Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], July 01, 1951, Page 10, Image 10

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

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
n
r
•••;:
: .
[tel
1
I
:■ ;
AllU-Cholmert Model 1(
Hydro-Offset Disc
A light touch on the hydraulic control lever
does it. Opens or closes disc gangs — on the go
— to match discing action to heavy or thin
spots. Gives you the deep cut for thorough weed
kill. Mixes and turns stubble for the just-right
trashy surface that holds soil and moisture.
Results like these make the Allis-Chalmers .
Hydro-Offset Disc the key after-harvest tool —
the choice of champion conservation ranchers.
Simple, rugged, heavy-duty design. Positive
sealed gangs roll on tapered roller bearings,
require no lubrication until blades are replaced!
Center hinge is simple pivot-type design.
Frames are all-welded.
Put the "Stubble Mulching Champ" on your
land this year. You'll discover discing that con
serves your soil, moisture ... and dollars. See
your Allis-Chalmers dealer.
The AllU-Chalmert Hydro-Carrier pays dividends on this one job alone — deep
chiseling of grain land. Other attachments available for ditching, scraping, sub
toiling, listing, furrowing, coil shank cultivating, bedding and border ridging.
M
:■
.'■£«> y • •
;V-':
pi
m
&
M
m
•CHALMERS
TRACTOR DIVISION
MILWAUKEE i, U. S. A,
En{oy the National Farm and Home Hour — Every Saturday — NBC Network
^V;
I®
:x
■'■■m
m-i
.
.
H
•ss-v
ill
$ *
*
I
*.» ,
;
Montana's Grassland Program . .
Irrigated Pastures
By HAROLD L. DUSENBERRY
Montana Extension Service Irrigation Specialist
and Chairman of the Montana State
College Grassland Committee
This is the second in a series
of five articles dealing with
major phases of the Grassland
Program sponsored by Montana
State college in co-operation
with the U. S. department of
agriculture.
WHEN WE TALK about a grass
land program it is easy to gain the
impression that for irrigated land the
idea is to plant all of the land to
pasture and. hay. At present live
stock prices that could be done and
might be fairly profitable. However,
that is not the intent of the grass
land program for Montana.
The idea is to encourage a system
of irrigation farming which will suc
ceed on a long time basis; one which
uses both livestock and crops; one
which places crops in logical rota
tion for high production; one which
balances cash crops with feed grain,
pasture and hay; one which includes
fertilizers and returns humus to the
soil; one which includes good man
agement of the soil, crops and live
stock. These are the things which
will place irrigation farming in a
paying position over the long haul.
Too Many Continuous Crops
Irrigated agriculture in Mon
tana has had too many perma
nent pastures, loo many perma
nent alfalfa fields and too many
fields in continuous crop as in
dicated by low returns per acre.
From the long-time point of
view, there is not enough live
stock on the irrigated farms.
Improved irrigated pastures and
increased production of hay will hejp
correct this In some cases it will not
mean more land in pasture and hay
but merely better management and
higher production on present acres.
In other cases it will mean better
methods of préserving forage after
it is harvested.
At the present time irrigated land
is high in price and very salable,
'Many farmers lament the fact that
they do not have enough money to
buy more land to raise more hay to
feed more cattle to buy more land.
Yet, with little, if any, additional
capital and labor per acre, the yields
of hay and grain and beets can be
increased to feed more cattle to get
more capital..
This type of an approach means
that a grassland program is just an
other way of getting a sound farm
ing practice. It means fitting the ir
rigated pasture into a sound sys
tem of farming. It means working
legumes and grasses into a crop ro
tation that will improve yields of
succeeding cash crops such as sugar
beets and potatoes by returning
humus to the soil.
More Humus
thing. What better way is there to
fm this need than through a grass
The irrigated soils of Montana need
humus more than any other single
land program?
Irrigated pastures have in
creased in popularity during the
past few years. Unless they are
seeded on properly prepared
ground and good mixtures are
used, they may faiL Poor irriga
tion practice and the lack of
good management may result in
much disappointment.
Stories of high carrying capacity
and high meat and milk production
per acre are the ones usually pub
lished. Farmers must realize that
these are associated with a certain *
set of conditions involving high fer
tility and good management prac
tices. When these conditions are
missing the irrigated pasture can be
as miserable a failure as might any
other crop on the farm.
Antelope Control
Weeds on Range
IF YOU LIVE in antelope coun
try you have probably often worried
about how much grass the "prong
horns" take away from cattle on the
range. From this day on you can set
your mind at ease, quit worrying
and just enjoy the antelope, because
their diet consists mostly of weeds.
This may be hard to believe, es
pecially for'the stockman who has
watched the animals feeding along
with cattle on rangeland dominated
by grasses. But the facts came to
light during Texas experiments in
1946. Research workers found that
of some 165 different kinds of ante
lope food plants, 71 percent of the
total was forbs (weeds), 21 percent
was shrubs (including shrubby per
ennial forbs) and only 8 percent
was grasses.