Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], June 15, 1951, Page 6, Image 6

About Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
Range Management
In Montana's Grassland Program
By RAY G. JOHNSON, Extension Range Specialist
A GRASSLAND AGRICULTURE
program establishes pasture and
range forage production in their
proper place in a balanced, stable,
long term agricultural economy.
Range forage production in Mon
tana is big business, with range out
fits furnishing approximately one
third of the state's 1950 cash income
from all agriculture, timber and min
ing.
Much needs to be and can be done
in the field of range management,
just as in any other line of produc
tion. Agriculture production is still
a long way from peak efficiency as
applied on the land.
Range management as a recog
nized part of scientific agriculture
is in its infancy as compared to cash
crop production. To many produc
ers it is little understood. Many
think of it as reseeding, poisonous •
plant control, rodent or predator
control, water development and
other practices. For the most part
these merely correct problems ex
isting on limited areas, caused ■ by
nature or by past errors in use. To
day we know that range manage
ment extends far beyond those limits
whereby it definitely affects the
quantity and quality of the forage
produced on all range land.
Range Resource
Montana's range resource is made
up of perennial grasses, annual
grasses, grass-like plants, edible
broadleaf weeds or forbs and browse.
Perennial grasses such as grama
grass, western wheatgrass or blue
joint and needle-and-thread grass
often make up 80 percent of the vol
1 ume of feed.
Annual grasses, so very important
in California, are of minor import
ance here. Cheat grass is an ex
ample.
Grass-like plants are very .im
portant in our mountains and in the
northern great plains. The most
common representative of this group
of sedges is our threadleaf sedge or
nigge'rwool which has long been
cursed for its tough sod by the men
breaking up new land.
Forbs are the succulent weeds
which sheepmen value as lamb pro
ducing plants, with dandelions and
butterweeds as good examples.
Browse plants are the edible,
woody shrubs which stay somewhat
green in fall and winter when most
other range feed is dry and nutri
tionally deficient. These salt bushes,
sages and the very valuable winter
fat are the dividend payers of our
open winter ranges. They more
than supply the winter requirements
of animals, for protein, phosphorus
and vitamin A.
Rangemen today know that the
amount of green leaves a plant has
during the growing season directly
affects the plant's ability to produce
and fatten for future production.
The manner in which we graze
plants determines how many green
leaves are available for food manu
facture.
No plant takes its requirements
for growth from soil, air or water.
The plant takes only materials from
these sources and must combine or
manufacture its growth needs from
such materials with its manufac
turing organism—green leaves.
It is now known that any range
plant can be fattened or starved just
as can the cow or sheep grazing the
plant. Fat plants outyield many
times the starved ones. Fat plants
survive drouth, hard winters and
grasshoppers when starved ones
perish. These are the things around
which range production and manage
ment are built.
grassland agriculture program, is
set up to make available to the range
producer the same caliber of pro
Montana State college's range pro
gram, as it fits into the Montana
duction information on range as has
long been available in the field of
cash crop production and animal
breeding and feeding,
step up the grazing season by two
or three weeks. Ranchers are urged
to maintain properly water develop
ment and fencing facilities. All
county agents have completed their
first short course refresher on basic
Fat Grasses Stressed
Much has been done and made
available in the past. That effort
now has been expanded and inten
sified. Fat grass values and how
to acquire them are being stressed.
An acre of crested wheat or other
early producing, introduced grass
per animal unit is recommended to
Range grassland agriculture in
Montana first began when "mother
nature" originally gave us some of
the best grassland and native grass
of the world. Today's program is
merely an effort to assist "mother
nature" as she grows our greatest
Much of value can be
range production.
resource.
done.
M
*
"A
mW'
June 15 to July 1
By OSCAR L. MOLDENHAUER
RATHER COOL, favorable growing weather and generally ade
quate moisture is the outlook for Montana and northern Wyoming
during the last half of June.
The first eight days of this forecast period are likely to be rather
dry and lacking a good general rain. The closing week of June, how
ever, looks quite favorable to bring substantial relief and should re
ceive enough rain in the course of the week to satisfy the immediate
needs.
The temperatures will obtain a considerable range between the
warmest spells of the first week and the coolest weather of the sec
ond week of this forecast period. Cool air masses will be frequenting
this area more than the usual for this time of the year.
Weather Changes
Unsettled weather and showers or thunderstorms from the 15th to
17th will be followed by a mass of rather cool air to invade this fore
cast area about Saturday, the 16th, and prevail through the 18th.
Rapidly rising temperatures and clear weather are due to set in about
Tuesday, the 19th, and continue through Wednesday over Montana
Farmer-Stockman territory. . Partly cloudy weather with scattered
showers and lower temperatures is indicated to move eastward across
this region about Thursday, the 21st, followed by mostly fair and
continued cool weather Friday and Saturday.
Warm and unsettled weather, followed by a frontal disturbance is
indicated to reach western Montana about Sunday, the 24th, and over
spread all of Montana and northern Wyoming within a day later.
This looks like a favorable time jfor a few days of showers, thunder
storms and possibly a steady rain.
A wave of very cool air is due to invade Montana from the north
about Tuesday, the 26th, and cause cloudy weather, showers and light
rain to occur frequently during the remainder of the week. This week
as a whole promises to be unseasonably cool, moderately wet aftd ad
verse for haying but very favorable growing weather for small-grain
crops. Cool weather is expected to continue through Sunday, July 1st.
Temperatures; Below normal average. Precipitation: Average about
normal.
F arm and Ranch Experiences
Drain Tile System Reclaims
Crop Land From Slough
By IVAN M. CHRISTENSEN, Flathead County
IN 1943 I BOUGHT 80 acres of cut
over timber land, seven acres of
which was cleared and had been in
hay and grain crops for several years.
Across one comer of the land there
i s a slough of about three acres. In
the spring of the year this fills up
with run off water. In years of un
usually large run off the slough did
no t dry up by midsummer as it
usually does, thereby cutting off the
access road.
My neighbor had similar trouble
with runoff water filling a slough
that covered several acres and re
mained standing too long for the
land to be cropped. We decided that
the best thing to do was to hire a
drag line shovel to cut a ditch 300
feet long end 7 to 9 feet deep, lay
drain tile from one side of my slough
to thé river bank and carry off the
water. This would give the inun
dated land a chance to dry up so that
it could be worked and aerated for
crop production,
Having an open ditch from my
neighbor's land thereby allowing wa
ter to flow from his slough into mine
made it possible for both of us to
drain the two sloughs through the
300-foot ditch into the river,
sections of 8-inch cement tiles cost
ing 90 cents each. The tile was ISid
on a slope of about one foot drop in
100 feet. The runoff water will nat
urally fill in faster than the 8-inch
The ditch was tiled with three-foot
tile can carry it off, but it will only
take a few days to drain off the sur
plus water.
The tiled ditch was back filled
with dirt which left a smooth sur
face for machinery to pass over and
can also be planted to crop. The
lower end of the tile opening is
guarded from rodents entering by
a sheet iron gate that opens from the
force of the water and closes as the
water quits running. The intake of
the tile line Is protected from be
coming clogged by using a %-inch
galvanized screen about three feet
long and made into a roll that fits
over the end of the tile giving the
water a good chance to enter the
pipe line.
Not taking our own labor into con
sideration, our expenses for the
draining project are approximately
$125 for tile and $360 for (the drag
line ditching. The Soil Conservation
service was very co-operative in
staking out the ditch and supervis
ing the work as it progressed.
Tilled Strip Ends
Check Fire, Weeds
By RAY SANDBAK
Yellowstone County
FIRE IS ONE of our greatest haz
ards, especially when it gets out of
control Many fields of wheat and
homes are destroyed yearly from
carelessness with matches and cig
arets. Lightning also sets many fires {
when fields are in a ripe stage.
Here is my idea or suggestion to
help protect strips of wheat from fire
and also to control weeds that are
seeded in from roadways and fence
lines:
Let's use à quarter section of land
as an example. Using 10 rod strips
we have 16 strips, one-half in wheat
and the other one-half summerfal
low. Summerfallow a strip according
to your machinery, 10, 12, 16 or 20
foot, across each end of the strips
every year thus blocking out the
wheat strips on both ends of the
field. Thus, if a fire would start on
one strip, that would be the only one
in danger.
This idea, I think, is cheap insur
ance, as it would involve only an
acre or two on the whole field. Also
it would save much time in going
from strip to strip when weeding the
summerfallow, as it would be unnec
essary to stop and raise the machine
and again reset it on the next strip.
After all, when a person drops a
spring tooth harrow across the end
of a piece of wheat once or twice and
then a rod weeder through the ends
once or twice there isn't much stand
ing grain left anyway.
I also find using a oneway plow
on the edge of a strip of stubble after
combining starts weeds in the fall
and knocks out any weeds left by the
weeders during summerfallowing.
Co-op Gets Loan
APPROVAL OF A loan of $125,
000 to the Lincoln Electric Co-opera
tive of Eureka, is announced by the
Rural Electrification administration.
The funds will be used for con
struction of 28 miles of distribution
line to serve 77 new rural consumers,
purchase and rehabilitation of a two- ,
way radio communication system.