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July 20, 2006 Haying and Grazing of Conservation Reserve Program Land Approved
Several counties in North Dakota have been approved by the USDA for emergency haying and grazing of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres. As of July 19, the following counties have been approved: McIntosh, Emmons, Sioux, Grant, Morton, Burleigh, Kidder, Oliver, Mercer, Sheridan, Stark, Hettinger, Adams, McHenry, Pierce, Benson, Nelson, Grand Forks and part of McLean. The emergency designation allows for haying and grazing on most CRP acres as of July 15. CP-23 contract acres, which are wetlands, are not available for haying or grazing until Aug. 2. Only livestock producers from the approved counties are eligible for emergency haying and grazing. However, producers may hay or graze eligible CRP acres in an area extending 150 miles outside of the emergency designated counties. This means the entire state of North Dakota is eligible for haying or grazing. Haying and grazing is restricted to 50 percent of each field or contiguous fields. Harvesting CRP acres results in a10 percent reduction in the CRP payment for the contract holder. Owners of CRP contracts are permitted to charge a maximum rental rate of no more than the amount of reduction in their CRP payment. Before any haying or grazing of CRP begins, the contract holders must contact their county Farm Service Agency to complete an application. If a livestock producer is renting the CRP acres, he or she also must sign an agreement that prohibits the renter from selling the hay or subleasing the acreage. These applications and agreements must be completed in the county where the CRP acreage exists. The emergency designation also opens those acres that were hayed or grazed in 2004 or 2005 under a managed haying and grazing contract. CRP contract holders have been permitted to write a revised conservation plan with the USDA that permits them to hay or graze CRP acres once every three years under managed haying and grazing. Acreage that was harvested within the last two years likely has some of the higher quality forage available on CRP because of less dead material. However, harvesting of CRP in 2006 under the emergency designation will mean these acres will not be eligible for managed haying and grazing during the next two years. Producers who regularly plan on CRP as a source of feed on their operation need to consider the reduced acreage that will be available for hay in 2007 and 2008 and plan ahead for other sources of supply during these years. The NDSU Extension Service maintains a listing of available hay on its FeedList Web page at www.ag.ndsu.edu/feedlist/. Other drought-related information is available at www.ag.ndsu.edu/drought/. ### Source:
Dwight Aakre, (701) 231-7378, daakre@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
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North Dakota State University |
