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Ranchers struggling for hay, despite CRP opening
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)--The early opening of Conservation Reserve Program land for emergency haying in drought-stricken southwestern North Dakota wasn't early enough, ranchers say.
"Any of the CRP fields that have some quality hay are being used, but there are really quite a lot of them that aren't worth the trouble," said Jim Lowman, who ranches in Billings County. "There really isn't anything to hay on a lot of CRP acres."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed July 19 to allow ranchers in 11 counties to begin emergency haying on CRP land two weeks earlier than the initial start date. CRP acres normally are left idle to guard against erosion.
State officials had pushed for the earlier opening, saying hay harvested after Aug. 2 would be of little value. Lowman and Wade Moser, executive vice president of the North Dakota Stockmen's Association, said many ranchers have found that the early opening in July wasn't a big help.
"The quality was terrible already because of the drought conditions," Moser said. He said ranchers could have found better hay if they had not been restricted to 11 counties.
Moser also said ranchers are not pleased with the system used to determine the date when CRP acres can be cut for hay. A big consideration is the 35 different species of birds that nest in the fields, ranging from game birds such as pheasants to songbirds.
"If a few ranchers go out of business, it doesn't seem to affect (government officials) as much as if a few birds get run over," Moser said.
Kevin Willis, the state private lands coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the federal Farm Service Agency is reluctant to allow emergency CRP haying during the birds' nesting season, though it does make exceptions.
"Of those 35 (species), about 18 of those are still within their primary nesting season even after Aug. 1, which is the officially designated end of the primary nesting season in North Dakota," he said.
"An even bigger concern is that a small number of those 18 bird species that are nesting after Aug. 1 are considered by the Fish and Wildlife Service to be declining species," Willis said. "If you continue to remove nesting habitat and destroy nests, the habitat is going to continue to decline."
Willis said wildlife officials are willing to allow emergency haying to help ranchers, but ranchers also must be willing to compromise.
"We are losing nests, we are losing birds by opening (CRP) early," he said.
Moser said ranchers want the system re-evaluated to see if earlier openings are possible without harming wildlife.
"I don't think anyone in the ranching business wants to wipe out any bird," he said.
Jim Jost, a conservation program specialist with the Farm Service Agency state office, said officials will not know until November how many CRP acres in the 11 counties were hayed.
Lee Manske, a range scientist at the Dickinson Research Extension Center, said he is getting many calls from ranchers wondering about the quality of CRP hay. Ranchers who cut hay lose one-fourth of their CRP rental payment from the government.
"The cost of that poor-quality hay is pretty high," Manske said. "A lot of guys calling me are passing it up."
State officials unsuccessfully pressed USDA officials last month to allow CRP haying and grazing in non-drought counties. Lance Gaebe, Gov. John Hoeven's farm policy adviser, said officials still are pushing for federal disaster help.
In the meantime, ranchers are getting "pretty creative" in doing what they can to get by, Moser said.
He and Lowman said ranchers are thinning herds, haying poor small grain crops, making arrangements with other ranchers to winter their cows and searching for hay wherever they can find it.
Lowman said the situation is not desperate, but it will be pricey.
"I'm sure (hay) will be available. It's just a matter of what it's going to cost," he said.
Farmers outside of disaster counties can hay CRP land and sell to ranchers in need, though their rental payment is reduced. Last year, about 500,000 acres were hayed under that provision primarily because of the demand for hay, Jost said.
Only about 35 percent of the state's hay crop is rated good-to-excellent, down from 49 percent a year ago, according to the state Agricultural Statistics Service.
Manske said he believes quality hay can be found, despite the drought conditions in the southwest and flooding problems in the north and east.
"We've got such extremes this year, but there's got to be places in between that have some pretty good hay," he said.
Date: 8/23/04
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