Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], August 01, 1951, Page 8, Image 8

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

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
»
I
I
I
m.
»
m»
&
■
ppp
V
: t
|H
l||
Ei
■•fv V 1
3
■
•»V
v
•s-*
Hi
fej
W
t
Contour strip cropping on the farm of Dewey Hjorl near Medicine Lake, co
operator with the Reserve soil conservation district. The strip cropping pattern
laid out by the SCS technicians. Note some of the bales of hay still in the
buffer strips of crested wheatgrass, which had made a good fall growth and was
ready to furnish good fall grazing by livestock along with the corn. (SCS photo)
was
Ifs Time to Do Something When • •
Soil Starts
By A. E. McCLY MONDS, Regional Director
Soil Conservation Service
REAL DROUTH and hail storms
are causes of crop failures that man
can do little or nothing about. But
when soil sifting along with the
winds causes failures at times when
there is plenty of moisture in the
soil, it is time to do something.
That was the line of thinking, fol
lowed by Dewey Hjort, who now has
a 2,100-acre farm near Medicine Lake
and is co-operating with the Reserve
soil conservation district. He started
strip cropping first. Then later he
went on to the establishment of a
complete conservation plan. And to
day, he knows the score very well
indeed.
Now, most of his sloping cropland
is farmed in contour strips—alter
nating strips of small grain and corn
or fallow—with crested wheatgrass
buffer strips at frequent intervals
and field borders and odd areas also
in grass. The more nearly level farm
land is straight strip cropped. All is
stubble-mulch tilled- to keep the
mulch tilled to keep the ground cov
ered as a measure to control both
wind and water erosion.
Spring Irrigation
About 450 acres lies so that the
spring runoff from the upland can be
spread over the land and give it a
good early season irrigation. Part
of this land—some of the very best on
the farm—is in crops and part is
devoted to a hay mixture.
"The land where we do the contour
fanning is both the most sloping and
more sandy land on the farm," Hjort
said. "But the soil is improving un
der conservation farming. I've no
ticed that there is very little runoff
from these fields, and what's more,
the land doesn't dry out under stub
ble-mulch tillage like it does on
plowed land.
"When the surface of plowed land
has been dried out for a couple or
three inches down, my soil under a
stubble-mulch was moist right to
the surface. We Use a semi-deep-fur
row drill and put the seed right down
into moist earth. That gives the crops
the earliest start possible."
Ordinarily, Hjort said, he keeps
about 150 head of cattle. He has the
pasture necessary for that number.
But recently, he sold down to 100
head where he intends to keep them
until he gets his feed reserves built
up again. The last couple of winters.
with their unusually long periods
when feeding was necessary, were
pretty hard on feed reserves, he
pointed out.
More Feed Every Year
"There's getting to be more feed
on the placé every year, though,
Hjort commented. "I cut a good- crop
of hay from the buffer strips and odd
areas this year. That's in addition
to the hay I cut from the land where
spring runoff is spread. And the
crested wheatgrass made a good
growth afterward so that the buffer
strips could provide good fall pas
ture.
All in all, he concluded, good con
servation farming does more than
keep land good. It makes better use
of land. It makes it possible to im
prove the land. And, not the least,
it pays out in bigger production and
better living conditions now, as well
as in the future.
> !
; 5*
•:#
,5
n
i
V
' <r'i
m
s
*
• •
-
f *
it.
V
II
■
* 7 *
i
. ii
4
p
»,
m .
This aerial photograph obtained from the office of the Deer Lodge valley soil
conservation district shows the maize of ditches wandering out of Racetrack
creek to supply some 15 farms. Note how four or five ditches run side by side
for many miles to supply separate farms. Future planning is directed to possi
bility of consolidating some of these into perhaps two or three main canals to
eliminate water lottes.
Co-operalîon Beals Courts
In Settling Water Rights
By JERRY LESTER, Roving Reporter
WATER RIGHT arguments along
Racetrack creek in the Deer Lodge
valley are getting to be a thing of
the past. Time was when the local
courts would have a considerable
number of disputes during dry years
to establish the amount of water
from this mountain fed creek that
individual farmers could use.
The answer to many of their prob
lems came about with formation of
an informal water users association
and installation of new Parschall
measuring flumes at farm outlets.
Through the water users associ
ation, the farmers are able to bring
their water disputes up for discus
sion and obtain adjustments without
the expense and bother of getting
a lawyer and going into the courts.
And the Parschall measuring flumes
replaced simple weirs that were 12
years or more old and usually inac
curate. Now, with the new measur
ing flumes, the ditch rider makes
a check each day on the amount of
water going into each farm ditch
and farmers know that the measure
ments are being made by the most
accurate device of this type avail
able.
Private Storage Lakes
Complicating the water measure
ment problem for the 15 or so farm
ers getting water out of the creek
was the fact that supplemental water
was sent down the creek from pri
vately developed storage dams and
lakes in the mountain. Early water
rights established years ago were
for water taken directly out of the
creek through head gates in the
bank and sometimes small diversion
dams.
some of the farmers have gone into
the mountains and developed lakes
and reservoirs from which they re
lease water into the Racetrack
creek. A man is kept at the lakes
In more recent years, however,
to check the amount of water and
time it is released. Then the ditch
riders in the farming area measure
the water as it is taken out of the
creek and put into the farmers ditch.
The complications and arguments
that might come up under such cir
cumstances are obvious, especially
if the measuring devices are not ac
curate. Some of the regulations es
tablished in court cases include the
fact that 10 percent is deducted at
the delivery end for water losses.
Then too, a time interval of usually
48 hours is necessary from the time
the water is let out of the lake until
it reaches the farm outlet along the
creek. About six of the farmers have
these lake water storage develop
ments. -
After going through a dry sum
mer in 1949, and an accompanying
shortage of irrigation water, the
farmers along the creek decided to
get together to discuss their prob
lems. The water users weren't long
M
IÜ
3
J:::-- ... X
Cue of the Parschall measuring flumes
installed near intake of one farm sup
ply ditch on the Racetrack creek bench
in Deer Lodge valley. New flumes
have resulted in near elimination of
water right arguments in this farming
community.
in finding that expert engineering
help was available to them through
the newly formed Deer Lodge val
ley soil conservation district.
Group Project
A request by the farmers was
made through the district supervisors
to obtain SCS help. Work unit con
servationist A1 Erickson set up the
study of the area as a "group facili
ties" project. The first suggestion
was to obtain Vhe hew measuring
flumes with the soil conservation
district furnishing engineering help
Q n installation and purchase. The
cost to each farmer was just for the
flumes installed on his own farm.
The all-metal measuring flumes
averaged about $35 each.
Also under consideration by the
water users and in the SCS planning
program is the possibility of con
solidating the 36 ditches into just
two main ditches out of the creek.
These two ditches would supply the
main areas now supplied by a maize
of meandering ditches. For one ex
ample of this complication, four
ditches border the John Vanisko
farm and run parallel to each other
for more than 4 miles. This condi
tion is quite common as the accom
panying SCS aerial photograph tak
en for the soil conservation service
indicates. Two ditches supplying the
areas would do much to eliminate
water losses with the large number
of supply channels.
And on the water loss question.
County Agent Glenn Jones came to
the aid of farmers in the area by
. setting up a study of losses in the
ditches.
With the new measuring flumes in
this year, some farmers seemed to
gain a little water while others lost
some, but all in all everyone is much
happier knowing that accurate meas
urements are now possible to give
them their full water rights. '