNeal
and Scholar. However these same varieties did not show a yield
drop when planted with a hoe drill.
In 2007, spring wheat varieties demonstrating a yield decrease when planted with a disc drill into triallate-treated soil
(one pound active ingredient per acre) were Choteau, Ernest,
McNeal, Oneal and Scholar, but this yield reduction was minimized or eliminated when a hoe drill was used.
More information on these trials, including yields and photos of the studied plots, see the Montana State University Cropland Weed Management web site http://www.ipm.montana.edu/
CropWeeds.
Producers interested in using triallate in their fields should
be aware that biotypes of wild oat resistant to triallate were identified in several small grain fields across Montana in 1990. Since
then, resistant biotypes have expanded to more than 20,000 acres
in Montana, and triallate-resistant wild oat plants have been reported in Idaho, California and Alberta, Canada.
Currently in Montana, some wild oat biotypes show resistance to many herbicides, including triallate (Far-GO), difensoquat
(Avenge), imazamethabenz (Assert), diclofop (Hoelon),
fenoxaprop (Puma), clodinafop (Discover), and pinoxaden (Axial).
Preventing and managing herbicide-resistant weeds requires
an integrated approach. In addition to herbicides, producers
should include all possible biological, cultural and mechanical
weed control practices. Rotation of herbicides with different modes
of action, planting different crops, scouting fields for resistant
weeds, using herbicides with short soil residues and cleaning
field equipment to prevent the spread of resistant biotypes are
some of the practices that help us reduce the burden of herbicide-resistant biotypes.
Disclosure. Common chemical and trade names are used
in this publication for clarity by the reader. Inclusion of a common
chemical or trade name does not imply endorsement of that particular product or brand of herbicide and exclusion does not imply non-approval.
Table 1. Spring wheat varieties evaluated for tolerance to
triallate (Far-Go) Herbicide. Trials were conducted in 2006 and
2007 10 miles west of Bozeman
Variety name
Acavonlea
Alzada
Choteau
Conan
Corbin
Ernest
Explorer
Hank
Mountrail
McNeal
Oneal
Outlook
Pristine
Rambo
Reeder
Scholar
Vida
Volt
Breeder
AG CANADA
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Grain type
Durum
Durum
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard white
Hard red
Durum
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard white
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Stem type
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Semi-solid
Hollow
Semi-solid
Semi-solid
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Solid
Hollow
Semi-solid
Semi-solid
Hollow
Clifton M Berglee, DVM • (406) 896-0501 • (406) 860-7319/c
Haxby Homestead
19,000 acres, oceans of grass, exceptional
stock water, grazing cows 12 months with
only cake, good improvements, very
remote.
Wannagan Creek Ranch
250 cows, 4 artesian wells, 3 ½ mi of Little Missouri River, 3 mi Wannagan Cr, borders Teddy
Roosevelt National Park, Trophy elk, whitetail,
mule deer, turkeys, pheasants, Medora, ND
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5,700 sq ft log home/lodge in prime waterfowl
and upland bird country with guest home. RV
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commercial air, NE MT
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Scientists Determine Farm
Costs Of Producing
Switchgrass For Ethanol
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008 • 10:00AM CT
ARS News Service
Following up on a net-energy study published in the
January Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
5359 - 143rd Ave. NW - Williston, ND
From Williston: West to County Road 4; 2 mi. N; 11¼2 mi. W; 1 mi. N, 1¼2 mi. W; 1¼2 mi. N. Watch for Signs.
(PNAS), a team of Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) scientists report
the on-farm economic costs of producing switchgrass for
cellulosic ethanol.
In their PNAS energy-analysis paper, the
team reported that switchgrass, when used for
cellulosic ethanol, yielded over five times more
energy than required to produce the fuel. In
this month’s edition of the journal BioEnergy
Research, the team describes their study’s
second part, which examined the farm-scale
production costs of switchgrass. Richard
Perrin, UNL, and Ken Vogel, Marty Schmer and
Rob Mitchell—all in the ARS Grain, Forage and
Bioenergy Research Unit at Lincoln—conducted the studies.
According to Perrin and Vogel, this study
is the most comprehensive one completed to
date assessing the economic costs of producing switchgrass biomass on commercial fields.
The team contracted with 10 farmers in Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota to
commercially grow switchgrass for five years,
starting in 2000 and 2001. Throughout the
study, the farmers recorded all costs for producing switchgrass biomass, from seed and
fertilizer expenses to equipment and labor
costs. Total baled biomass yields were recorded for each farm.
On average, switchgrass production costs
were $60 per ton. Two farmers with previous
experience growing switchgrass were able to
ON ALL 2008 & PRIOR
FOURTRAX FOREMAN MODELS
limit production costs to $39 a ton. They were
UP
AS LOW AS
BONUS
APR TO $
among a group of five farmers whose produc% Fixed
BUCKS
for 36 months
tion costs were $50 or less per ton. That’s
on approved credit through
on 2007 and
prior models**
Honda Financial Services*
something farmers elsewhere could probably
achieve as they, too, gain production experience with switchgrass, the researchers suggest. Based on the $50-per-ton figure, and
1645 S. Central Ave. • Sidney, MT • 406-433-6635
assuming a conversion efficiency of 80 to 90
www.mondakmotorsports.com
gallons per ton, the farmgate production cost
OFFER ENDS MAY 31ST
of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass would
honda.com UTILITY ATVs ARE RECOMMENDED ONLY FOR RIDERS 16 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER. BE A RESPONSIBLE
RIDER. ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET, EYE PROTECTION AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING, AND PLEASE RESPECT THE
be about $.55 to $.62 per gallon.
ENVIRONMENT. OBEY THE LAW AND READ YOUR OWNER’S MANUAL THOROUGHLY. PROFESSIONAL RIDER SHOWN
IN A DESIGNATED RIDING AREA. *Special 3.99% Fixed APR financing available for customers who qualify for super preferred
Perrin and the ARS agronomists expect
credit tier for up to 36 months through Honda Financial Services. Payment example: 36 monthly payments of $29.52 for each $1000
financed. Offer good on all new and unregistered 2008 and prior model year ATVs. **$500 Bonus Bucks offer good with the
production costs will also decline as new, “etha®
purchase of select 2007 and prior TRX 500FA/FGA, TRX500FE/FM and 2007 TRX500FPE models. Check with participating
Honda Dealers for complete details. Bonus Bucks can only be used for purchases at the dealership and must be redeemed on the
nol-friendly” cultivars are developed.
HARD WORKER.
EASY PAYMENTS.
®
3.99
®
500
date of purchase. Offer has no cash value and is not transferable. Redemption value is not to exceed $500. Offer ends 5/31/08.
FourTrax,® Foreman® and TRX® are trademarks of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. ©2008 American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (2/08) 07-0316
~ GLENN & CHERYL LARSEN ~
FARM AUCTION
TRACTORS
• 6410 FWA, Good 18-4-38
Tires, 1600 Hrs., 640 SL
Loader & Grapple, SN
L06410V261121, Power Quad
Trans. w/ Shuttle, 3-Pt., 2 Hyd.,
Adj. Rear Wheels
• JD 4400 w/ 258 Loader, Power
Shift, 3-Pt., 11000 Hrs.,
Complete Major Overhaul 8200
Hrs., Duals, Good 18-4-38, 3
Hyd., SN 026300R
• JD 4320, Good 18-4-34 Tires, 2
Hyd., SN T613R009232R,
Ezee-On Loader & Grapple,
10600 Hrs., Duals
HARVEST & HAYING
• Versatile 850 Series 2, 4-Wheel
Drive, Good 20-8-38 Tires, 4
Hyd., 5926 Hrs., Major
Overhaul 3600 Hrs., 150 Hrs.
on New Clutch
• M-IH, SN 205076X1 w/ F-11
Farmhand Loader, 12 Volt
• M-IH, SN 179624X1 w/ Shaver
Post Pounder
• Massey Harris Pony, SN
8500046M1
• McCormick Deering W-4, SN
24517W1, Good 14-9-26 Tires,
PTO, Belt Pulley
TRUCKS • 4-WHEELERS • BOATS
• 1974 Chevrolet C-60 w/ 16’ Box
& Hoist, Surloc Rolltarp, 900-20
Tires, 4-2 Trans., 366 Eng.
• 1973 IH 1600, 15’ Steel Box,
Double Action Hoist, 46000
Miles
• 1999 Grissly 600 4-Wheeler
• 2000 Kodiak 400 4-Wheeler
• 1996 17’ Lund Adventure w/
90hp Mercury and 8hp Yamaha
4-Stroke w/ Elec. Trolling Tarp
• 14’ Boat & Trailer w/ 4.5
Mercury
TRAILERS
• (3) 2-Wheel Trailers • Pickup Trailer • 5th Wheel Flatbed w/ Duals •
24’ 5th Wheel Hay Trailer w/ Fold-up Sides • 28’ 5th Wheel Delta Trailer
• Grasshopper 5th Wheel Gravity Trailer • 20’x7’ 5th Wheel Econolite
Trailer • 4-Wheel Trailer • 14’ Load Master Car Trailer
MACHINERY
• 103 Spray Coupe • 15’ #55 IH Chisel Plow • 14’ White Chisel Plow •
36’ Morris Rod Weeder • 15’ JD 340 Offset Disc w/ Scrapers • 12’ JD
Tandem Disc • New Holland 331 Manure Spreader • 20’ Flex Drag • 28’
3-Bar Harrow • 5-Bottom Melroe Plow • 16’ JD Tiller • 3-Section Degelman
3-Bar Harrows • Rockamatic Reel Rock Picker • (2) Fork-Type Rock
Pickers • Markers for Drill • 4’ Rotary Mower • 8’ Snow Blower 3-Pt Chute
• 8’ Pickup Cattle Rack • PTO Grass & Fert. Spreader • 240 Gal. Alum.
Skid Sprayer • 14’ 3-Pt. 5-Shank Ripper • 41’ JD 1600 Chisel Plow (Heavy
Shank) w/ Valmer Spreader • 27’ Wilrich 4400 Chisel Plow w/ Degelman
Harrows, 3-Bar w/ Beline 2016 Spreader, Kawasaki Engine • 28’ JD 100
Cultivator, 2-Bar Harrows • 12’ Tandem Disc • #36 JD Mower • IH 7’ Belly
Mower • 32’ Melroe Harrow • 14’ IH Disc Drill • Ben Dixon Chaff Saver •
(2) Rock Diggers • 2-Bottom 3-Pt. Plow Coop • 2-Row Corn Cultivator •
2-Row Corn Planter • 10’ IH Disc Wheel Drill (Good) • Road Grader •
Corn Sheller • 8’ Disc • Horse Mower • Corn Binder • Sulky Plow • Hay
Dump Rake • (2) 30.5 L-32 Tires • (4) 20’ Joints of PVC Pipe • Pipe Rack
Tables • (2) Wood saws • 1500 Gal. Water Tank • 450 Gal. Water Tank
• 1050 Gal. Water Tank • PTO Generator • 1000 Gal. Fuel Tank w/ Elec.
Pump • (2) Service Tanks; (1) 75 Gal., (1) 150 Gal. • 3-Pt. 5th Wheel
Hitch • Horvick Spray Mixer • Barrel Stove • 3hp Water Pump • 300 Gal.
Alum. Tank • Jiffy Ice Auger • Pickup Tool Boxes
LINDSEY BROS.
AUCTION SERVICE
www.LindseyBrosAuction.com
• JD 535 Round Baler, SN
E00535X949473
• Versatile 400 Hydrostatic 15’
Swather, SN 052067
• 1680 IH Combine, SN
PROX1841ZX, 3289 Hrs., 10’
Pickup Header, 25’ 1010 Head
• Massey Ferguson 885 Swather
w/ 16’ Auger Head, SN
C000336, Perkins Diesel
• Dunbar Kopple Grain Vac
• Misc. Augers, (2) Elec., (1)
Ordit
• 33’x6” Seed King w/ 16hp
Kohler
• 33’x7” Sukundiak
• 40’x6” PTO Auger
• 50’x8” Cenex Hyd. Lift
Swingout PTO
• Bin Sweep
• Lorrich 1500 Bu. Hopper
Bottom w/ Air Fan
LIVESTOCK EQUIPMENT
• Powder River Chute • Powder River Calf Table • Homemade Calf Table
• WW Chute, Working • (30) 9’x3” Pipe Post • (44) 7’x27⁄8” Pipe Post •
(6) 10’x27⁄8” Pipe Post • Wood Posts • (40) 51⁄2” Fiberglass Posts • 3/8”
Fiberglass Electric Post • PTO Wire Winder • Rolls of Smooth Wire •
Misc. Sheep Fence • Pellet Feeder • Asst. Baler Twine • 12 Volt Fogger
• Misc. Tack & Equipment • (3) Calf Pullers • Farmhand Pushoff • Bale
Fork for F-11 • 8’ Snow Bucket for F-11 • 8’ Bucket w/ Grapple, 2-Cyd.
• High Line Bale Pro. 6000+ • Bale Hauler on Wheels • IH Side Delivery
Rake • 7’ H&S Hay Tedder • 9’ N.H. Mower #455 • Vicor 6-Wheel Rake
• Loose Hay Stack Frame • (4) Heavy Duty Calf Shelters • 400 JD PTO
Mixer • 3-Pt. Post Hole Digger • (2) Fiberglass Water Tanks • Bale
Buncher • 3-Pt. Bale Fork • 6’ Snow Bucket • Front Att. Blade for F-11 •
(52) 10’ Galv. Panels • (5) 10’ Steel Panels • (20) 10’ Steel Panels • (19)
8’ Panels • Asst. of Gates • (5) Panels & Gates • (48) - 9’ Panels • (3)
Cattle Guards • (3) Sioux Windvane Feeders • Sheep & Cattle Feed
Bunks • (9) 3’x16’ Hop Panels • (10) 4’x16’ Cattle Panels • Misc. Water
Tanks • Pump Jacks • (3) Cattle Oilers • Tire Feeders • 15’ Self Feeder,
200 bu. • 150 bu. Self Feeder • (2) Pride of the Farm Creep Feeders •
(2) 16’ Portable Windbreaks • (3) 20’ Portable Windbreaks • (14) 24’
Portable Windbreaks • 30’x30’ Chopped Hay Feeder • (3) 21’ Fetrals
Hay Feeders • 23’ JD Hay Feeder • 20’ Hay Feeder • (13) Round Bale
Feeders • (2) Sheep Hay Feeders
SHOP
• Vises • Lincoln Welder • Electric Grease Gun • Floor Jack • Ramps •
Asst. of Tires • New Rubber Bumper for Stock Trailer • Bolt Bins • Tap &
Die Set • Belts • Oil Pumps • Hyd. Jacks • Concaves for 1460 or 1480
IH Combine • (2) Squirrel Fans • Parts for M-IH • Asst. of Chisel Plow
Shovels (New) • Branding Iron Pot • Bale Hooks • Misc. Parts • JD Fuel
Tank, Fits 20-30-40 Series • Air Flow End-Gate • JD Shanks • (2) 100
Gal. Propane Tanks • Cement Mixer w/ Elec. Motor • New Foam Marker
for Sprayer • Portable Welder • Grill Guards • 60 Gal. 65 HP Iron Horse
Air Compressor • Chop Saw • 20-Ton Shop Press • Drill Press • Handyman
Jacks • Portable Air Compressor • Parts for M&H IH • Belt Pulleys for
M&H IH • New Shank Parts for Hess Chisel Plow • Barrel Stove • New
Foam Marker • Asst. of Tools • Tractor Chains, 18.4-34, 12-3-38 • Propane
Bottles • LB White Propane Heater • (2) Space Heaters • Coleman
Generator, 4000 Watt • Bench Grinder • Solar Panel for Fencing • (2)
Gallagher Fencers • Drills • Reciprocating Saw • Lots of Electric Tools •
Grinders • 3/4” Socket Set • Bins & Trays • Homelite Chain Saw
DEAN LINDSEY
Lic. #260
572-6558 • 770-6620
GENE LINDSEY
Lic. #559
572-5152 • 570-6034
L&L CLERKING – Lic. #583
LUNCH
SERVED
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FOR ACCIDENTS
TERMS: CASH OR GOOD NEGOTIABLE CHECK • EVERYTHING SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS • ALL INFORMATION IN
THIS ADVERTISEMENT IS DERIVED FROM SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE CORRECT - BUT IS NO WAY GUARANTEED.
Organic Winter Wheat
Topped 100 Bushels Per Acre
In Bozeman Last Harvest
By Carol Flaherty
MSU News Service
Organic winter wheat isn’t supposed to yield 100
bushels per acre, but it did at Bozeman in 2007.
Scientists are still trying to figure out how a plot of
organic winter wheat at the Post Research Farm west
of Bozeman hit the 101 bushels per acre mark. Nearby
organic test plots were almost as good, yielding “in the
high 90s,” said Perry Miller, Montana State University
cropping systems researcher.
The precedent-setting harvest was on a plot that
had been managed organically for four years prior to
the 2007 winter wheat crop. The system used winter
peas in the year preceding winter wheat planting. Winter peas accumulate nitrogen from the air and “fix” it in
nodules on their roots. The peas were used in place of
commercial fertilizer. When a crop is used this way, it is
called “green manure”.
“I still can’t fully explain where all the yield came
from,” Miller said. “I thought we might have a 70-bushelper-acre crop. The first inkling that it would be a big
yielder was when we started combining and realized
that we needed to get bigger sample bags. The timing
of moisture must have been near perfect, because in
July we had only a tenth of an inch of rain and 100-year
record-breaking heat, too.”
The yield came with Yellowstone hard red winter
wheat, developed at MSU by Montana Agricultural Experiment Station winter wheat breeder Phil Bruckner.
Conventionally fertilized plots of Yellowstone at the same
research farm yielded 121 bushels per acre.
That 20% yield gap between organic and conventionally fertilized wheat yields is typical, says Miller. Good
organic producers focus on green manures to improve
soil health and increase their bottom line.
Though yield sometimes comes at the expense of
protein in organic wheat, all of the winter wheat plots at
Bozeman yielded better than 12.5% protein in 2007.
On an organic trial at Big Sandy on Bob Quinn’s
farm, moisture, protein and yields were lower in 2007
than at Bozeman.
“Protein has been an issue in both years of a related study at Big Sandy,” Miller said. “There, we have
consistently fallen short on protein even with our best
green manure practices.” Protein levels in Big Sandy
have run between 8.5% and 10.5%.
Miller said his most optimistic computer projections
for the Bozeman plots project just 80 bushels per acre,
and his inability to explain the excellent grain yield and
quality concerns him.
“With my inability to explain the yield, I’ve been trying to figure out what we’ve really learned from the
study,” Miller said.
One side of the story is that the high 2007 organic
winter wheat yields prove that it is possible to grow very
high-yielding wheat organically, he said. In addition,
some of the highest yields were obtained where researchers did not till the winter pea manure into the
ground but roller-crimped it.
“In our long term rotation study, organic wheat
yielded equal or greater than well fertilized no-till winter
wheat during the first four years, and frequently had
superior grain quality, with consistently heavy test
weights, while no-till frequently failed to make No.1 grade
standard due to light test weights.”
On the other side of the story, Miller said organic
wheat production may be less predictable, and risk
seemed to increase with time. Soil phosphorus levels
are declining rapidly in Bozeman, as are other nutrients.
In the fifth and seventh years of a long-term crop
rotation study at Bozeman, the organic winter wheat
crop failed both times. The failure in 2005 was due to
an unusually dry fall that led to poor fall establishment
of winter wheat and unacceptable weed competition and
in 2007 due to stripe rust infection, compared with excellent yields from conventional no-till.
In both cases, Miller said that commercially available pesticides could have effectively saved the crop
but would have meant stepping out of organic production. The long-term crop rotation study will be in its ninth
year in 2008 at Bozeman. The organic system has required a crop rotation change to attempt to compete
more aggressively with Canada thistle, and Clain Jones,
Extension soil fertility specialist, is implementing some
expensive one-time organic phosphate fertilizer treatments to see if that soil nutrient can be remedied.
~ DICK JENSEN ESTATE ~
FARM AUCTION
North of Williston, ND to County 6; 4 mi. West; 1 mi.
North; 1 mi. West; 3/4 mi. North. Watch for Signs.
TRACTORS & HEAVY EQUIP.
• 876 Versatile, 6900 Hrs., Good
20.8R38 Tires
• John Deere 3010 w/ Leon
Loader, 3-Pt.
• John Deere 4440 w/ 258
Farmhand Loader, Duals, 2
Hyd., Good 20.8R34 Tires
•
•
•
•
•
8’ 3-Point Dakon Land Leveler
28’ Wilrich Vibrashank
20’ #55 Int. Chisel Plow
10’ Chisel Plow
21’ #133 Int. 3-Point Spring
Tooth
• 6-Bottom Melroe Plow w/
Packer
• 60’ Pickup Sprayer, 400 Gal.
Tank, 8 HP Honda
• John Deere Feed Grinder
TRUCKS & PICKUPS
• C70 Chevrolet Tandem w/ Lift
Tag, 34,000 Miles, 5-Speed w/
2-Speed
• 1968 Chevrolet 2-Ton Truck w/
Box & Hoist
• 1966 GMC 1/2 Ton Pickup w/
Fuel Tank, w/ Electric Pump
and Tool Box
• 1976 Chevrolet 1/2 Ton Pickup
• 1981 Dodge 1-Ton w/ Sprayer
• Old Dodge Truck w/ Steel Box
• 1994 International Truck,
Diesel, 5-Speed w/ Splitter
• 1985 Chevrolet C20 w/ Utility
Box
• 1990 Kenworth T600 w/ 3406B
Cat Motor, 425 Horse, 15 Spd.
Overdrive Transmission
• 1980 Freightliner Cab-Over
3406A, 400 HP, 13 Spd.
Transmission
LINDSEY BROS.
AUCTION SERVICE
w w w. L i n d s e y B r o s A u c t i o n . c o m
• 31’ Westfield 6” w/ Hyd. Drive
and Drag
• 28’ Mayrath w/ Briggs and Hyd.
Drag Auger
• Hopper Bottom Bin w/ Air
• Grain Bin Dryers
SHOP & MISC.
MACHINERY
• 40’ Morris Maxim Air Seeder w/
Double Shoot 3-Compartment
Tank
• 40’ Morris Chisel Plow w/ 3-Bar
Harrows
• 40’ Wilrich Cultivator w/ 3-Bar
Harrow
• 30’ Wilrich Chisel Plow w/ 3-Bar
Harrow and Beline Box
• 18’ Int 760 Offset Tandem Disc
• Crown Reel Type Rock Picker
Hyd. Drive
HARVEST
• 1982 T-33C Terex Payloader, 2 • 1680 Int. Axial Flow Combine
w/ 30’ Header & Trailer and 12’
Buckets (1) 3-Yard, (1) 6-Yard,
Pickup Header, 3962 Engine
w/ Hay Fork
Hrs.
• 1974 Terex 72-31 Payloader w/
• 50’ Farm King 10” w/ Swing-out
5-Yard Bucket
• 1974 Hough 90 Payloader w/ 4- PTO Auger
Yard Bucket, New Motor
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Air Tank
Jig Saw
Electric Saw
Electric Drills
Weed Eater
Shovels
Drill Press
Ladder
New 8-Drawer Tool Box
Come-A-Long
Asst. New Cultivator Shovels
Asst. Bolts & Nuts
Battery Charger
Socket Set
Open Wrench Set
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
20’ Hay Feeder on Wheels
12’ Farmhand Stack Mover
24’ H&S Bale Feeder
20’ Bale Feeder
Hesston 30A Stackhand
New Holland Round Baler
Feed Troughs
WW 16’ Stock Trailer
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Air Compressor
Forney Welder
Drill Bits
Post Maul
Air Hose
Service Tanks
1200 Gal. Water Tank w/ Pump
& Trailer
Suzuki 125 4-Wheeler w/ Blade
Carter Go-Kart
Copper Boiler
Blow Torch
Savage #340 .222 Rifle
Redwing Crock
Old Scale
HAYING & CATTLE
DEAN LINDSEY
Lic. #260
572-6558 • 770-6620
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
GENE LINDSEY
20’ 5th-Wheel Stock Trailer
Assorted Panels
Squeeze Chute
Calf Table
(2) Saddles
Big Bale Feeder
Asst. Cattle Supplies
Fencing Equipment
Lic. #559
572-5152 • 570-6034
LUNCH
SERVED
NOT RESPONSIBLE
FOR ACCIDENTS
TERMS: CASH OR GOOD NEGOTIABLE CHECK • EVERYTHING SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS • ALL INFORMATION IN THIS ADVERTISEMENT IS
DERIVED FROM SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE CORRECT - BUT IS NO WAY GUARANTEED. SOME ITEMS MAY BE SOLD PRIOR TO SALE.
Herman
Power Tran Fluid
Recommended For:
• AGCO
• John Deere
• Case IH
Versatile, Many Others!
oil
701-572-2478 • 800-359-5178
Williston, ND
Greases
Super STA #2 10 Pack ........... $1.75 Tube
Engine Oils
HC Power D-15-40 1/55 .......... $7.98 Gal.
HC Power D-15-40 1/30 .......... $8.18 Gal.
HC Fleet Supreme 15-40 1/55 .. $7.69 Gal.
HC Fleet Supreme 15-40 1/5 .... $9.50 Gal.
Hydraulic Oil
Power Tran III 1/5 gal.............. $7.75 Gal.
Power Tran III 1/30 gal ............ $7.95 Gal.
Super Hyd #46 1/55 .............. $6.93 Gal.
Sale Ends April 30th, 2008
Featuring HydraClea®
Products
Buy Local Products Made In The MonDak Area
Eldridge Artist With Metal
Paul Eldridge started creating beautiful ornamental ironwork about 15 years ago at his wife Joan’s insistence. She
knew he had the talent to create pieces of art out of pieces
of steel. After purchasing the proper equipment and doing
some practicing, Paul was on his way. Today, his custom
designed steel silhouettes are on display all over this area
and beyond.
Together with Joan, Paul creates signs of virtually any
size, from a small welcome to a huge ranch sign. His yard
décor runs the gamut from life-size turkeys, to sunflowers,
to cattail-like bird feeders and so much more. He can also
do picket fences, decorated with your choice of design. Wall
décor items range from 2” to 20’, with endless possibilities
for designs. Custom orders are welcome.
Ironwork tables with mosaic tile tops are the latest creation for the Eldridges. Paul creates the tables while Joan
finishes the tops. “It’s fun – like working a jigsaw puzzle,”
Joan says about putting all the tiny tiles together to make a
pleasing and eye-catching pattern. Three of the tables will
be the grand prize at the Sunrise Festival of the Arts in
Sidney this July, where Eldridges are the featured artists.
The Ironworks is located north of Fairview at 16111
37th St. NW. Phone 701-744-5346.
Heaven Scents
Bath & Body Products
Perfect For Mother's Day!
Now Available In Sidney at An English Touch!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding;
Proverbs 3:5
Jill Thiessen • Lambert, MT • 406-774-3702
email: [email protected]
From the field to the
table ...our quality
sugar is grown and
processed in the
MonDak area.
Always available at your
favorite grocery outlet.
PRAIRIE PACKING
Perfect for Mother's Day
409 N Central
Sidney, MT
6 East Dakota Parkway • Williston
4 blocks south of Scenic Sports
Paul Eldridge
with one of his
silhouettes.
USDA Inspected Facility
Local Beef & Pork
Custom Slaughter & Processing
Retail Meat Shop—Choice Steaks,
Roasts, Chops & Ground Beef
Wholesale to Food Services Businesses
David Slais
Plant Mgr.
701-577-6788 • Email:[email protected]
7:30-5:30 M-F • 9-Noon Sat. • Major Credit Cards Welcome
WE DO CUSTOM ORDERS!
• Planters • Wishing Wells
• Bird Feeders & Houses
• Ceramic Garden
Ornaments
"The Best Jerky Around"
Located in Big B Muffler Building
820 S. Central • Sidney • 406-433-4731
M3
Check Out Our Fantastic Deli
Meats, Inc.
Inspected Meat Processing
On-Site Harvest Facility
Full Line Retail Steaks & Meats
Custom-Made Specialty Meats
Homemade Brats & Sausages
Groceries and Meat Prep Items
703 E. Main • Sidney • 406-433-3410 • Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-4
100% Montana Beef
Custom
orders
from the
farm or
retail at
Valley View
IGA in Sidney
High Oleic Safflower Oil
Salads, Meats, Cheeses, Fresh-Cooked
Chicken & Finger Foods & Party Trays
Montola safflower oil has a
neutral flavor that's
excellent for light sauteing,
sauces, salads and stir
frying. Contains no
transfatty acids. Made from
MonDak area safflower at
Culbertson, MT. Available in
area grocery stores.
203 2nd St. NW • Sidney, MT
VALLEY VIEW
406-482-3737
Old School Meat Processing
CUSTOM
DESIGNED STEEL
SILOHETTES
THE
Howard & Denise Rambur
1-406-482-3255
Montola
IRONWORKS
Paul & Joan Eldridge • 16111 37th St NW
Fairview, MT 59221 • 701-744-5346
Domestic & Wild Game
Processing
Signs • Tables
Home & Yard Decor
Gate Signs & More
Drop off your livestock for
slaughtering & processing
Old-Fashioned Wieners & Brats
—Will do special orders—
SMOKEHOUSENOWOPEN!
Andy & Donna Sims • 14444 18th St. NW • Alexander
13 miles south of Alexander just off Hwy. 68
701-828-3050
Buy Local Products Made In The MonDak Area
Eldridge Artist With Metal
Paul Eldridge started creating beautiful ornamental ironwork about 15 years ago at his wife Joan’s insistence. She
knew he had the talent to create pieces of art out of pieces
of steel. After purchasing the proper equipment and doing
some practicing, Paul was on his way. Today, his custom
designed steel silhouettes are on display all over this area
and beyond.
Together with Joan, Paul creates signs of virtually any
size, from a small welcome to a huge ranch sign. His yard
décor runs the gamut from life-size turkeys, to sunflowers,
to cattail-like bird feeders and so much more. He can also
do picket fences, decorated with your choice of design. Wall
décor items range from 2” to 20’, with endless possibilities
for designs. Custom orders are welcome.
Ironwork tables with mosaic tile tops are the latest creation for the Eldridges. Paul creates the tables while Joan
finishes the tops. “It’s fun – like working a jigsaw puzzle,”
Joan says about putting all the tiny tiles together to make a
pleasing and eye-catching pattern. Three of the tables will
be the grand prize at the Sunrise Festival of the Arts in
Sidney this July, where Eldridges are the featured artists.
The Ironworks is located north of Fairview at 16111
37th St. NW. Phone 701-744-5346.
Heaven Scents
Perfect For Mother's Day!
Now Available In Sidney at An English Touch!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding;
Proverbs 3:5
Jill Thiessen • Lambert, MT • 406-774-3702
email: [email protected]
From the field to the
table ...our quality
sugar is grown and
processed in the
MonDak area.
Always available at your
favorite grocery outlet.
PRAIRIE PACKING
Perfect for Mother's Day
409 N Central
Sidney, MT
6 East Dakota Parkway • Williston
4 blocks south of Scenic Sports
Paul Eldridge
with one of his
silhouettes.
USDA Inspected Facility
Local Beef & Pork
Custom Slaughter & Processing
Retail Meat Shop—Choice Steaks,
Roasts, Chops & Ground Beef
Wholesale to Food Services Businesses
David Slais
Plant Mgr.
701-577-6788 • Email:[email protected]
7:30-5:30 M-F • 9-Noon Sat. • Major Credit Cards Welcome
WE DO CUSTOM ORDERS!
• Planters • Wishing Wells
• Bird Feeders & Houses
• Ceramic Garden
Ornaments
"The Best Jerky Around"
Located in Big B Muffler Building
820 S. Central • Sidney • 406-433-4731
M3
Check Out Our Fantastic Deli
Meats, Inc.
Inspected Meat Processing
On-Site Harvest Facility
Full Line Retail Steaks & Meats
Custom-Made Specialty Meats
Homemade Brats & Sausages
Groceries and Meat Prep Items
703 E. Main • Sidney • 406-433-3410 • Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-4
100% Montana Beef
Custom
orders
from the
farm or
retail at
Valley View
IGA in Sidney
High Oleic Safflower Oil
Salads, Meats, Cheeses, Fresh-Cooked
Chicken & Finger Foods & Party Trays
Montola safflower oil has a
neutral flavor that's
excellent for light sauteing,
sauces, salads and stir
frying. Contains no
transfatty acids. Made from
MonDak area safflower at
Culbertson, MT. Available in
area grocery stores.
203 2nd St. NW • Sidney, MT
VALLEY VIEW
406-482-3737
Old School Meat Processing
CUSTOM
DESIGNED STEEL
SILOHETTES
THE
Howard & Denise Rambur
1-406-482-3255
Montola
IRONWORKS
Paul & Joan Eldridge • 16111 37th St NW
Fairview, MT 59221 • 701-744-5346
Domestic & Wild Game
Processing
Signs • Tables
Home & Yard Decor
Gate Signs & More
Drop off your livestock for
slaughtering & processing
Old-Fashioned Wieners & Brats
—Will do special orders—
SMOKEHOUSENOWOPEN!
Andy & Donna Sims • 14444 18th St. NW • Alexander
13 miles south of Alexander just off Hwy. 68
701-828-3050
Herman
Power Tran Fluid
Recommended For:
• AGCO
• John Deere
• Case IH
Versatile, Many Others!
oil
701-572-2478 • 800-359-5178
Williston, ND
Greases
Super STA #2 10 Pack ........... $1.75 Tube
Engine Oils
HC Power D-15-40 1/55 .......... $7.98 Gal.
HC Power D-15-40 1/30 .......... $8.18 Gal.
HC Fleet Supreme 15-40 1/55 .. $7.69 Gal.
HC Fleet Supreme 15-40 1/5 .... $9.50 Gal.
Hydraulic Oil
Power Tran III 1/30 gal ............ $7.95 Gal.
Super Hyd #46 1/55 .............. $6.93 Gal.
Sale Ends April 30th, 2008
Featuring HydraClea®
Products
Organic Winter Wheat
Topped 100 Bushels Per Acre
In Bozeman Last Harvest
By Carol Flaherty
MSU News Service
Organic winter wheat isn’t supposed to yield 100
bushels per acre, but it did at Bozeman in 2007.
Scientists are still trying to figure out how a plot of
organic winter wheat at the Post Research Farm west
of Bozeman hit the 101 bushels per acre mark. Nearby
organic test plots were almost as good, yielding “in the
high 90s,” said Perry Miller, Montana State University
cropping systems researcher.
The precedent-setting harvest was on a plot that
had been managed organically for four years prior to
the 2007 winter wheat crop. The system used winter
peas in the year preceding winter wheat planting. Winter peas accumulate nitrogen from the air and “fix” it in
nodules on their roots. The peas were used in place of
commercial fertilizer. When a crop is used this way, it is
called “green manure”.
“I still can’t fully explain where all the yield came
from,” Miller said. “I thought we might have a 70-bushelper-acre crop. The first inkling that it would be a big
yielder was when we started combining and realized
that we needed to get bigger sample bags. The timing
of moisture must have been near perfect, because in
July we had only a tenth of an inch of rain and 100-year
record-breaking heat, too.”
The yield came with Yellowstone hard red winter
wheat, developed at MSU by Montana Agricultural Experiment Station winter wheat breeder Phil Bruckner.
Conventionally fertilized plots of Yellowstone at the same
research farm yielded 121 bushels per acre.
That 20% yield gap between organic and conventionally fertilized wheat yields is typical, says Miller. Good
organic producers focus on green manures to improve
soil health and increase their bottom line.
Though yield sometimes comes at the expense of
protein in organic wheat, all of the winter wheat plots at
Bozeman yielded better than 12.5% protein in 2007.
On an organic trial at Big Sandy on Bob Quinn’s
farm, moisture, protein and yields were lower in 2007
than at Bozeman.
“Protein has been an issue in both years of a related study at Big Sandy,” Miller said. “There, we have
consistently fallen short on protein even with our best
green manure practices.” Protein levels in Big Sandy
have run between 8.5% and 10.5%.
Miller said his most optimistic computer projections
for the Bozeman plots project just 80 bushels per acre,
and his inability to explain the excellent grain yield and
quality concerns him.
“With my inability to explain the yield, I’ve been trying to figure out what we’ve really learned from the
study,” Miller said.
One side of the story is that the high 2007 organic
winter wheat yields prove that it is possible to grow very
high-yielding wheat organically, he said. In addition,
some of the highest yields were obtained where researchers did not till the winter pea manure into the
ground but roller-crimped it.
“In our long term rotation study, organic wheat
yielded equal or greater than well fertilized no-till winter
wheat during the first four years, and frequently had
superior grain quality, with consistently heavy test
weights, while no-till frequently failed to make No.1 grade
standard due to light test weights.”
On the other side of the story, Miller said organic
wheat production may be less predictable, and risk
seemed to increase with time. Soil phosphorus levels
are declining rapidly in Bozeman, as are other nutrients.
In the fifth and seventh years of a long-term crop
rotation study at Bozeman, the organic winter wheat
crop failed both times. The failure in 2005 was due to
an unusually dry fall that led to poor fall establishment
of winter wheat and unacceptable weed competition and
in 2007 due to stripe rust infection, compared with excellent yields from conventional no-till.
In both cases, Miller said that commercially available pesticides could have effectively saved the crop
but would have meant stepping out of organic production. The long-term crop rotation study will be in its ninth
year in 2008 at Bozeman. The organic system has required a crop rotation change to attempt to compete
more aggressively with Canada thistle, and Clain Jones,
Extension soil fertility specialist, is implementing some
expensive one-time organic phosphate fertilizer treatments to see if that soil nutrient can be remedied.
~ DICK JENSEN ESTATE ~
FARM AUCTION
North of Williston, ND to County 6; 4 mi. West; 1 mi.
North; 1 mi. West; 3/4 mi. North. Watch for Signs.
TRACTORS & HEAVY EQUIP.
• 876 Versatile, 6900 Hrs., Good
20.8R38 Tires
• John Deere 3010 w/ Leon
Loader, 3-Pt.
• John Deere 4440 w/ 258
Farmhand Loader, Duals, 2
Hyd., Good 20.8R34 Tires
•
•
•
•
•
8’ 3-Point Dakon Land Leveler
28’ Wilrich Vibrashank
20’ #55 Int. Chisel Plow
10’ Chisel Plow
21’ #133 Int. 3-Point Spring
Tooth
• 6-Bottom Melroe Plow w/
Packer
• 60’ Pickup Sprayer, 400 Gal.
Tank, 8 HP Honda
• John Deere Feed Grinder
TRUCKS & PICKUPS
• C70 Chevrolet Tandem w/ Lift
Tag, 34,000 Miles, 5-Speed w/
2-Speed
• 1968 Chevrolet 2-Ton Truck w/
Box & Hoist
• 1966 GMC 1/2 Ton Pickup w/
Fuel Tank, w/ Electric Pump
and Tool Box
• 1976 Chevrolet 1/2 Ton Pickup
• 1981 Dodge 1-Ton w/ Sprayer
• Old Dodge Truck w/ Steel Box
• 1994 International Truck,
Diesel, 5-Speed w/ Splitter
• 1985 Chevrolet C20 w/ Utility
Box
• 1990 Kenworth T600 w/ 3406B
Cat Motor, 425 Horse, 15 Spd.
Overdrive Transmission
• 1980 Freightliner Cab-Over
3406A, 400 HP, 13 Spd.
Transmission
LINDSEY BROS.
AUCTION SERVICE
w w w. L i n d s e y B r o s A u c t i o n . c o m
• 31’ Westfield 6” w/ Hyd. Drive
and Drag
• 28’ Mayrath w/ Briggs and Hyd.
Drag Auger
• Hopper Bottom Bin w/ Air
• Grain Bin Dryers
SHOP & MISC.
MACHINERY
• 40’ Morris Maxim Air Seeder w/
Double Shoot 3-Compartment
Tank
• 40’ Morris Chisel Plow w/ 3-Bar
Harrows
• 40’ Wilrich Cultivator w/ 3-Bar
Harrow
• 30’ Wilrich Chisel Plow w/ 3-Bar
Harrow and Beline Box
• 18’ Int 760 Offset Tandem Disc
• Crown Reel Type Rock Picker
Hyd. Drive
HARVEST
• 1982 T-33C Terex Payloader, 2 • 1680 Int. Axial Flow Combine
w/ 30’ Header & Trailer and 12’
Buckets (1) 3-Yard, (1) 6-Yard,
Pickup Header, 3962 Engine
w/ Hay Fork
Hrs.
• 1974 Terex 72-31 Payloader w/
• 50’ Farm King 10” w/ Swing-out
5-Yard Bucket
• 1974 Hough 90 Payloader w/ 4- PTO Auger
Yard Bucket, New Motor
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Air Tank
Jig Saw
Electric Saw
Electric Drills
Weed Eater
Shovels
Drill Press
Ladder
New 8-Drawer Tool Box
Come-A-Long
Asst. New Cultivator Shovels
Asst. Bolts & Nuts
Battery Charger
Socket Set
Open Wrench Set
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
20’ Hay Feeder on Wheels
12’ Farmhand Stack Mover
24’ H&S Bale Feeder
20’ Bale Feeder
Hesston 30A Stackhand
New Holland Round Baler
Feed Troughs
WW 16’ Stock Trailer
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Air Compressor
Forney Welder
Drill Bits
Post Maul
Air Hose
Service Tanks
1200 Gal. Water Tank w/ Pump
& Trailer
Suzuki 125 4-Wheeler w/ Blade
Carter Go-Kart
Copper Boiler
Blow Torch
Savage #340 .222 Rifle
Redwing Crock
Old Scale
HAYING & CATTLE
DEAN LINDSEY
Lic. #260
572-6558 • 770-6620
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
GENE LINDSEY
20’ 5th-Wheel Stock Trailer
Assorted Panels
Squeeze Chute
Calf Table
(2) Saddles
Big Bale Feeder
Asst. Cattle Supplies
Fencing Equipment
Lic. #559
572-5152 • 570-6034
LUNCH
SERVED
NOT RESPONSIBLE
FOR ACCIDENTS
TERMS: CASH OR GOOD NEGOTIABLE CHECK • EVERYTHING SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS • ALL INFORMATION IN THIS ADVERTISEMENT IS
DERIVED FROM SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE CORRECT - BUT IS NO WAY GUARANTEED. SOME ITEMS MAY BE SOLD PRIOR TO SALE.
Scientists Determine Farm
Costs Of Producing
Switchgrass For Ethanol
ARS News Service
Following up on a net-energy study published in the
January Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
5359 - 143rd Ave. NW - Williston, ND
From Williston: West to County Road 4; 2 mi. N; 11¼2 mi. W; 1 mi. N, 1¼2 mi. W; 1¼2 mi. N. Watch for Signs.
(PNAS), a team of Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) scientists report
the on-farm economic costs of producing switchgrass for
cellulosic ethanol.
In their PNAS energy-analysis paper, the
team reported that switchgrass, when used for
cellulosic ethanol, yielded over five times more
energy than required to produce the fuel. In
this month’s edition of the journal BioEnergy
Research, the team describes their study’s
second part, which examined the farm-scale
production costs of switchgrass. Richard
Perrin, UNL, and Ken Vogel, Marty Schmer and
Rob Mitchell—all in the ARS Grain, Forage and
Bioenergy Research Unit at Lincoln—conducted the studies.
According to Perrin and Vogel, this study
is the most comprehensive one completed to
date assessing the economic costs of producing switchgrass biomass on commercial fields.
The team contracted with 10 farmers in Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota to
commercially grow switchgrass for five years,
starting in 2000 and 2001. Throughout the
study, the farmers recorded all costs for producing switchgrass biomass, from seed and
fertilizer expenses to equipment and labor
costs. Total baled biomass yields were recorded for each farm.
On average, switchgrass production costs
were $60 per ton. Two farmers with previous
experience growing switchgrass were able to
ON ALL 2008 & PRIOR
FOURTRAX FOREMAN MODELS
limit production costs to $39 a ton. They were
UP
AS LOW AS
BONUS
APR TO $
among a group of five farmers whose produc% Fixed
BUCKS
for 36 months
tion costs were $50 or less per ton. That’s
on approved credit through
on 2007 and
prior models**
Honda Financial Services*
something farmers elsewhere could probably
achieve as they, too, gain production experience with switchgrass, the researchers suggest. Based on the $50-per-ton figure, and
1645 S. Central Ave. • Sidney, MT • 406-433-6635
assuming a conversion efficiency of 80 to 90
www.mondakmotorsports.com
gallons per ton, the farmgate production cost
OFFER ENDS MAY 31ST
of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass would
honda.com UTILITY ATVs ARE RECOMMENDED ONLY FOR RIDERS 16 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER. BE A RESPONSIBLE
RIDER. ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET, EYE PROTECTION AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING, AND PLEASE RESPECT THE
be about $.55 to $.62 per gallon.
ENVIRONMENT. OBEY THE LAW AND READ YOUR OWNER’S MANUAL THOROUGHLY. PROFESSIONAL RIDER SHOWN
IN A DESIGNATED RIDING AREA. *Special 3.99% Fixed APR financing available for customers who qualify for super preferred
Perrin and the ARS agronomists expect
credit tier for up to 36 months through Honda Financial Services. Payment example: 36 monthly payments of $29.52 for each $1000
financed. Offer good on all new and unregistered 2008 and prior model year ATVs. **$500 Bonus Bucks offer good with the
production costs will also decline as new, “etha®
purchase of select 2007 and prior TRX 500FA/FGA, TRX500FE/FM and 2007 TRX500FPE models. Check with participating
Honda Dealers for complete details. Bonus Bucks can only be used for purchases at the dealership and must be redeemed on the
nol-friendly” cultivars are developed.
HARD WORKER.
EASY PAYMENTS.
®
3.99
®
500
date of purchase. Offer has no cash value and is not transferable. Redemption value is not to exceed $500. Offer ends 5/31/08.
FourTrax,® Foreman® and TRX® are trademarks of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. ©2008 American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (2/08) 07-0316
~ GLENN & CHERYL LARSEN ~
FARM AUCTION
TRACTORS
• 6410 FWA, Good 18-4-38
Tires, 1600 Hrs., 640 SL
Loader & Grapple, SN
L06410V261121, Power Quad
Trans. w/ Shuttle, 3-Pt., 2 Hyd.,
Adj. Rear Wheels
• JD 4400 w/ 258 Loader, Power
Shift, 3-Pt., 11000 Hrs.,
Complete Major Overhaul 8200
Hrs., Duals, Good 18-4-38, 3
Hyd., SN 026300R
• JD 4320, Good 18-4-34 Tires, 2
Hyd., SN T613R009232R,
Ezee-On Loader & Grapple,
10600 Hrs., Duals
HARVEST & HAYING
• Versatile 850 Series 2, 4-Wheel
Drive, Good 20-8-38 Tires, 4
Hyd., 5926 Hrs., Major
Overhaul 3600 Hrs., 150 Hrs.
on New Clutch
• M-IH, SN 205076X1 w/ F-11
Farmhand Loader, 12 Volt
• M-IH, SN 179624X1 w/ Shaver
Post Pounder
• Massey Harris Pony, SN
8500046M1
• McCormick Deering W-4, SN
24517W1, Good 14-9-26 Tires,
PTO, Belt Pulley
TRUCKS • 4-WHEELERS • BOATS
• 1974 Chevrolet C-60 w/ 16’ Box
& Hoist, Surloc Rolltarp, 900-20
Tires, 4-2 Trans., 366 Eng.
• 1973 IH 1600, 15’ Steel Box,
Double Action Hoist, 46000
Miles
• 1999 Grissly 600 4-Wheeler
• 2000 Kodiak 400 4-Wheeler
• 1996 17’ Lund Adventure w/
90hp Mercury and 8hp Yamaha
4-Stroke w/ Elec. Trolling Tarp
• 14’ Boat & Trailer w/ 4.5
Mercury
TRAILERS
• (3) 2-Wheel Trailers • Pickup Trailer • 5th Wheel Flatbed w/ Duals •
24’ 5th Wheel Hay Trailer w/ Fold-up Sides • 28’ 5th Wheel Delta Trailer
• Grasshopper 5th Wheel Gravity Trailer • 20’x7’ 5th Wheel Econolite
Trailer • 4-Wheel Trailer • 14’ Load Master Car Trailer
MACHINERY
• 103 Spray Coupe • 15’ #55 IH Chisel Plow • 14’ White Chisel Plow •
36’ Morris Rod Weeder • 15’ JD 340 Offset Disc w/ Scrapers • 12’ JD
Tandem Disc • New Holland 331 Manure Spreader • 20’ Flex Drag • 28’
3-Bar Harrow • 5-Bottom Melroe Plow • 16’ JD Tiller • 3-Section Degelman
3-Bar Harrows • Rockamatic Reel Rock Picker • (2) Fork-Type Rock
Pickers • Markers for Drill • 4’ Rotary Mower • 8’ Snow Blower 3-Pt Chute
• 8’ Pickup Cattle Rack • PTO Grass & Fert. Spreader • 240 Gal. Alum.
Skid Sprayer • 14’ 3-Pt. 5-Shank Ripper • 41’ JD 1600 Chisel Plow (Heavy
Shank) w/ Valmer Spreader • 27’ Wilrich 4400 Chisel Plow w/ Degelman
Harrows, 3-Bar w/ Beline 2016 Spreader, Kawasaki Engine • 28’ JD 100
Cultivator, 2-Bar Harrows • 12’ Tandem Disc • #36 JD Mower • IH 7’ Belly
Mower • 32’ Melroe Harrow • 14’ IH Disc Drill • Ben Dixon Chaff Saver •
(2) Rock Diggers • 2-Bottom 3-Pt. Plow Coop • 2-Row Corn Cultivator •
2-Row Corn Planter • 10’ IH Disc Wheel Drill (Good) • Road Grader •
Corn Sheller • 8’ Disc • Horse Mower • Corn Binder • Sulky Plow • Hay
Dump Rake • (2) 30.5 L-32 Tires • (4) 20’ Joints of PVC Pipe • Pipe Rack
Tables • (2) Wood saws • 1500 Gal. Water Tank • 450 Gal. Water Tank
• 1050 Gal. Water Tank • PTO Generator • 1000 Gal. Fuel Tank w/ Elec.
Pump • (2) Service Tanks; (1) 75 Gal., (1) 150 Gal. • 3-Pt. 5th Wheel
Hitch • Horvick Spray Mixer • Barrel Stove • 3hp Water Pump • 300 Gal.
Alum. Tank • Jiffy Ice Auger • Pickup Tool Boxes
LINDSEY BROS.
AUCTION SERVICE
www.LindseyBrosAuction.com
• JD 535 Round Baler, SN
E00535X949473
• Versatile 400 Hydrostatic 15’
Swather, SN 052067
• 1680 IH Combine, SN
PROX1841ZX, 3289 Hrs., 10’
Pickup Header, 25’ 1010 Head
• Massey Ferguson 885 Swather
w/ 16’ Auger Head, SN
C000336, Perkins Diesel
• Dunbar Kopple Grain Vac
• Misc. Augers, (2) Elec., (1)
Ordit
• 33’x6” Seed King w/ 16hp
Kohler
• 33’x7” Sukundiak
• 40’x6” PTO Auger
• 50’x8” Cenex Hyd. Lift
Swingout PTO
• Bin Sweep
• Lorrich 1500 Bu. Hopper
Bottom w/ Air Fan
LIVESTOCK EQUIPMENT
• Powder River Chute • Powder River Calf Table • Homemade Calf Table
• WW Chute, Working • (30) 9’x3” Pipe Post • (44) 7’x27⁄8” Pipe Post •
(6) 10’x27⁄8” Pipe Post • Wood Posts • (40) 51⁄2” Fiberglass Posts • 3/8”
Fiberglass Electric Post • PTO Wire Winder • Rolls of Smooth Wire •
Misc. Sheep Fence • Pellet Feeder • Asst. Baler Twine • 12 Volt Fogger
• Misc. Tack & Equipment • (3) Calf Pullers • Farmhand Pushoff • Bale
Fork for F-11 • 8’ Snow Bucket for F-11 • 8’ Bucket w/ Grapple, 2-Cyd.
• High Line Bale Pro. 6000+ • Bale Hauler on Wheels • IH Side Delivery
Rake • 7’ H&S Hay Tedder • 9’ N.H. Mower #455 • Vicor 6-Wheel Rake
• Loose Hay Stack Frame • (4) Heavy Duty Calf Shelters • 400 JD PTO
Mixer • 3-Pt. Post Hole Digger • (2) Fiberglass Water Tanks • Bale
Buncher • 3-Pt. Bale Fork • 6’ Snow Bucket • Front Att. Blade for F-11 •
(52) 10’ Galv. Panels • (5) 10’ Steel Panels • (20) 10’ Steel Panels • (19)
8’ Panels • Asst. of Gates • (5) Panels & Gates • (48) - 9’ Panels • (3)
Cattle Guards • (3) Sioux Windvane Feeders • Sheep & Cattle Feed
Bunks • (9) 3’x16’ Hop Panels • (10) 4’x16’ Cattle Panels • Misc. Water
Tanks • Pump Jacks • (3) Cattle Oilers • Tire Feeders • 15’ Self Feeder,
200 bu. • 150 bu. Self Feeder • (2) Pride of the Farm Creep Feeders •
(2) 16’ Portable Windbreaks • (3) 20’ Portable Windbreaks • (14) 24’
Portable Windbreaks • 30’x30’ Chopped Hay Feeder • (3) 21’ Fetrals
Hay Feeders • 23’ JD Hay Feeder • 20’ Hay Feeder • (13) Round Bale
Feeders • (2) Sheep Hay Feeders
SHOP
• Vises • Lincoln Welder • Electric Grease Gun • Floor Jack • Ramps •
Asst. of Tires • New Rubber Bumper for Stock Trailer • Bolt Bins • Tap &
Die Set • Belts • Oil Pumps • Hyd. Jacks • Concaves for 1460 or 1480
IH Combine • (2) Squirrel Fans • Parts for M-IH • Asst. of Chisel Plow
Shovels (New) • Branding Iron Pot • Bale Hooks • Misc. Parts • JD Fuel
Tank, Fits 20-30-40 Series • Air Flow End-Gate • JD Shanks • (2) 100
Gal. Propane Tanks • Cement Mixer w/ Elec. Motor • New Foam Marker
for Sprayer • Portable Welder • Grill Guards • 60 Gal. 65 HP Iron Horse
Air Compressor • Chop Saw • 20-Ton Shop Press • Drill Press • Handyman
Jacks • Portable Air Compressor • Parts for M&H IH • Belt Pulleys for
M&H IH • New Shank Parts for Hess Chisel Plow • Barrel Stove • New
Foam Marker • Asst. of Tools • Tractor Chains, 18.4-34, 12-3-38 • Propane
Bottles • LB White Propane Heater • (2) Space Heaters • Coleman
Generator, 4000 Watt • Bench Grinder • Solar Panel for Fencing • (2)
Gallagher Fencers • Drills • Reciprocating Saw • Lots of Electric Tools •
Grinders • 3/4” Socket Set • Bins & Trays • Homelite Chain Saw
DEAN LINDSEY
Lic. #260
572-6558 • 770-6620
GENE LINDSEY
Lic. #559
572-5152 • 570-6034
LUNCH
SERVED
NOT RESPONSIBLE
FOR ACCIDENTS
TERMS: CASH OR GOOD NEGOTIABLE CHECK • EVERYTHING SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS • ALL INFORMATION IN
THIS ADVERTISEMENT IS DERIVED FROM SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE CORRECT - BUT IS NO WAY GUARANTEED.
Newer Spring Wheat Varieties
Tested For Herbicide Sensitivity
By Ed Davis and Fabian Menalled
MSU cropland weeds research associate
and Extension specialist
When the herbicide triallate, which is often sold as Far-GO,
first entered the market 20 years ago, many crop varieties were
tested for sensitivity to it. However, current grain producers have
asked how newer varieties, particularly spring wheats, fare when
planted with triallate.
To answer that question, we did two years of studies on spring
wheat varieties at the Post Research Farm west of Bozeman,
which tends to have somewhat higher rainfall than the rest of
Montana. The tests were supported by a grant from Gowan, which
makes Far-GO.
In general, most of the 18 varieties tested did not show significant yield decreases in the presence of triallate, especially
when triallate was added via a hoe-style drill that keeps the
triallate to the side of the seed.
Triallate is a preemergence selective grassy herbicide commonly used in wheat, barley, triticale, peas and lentils. Its residual activity controls wild oat and suppresses winter annual
brome species for up to five months. Triallate is available as
emulsifiable concentrates and granular formulations. Whether it
should be incorporated into the soil before or after planting depends on the crop.
In 2006 and 2007, we evaluated spring wheat varieties for
tolerance to triallate applied at either its recommended rate (one
pound active ingredient per acre) or, to simulate an herbicide
overlap, at twice the label rate (two pounds active ingredient per
acre). We also included non-treated plots for comparison.
Triallate was applied in the early spring before planting. The
soil was worked with a Triple K cultivator to a depth of 1.5 inches
to incorporate the herbicide.
We tested 12 varieties in 2006 and 18 varieties in 2007. The
varieties represented a wide range of grain and stem types (see
Table 1 below or view it on the Web at http://www.montana.edu/
cpa/news/hires.php?img=2026&ArtID=5683). Each variety was
seeded at 60 pounds per acre to a depth of two inches using
either a hoe drill or a disc drill. The hoe openers create a furrow
while displacing triallate-treated soil to the side, allowing the wheat
seed to be planted in soil containing a lower concentration of
herbicide. The disc drill maximizes crop response as it opens the
soil, allowing the seed to drop and then be packed by wheels,
forming a shallow furrow with little displacement of the triallatetreated soil, which accentuates crop response to the herbicide.
Spring wheat grain yields varied among varieties each year,
and 2006 grain yields were greater than 2007 yields for all varieties.
As expected, response to triallate herbicide was most evident when seeded with a disc drill. We observed crop injury symptoms, including stand reduction, stunting and/or slight chlorosis
within the first weeks following emergence. However, these early
symptoms were associated with a reduction in grain yield in only
a few varieties and when using a disc drill.
In 2006, varieties demonstrating a yield decrease when
planted with a disc drill into triallate-treated soil (one pound active ingredient per acre) were Choteau, Conan, Explorer, McNeal
and Scholar. However these same varieties did not show a yield
drop when planted with a hoe drill.
In 2007, spring wheat varieties demonstrating a yield decrease when planted with a disc drill into triallate-treated soil
(one pound active ingredient per acre) were Choteau, Ernest,
McNeal, Oneal and Scholar, but this yield reduction was minimized or eliminated when a hoe drill was used.
More information on these trials, including yields and photos of the studied plots, see the Montana State University Cropland Weed Management web site http://www.ipm.montana.edu/
CropWeeds.
Producers interested in using triallate in their fields should
be aware that biotypes of wild oat resistant to triallate were identified in several small grain fields across Montana in 1990. Since
then, resistant biotypes have expanded to more than 20,000 acres
in Montana, and triallate-resistant wild oat plants have been reported in Idaho, California and Alberta, Canada.
Currently in Montana, some wild oat biotypes show resistance to many herbicides, including triallate (Far-GO), difensoquat
(Avenge), imazamethabenz (Assert), diclofop (Hoelon),
fenoxaprop (Puma), clodinafop (Discover), and pinoxaden (Axial).
Preventing and managing herbicide-resistant weeds requires
an integrated approach. In addition to herbicides, producers
should include all possible biological, cultural and mechanical
weed control practices. Rotation of herbicides with different modes
of action, planting different crops, scouting fields for resistant
weeds, using herbicides with short soil residues and cleaning
field equipment to prevent the spread of resistant biotypes are
some of the practices that help us reduce the burden of herbicide-resistant biotypes.
Disclosure. Common chemical and trade names are used
in this publication for clarity by the reader. Inclusion of a common
chemical or trade name does not imply endorsement of that particular product or brand of herbicide and exclusion does not imply non-approval.
Table 1. Spring wheat varieties evaluated for tolerance to
triallate (Far-Go) Herbicide. Trials were conducted in 2006 and
2007 10 miles west of Bozeman
Variety name
Acavonlea
Alzada
Choteau
Conan
Corbin
Ernest
Explorer
Hank
Mountrail
McNeal
Oneal
Outlook
Pristine
Rambo
Reeder
Scholar
Vida
Volt
Breeder
AG CANADA
WestBred, LLC
MSU
WestBred, LLC
WestBred, LLC
NDSU
MSU
WestBred, LLC
NDSU
MSU
WestBred, LLC
MSU
WestBred, LLC
WestBred, LLC
NDSU
MSU
MSU
WestBred, LLC
Grain type
Durum
Durum
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard white
Hard red
Durum
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard white
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Hard red
Stem type
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Semi-solid
Hollow
Semi-solid
Semi-solid
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Hollow
Solid
Hollow
Semi-solid
Semi-solid
Hollow
Clifton M Berglee, DVM • (406) 896-0501 • (406) 860-7319/c
Haxby Homestead
19,000 acres, oceans of grass, exceptional
stock water, grazing cows 12 months with
only cake, good improvements, very
remote.
Wannagan Creek Ranch
250 cows, 4 artesian wells, 3 ½ mi of Little Missouri River, 3 mi Wannagan Cr, borders Teddy
Roosevelt National Park, Trophy elk, whitetail,
mule deer, turkeys, pheasants, Medora, ND
Sparks
5,700 sq ft log home/lodge in prime waterfowl
and upland bird country with guest home. RV
hookups, dog kennels, 45 minutes from
commercial air, NE MT
Kaye Farm
10 center pivot
farm, 2 homes,
40x60 shop,
60x120 machine
shed, truck scale,
360,000 bu grain
storage, Frontage
on Yellowstone
River, Forsyth, MT
$1,795,000
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How Well Is Your Well?
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) and the Montana Watershed Coordination Council
are encouraging all water well owners to keep their wells
healthy.
With private water wells homeowners need to take more
control of their water quality. Well owners have a responsibility to their families and their neighbors to protect ground
water from contamination and ensure that their water system is providing good quality drinking water. Conducting
an annual well check-up is an important step you can take
to ensure the proper operation of your well. A check-up will
allow you to monitor water quality and extend the life of
your system.
As a minimum, test your water annually for coliform
bacteria and nitrates. You can also test for any additional
contaminants that may be specific for your area. You should
also have your water tested if there is a change in your
water’s taste, odor, or appearance; after the well system is
serviced; or after a flooding event. Information about how
to collect samples can be provided by your closest water
quality district, your local county sanitarian, or by the DEQ.
File and keep all test results for future reference.
Inspect your well parts to make sure they are in good
repair. Look for problems like a cracked, corroded or damaged well casing or settling and cracking of the ground surface. Check to make sure your well cap is not broken or
missing. If your well doesn’t have a two-part cap with a
rubber seal you should replace it with one. Also, inspect
your pressure tank and associated plumbing by looking for
things like leaks or corrosion, which could lead to future
problems.
Check the area around the well to make sure there are
no hazardous materials nearby that could contaminate your
well water. Household items such as paint, cleaning supplies, motor oil and pet waste can be a health hazard if
released near your well. Never dump hazardous materials
on your property or pour them down the drain. If you’re on
a private well, you’re probably also on a private septic system. These systems do recharge groundwater and may not
remove some chemicals before the water is discharged to
septic drain fields.
Dispose of old or unwanted prescription drugs and other
medications by removing them from their original containers, mix them with an undesirable substance (e.g. coffee
grounds, kitty litter), put them into another container, and
throw them into your trash. Or you can remove any personal information from the container, add water or other
undesirable substances to the container, then seal it with
duct tape and put it in the trash. These are the best disposal methods we have now, but they are not ideal. Some
local pharmacies have unwanted drug take back programs.
The DEQ has created a webpage with more information about local water quality districts, proper well maintenance, water testing and other groundwater issues. You can
find it at www.deq.mt.gov. You can also contact the Montana Watershed Coordination Council’s Taylor Greenup at
406-444-3527 or the DEQ’s Source Water Protection Program and Jeffrey Frank Herrick at 406-444-1595.
New Safflower Lines Survive Winters
ARS News Service
Three new safflower germplasm lines developed by
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Pullman,
WA, are now available for improving the oilseed crop’s winter survival, or “hardiness”.
The germplasm lines—dubbed WSRC01, WSRC02
and WSRC03—owe their superior winter hardiness to three
Chinese safflower accessions maintained at the ARS Plant
Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research Unit in Pullman.
According to ARS agronomist Richard C. Johnson,
winter-hardy safflower varieties derived from the three new
germplasm lines should offer farmers a number of benefits. Among these are the option of fall plantings, winter
ground cover, rotation with other crops like wheat, better
weed control, improved water-use efficiency, and higher
seed yields than spring-planted safflower crops.
Safflower is primarily grown for three products: oil, meal
and birdseed. The oil is mainly used for cooking and in salad
dressings and margarine.
Safflower oil also is used in paint bases and can be
converted into biodiesel. High-fiber, high-protein meal from
crushed seeds is fed to livestock, while intact safflower
seeds are marketed as birdseed. Dyes are made from the
crop’s flowers.
Winter hardiness, which has been lacking in existing
varieties, could expand safflower use in the West and the
Southern Great Plains, notes Johnson. WSRC01, 02 and
03 are adapted to many sites in these regions and mark
the first U.S. safflower releases specifically for that trait.
During field trials in eastern Washington State, the three
lines showed winter hardiness superior to cold-tolerant
safflowers that were used as experimental controls for comparison. The new safflower lines grew to a height of nearly
three feet, stood upright and produced red flowers. On average, the lines’ seed contained 80% linoleic acid and 14%
oleic fatty acid.
Johnson, who is handling seed requests, co-developed
the safflower germplasm lines with fellow ARS agronomist
Vicki Bradley. Professor Li Dajue at the Beijing Botanical
Gardens in China also collaborated.
All types of
farm and
ranch buildings from
shelters to
equipment
storage.
Lifetime
Warranty
Treated
Fencing
Posts
Rough
Lumber
for Corral
Fencing
Plan now
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construction
projects.
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building
needs
Rauschendorfer
Construction
Residential • Commercial
Concrete • Remodeling
Deck • Garages • More
Sidney
Woodworker &
Lumber
2341 S. Central Ave.
Sidney, MT
406-433-7767
A Guide To Soil Temps
And Accumulated
Growing Degree Days
By Dale W. Naze
Now that the weather has turned more “spring-like”, it
won’t be long until most farmers get started with spring’s
work.
During this early part of the growing season, soil temperatures provide an excellent indication of when conditions are right for seed germination. If crops are planted
too early, the potential for seed and seedling rot increases,
emergence and crop stand may be decreased and if you’re
using a soil applied herbicide, the potential for excess herbicide uptake and crop damage exists.
In order to help you keep track of soil temperatures
and accumulated growing degree days, readings will be
included as part of the weather report in each issue of The
Roundup for the coming growing season. Readings will be
taken Monday mornings at the site near Watford City.
Another concept important to crop production is “Growing-Degree Days” (GDD) and how you might use it.
The development stages of wheat can easily be determined visually by field inspection, however, not many have
the time (or desire) to walk fields on a daily basis. An alternative to daily field inspection would be to use growingdegree days (or heat units). Growing-degree days relate
the affect air temperature has on the development of a wheat
plant.
By keeping track of growing-degree days from the time
of crop emergence, one can easily predict the crop growth
stage. This information increases the accuracy of the timing of application of herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers.
Even if you don’t get out in the field to determine crop
emergence, it takes an accumulation of about 180 growing-degree days after planting to emergence when seeded
into black fallow. If planted in stubble, it takes another 1020 Accumulated Growing-Degree Days (AGDD) for emergence to occur.
Emergence is termed as when the first leaf of the plant
is about one-half its eventual length. This won’t be easily
visible from the road, but should be recognized from the
end of the row, so you need to get out into the field to check
this.
There are some variety differences to account for when
using growing-degree days. Early varieties might include
Grandin, Norpro and Hank. These varieties require about
137 GDD to develop each leaf where “standard” varieties
require about 146 GDD per leaf.
For more information on the use of soil temperatures
and/or growing-degree days, contact the NDSU Extension
Office at 444-3451 and ask for Extension Bulletin #37, “Use
of Growing-Degree Days to Determine Spring Wheat
Growth Stages”.
Below are the AGDD required to complete each stage
of the wheat crop and also the corresponding Haun growth
stage scale.
Crop Stage
Haun Scale
AGDD Early Var. AGDD Std. Var.
Planting to Emergence
180
180
1 Leaf
1.0
65
72
2 Leaf
2.0
195
215
3 Leaf
3.0
325
358
4 Leaf (Tillering)
4.0
455
501
5 Leaf
5.0
585
644
6 Leaf
6.0
715
787
7 Leaf
7.0
845
930
Flag Leaf
8.0
975
1075
Boot Begins
9.0
1105
1215
Heading Begins
10.0
1235
1360
Flowering Begins
11.0
1365
1500
Flowering Ends
12.0
1445
1590
Swathing
2620
2730
Straight Combining
2920
3030
Below is a guide for minimum germination temperatures for several crops grown
in North Dakota and some common weed species.
Crop
Min. Temp
Crop
Min. Temp
Wheat
40
Flax
48
Barley
40
Safflower
40
Oats
40
Sunflower
45
Corn
50
Crambe
40
Alfalfa
50
Canola/Mustard 40
Potatoes
45
Dry Beans
55
Sugarbeets
40
Peas/Lentils
40
WEEDS
Early Emerging:
Late Emerging:
Min. soil temp: 35-40
Min. soil temp: 50 or higher
Kochia
Redroot Pigweed
Wild Mustard
Wild Sunflower
Wild Buckwheat
Vol. Sunflower
Russian Thistle
Field Bindweed
Absinth Wormwood
Foxtails (pigeongrass)
Shepherdspurse
Cutleaf Nightshade
Canada Thistle
Lanceleaf Sage
Common Lambsquarters
Milkweed
Quackgrass
Cocklebur
Frenchweed
Ragweed
Tansy Mustard
Wild Oats
We offer lines of credit for:
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290 15th St. West or 721 State Ave.

Williston:
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4001 2nd Ave. West (Inside Wal-Mart Supercenter)

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• Dry Fertilizers are in short
supply for the spring season!
Now is the time to make sure
you are prepared by purchasing
your tons right away.
• Plan Ahead. Bring in your
maps and make plans with one
of our Certified Crop Advisors for
custom application of dry
fertilizer and chemicals.
• Large quantities of Glyphosate
are also available and in stock
for this spring, so make sure to
buy your gallons today.
• For your convenience and even
better services our New
Fertilizer Hub Plant will be up
and running, ready for the season.
www.horizonresources.co op
Williston, ND 866-572-8354 • Zahl, ND 701-694-4111
Culbertson, MT 406-787-6606 • Savage, MT 406-776-2489 • Fairview, MT 406-844-5775
Coordinated Research Aims To
Improve Honey Bee Health
ARS News Service
In response to a fast-spreading syndrome called colony
collapse disorder (CCD) that’s striking honey bees nationwide, scientists at Agricultural Research Service (ARS) bee
laboratories across the country are pooling their expertise.
They want to learn what’s causing the disappearance of
the honey bees that add about $15 billion a year to the
value of U.S. crops by pollinating fruit, vegetable, tree nut
and berry crops. Some beekeepers have already lost onehalf to two-thirds of their colonies to CCD.
Jeff Pettis, research leader at the ARS Bee Research
Laboratory in Beltsville, MD, is a coordinator of the newly
established five-year Areawide Program to Improve Honey
Bee Health, Survivorship and Pollination Availability. Entomologist John Adamczyk, ARS Beneficial Insects Research
Unit, Weslaco, TX, helps Pettis coordinate the program,
along with Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman, Tucson, AZ, and Tom
Rinderer, Baton Rouge, LA. This is the first such initiative
to bring various components of all of the federal bee laboratories together to solve a single problem.
Researchers at Beltsville are attempting to improve the
longevity of honey bee queens, find effective controls for
Nosema protozoa and varroa mites, and reduce migratory
colony stress. In Weslaco, work also focuses on controlling
varroa mites and Nosema, reducing migratory stress and
developing disease-control measures.
At the ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Rinderer and
colleagues are looking into bee stock evaluation and improvement, with a view toward using genetic selection and
colony size to improve early spring buildup.
In Tucson, Degrandi-Hoffman is leading scientists at
the ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in studying
carbohydrate and protein supplements, Africanized bee
stock improvements and varroa mite controls.
The new bee-focused area-wide program will also incorporate university partners, apiculturists and many others. By the end of this coordinated five-year effort, researchers hope to have specific recommendations ready for beekeepers to use to manage their bees more efficiently and
improve colony survival, especially during long-range transport.
Rural Women Needed For
Chronic Illness Study
The Women to Women Project, a support network for
rural women with chronic illness, is seeking women to participate in a study group forming in September 2008.
The College of Nursing at Montana State University is
in its 12th year of this program, which enhances rural
women’s ability to manage their chronic condition and assesses its effect on their quality of life.
As one participant said, “We rural people are sometimes isolated from the real world. It was great to be part of
something that not only helps yourself but others as well.”
Owning a computer is not necessary, but women interested in participating in the group must be physically able
to use a computer, have a basic knowledge of how to use a
computer, be between the ages of 35 and 65 and be living
with a chronic disease such as arthritis, cancer, multiple
sclerosis, diabetes or heart disease. Participants also must
reside in a rural area. That is defined as living at least 25
miles outside of a town of 12,500 people or more, in or
around a town of less than 12,500, or on a farm or a ranch
in Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South
Dakota, Wyoming or Washington.
Women in the project are assigned to one of two groups.
One group is provided with Internet access that allows them
to participate in a self-help support group and gain information from health teaching units and group discussions.
The second group does not use computers but provides
important health-related data. All groups participate in a
telephone interview and complete three written mail questionnaires.
One woman who participated in the computer group
wrote, “It was a ‘Great’ experience, especially for those who
knew nothing of computers, as we were taught how to find
information on the Web, how to judge if it was good or bad
information, and how to gain knowledge on whatever subject you wanted.”
Women who are interested in enrolling are asked to
call toll-free 888-375-1317 at the MSU College of Nursing,
or
contact
the
program
via
e-mail
at
[email protected]. More information is available on
the MSU web at: www.montana.edu/cweinert.
Sitting Bull Auction • Williston, North Dakota
Reference Sires: Forest Coppertop 7165, Kuhn’s Kopper Rob, RPO High Hope
2321, L8 Trendsetter 523, DLC Mister Classic 5107, EMRA Frontrunner 324 &
Amber Light Grand Canyon 269
Visitors are welcome to view the cattle until April 15 at
Sheldon’s Feedlot south of Ray, ND & beginning April 16 until
sale day, at Sitting Bull Auction in Williston, ND
For Catalogs Call
Carl Frisinger
701-664-2668
Scientists Turn Cheap Beet
Pulp Into Value-Added
Plastics Ingredient
ARS News Service
Sugar beet pulp may help cut the costs
of making biodegradable plastic, Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) studies suggest.
The pulp is a fiber-rich byproduct of sucrose extraction procedures used by
sugarbeet processors. Most of the 40 million tons of U.S. sugarbeet pulp generated
each year is used as an inexpensive livestock feed or pet-food ingredient. But ARS
chemists Victoria Finkenstadt and LinShu
Liu aim to breathe new economic life into
the pulp.
Finkenstadt is with the ARS National
Center for Agricultural Utilization Research
(NCAUR) in Peoria, IL. Liu is with the ARS
Eastern Regional Research Center in
Wyndmoor, PA. Since 2004, they’ve collaborated on a project to convert sugarbeet pulp
into a specialized filler material for polylacticacid-based plastics.
Polylactic acid (PLA) is considered a
promising natural alternative to petroleumbased thermoplastics like polypropylene because PLA has comparable tensile strength
and other mechanical properties, but is biodegradable. But PLA is costlier because of
the complex processes required to derive it
from fermented corn sugars, according to
Finkenstandt, in NCAUR’s Plant Polymer
Research Unit.
Working with Liu’s team at Wyndmoor,
Finkenstadt and her Peoria colleagues
showed that glycerol can be used to plasticize the pulp and reshape its particulate
matter into tendrils. Early tests have been
promising, but showed that the PLA’s tensile strength decreased in relation to the
amount of sugar beet pulp or plasticizer that
was added. To get around the problem, Liu’s
group plans on chemically modifying the
pulp so that its tendrils and the PLA matrix
form a stronger bond.
Potential uses for pulp-based PLA composites range from nondurable goods such
as water bottles, cups and packaging, to
lightweight indoor-construction materials
such as wallboard, tabletops and pressed
furniture.
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Sidney, MT • 1-406-488-2355
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Considering An Agribusiness
Equipment Purchase? It
Might Be The Time To Buy
By Jodie Leland
Wells Fargo’s Community Banking president
Sidney & Circle
Considering an equipment purchase for your business? The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 might make
this the time to buy or lease new equipment. Two key
provisions benefit businesses that purchase equipment
and put it into use in 2008: bonus depreciation and an
increased cap on the Section 179 expense deduction.
Here’s how your farm might benefit:
Bonus Depreciation
The Act contains a provision for accelerated (“Bonus”) depreciation of 50% of the cost of qualified business assets purchased and put into use in 2008, in
addition to the regular MACRS depreciation on the remaining 50% of the equipment cost. This front-loaded
deduction may be able to provide a major tax savings
for your business or lower equipment lease payments
under a lease of new equipment. Typically, the depreciation deduction would be spread evenly over the
equipment’s scheduled useful life.
Equipment of all types-computers, trucks, trailers,
office equipment, milking machines, and many other
types of equipment your agribusiness needs-can receive the benefit of the bonus depreciation.
Expense Deduction
The available Section 179 expense deduction may
allow your company to almost double the amount of
equipment that can be expensed-from $128,000 to
$250,000 for the 2008 tax year. If your company buys
certain categories of equipment in the 2008 tax year,
you might be able to deduct the full cost of the eligible
equipment as an expense on your 2008 taxes, subject
to certain limits and assuming that your company has
taxable income to apply the deduction against.
To put that into a real life situation, let’s say a business purchases a $600,000 piece of equipment. Under Section 179, companies can deduct up to $250,000
in equipment expenses until they purchase more than
$800,000 in equipment. So, with a $600,000 purchase,
a business could take a $250,000 deduction for that
piece of equipment and then depreciate the remaining $350,000 under the bonus deprecation provision.
The incentives may seem complex. After all, it is
tax code. But there are experts to help you explore
your options. Take these five easy steps and determine if an equipment purchase may be right for you.
Think it over
Think about what equipment investment will position your agribusiness for economic growth and productivity. Is it a specific piece of machinery, a storage
facility, technology, a heavy-weight pick-up truck, or a
tractor?
Evaluate your business needs
Evaluate the equipment currently being utilized by
your organization and see if you could benefit from
updating, supplementing or replacing equipment that
gets used regularly. Also, consider if there’s additional
equipment you need to operate more profitably or to
expand the capabilities of your business.
Crunch the numbers
Add up your potential equipment purchases. The
amount you spend and the types of equipment purchased will determine your eligibility for one or both of
the tax incentives.
Consider the options
Is buying or leasing right for you? Talk to a banker
or equipment finance professional who can help you
determine financing options. The 2008 stimulus package could have an impact on leasing rates you might
want to consider.
Some lenders have equipment specialists on staff
that can help business owners select the best financing option for the equipment needed. They can help
you plan financing that can keep your company right
where you want it-ahead of your competitors and growing. Specialists also are knowledgeable about vendors
and costs and can assist with the review of competitive bids.
Get advice before you buy
Before making a purchase, talk to your accountant or tax advisor to learn how these tax incentives
can work for you. Talk to your advisors about the Economic Stimulus Act early in the year. Don’t wait until
the end of December to try and take advantage of the
tax benefits; make that equipment work for you all year
long.
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1-701-842-4277 • Cellular 1-701-770-3095
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Office, 510 10th Ave SE • Sidney, MT
Across From Sidney Livestock Market
1-406-488-1953 • 1-800-233-2499 • Cellular 1-406-480-2006
Growing and Changing with You
Farming and ranching today are a lot
different than they were 30 years ago.
And those things that are the same,
sure don’t cost the same.
We understand that
financing for Ag operations
has to change with the
times. Our experienced Ag
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from machinery to irrigation
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Biodiesel Production Unit Will
Compare Locally-Produced Plant Oils
By Russ Wells
Sidney’s MSU Eastern Ag Research Center has a new
high-tech research unit. It’s a biodiesel production and refining unit.
EARC Research Chemist Charles Flynn is in charge of
the biodiesel unit manufactured by Sun Bio Systems, Inc. “This
is the second unit built. They have one and we have one,”
Flynn reports.
Flynn says the unit is built to make biodiesel from vegetable oils. He plans to study seven crops that can be grown
in this area. They include oleic safflower oil, linoleic safflower
oil, soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, camelina oil and flax
oil.
“We plan to take these oils and make them a quality capable of being used to run a diesel engine,” Flynn said. “We
want to see how the biodiesel from the different crops compares in terms of storage, combustion, gelling properties and
energy.”
The biodiesel would most likely be used as a “bio extender” mixed 5 or 10% with regular diesel.
Flynn explained the process used: vegetable oil, methanol and a catalyst are heated and mixed. This forms biodiesel
and glycerol. The excess methanol is removed and the remaining mixture goes to the settling tank. The heavier glyc-
erol goes to the bottom of the tank and is pulled off. A water
wash then removes much of the unwanted materials and
settles to the bottom where it is removed. At that point, you
have fairly purified biodiesel. The biodiesel goes through a
resin tank and filters for a final cleaning.
“What you end up with is a product that meets ASTM
(American Society for Testing and Measurements) standards,”
Flynn said.
Early production of biodiesel products in Europe had a
lot of difficulties so the U.S. adopted ASTM standards so engines would not be damaged. Flynn says some homemade
biodiesels may not meet these standards.
Flynn explains that the production unit is rather expensive because the methanol used in the process is volatile and
highly flammable. All the pumps on the unit are air drawn and
there are no electric motors. All wiring and heaters are in conduit or containers. The electrical control boxes are mounted
20 feet from the unit. There’s safety gauges for everything.
The manufacturer plans to come to Sidney to do the final
setup before the maiden voyage. Right now, the biodiesel unit
will be used on site. Later, it may be set up for remote demonstrations. Flynn says plans are to send the locally-produced
biodiesel elsewhere for the comparison tests.
We’re dedicated to changing
with the times to best serve our
customers.
Williston’s Only Locally Owned Bank
Est. 1906
223 N Main • Williston, ND
701-774-4110
www.asbt.com
Marvin Stedman (left) assists Research Chemist Charles Flynn in setting up the new biodiesel production
and refining unit.
Taking Care Of Shade Trees
By Peter Kolb, MSU Extension Forestry Specialist
Shade trees are both an aesthetic and financial asset, but
keeping trees healthy in Montana, especially east of the continental divide, can be challenging.
Parts of Montana have some of the most difficult conditions
in the lower 48 United States to grow trees. However, careful
tree selection, planting and maintenance will help keep your trees
healthy.
The first thing a tree needs is space. Trees need as much
room for their roots as you expect to have foliage on top. Most
roots will be in the upper two feet of soil, though some species
also grow deep tap roots. The roots need oxygen as well as water, so keep a well aerated soil surface that is at least 1.5 times
as large as the crown of the tree is wide.
If you have poor soils, it would be ideal if you would plan a
year in advance about planting a new tree. That year would give
Peter Kolb pruning a tree
you time to not only dig a large a hole (three feet deep and at
least 1.5 times as wide as the root ball) but to backfill it with a mix
of original soil and 30-40% composted organic debris. Amended
soils settle, so waiting a year reduces the risk of a tree shifting
after planting. In addition, any newly planted tree taller than three
feet will benefit from being stabilized by a well-anchored stake
that is as tall as the tree and attached with a cord at about twothirds of the tree height. Pad the cord where it attaches to the
tree and keep it loose enough to allow for growth. If planting a
tree with a burlap-covered root ball, cut vertical slits in the burlap
three inches or more apart once the tree is in the hole to allow
for proper root growth.
Don’t add more than two inches of soil over an existing tree’s
root system in any given year, or the roots will have difficulty
getting air. Keep the new soil at least two feet away from existing
trunks that are larger than six inches in diameter.
Especially for new trees, water often and
deep during summer. Tree seedlings or balled
and burlaped trees need to grow enough
roots to supply the tops with water during
summer heat. Shallow watering promotes
shallow roots. Since most soils will only allow for water penetration of about one-inch
per hour, using a drip system or soaker hose
that applies about a gallon an hour, left running for 24 hours or more at a time, will create a deep water profile in the soil. This will
also prevent salt accumulations in the rooting zone, which could eventually poison your
tree. Most drought-adapted shade trees
suited for Montana will not break winter dormancy from fall watering, though some exotic ornamentals may.
Fertilize only in the spring with a well
balanced fertilizer. Most lawn fertilizers consist mainly of nitrogen, which stimulates
growth but not drought hardiness or defense
mechanisms in trees. Apply a generic 10-1010 (numbers denote the proportions of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) fertilizer
after your last expected spring frost with
ample water on the soil just inside and outside the tree canopy. Specialized fertilizer for
trees (that have additional other nutrients)
also works well, because sulfur and iron are
common deficiencies on Montana soils that
can cause tree foliage to appear yellow or
pale green.
Prune your trees properly, which for deciduous trees is best done in late winter before budburst or mid-summer. Most shade
trees want to be lollipop or umbrella shaped
for maximum energy production and water
conservation. Deciduous trees should generally be pruned up, which means removing
lower and inner branches so that you can
walk under the trees and look up into a cathedral-like tree canopy.
Top-pruning to shorten a tree creates
tangled growth and weakened crowns that
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wider denser trees that are less likely to fall in a wind storm.
However, topping will change the shape of the tree so only do
this with careful consideration.
When in doubt about any pruning, consult with a qualified
professional arborist or refer to the MSU Extension tree pruning
guide for specific procedures. Pruning and caring for trees requires knowledge, skill and concern for your wishes. Always ask
for references and look at previous pruning work. Call your local
Extension agent if you have questions.
Do not use tree injections unless your tree has a problem
that is readily evident to you and has been diagnosed by an
expert. Drilling holes into trees to inject a systemic insecticide or
fungicide harms the tree. It is only warranted in specific situations as an expensive option to save the tree from an existing
insect or disease attack or proven local threat. In addition, injections typically only work for deciduous trees when applied in early
spring and summer, and do not work with most conifers. Never
use injections as a means of fertilizing. If your tree looks healthy
to you, it probably is and does not require anything other than
occasional watering and mild uses of fertilizer. An unsolicited
knock on your door by someone who says your tree is sick and
needs an injection, probably only wants easy money. If in doubt,
call your Extension office for advice.
Trees are beautiful and useful. A large deciduous tree planted
on the southwest side of a house can keep your house 10-20
degree cooler in summer yet allow for the sun to warm your house
after their leaves have dropped in the winter. A dense conifer
such as pine, spruce and juniper planted on the windward side
of your property also acts as a privacy screen and windbreak.
Energy-use studies have shown that windbreaks reduce heating
costs by 30 percent during the winter.
Choose and maintain your trees wisely.
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120 N. Main • Watford City • 701-842-6859
fail during windstorms if done improperly. Occasionally, a tree
will need the top pruned because of obstructions like power lines.
For shortening deciduous trees, a branch should be pruned back
to where another substantial branch forks off. This enhances the
natural shape of the tree and protects its structural integrity versus arbitrarily lopping off the top to some designated height. If
the tree is too large for you to prune safely or you are uncertain
where to cut, hire a professional.
Conifers or “evergreens” prefer to be cone-shaped. Every
year one main leader grows upward and a new “whorl” of side
branches grows off last year’s leader growth. To remain healthy,
their foliage needs full sunlight, so widely spaced trees can maintain foliage all the way to the ground. If lower branches become
shaded, they die. Lower branches that die or are pruned off will
never grow back with any size. Pruning for health and shape is
best done in early summer before the new growth has hardened.
Larger branches can be pruned any time of the year. When shaping a conifer, leave some new growth. It is almost impossible to
keep a tree the same size and healthy when it is genetically
programmed to grow big. Healthy conifers will keep their needles
for three years, thus leaving new needles every year is essential
to maintain healthy needles.
Evergreens such as pines, spruces and junipers can have
tops pruned back somewhat without significant damage to the
tree if a shorter squatter tree is desired, and a healthy crown is
available to work with. Typically no more than one-third of the
green crown should be pruned off. Spruce trees, which have short
needles with very prickly ends, are notoriously shallow rooted,
making them very susceptible to being tipped over by high winds
when they get taller than 40-50 feet.
Pruning the tops of these trees back a little will promote
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New Durum Varieties
On The Horizon
By Russ Wells
It looks like 10 years of studies are finally going to pay
off for Joyce Eckhoff, research agronomist with the MSU
Agricultural Research Center in Sidney.
Eckhoff has been working with her durum variety tests
for 10 years. “We are evaluating several advanced lines for
release in the near future,” she said.
Eckhoff recalls her durum research experiences. “When
I came here, durum was grown in Eastern North Dakota
and Arizona. Because of the scab disease problem, most
of the durum up north has moved to Western North Dakota
and Eastern Montana.”
She would like to see more durum acres in the state. “I
feel we can grow a high-quality durum that can compete
with the quality of the desert durum.”
Eckhoff says she started from scratch with the first research cropping 10 years ago. “Right now it’s a long, slow
process. New technology can reduce the number of generations needed. There is no winter nursery here. We can
grow only one generation a year. To speed the development process up, you need a place that’s warm in the winter to grow a second crop.”
Eckhoff points out that durum is used to make quality
pasta products. She says, “Europeans have traditionally
purchased durum from the southwest to produce products
with desirable stronger gluten.” She hopes to see Montana
and North Dakota durum take over for the desert durum,
especially with some of the new varieties under development at the Research Center.
It is about time to
get out in the
fields.
Consider us
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Grant Haugland
Aaron Knudsvig
Williston
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Williston
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Joyce Eckhoff checks out durum plants being studied at the MSU Agricultural Research Center in Sidney.
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Community Clinic-Western Dakota
Visiting Physicians
April 2008
2 - Dr. Robert Percell, Jr. - Cardiologist
Saturday, April 5 • 1:00 P.M. CDT
WILLISTON SADDLERY • HWY 2 WEST • WILLISTON
15 - Dr. Erdal Diri - Rheumatologist
15 - Dr. Alexandre Kindy - Orthopedist
17 - Dr. J. Moller - Pediatric-Cardiologist
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To make an appointment with any
of these specialists, call 701-572-7711.
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1807 S. Central • Sidney, MT • 406-488-1702
1102 Main
Williston, ND
701-572-7711
1-800-735-4940
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Forage Peas Could Be
Promising Alternative To
Summer Fallow
MSU Presents Economic
Info For Ag Producers In
Great Falls, Billings
Pea forage could be an economic alternative to summer fallow in no-till systems, say Montana State University
researchers.
Recent research conducted by Dave Wichman, Montana Agricultural Experiment Station’s Central Agricultural
Research Center, and Perry Miller and Rick Engel, Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences
(LRES), indicated that pea forage management practices
can affect both yield and quality of the forage and subsequent wheat crop.
In this study, wheat yields following pea were superior
to wheat yields following hay barley at Amsterdam.
“This cropping sequence response has commonly been
observed in Montana where wheat yields on pea stubble
were intermediate between wheat yields following fallow
and cereal stubble,” said Miller.
At Amsterdam, wheat yields were not only affected by
the previous crop, but also by forage harvest timing and
nitrogen fertilizer rate, said Clain Jones, Extension soil fertility specialist in LRES. When forage was fertilized with a
relatively low nitrogen fertilizer rate of 45 pounds of nitrogen per acre and harvested and terminated at first flower,
wheat yields were 15 bushels per acre greater following
winter pea than when wheat was similarly fertilized, harvested and terminated following hay barley.
On average, pea forage yield at first flower was 58% of
the yield at the plump pod stage. In addition, harvesting
Agricultural producers are facing changes in agriculture due to volatile energy costs, global market conditions
and changing government policy. Factors influencing those
issues will be described during meetings in Great Falls May
6 and Billings May 8.
Duane Griffith, Montana State University Extension
farm management specialist, said sessions will be presented by people from North Dakota State University, South
Dakota State University and MSU.
The program will also provide information helpful to crop
and livestock producers who are concerned about very
short term issues, like locking in commodity prices for this
fall, rapidly rising production costs and renegotiating lease
arrangements.
Protecting expected high commodity prices will be covered with presentations on using the futures and options
markets and available insurance products for crops and
early at first flower, used 2.5 inches of soil water compared
with 3.1 inches when forage harvest was delayed until the
plump pod stage. Compared to spring pea, winter pea utilized about 0.8 inches less water.
In this study, wheat following winter pea forage consistently produced higher wheat grain protein, whereas wheat
following barley forage consistently produced the lowest
protein.
“Protein is higher following peas, because pea residue
contributes more available nitrogen to the soil than barley
residue,” said Jones.
At the Central Ag Research Center at Moccasin, wheat
yields were not affected by the previous forage treatment,
and were the same as following the chemical fallow control.
“The differences between sites are likely due to
Amsterdam’s considerably deeper soil compared to the
variably shallow soil at Moccasin,” Miller said. The results
confirmed that often there is not much of an advantage to
fallowing shallow soils, because shallow soils cannot store
much water.
This study was funded by Montana’s Fertilizer Checkoff. Summaries of pea and barley forage studies may be
found at http://landresources.montana.edu/fertilizerfacts
(#51). Contact your local MSU Extension agent (http://
extn.msu.montana.edu/localoffices.asp
http://
extn.msu.montana.edu/localoffices.asp) or crop adviser for
help with specific fertilizer decisions.
TRAD
BUY
E
work, Pfizer Animal Health and WALCO Animal Health.
The truck has already made an appearance this spring.
During Stevenson Basin’s Black and Red Bull Sale in
Hobson, MT on March 19-20, the truck was proudly displayed for people to view and sign up to win. The truck will
also make appearances at various stock shows, county
and state fairs and rodeos throughout the year. You can
see it, join MSGA, and sign up to win at Lithia Dodge, Billings.
For more information
please contact RaeMarie
in the MSGA office at
406-442-3420
or
raemarie@ mtbeef.org.
USED EQUIPMENT
$48,500
ST280 Steiger Tractor ............... $22,500
CIH 9390 Tractor
w/triple & powershift ............................. $98,000
1993 JD 9600 Combine ............ $55,000
Haybuster Tub Grinder ............. $18,500
46’ Cattle Pot ............................. $15,000
Flexicoil 39’ Air Seeder
w/1720 tanks ........................................ $29,000
w/tow behind tank ................................. $12,500
Case 8500 45’ Air drill .............. $8,000
w/10” spacing & 2300 tank w/diesel engine
SELL
E
MOV
MSGA To Give Away Another Dodge Truck
The Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) is
once again giving one lucky member a 27-month lease on
a 2008 Cummins Diesel Dodge Truck, valued at $40,000!
The truck will be given away at the MSGA Annual Convention in December in Billings. All MSGA rancher, supporting
and young stockgrower members are eligible. New members that choose to join MSGA will also be eligible to win
the lease. If interested, existing members must submit an
entry ticket to qualify. If you do not submit an entry ticket,
you will not qualify! For every new member that an existing
member signs up between now and December 2008, the
existing member will be awarded one more chance to win
the lease. Sponsors of the truck include; Lithia Dodge, Billings; Montana Stockgrowers Association, First Interstate
Bank, Billings; Western Ranch Supply, Northern Ag Net-
livestock. Current cost of production estimates will be
shared, as will expectations about future costs of production. These estimates will be used as a basis for presentations on negotiating equitable crop share and cash lease
arrangements under the emerging commodity prices and
costs of production.
The May 6 workshop in Great Falls will be at the Holiday Inn. The May 8 presentation in Billings will be at the
Holiday Inn Montana on the King Avenue exit. Both programs begin with a sign-in at 8 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m.
Lunch will be provided.
Pre-registration is required so that lunch, breaks and
meeting materials can be planned. To register, contact MSU
at 406-994-3511, the Great Falls Extension office at 406454-6980 or the Billings Extension office at 406-256-2828.
Registration is $50 for the first person from an operation
and $30 for each additional person from the same operation, and payment can be made at the door.
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It Takes A “Village” Of Students And Researchers
To Set The Stage For A Camelina Market
By Carol Flaherty
MSU News Service
You’ve heard camelina oil has a potential in biofuels. Now
Montana State University researchers are working to bring you
camelina stove pellets, camelina in bread and peanut butter,
camelina for livestock feed and camelina mulch, in addition to
camelina growing recommendations.
It’s all part of a push to provide a well-rounded research
base for local economic development, said Alice Pilgeram, director of the MSU Biobased Institute, which supports bioenergy
and biobased research projects being done by faculty, staff and
students of MSU, MSU Extension and the Montana Agricultural
Experiment Station.
The goal is to find uses for the by-products of camelina oil
processing, as well as for the better-known omega-3-rich
camelina oil.
“The emphasis at MSU is development of value-added applications for camelina meal,” Pilgeram said. “Expansion of the
Montana camelina crop has been limited by the current high
prices of wheat and barley.
However, early research has indicated that camelina is a
valuable wheat rotation crop even in place of fallow.”
The work is taking place at many sites around Montana as
well as in Bozeman. At Havre’s Northern Ag Research Center,
Darin Boss is researching camelina meal as a beef cattle feed
while Peggy Lamb and Gregg Carlson look at camelina in comparison to other oilseed crops.
At the Central Ag Research Center at Moccasin, Chengci
Chen is investigating crop rotations and Dave Wichman the effect of planting date on camelina yields. At the Western Triangle
Research Center at Conrad, Grant Jackson is working on the
effects of fertilization on camelina yields, and at the Southern Ag
Research Center in Huntley Steve King is evaluating herbicides
for control of weeds in camelina.
At MSU in Bozeman, David Sands has completed a preliminary evaluation of camelina for use in poultry and dairy feeds
and is working with nutritionist Mary Stein to evaluate camelina
for use in peanut butters and breads; nutritionist Christina
Campbell is studying the effects of camelina oil on inflammation
in middle-aged women; plant scientist Chaofu Lu is investigating
the metabolism of oilseeds; Pilgeram is working with MSU land
resources student Carol Froseth to see how camelina waste
would do as a mulch, and with plant sciences master’s student
Brekke Peterson on camelina for odor eradication and
remediation of soils and water contaminated with aromatic compounds such as creosote and dichlorophenol. MSU Extension
Professor Mike Vogel is working with MSU Mechanical Engineering Professor Vic Cundy and his students to develop the bestburn mix for camelina heating stove pellets.
For various regulatory and economic reasons, Pilgeram says
she thinks the most likely first product to come to market from
these efforts may be the camelina-based pellets for home heating stoves.
Camelina heating pellet development has had an unusual
development path from conception to pasta maker to commercial pelletizer.
To take a step back, producing camelina oil for biofuels and
livestock feeds leaves a by-product called camelina meal.
Camelina meal is very similar to corn meal, although when
camelina meal gets wet it produces a jello-like substance. In
Europe and Montana, the meal has been evaluated for livestock
and pet feed. Commercial livestock feeding requires FDA approval, which has yet to happen. In the interim, MSU is evaluating the meal for other applications such as home heating.
Vogel, Extension’s housing and environmental quality specialist, says that when he got the idea of converting camelina
meal into heating stove pellets, one hurdle was having no commercial grade pellet maker available. He and Cundy approached
the problem with a “never-say-die” mentality and started looking
for alternative ways to extrude pellets.
“To begin, all we really needed was an approximation of standard pellets,” Vogel said.
When the pair heard of a pasta maker sitting idle, they investigated whether it could be adapted to create heating pellets
that would come somewhat close to heating pellet specifications.
Sure enough, instead of pasta they could get pellets.
“Our pellets out of the pasta maker weren’t the best, but
they were a start,” Cundy said.
Cundy had four students who worked on camelina pelletizing for their senior project during the 2006-2007 school year.
They developed preliminary recipes for camelina meal pellets
combined with other products such as ash, wood chips and straw.
Current undergraduate students Alex Yudell and Stephen Switters
are continuing the research.
Monte Bare, an MSU graduate in mechanical engineering,
donated a heating stove for the research. It and the pasta-pellet
mill were set up in 2007.
“Camelina heating value is at or above that of a premium
wood pellet,” Cundy said. Initial tests by an outside lab for MSU
showed that camelina meal averages a heating content of about
10,000 British thermal units per pound. When MSU students had
an outside lab test their camelina pellets, the heating value was
about 8,600 BTUs per pound compared to about 8,300 BTUs
per pound for premium wood pellets.
The student’s pellet recipe also produced more ash and
sulfur than wood, so the MSU work is now focusing on a pellet
recipe that increases the heating values while decreasing ash
and sulfur products of combustion.
This year, thanks to a grant from the USDA NRCS, the team
will use a commercial-grade pellet maker.
“We need to manufacture the pellets consistent with the standards of the industry,” Vogel said. “Once we are doing that, we
can say we’re comparing apples to apples.”
Those “apples” will be given to the middle school in Townsend
before long. The Townsend Middle School received a grant to
adapt its heater to use various fuels. As soon as the pellet team
thinks it has the right recipe, they’ll be taking enough pellets to
Townsend for a full test in a commercial heating system.
The bulk of the work to develop camelina has been funded
by the Biobased Institute at MSU. Additional research support
has been provided by USDA NRCS, USDA “Fuels for Schools”
Project, Montana Department of Commerce Research and Commercialization Board, USDA SBIR, and the US Egg and Poultry
Association.
& THE NEW TA 1200 & TA 2400 T-TANK SPRAYERS
Model 1600 with 90’ boom
Meet all the members of the Top Air family-TA 1600, TA 1200 & TA 2400 T-tank
sprayers. The 1600’s operational ease, maneuverabilty and trailability are the best
in the industry, due to its independent suspension, low center of gravity and compact distance from hitch to axle
A single-point quick-fill, convenient command center, deep tiered sump and tank
capacity of 1,600 gallons mean you spend more time spraying and less time filling.
TA T-tank sprayers can be fitted with compact, trifolding 90- or 80- foot front-fold
booms. The versatile 90, 120 & 132- footboom also folds to spray a 60-footpattern.
Stop by your nearest dealer today to meet the
entire Top Air family of sprayers. Pick the one that
best meets your needs and make it part of your farming
family.
LINDSEY IMPLEMENT INC.
HWY 2 WEST, WILLISTON, ND
701-572-4128
1-800-735-6549
web site: lindseyimplement.com
Northeastern Montana Counties
Qualify For Carbon Offset Credits
The National Carbon Offset Coalition (NCOC), a Montana-based organization, allows Ag producers and landowners to earn income by storing carbon in their soil through
no-till crop production, long-term grass seeding practices,
grazing management practices, grassland, forestry, and
methane capture projects.
NCOC is an aggregator of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) that enters carbon credits onto the market
place. NCOC enrolls landowners’ acreages of carbon
projects into blocks of credits that are then traded on the
exchange, much like other agricultural commodities are
traded.
Large companies and other entities that are members
of CCX purchase credits daily on the exchange to offset
their own carbon emissions into the atmosphere on a voluntary basis. Once credits sell, landowners earn income
based on the acres they have enrolled. As an example, this
month, NCOC distributed over a $230,000 to 66 landowners for the sale of their carbon. Carbon has been selling at
a rate of $4.50-$5.60/ton this month.
Philips, Roosevelt, Sheridan, McCone, Garfield,
Richland, and Dawson counties are qualified for enrollment
in the NCOC Program for conservation tillage, rangeland,
ag methane, forestry, and grassland plantings. Ted Dodge
with the National Carbon Offset Coalition will present information about the newest carbon credit opportunities which
landowners can apply their acreages of carbon through April
2008.
NCOC will be conducting workshops throughout northeastern Montana. The workshops are scheduled to begin
on April 8-April 11. All landowners and the public are invited to attend.
The following are the locations, times, and places for
the upcoming workshops.
Tuesday, April 8 - Philips County Library, (Basement)
in Malta - 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 9 - Nemont Telephone, 720 2nd Ave.,
Scobey - 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 9 - Sheridan County Courthouse
(Bicentennial Rm., Plentywood - 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 10 - Elks Lodge (Lodge Rm.), Sidney 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 10 - Hungry Joe Hall, 323 E. Berry,
Glendive - 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Friday, April 11 - Smidtz Banquet, Circle - 10 a.m.-12:30
p.m.
Friday, April 11 - VFW Hall, Jordan - 1:30-3:30 p.m.
For more information about the workshops, contact Ted
Dodge at 406-491-4471 or Emily Tafoya at 406-491-4472.
Visit the NCOC website at http://www.ncoc.us for specific
rates based on land use.
New Crop Sequence Calculator Available
By Dale Naze
The USDA Agricultural Research Service has recently announced that the latest version of the popular Crop Sequence
Calculator is now available. The newest version can be used to
investigate rotations for barley, buckwheat, canola, chickpeas,
corn, crambe, dry beans, dry peas, flax, grain sorghum, proso
millet, safflower, soybean, spring wheat, durum and sunflowers.
First released in 2001, the program provides crop-specific
information on production, plant diseases, weeds, water use and
surface soil properties to help producers make sound decisions
regarding different crop rotations and sequences.
Based on recorded results of multiple crop plantings dating
back to 1995 near Mandan, the Crop Sequence Calculator can
show the potential yield effect of any two-year combination of
the 16 crops listed above. The information, however, is not tied
to the Mandan area alone. Producers can modify the data for
soil, weather and other conditions to match their own area to get
a more personalized result.
In addition to the crop rotation and sequencing features, the
program also contains a database of resources and additional
information on plant diseases, weeds, insects, soil water, soil
quality, economics and other information. For example, clicking
the button for plant diseases will return an introduction to plant
disease, research data, Internet resources and photographs of
plant diseases to aid in their identification. The same holds true
for the other information databases as well.
Prior versions of the Crop Sequence Calculator did not include corn – the updated version does. The researchers included
corn as part of a greater emphasis on warm season crops and
the fact that corn has increased significantly in the past few years.
The latest version includes more research data as well as
new information on economics, insects and other pests in North
Dakota. And the program now provides an introduction to the
Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory crop sequence research project and dynamic agricultural systems.
To request a copy of the new Crop Sequence Calculator, go
to the following website:
www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=13698. And if you
don’t have Internet capabilities, stop by the Extension Office in
Watford City and we can access the Internet on your behalf.
About The
Ag
Roundup
The Ag Roundup is a monthly Farm & Ranch Magazine. It is delivered to
over 10,000 farm & ranch families in Western North Dakota and Eastern
Montana. The advertising and news deadline for the May 2008 issue is
April 22. Subscription Rate: $15 per year.
Telephone:
Mailing Address:
406-482-3306 or
The Roundup
1-800-749-3306
P.O.Box 1207
Fax:
Sidney, MT
406-482-4114
e-mail:
Production Office:
[email protected]
Located at 1511 S. Central in Sidney
BUY 2 RADIAL TIRES – GET $100 IN FUEL!*
No other farm tire has more traction – or saves more fuel – than a Firestone with the 23° bar design.
And now you can save even more when you purchase a pair of Firestone radial rear tires!
Now through April 30, 2008, you can get a debit card worth $100 in fuel when you buy two Firestone radial rear tractor tires!
It’s money back on the best-selling, best-performing and best-serviced farm tires in America. Nobody builds farm tires like
Firestone and nobody backs them like we do either.
Your Firestone Certified Farm Tire Dealer has the tires you need and the Dual & Fuel rebate form to complete and return for your debit
card. To locate your nearest Firestone Certified Farm Tire Dealer, visit www.firestoneag.com.
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*Offer valid from 2/1/08 through 4/30/08. Requests must be postmarked by 5/31/08. Rebate will be delivered in form of debit card valid for purchase of fuel and other products. Limit of one rebate for radial rear tractor tires per
farm, household or person. Offer subject to Terms and Conditions available on rebate form and at www.firestoneag.com. Void where prohibited, taxed or restricted.
Ramifications Of Recent
Conservation Easement Law
The term, perpetuity, key to conservation easement
contracts, guarantees that land will forever retain restricted
use with the exception of that agreed upon by the property
owner and the land trust. The holder of the land trust becomes the management agency with monitoring and supervisory authority enforced by law, while the property
owner, holder of the title, assumes forever all costs of liability, taxes and maintenance related to the property. Prospective buyers of easement encumbered property must consider these financial obligations, as well as specified restricted uses such as development rights.
Heirs to the property, generally offspring of parents who
signed the contract in perpetuity, must forever continue
paying taxes, insurance and all expenses related to the
land. They generally now live elsewhere with livelihoods
other than farming or ranching. If they become financially
unable to meet monetary obligations of inherited property
they will likely seek disposal. The larger the acreage the
fewer will be the potential buyers of land which cannot be
subdivided and is limited in number and style of personal
residences. Until this last legislative session it was reassuring that land trusts were willing to take encumbered land
off the hands of financially strapped owners that are eager,
if not desperate, to dispose of it.
Traditional real estate law extinguishes the CE contract
when the entity holding the easement also becomes holder
of the land and title. Senate Bill 317 passed by the last
Montana state legislature and recently codified into law,
amended previous law by no longer permitting this nullification of longer purchase encumbered land, thus freeing it
of restrictions, only to sell or use it profitably. It also removes the avenue for owners seeking an escape from financial obligations assumed through inheritance or ill-advised purchase of encumbered land.
Alarming amounts of federal money is funneling into
private land acquisition through CEs as well as programs
to convert federal multiple use lands into wilderness, representing a federal “land grab” epidemic nationwide.
Appealing federal tax write-offs as well as monetary
funding are offered land owners. These one-time-only perks
are not available to future owners whether by inheritance
or purchase. Highly heralded almost to the point of patriotism are the virtues of open space, wildlife protection and
preserving rural lifestyle. The fact that property taxes at
the local level remain the same, allows ever increasing
amounts of acreage to go unnoticed under conservation
easement, very likely to eventually erode into fallow, weedprone, empty space. Unsalable property falling to the county
through tax default, in essence represents a liability, basically becoming parkland maintained by local taxpayers similar to our National Parks and increasingly non-productive
Forest Service lands financed by federal taxes.
MSGA Announces 2009 Environmental Stewardship Award Program
The 17th Annual Montana Environmental Stewardship
Award Program (ESAP) has officially opened its nomination season for 2009. The Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) has recognized the outstanding stewardship
practices and conservation achievements of Montana cattle
producers for almost two decades. Award winners are honored for their commitment to protecting the environment
and improving fish and wildlife habitat while operating profitable cattle operations.
“America’s cattle operations are dedicated to doing what
is right for the environment and it is evident in the 16 operations the Montana ESAP program has recognized since its
beginning,” says Dale Johnson, MSGA’s Research, Education and Endowment Foundation (REEF) Chairman. “This
year, we are expecting another great pool of applicants and
encourage your participation in the process.”
Applications can be submitted by any Montana cattle
producer who is a member of MSGA. The state winner will
be nominated by MSGA to compete for the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association Region V Environmental
Stewardship Award.
“This is always a great program, which gets a great
deal of attention,” says MSGA President and previous ESAP
winner Steve Roth. “If you haven’t had a chance to apply
in the past, now’s the time! You have until May 15 to get
your application turned in.”
Montana ESAP was established in 1991 by the Montana Stockgrowers Association and is made possible by
the support of MSGA’s REEF with a grant from the Montana Beef Council. MSGA awards one winner, which is
selected annually by a committee of representatives from
universities, conservation organizations, and federal and
state agencies.
“This program has encouraged cattle producers to try
new techniques developed by the winners, and it continues to reward innovators for their stewardship,” says Roth.
“It also demonstrates to the world how producers are the
original, true environmentalists.”
The deadline for 2009 ESAP nomination packet is May
15, 2008. Go to www.mtbeef.org or contact MSGA’s office to
request a copy of the application at 406-442-3420.
SPRING PLANTING SPECIALS!
WDX 2302
Swather
Magnum
275
Puma
195 & 165
Used Tractors
1994 Case IH 7220, 3 pt, MFD, dual PTO, 18.4x42 tires,
6000 hrs ................................................................................ $49,900
JD 7800, MFD, PowerQuad, 3 pt, 14.9x46 duals, 8500 hrs .... $49,900
JD 4775, MFD, Powershift, 3 pt, 14.9x46 duals, 6900 hrs ..... $48,900
Steiger ST 325, 24.5x32 duals, 14' Dozer, consigned .............. $23,000
Ford 4000, Loader, 3pt, gas engine ............................................ $6,500
1967 JD 4020, recent engine overhaul, new clutch, 90% tires,
Dual PTO ................................................................................. $8,995
Used Combines
1983-1440 CIH Combine 2100 hrs always shedded 24' auger head,
Consigned .............................................................................. $19,000
CIH 1015, Pickup header, Like New ........................................... $6,995
1986 CIH 1660 Combine, 2600 hrs ........................................ $29,000
1989 CIH 1660 Combine, 1900 hrs ........................................ $36,000
1986 Case IH 1640 Combine, 2000 hrs .................................. $22,500
Used Haying Equipment
JD 566 Round Baler, mesh wrap, wide pickup .......................... $17,500
04 Case IH RBX 562 Baler, endless belts, mesh wrap .............. $27,900
1999 CIH RS 561 Baler ........................................................... $19,500
CIH 2001 RS 561 Baler ........................................................... $18,995
CIH 1999 8480 Baler .............................................................. $14,000
CIH 8480 Softcore Baler .......................................................... $11,900
1995 CIH 8465 Round Baler .................................................... $10,900
Vermeer 505 Super I Baler .......................................................... $7,750
Hesston 560 Baler, New Belt & Chains, Low Bales .................... $5,995
2002 RBX 561 Netwrap & Moisture Tester ............................... $22,500
Low Rate Financing
Available on All New
& Used Equipment
RB 564
Round Baler
7010
Combine
JX 95
w/Loader
NH 116 16 ft Mower Conditioner ............................................. $10,500
JD 1600 Mower Conditioner ...................................................... $7,995
Hesston 1170 Mower Conditioner .............................................. $6,990
2000 CIH SC416 Mower Conditioner, 16', dual knife drive,
excellent condition ................................................................. $15,900
Lawn Mowers
JD G100 Automatic, 235 hrs, 50" deck, bagger ......................... $2,995
JD L130, 175 hrs., 48" deck, bagger ......................................... $1,995
Air Drills & Sprayers
2001 Flexicoil 67XL, suspended boom, 90', 1000 gal., electric end
jets, auto rate ......................................................................... $24,000
(New) SDX40 w/ADX Tank 2230 .................................. Rental Discount
Concord 3212, 32', 12" spacing, single shoot, Nok-on sweeps, .. 1502
tow behind tank, bias packers ................................................... $25,000
Miscellaneous
1992 Ford F250, 4wd, V-8 engine, automatic,
service body with crane ........................................................... $6,450
Fox Corn Chopper ...................................................................... $4,995
Ford 3PT Rotary Tiller, 48" cut ................................................... $1,250
Artsway 6 row 24", defoliator, 3 drum, hyd scalpers,
rear steer ................................................................. Consigned $3995
H&S 12R24 Cultivator, guidecones, tunnel shields, flip up discs $4,995
Alloway 12R24 Cultivator, flipup discs, tunnel shields ........ Just Traded
Parma 24' & 30' Roller Harrow
Hygrade Grader 1400, 14'
Artsway 166 Plow, on land, 5 bottom
TRI-COUNTY IMPLEMENT
© 2007 CNH America LLC. All rights reserved. Case IH is a registered trademark of
CNH America LLC. CNH Capital is a trademark of CNH America LLC. www.caseih.com
Sidney, MT • 2429W. Holly
406-488-4400 • 1-800-624-6540
Visit our web site at tri-cnty.com
Beet Growers Heading For
Fields With New Contract &
Roundup-Ready Seeds
By Russ Wells
Sugarbeet planting is expected to begin the middle of April following a oneyear contract agreement between Sidney Sugars, Incorporated and the Montana-Dakota Beet Growers Association in March.
A big change for the growers is the approval of Roundup-Ready beet seed
as part of the contact. “The Seed Committee made up of growers and Sidney
Sugars representatives met and selected several varieties of beet seed for this
growing season,” reports Russ Fullmer, agricultural manager.
Fullmer said Sidney Sugars will conduct beet variety tests in two different
locations this year to collect better data.
“In a year or two, there’ll be nothing but Roundup-Ready beets. They allow
much better weed control. There’s a bigger window to spray your weeds and
you can use broadcasting to get at all the weeds in the field instead of band
spraying,” Fullmer explains, adding, “The Roundup-Ready beets have a gene
spliced in that is resistant to Roundup. It has no affect on the sugar.”
Roundup-Ready beets are expected to cut down on cultivation and trips
through the field which will save the grower money.
Fullmer said that Sidney Sugars will be contracting with individual growers
soon. “Some growers will be planting the second or third week of April, depending on weather conditions. It’s dry right now. We need some soil moisture,” Fullmer
adds.
Sidney Sugars and growers will start negotiations this summer for a longer
term contract. “We’re hoping the Farm Bill will be passed by then,” Fullmer said.
Fullmer reports that this year’s campaign went pretty good with minimal
down times. “It could have been colder. The beets stored as good as could be
expected with the mild winter.”
“The beet purities weren’t as high as we would like to see, but the factory
did a good job of getting the sugar out.” This year’s slice was completed on Feb.
7.
New crop variety selection
tool can help ag producers
A new Web-based tool is available to help farmers
choose appropriate crop varieties for their conditions.
Kent McVay, Montana State University Extension cropping systems specialist at the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station’s Southern Agricultural Research Center, created the Web-based crop variety selection tool. The tool
has information to help spring and winter wheat growers
now, and will later include information on barley and alfalfa
varieties.
“The web tool can help producers select varieties that
fit their production needs and help meet their yield goals,”
McVay said.
“Basically, it changes reams of data into straightforward answers based on user-entered information.”
The site is a menu option from the Southern Ag Research Center’s main Web page: www.sarc.montana.edu.
Users would go to that page, select “crop variety testing” at
the left and its sub-option “crop variety selection tool.”
At the website, producers make selections to narrow
their choices.
They can look for research results that have been conducted near their farm. They can also choose varieties
Don't lose pounds to infertile
or subfertile bulls. All bulls
should have a breeding
soundness exam each year. Bulls
can be fertile one year
& go bad the next.
We can test your bulls according to Society for
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test bulls we will:
1. Measure the scrotal circumference
2. Palpate internal sex organs
3. Inspect penis & sheath for warts & other problems
4. Collect sperm & observe them under high power
microscope for abnormalities.
We do bulls from 12 months to 12 yrs. of age. Larger
groups of bulls can be done on your ranch. Individuals
& trailer loads can be done every day in the clinic.
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Western
Veterinary Clinic
Williston, ND • 701-572-7878 or 1-800-828-6681
Doctors Lee Garbel, Vince Stenson, Jody Smith,Charlie Noland & Heidi Gabel
based not only on yield potential, but protein levels or other
characteristics such as milling and baking quality. If they
are interested in growing white wheat, rather than red, they
can select the preferred category using the “market class”
button.
Phil Bruckner, Montana Agricultural Experiment Station wheat breeder, said the variety selection tool is a good
way to look for varieties that are adapted to specific locations.
“We have lots of variety test data,” Bruckner said. “This
tool lets you zero in on the varieties appropriate for the
locations you are interested in. And the tool is flexible
enough that if you don’t have one piece of information, you
could still get information based on your distance from a
test site.”
However, both Bruckner and McVay said that the more
specific the choices a person makes, the more useful the
information will be.
After entering the climate and resistance preferences
for an area, results include the number of site-years of data
that generated the average value.
“The greater the number of site-years for a variety, the
greater confidence researchers have that this variety will
consistently perform at the specified level,” said McVay.
“Those results with only one or two site years should be
considered risky.”
McVay said he is still improving the site and values
feedback from users, who can send comments via a Weblink at the site.
No special software is needed.
“If producers can get to the Internet, they can use my
webpage,” McVay said. “If you don’t have internet access,
call or visit with your county ag agents and ask that they
navigate for you.”
The results from the producer’s selections are based
on all the variety trials at Montana Agricultural Experiment
Station research centers for 2004 through 2007. That includes Southern Agricultural Research Center near Huntley, the Eastern Agricultural Research Center near Sidney,
the Northern Agricultural Research Center at Havre, Western Triangle Agricultural Research Center near Conrad,
Northwestern Agricultural Research Center near Kalispell,
Western Agricultural Research Center near Corvallis and
the Central Agricultural Research Center near Moccasin.
In addition to Bruckner and research center scientists,
others contributing data to the site include Tom Blake on
barley, Dennis Cash on alfalfa and Luther Talbert on spring
wheats.
According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics
Service, in 2006 Montana farmers produced more than 5
million acres of wheat valued at $700 million. Barley was
grown on 670,000 acres, valued at $93 million. And more
than 1.5 million acres of alfalfa was harvested for nearly
$275 million in revenue.
Meadow Muffins . . .
Forty Year
'fess Up...Honesty
By Ken Overcast
There are some things that a fella just shouldn’t spread
around…. take for instance the little story I’m about to tell you.
I’ve been pretty reluctant to share this information for several
reasons. Most of them concern the possibility of personal bodily
harm befallin’ the teller. I’m in hopes that there has been enough
water under the bridge by now to sort of dull the anger of the
afflicted parties, and they won’t seek me out and pound me to a
pulp.
The afflicted parties here are Roy and Sally Finley, and the
reason I’m so bravely volunteering this information after the passing of forty years or so, is that Sally passed on to her reward
several years ago, and I just saw Roy yesterday ... I think I can
out-run him. Besides, Sally was the one I was really afraid of.
Roy and Sally and a whole house full of kids lived just up
the road from my folks. They were our next-door neighbors, and
good ones they were too. Sally was a big hearted, no-nonsense
kind of a gal that said what she meant and meant just what she
said. There were some of the Moms in the neighborhood that us
kids could get one over on, but Mrs. Finley wasn’t one of ‘em. You
just didn’t mess with Sally.
She’d kind of taken a shine to me for some reason, and
thought I could do no wrong. (Boy, did I have her fooled.) Although I knew very well that I had a special preferential spot in
Sally’s big heart, even I was smart enough to know that crossin’
her wasn’t a good idea. It could possibly even prove to be fatal.
The Finley’s had a mile of county road by the front of their
house that doubled as emergency cow pasture. You know how it
goes out in the country, there is usually an emergency of some
kind brewin’ all the time, and so as a result, they generally had
cows out on the road. Our family lived on the end of that mile
long lane, with a cattle guard to keep the critters apart. It worked
out just fine ... most of the time, and Sally was sort of the official
cow watcher of that outfit.
Now, ever’ little boy needs a hero or two, and my little brothers and I had several. The names Jim Shoulders and Casey Tibbs
might not mean much to anyone that isn’t up on rodeo history,
but they were the best back then, and we were determined to be
at least that good … or maybe even better. It doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to figure out that to get good at ANYTHING, you’ve got
to practice, and it also doesn’t take a brain surgeon to determine
that the constant harassment of gentle domesticated livestock
by wild young cowboys with bull ropes and spurs isn’t consistent
with weight gains and profit.
Dad had threatened us within an inch of our lives if he caught
us ridin’ his cows one more time. We were pretty sure he meant
it, too. He would have been even more upset if he’d caught us
ridin’ Sally’s cows. So far we’d been lucky and nobody was the
wiser, and Dad had no idea we could even stoop THAT low.
Bless my little brothers’ hearts, but they have a real evil streak
in ‘em. I don’t recall for sure, but I think this whole deal must have
been their idea. The old cattle guard was getting’ kinda full of
dirt, and Sally’s cows crossed it and got into our place one day.
The folks weren’t home, so it really didn’t take a lot of creativity
to get them into the alley behind the buckin’ chute we’d rigged
up. We bucked them out a couple of times and then opened the
gate by the cattle guard and pointed them back up the road towards home.
For some strange reason they didn’t wander down to our
end of the lane near as often after that, but before long the grass
got a little short on the other end and back down they came. The
folks were gone again. What luck! We just had ‘em all loaded into
the alley behind the buckin’ chute and ready to go, when our
very worst fears were realized.
“Here comes Sally!” yelled one of my little brothers. Both of
the little cowards hit the brush, trying desperately to avoid impending death, and left me there to face the music all by myself.
I quickly threw the bull rope behind a post, and wisely positioned
my body in the line of sight between the window in Sally’s car
and her cows in the chute across the corral. Drawing my huge
four-foot eleven frame to its very largest dimension, and pushin’
my hat back, I flashed my best smile.
“Hi, Sally. What are you doin’ so far from home?”
“I can’t find those &*%$# cows anyplace. The only thing I
can figure is that they must have gone on down the ditch bank
into your woods. You seen ‘em?”
There were several rules that the folks had drummed into
us kids, and one of them was that lyin’ was right next to bein’ an
axe murderer. You always tell the truth…. no matter what. I must
confess that I didn’t always toe that line as close as I could have
as a kid.
I looked her right in the eye, and checking again to make
sure I was blockin’ her line of sight from the evidence, gave her
the only logical answer ... a bald faced lie.
“Nope, I ain’t seen ‘em,” I said lyin’ through my teeth. “But,
I’m sure that’s where they are. Don’t worry a thing about ‘em. I’ll
ride right down there and run ‘em back home for you.”
That was one of my closest shaves with death. We made
sure we “found” the cows, and never tried that little trick again.
The Finley herd coincidentally showed a dramatically increased
rate of gain, and the opportunity to see the Overcast name in the
Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame went down the drain.
Honesty is always the best policy ... but then if I had always
been totally honest, I’d have been dead 40 years ago.
Keep Smilin’…..and don’t forget to check yer cinch.
Ken Overcast is a recording cowboy singer that lives on Lodge
Creek in north central Montana, where he raises and dispenses B.S.
www.kenovercast.com.
USED 4-WHEEL DRIVE TRACTORS
1982 JD 8850, (370 HP), 16 SPD. TRANS., PTO, 4 HYDS,
20.8X42 DUALS ............................................................ $24,500
1975 JD 8430, (175HP), 16 SPD. TRANS., PTO,
3 HYDS., 23.1X30/18.4X34 DUALS. ............................ $16,500
USED MFWD & 2WD TRACTORS
USED SEEDING EQUIPMENT
JD 785 HOE DRILL, 40', 10" SPACING .................. $12,500
(3) 9350 JD HOE DRILLS, 8 FT UNIT, 10" SPACING
W/JD TRANSPORT .................................................... $6,500
CASE IH 8500 AIR HOE DRILL, 45', 7" SPACING $18,500
(3) JD 9350 DISK DRILLS, '10 UNITS, 6' SPACING,
JD HYD TRANSPORT HITCH .................................. $9,500
3 PT. HITCH W/QUIK HITCH, 4 HYDS.,
14.9R46 DUALS ............................................................ $62,500
PTO, 3 HYDS., 420/80R46 DUALS. ............................ $33,500
1988 CASE IH 7120, (150HP), 18 SPD. POWERSHIFT, 3 PT.
HITCH, 4 HYDS., 14.9R46 DUALS. ............................. $38,500
LOADER TRACTORS
2004 JD 7420, (115HP), 16 SPD. POWER-QUAD W/LH
REVERSER, MFWD, DUAL PTO, 3 PT. HITCH, 3 HYDS.,
18.4X38 SINGLES, W/ JD 740 SL LOADER W/ JOYSTICK, 8'
BUCKET, GRAPPLE ..................................................... $82,500
1990 JD 4455, (140HP), MFWD, 15 SPD, POWERSHIFT,
DUAL PTO, 3 HYDS., 18.4X42 SINGLES, JD 265 LOADER,
8' BUCKET, GRAPPLE, JOYSTICK ............................. $34,500
1982 JD 3140, (80HP) MFWD TRACTOR
W/JD 260 LOADER ......................................................... CALL
1976 CASE 1070, (107HP), POWERSHIFT, PTO, 2 HYDS.,
18.4X38 SINGLES, DUAL 3100 LOADER, BUCKET,
GRAPPLE ........................................................................ $9,500
1977 JD 4630, (150HP), POWERSHIFT, PTO, 2 HYDS.,
20.8X38 SINGLES, JD 168 LOADER, BUCKET, GRAPPLE,
INDEPENDANT LOADER CONTROL ........................ $14,900
LOW-RATE FINANCING ON
ALL USED TRACTORS (OAC)
LAWN & GARDEN
JOHN DEERE X485 LAWN & GARDEN TRACTOR
W/54" DECK & BAGGER ........................................... $6,500
JOHN DEERE 425 LAWN & GARDEN TRACTOR
W/ 54" DECK ............................................................... $3,950
JOHN DEERE 345 W/ 48" MOWER .......................... $2,850
JOHN DEERE LX 279 LAWN TRACTOR
W/BAGGER ................................................................. $2,495
JOHN DEERE LTR166 W/ DUMP HOPPER ............ $2,250
JOHN DEERE 525 RIDING MOWER ........................ $1,750
JOHN DEERE L120 LAWN TRACTOR W/48"
DECK ........................................................................... $1,350
JOHN DEERE LX 188 W/ 48" MOWER & BAGGER $1,350
JOHN DEERE LT 155 LAWN TRACTOR ................. $1,250
POLARIS 42" PULL TYPE MOWER ............................ $950
JOHN DEERE SE14 SELF PROPELLED MOWER .... $195
LAWN BOY 21" PUSH MOWER ................................... $175
SUNRISE EQUIPMENT
2900 W. Holly, Sidney
406-488-3112 • 1-800-967-3597
www.sunriseequipment.biz
Natural, Conventional
Beef To Be Discussed
During April Forum
The risks and rewards of raising and marketing natural
and conventional beef will be discussed during the annual
Montana Livestock Forum and Nutrition Conference to be
held April 15 and 16 at the Gran Tree Hotel, Bozeman.
On the first day of the forum, experts and local producers will discuss how ranchers can continue to meet consumer demands for safe and wholesome beef, said Montana Extension Beef Specialist John Paterson. The audience will also compare the taste of various samples of beef
and hear an overview of Montana’s natural beef law.
“In 2003, the consumer purchases for natural foods
grew by 24%,” Paterson said. “What exactly is driving consumer demand for natural products? Ranchers want to
know if they will receive added value for producing natural
beef without the use of growth promotants and antibiotics,
realizing there could be a decline in weight gain and an
increase in morbidity.”
T h a t W a s Th e n
T
TH
HIIS
S
IIS
SN
NO
OW
W
1998 Chevy Suburban C1500
1999 Chevy Tahoe K1500
2002 Chevy 2500HD Crew Cab
2003 Chevy Trailblazer
2004 Chrysler Sebring LX
2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser
2006 Dodge Charger Ram
2006 Dodge Ram 2500
1990 Ford F150
2000 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer 4x4
2001 Ford F150-Brown
2001 Ford F150-Black
2003 Ford Explorer
2003 Ford Winstar
2005 Ford 500 SEL
2005 Ford F150 FX4
2005 Ford F150 Crew
2005 Ford Freestar
2006 Ford Focus ZX4
2006 Ford Taurus SE
2007 Ford 500 SEL
2007 Ford F150 Crew XL
1.6 acres 2 1/2 miles NE of Sidney. Large shop and
out buildings. $69,500
2008 Ford Escape XL
2007 Hyundai Sonata SE
2000 Lincoln Town Car
2002 Mercury Grand Marquis LS
2002 Oldsmobile Alero GL
(4) 4 acre lots 2 1/2 miles NE of Sidney. $40,000
350 head ranch in the McKenzie County Grazing
Assoc. This ND ranch has 2200 deeded acres 1100
of which have been farmed, great hay base. Live
year round creek runs through approx. 4 miles of the
ranch. Nice house & out buildings & corrals.
Call for details!
Since 1973
Priced From
$6,990 to
$27,990
Call Nick, Denny
or Kristin
(406) 433-4445
Licensed in Montana and North Dakota
www.nickjonesre.com
Truck Route South, Sidney
Or contact one of our agents:
Craig Broe
Kip Kolden
Tammi Dickerson
Bill Atol
Kevin Kvamme
JC LaBar
Sandy Monek Jamie Hoggarth
w w w.select fordmercur y.com
202 1st Ave. E., Williston (701) 577-2142 • 1-800-594-9454
Nicholas J. Jones,
Broker
406-480-1544
Kristin Larson
406-480-5139
Home: 798-3115
Dennis Wick
406-480-1550
The second day of the forum will focus on Montana
beef research, residual feed intake, and the outlook and
issues in cattle markets.
The conference is open to the general public. Cost is
$60 per person for both days, or $45 per person for one
day. To register, call 406-994-3414 or send an e-mail to
mailto:[email protected] [email protected].
The schedule is:
Tuesday, April 15
11 a.m.- 12:45 p.m. - Registration
12:45-1 p.m. - Welcome by Kim Hager, beef nutritionist
in Billings. Comments via video by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus.
1-1:15 p.m. - Montana natural beef law. Ron de Yong,
director of the Montana Department of Agriculture.
1:15-2 p.m. - Global and local impacts of science and
technology. Gary Sides, cattle nutritionist with Pfizer Animal Health.
2-2:45 p.m. - Cow-calf producer view of natural and
conventional beef. Trey Patterson, Padlock Ranch.
2:45-3:15 p.m. - Feedlot view of natural and conventional beef. Cal Siegfried, owner of Cornerstone Cattle Co.
3:15-3:45 p.m. - Break.
3:45-4 p.m. - Can you taste the difference? Consumer
perceptions of beef. Charlene Rich, executive director of
the Montana Beef Council, and Dave Zino, executive director of the Culinary Center.
4-4:45 p.m. - Audience participation in beef evaluation.
4:45-5:30 p.m. - No-host social.
6-8 p.m. - Dinner/evening program. Student scholarships and results of afternoon beef evaluation will be presented.
Wednesday, April 16
7-8 a.m. - Breakfast/poster judging.
8-8:30 a.m. - Montana beef research update. John
Paterson, Jane Ann Boles, Rachel Endecott and Clint Peck,
Montana State University.
8:30-9:30 a.m. - Residual Feed Intake: Past, present
and future. John Basarab, University of Alberta.
9:30-10 a.m. - Practical application of RFI. Leo
McDonnell, Midland Bull Test.
10-10:30 a.m. - Break.
10:30-11:15 a.m. - Cattle market outlook and issues.
Jim Robb, director of the Livestock Marketing Information
Center.
11:15-11:30 a.m. - Poster winner presentations. Pat
Hatfield, MSU.
11:30-11:35 a.m. - Closing remarks. Bret Olson, MSU.
Spring
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April 2008 Edition
Farm & Ranch
Monthly Magazine
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upgrade or end gun.
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Ag Days Photo
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