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Producers face tough decisions regarding restraining order on CRP grazingBy Jennifer M. Latzke Ten days is a lifetime in the agricultural community. In 10 days a calf can be born, and can die for lack of nutrition. A cow can starve for lack of feed. Ten days is also the length of the temporary restraining order handed down from Seattle U.S. District Court Judge John C. Coughenour on 24 million Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres that the U.S. Department of Agriculture opened up under Critical Feed Use provisions. Ranchers across the High Plains, which is home to the majority of the CRP land in question, have been calling their local Farm Service Agency offices, their congressional representatives, and their producer groups in fear and outrage over the temporary restraining order. Many ranchers in Oklahoma and Texas have already turned out cattle onto CRP acres, or are in the process of haying the land, and are being told to stop any and all activity for 10 days. That means cattlemen would have to remove cattle already turned out on thousand-acre patches; they would have to leave hay down in windrows; and they may or may not be able to recoup thousands of dollars of capital already sunk into pasture upgrades and fees. Drought and fires Mike Hadderton, of Post, Texas, is one such outraged rancher. He and his family turned out their 150 head of cows, fixed fences and repaired windmills on a few thousand acres of CRP land he'd enrolled in the Critical Feed Use program. "We lost about 1,000 acres in April to wildfires and this was going to enable us to get past that," Hadderton said. The Haddertons run commercial cows on land northeast of Lubbock, Texas, and have been trying to rebuild their herd since the April fires. For the Haddertons, the "Critical" in Critical Feed Use is not just a word--it's the level that they've been operating at since the fires. Ranchers in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles have faced drought conditions not seen since the Dust Bowl. Like Hadderton, southwest Kansas rancher Bill Haar faces limited feed stocks due to the weather and the rising market prices for corn because of increased competition from the biofuels sector. Haar and his father had planned to rest their stressed pastures and graze 150 head of cow-calf pairs on CRP acres enrolled under the Critical Feed Use provision. Instead, they were told about the restraining order just as they were building fence. "We need to use those CRP acres," Haar said. "We've had 4 inches of rain this year." He explained that with no rain last summer he and his father have no choice but to feed supplemental hay to their cattle. If this situation doesn't change soon, he's afraid they'll have to sell their cattle. Protecting the CRP The decision to open up these Critical Feed Use acres was not lightly taken by the USDA. In order to enroll CRP acres in the program, producers had to pay a $75 per acre fee, as well as work with the FSA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to follow the management plans already in place for the acres. Hadderton said his local office worked with him to be sure that their stocking rate was acceptable for the CRP acres in question. They also had to follow guidelines as to how much cover they would be grazing, and that they wouldn't be putting cattle out before the nesting season was over for birds in the area. "They wanted to be sure that we wouldn't be destroying or damaging the turf and would be putting it back the way it was," Hadderton said. "We had to follow the plan." Ranchers respond The timing of the lawsuit has been under fire from producers and officials, since USDA announced in late May that this program would be available. Yet the National Wildlife Federation waited until after the opening of the grazing and haying period to bring it before a judge on the northwest coast. Hadderton, Haas and other ranchers have a response for the NWF. "I would like to see a class action lawsuit against the National Wildlife Federation," Hadderton said. "They knew about this, but they waited until we had cattle in there to stop this? They should be responsible for some of the costs." Haas said that if conservationist are so concerned about the plight of pheasants and other game birds in his area, then next year he'll be certain to protect his CRP acres from hunting. "These pheasant hunters may want to conserve a lot of CRP by not putting it to pasture or grazing it, but they may also find they won't be able to hunt it either," Haas said. "If they're so concerned about birds then I won't let them hunt and will post my ground as 'no hunting.' If we can't work together and cooperate on this so that I can graze that land, then they don't need to hunt on it either." While those may be valid responses at some point, ranchers like Hadderton will have to wait until Judge John C. Coghenour listens to arguments on a motion for a preliminary injunction against the Critical Feed Use program July 17. Meanwhile, they'll also have to do their very best to comply with the temporary restraining order. That is, at least for the next 10 days. Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807 or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com. 7/21/08 Date: 7/17/08
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