May 24, 2001

North Dakota Pasture Needed For Montana Ranchers

"I got a call from a rancher that lives 100 miles north of Billings, Montana. He was looking to rent pasture for 400 head of cattle and said some of his neighbors were taking their cattle clear up to Bottineau, North Dakota," says Jerry Larson, North Dakota State University Extension agent for Stark and Billings County.

Such calls have prompted Larson to ask farmers and ranchers in North Dakota that have pasture land available to contact their local extension agent or post it on the Web through the FEEDLIST program. FEEDLIST is a service of North Dakota State University and is designed to bring together those that need help with farmers and ranchers that have pasture land or hay available. The service is free and has been available since the late 1970's.

"There’s no pasture available here and none, as far as I can tell, in Western North Dakota," says Larry Brence, Montana State University Extension agent for Fallon county Montana. "We actually had a lot of snow this winter but we haven’t had any rain to speak of in the last month to month and a half. Conditions are even worse further west in the Livingston area. They’ve been dry for the last three years."

Brence says some Montana ranchers just don’t have any pasture left and are at the point now of just trying to keep the nucleus of their cow herd together.

"We’re getting calls from producers and county agents talking about experienced producers that have 20 to 30 years in their herd but are now just trying to keep that herd together," says Larson. "They’re willing to haul their cattle quite a ways to find pasture."

Renting pasture land is preferred over buying hay according to Larson. "Hay can be a lot more critical in terms of miles traveled and transportation expenses. In many cases it’s cheaper to bring the cattle to the pasture than it is to purchase hay and haul it home."

Larson says some areas of Western North Dakota may also face problems. "Things dried up for us last fall and we didn’t get a real good general rain until early November which came to late for any kind of normal fall grass development. That delayed grass development this spring so our pasture conditions in some areas is marginal at this point."

"It is really starting to bring back memories of the drought years of the late 80's. I can’t verify the story but I’ve heard some second-hand reports of cow calf pairs selling for $600 in western Montana when just last winter that same pair would have sold for much more."

If you have rental pasture available, contact your local county extension agent or access FEEDLIST at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/feedlist/ .

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Source: Jerry Larson, (701) 264-7665, jlarson@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, Richard_Mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu

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