Montana Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative

Montana GLCI Quarterly Newsletter

Second Quarter

2014

April-May-June

Steering

Committee

Lon Reukauf,

Chairman, Terry

Dean Wang, Vice-

Chairman, Baker

Bob Lee, Judith Gap

John Hollenback,

Gold Creek

John Anderson,

Alder

Chase Hibbard,

Helena

Jim Willis, Buffalo

Ben Lehfeldt, Lavina

Haylie Shipp, Miles

City

Ron Stoneberg,

Hinsdale

Co–

Coordinators

Jon Siddoway, NRCS state rangeland management specialist, Bo-

zeman, MT

Carla Lawrence, dba Carla at the Ranch,

Roberts, MT

Montana GLCI Making Progress on Electronic Recordkeeping

System – GrazeKeeper, by Carla Lawrence/Chase Hibbard

The electronic record keeping system -

GrazeKeeper - recently finished up the second

round of beta testing in an effort to ensure all

the glitches are worked out. The second round

was concluded in mid-February with follow up

by Authentic Imaging. The exact release date

has not been determined but the Montana

GLCI steering committee hopes GrazeKeeper

will be ready for release by early June. Once

GrazeKeeper is released, those interested in

downloading the program will be able to do so

for a FREE 90-Day trial period. After that

period of time, if the interested parties wish to

continue to use GrazeKeeper there will be a

user fee assessed depending on the number of

pastures to be managed and the level of tech-

nical support available to the user.

Chase Hibbard has been the lead on this pro-

ject for the Montana GLCI steering committee

since the start. Chase commented, “We are

very anxious to finally bring this project full

circle and will continue to work through a few

remaining issues in preparation for its release.

We are excited to roll out GrazeKeeper as a

tool to assist ranchers with grazing manage-

ment decisions through a state-of-the-art cloud

based interactive system, which allows the user

to query reports back in time by management

group, by specific pastures or both. It also

incorporates moisture and temperature records,

monitoring information, photos, and tracks supple-

mental feeding.”

The Montana GLCI initiated this project in 2012 and

at that time it was merely a concept in Chase’s mind.

To develop an web-based system with the ability to

electronically record grazing events in a traditional

manner; baseline data entry for the ranch inventory,

livestock dates in and out of a pasture, type and

numbers of livestock, wildlife, additional notes, etc.,

but also to have the ability to query reports for the

entered data by management group or by pasture or

both, (as mentioned above). After many hours of

beta testing by Montana GLCI steering committee

members, and the assistance from ranch managers

with excellent computer and ranch management

skills, GrazeKeeper will become a reality.

It is the belief of the Montana GLCI steering

committee that GrazeKeeper will be more than

worth the monthly cost for use by farm and ranch

managers. For more information about GrazeKeep-

er, contact Chase Hibbard at (406) 442-1803 or email

at chase@siebenlivestock.com, or Tyrrell Hibbard

at 406-218-9505 or email at t.hibbard@gmail .com.

Stay Tuned!

The Crocus–a Sure Sign of Spring

to bloom) to giant Dutch cro-

cuses, all just 2 to 4 inches

tall, these blooms offer a

variety in color (pinks, reds,

oranges, yellows, purples,

blues, and more) that stand

out against the bleak late-

winter landscape. Many have

strong perfumes that lure bees

out of their hives in February

or March. Small bulbs like

crocus not only provide winter

garden color, but they natural-

ize, meaning that they spread

and come back year after

year—with minimum care—for

an ever-larger display. As a

bonus, deer, squirrels, and

rabbits rarely bother early little

bulbs.

When it seems like winter will

never lose its icy grip, the

dainty goblet-shaped crocus,

(pictured at the left), pushes

through the snow to put on a

show of colorful revival. If you

are not planting this perennial

bulb, you are missing an early

season of delight.

From snow crocuses (the first

Thoughts of

Spring!

In the

Spring, I

have counted

136 different

kinds of

weather

inside of 24

hours.

Mark Twain

The first day

of spring is

one thing,

and the first

spring day is

another. The

difference

between

them is

sometimes

as great as a

month.

Henry Van Dyke

No winter

lasts

forever; no

spring skips

its turn.

Hal Borland

Sage Grouse, Farm and Ranch Successional Planning Among Topics

at 2014 Winter Grazing Seminar by Heidi Crum

The 2014 State Winter Graz-

ing Seminar (WGS) was held

January 29-30 in Miles City,

MT. This annual event was a

great success with over 100

people in attendance.

The first day of the seminar

featured executive director for

the national Public Lands

Council, Dustin Van Liew,

who gave a very informative

presentation on current

legislature and how these bills

could affect Montana Ranch-

ers. Jay Bodner, Montana

Public Lands Council, spoke

about their partners and what

the organization does for

farmers and ranchers in the

state. Lon Reukauf, rancher

from Terry, MT, gave a

presentation on ranching, on

working with the federal

government as a permittee

and how legislation influences

agriculture in Montana.

Tim Griffiths and Dr. Dave

Naugle gave a detailed and

intriguing presentation on the

Sage Grouse Initiative. They

spoke about how far the pro-

gram has come in the western

states, thriving partnerships,

success stories from ranchers,

and discoveries about sage

grouse behavior in research.

The day wrapped up with a

producer panel. Bryan Adolph

from Roundup spoke about

the improvements, including

rangeland monitoring and

water developments that he

has implemented on his ranch

through the Sage Grouse

Initiative. Robert Lee from

Forsyth spoke about his fami-

ly ranch history and his per-

spective of sage grouse popu-

lations in relation to predators.

Lee is also on the Governor’s

Greater Sage-Grouse Habitat

Conservation Advisory Coun-

cil and gave an update on the

management plan the council

submitted to the Governor.

That evening, a social hour

and banquet was held at the

Town & Country Club with

Northern Ag Network’s Hay-

lie Shipp as the Master of Cer-

emonies. Range Leader of the

Year Awards was given to

John Hollenback, rancher at

Gold Creek, in the rancher

category and Ann Fischer,

NRCS district conservationist

in Baker, in the professional

category. Representative Bill

McChesney gave the keynote

address. Bill Rossiter was the

evening’s entertainment with

cowboy poetry and music.

The second day of the semi-

nar began with Kevin Spaf-

ford, founder of Legacy by

Design, with his presentation

on Succession Solutions for

Farm Families. He spoke

about the different perspec-

tives of each generation that

may be on the ranch and reall

got the audience involved.

The seminar concluded with

presentations from Fort

Keogh researchers, Dr. Andy

Roberts, on Heifer Develop-

ment and Dr. Mark Petersen,

on Water Quality.

y

Page 2 Montana GLCI Quarterly Newsletter

Range Leaders of the Year

Awards presented during the

banquet on Wednesday night.

(Left): RREC Chairman Les

Gilman, presents Ann Fischer

with the range professional of

the year award.

(Right): RREC Chairman, Les

Gilman, presents John

Hollenback with the range

leader of the year award for the

rancher category.

hosted a fun group of folks,

who genuinely share our love of

the grazing land resources, as

we do here in Montana. They

also understand the value of

GLCI and the what it means to

work as a team.

If anyone missed the first view-

ing of this episode, it can be

found on “Out on the Land”

website, episode #33.

http://outontheland.com/

season-3-episode-33/

Lee Ranch featured on “Out on the Land” Episode

By Bob Lee/Carla Lawrence

This past June, Kathy and I had

the opportunity to welcome

Dr. Larry Butler, host of “Out

on the Land”, to our ranch,

east of Judith Gap in central

Montana. Dr. Butler and his

film crew were already in Mon-

tana doing other episodes for

the Natural Resources Conser-

vation Service (NRCS), which

featured how ranching families

are enhancing soil health and

Sage Grouse habitat.

Dr. Butler had been on our

ranch a few years ago when the

Montana GLCI hosted the

National Grazing Lands

Conservation Initiative, now

the National Grazing Lands

Coalition (GLC) Steering

Committee. Since then he had

wanted to come back and do an

episode of “Out on the Land”,

a show created especially for

RFD-TV. Larry and the crew

arrived on a beautiful June day.

After Kathy served an always

delicious lunch, we set out to

look at some of our grazing

land practices, to include pas-

ture rotation systems, water

development (how we do it)

and riparian management.

We also visited about Montana

GLCI and some of the demon-

stration projects “put on the

ground” in Big Sky Country.

One of the many demonstra-

tion projects is on our ranch; a

demonstration grass seeding,

which was designed to find out

which types of grasses grow

best in this climate and soils.

This seeding is still viable 17

years later. We visited some

winter feeding areas where we

have been able to increase

native forage output

(production) by one ton per

acre. In additional to produc-

tion, we were able to reduce

runoff (erosion) with standing

forage and more than adequate

stubble height. We certainly

Page 3 Second Quarter 2014

Eh! THINK

CARROTS and

SPRING

DOC!

Nutritional Value of Carrots

The ever popular carrot is low in calories

and high in nutrition. A medium-size

carrot has 25 calories, 6 grams of carbs,

and 2 grams of fiber. The veggie is an

excellent source of vitamin A, providing

more than 200% of your daily requirement

in just one carrot. Carrots also are loaded

with beta-carotene, a compound that is

naturally converted to vitamin A when

consumed. The deeper orange the carrot,

the more beta-carotene you’re getting.

Crunch Away on a Carrot for Vitamin A!

Montana GLCI

PO Box 425

Bozeman, MT 59771-0425

Montana GLCI

Contact:

Jon Siddoway, (406) 587- 6790

Carla Lawrence (406) 962-3371

Solar Powered Livestock Watering Systems

We’re on the Web

www.mtglci.org

Solar powered livestock water-

ing systems provide cost effec-

tive alternatives in remote

areas of the ranch and allow

livestock greater access to

grazing. The systems also

reduce the livestock pressure

on stream banks which can

result in erosion and damage

to stream bank vegetation.

The Lee Ranch, (Bob and

Kathy), at Judith Gap, are one

of many ranches in Montana

to install a solar powered wa-

tering system. The purpose of

the system was to bring live-

stock to the top of the ridge

and allowing livestock to graze

traditionally unused forage

(both native and introduced

mixed pasture), and to alleviate

pressure off of the other water

sources (springs) in the area.

The well is 180 feet deep with

the pumping level at 160 feet.

The system was designed for

100 cow/calf pairs for summer

use. An 8000 gallon Montana

Fiberglas storage tank is in-

stalled 30 feet from the well

and offers about 2.5 days of

water storage but other water

sources are available if the

systems malfunctions.

The storage tank gravity feeds

125 feet of 2 inch PVC pipe

(not frost free) to a 10 foot

round tank. The system is pro-

tected by strong steel, panel

fencing, a gravel pad around

the stockwater tank. Also, the

stock tank and appurtenances

are protected with strong

lumber. The entire system

drains through the tank over-

flow when not in use.

Bob worked with the NRCS

Field Office in Lewistown,

MT. A big thanks to Robin

Peters, Civil Engineering

Tech, who did the calculations

and design for this system and

to Grant Peterson, NRCS,

district conservationist, for

providing the details of this

project, with permission from

Bob Lee for this newsletter. Written by Carla Lawrence w/

assistance by Grant Peterson.

Those colored Easter

eggs having nothing on

us! Happy Easter!

Calendar of Events:

MACD Spring Board Meeting, June 3-4, 2014,

Meetings at the Capitol, Helena, MT

MFBF Summer Conference, June 10-12,

Hilton Garden Inn, Kalispell, MT

MSGA Mid-Year Meeting, June 13-14, 2014,

Campus of MCC, Miles City, MT

Montana Range Days, June 23-25, Havre, MT