Fall Harvest Bountiful This Year In Broadwater County
Author: Nancy Marks, MT43 News reporter
Fall Harvest Bountiful this Year in Broadwater County
Nancy Marks
MT43 News Reporter
The sun remains its autumn gold hue as farmers and ranchers harvest some of their best crops this year. Corn sileage is still growing and high as a grown man’s head, trucks of alfalfa and grass hay pull out from the scales bound for all parts of the country and seed potatoes pop out of the ground ready to be shipped to Idaho and Washington.
Broadwater County is a significant producer of seed potatoes, which contributes to Montana’s agricultural economy. The county’s industry is diverse, with farmers and ranchers producing not only seed potatoes, but alfalfa hay, beef cattle, sheep, hogs, winter and spring wheat, forages and barley, according to Montana State University’s Ag Extension service.
Samantha and John Ferrat have long since shipped their fall calves. In an interview, John said overall spring pasture growth was good with early extra moisture and even though irrigation water is low, their limousine cattle did well on pasture. The couple raises native grass hay, so production in that department was down some, he observed, but the quality of the hay was very high. "As a result,” he said, “we saw as high a gain on calves as well as we ever have.”
Samantha continued that it was a misnomer that ranchers had cut the size of their herds. “Cattle numbers have been very low across the country, but the price (for selling calves) is at an all-time high. We keep asking ourselves, ‘when will the other shoe drop?’”
The couple expanded on the other reason ranchers are not buying more bred heifers to increase their herds. It is because of less quality feed that is available. John pointed out it helps that cattle are larger because of good genetics. “We are able to produce more meat with fewer animals now,” he said.
Broadwater County’s job market increases during the potato harvest, which is good for this area’s economy. Matt Graham, farm manager of Big Sky Seed Potatoes, said Monday he hires 25 seasonal workers, including equipment operators, truck drivers and sorters. His company has leased the same acreage the last five years. “Harvest tonnage was down a little last year, but this year it is above what we usually see,” he said.
Article Images
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PhotoCredit: Samantha Ferrat and Nancy Marks
Image 1 Caption: Big Sky Seed Potato harvester with truck with digger equipment, windrowing rows of spud plants.
Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer
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Image 2 Caption: Equipment operator Jason Webb gathers three rows of potato plants ahead of the harvesting machine at the Cory Davis Farm on Shelley Lane near Toston.
Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer
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Image 3 Caption: Kyle Van Dyken stands beside his semi loaded with hay.
Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer
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Image 4 Caption: Ferrat Limousin calves at the sale barn this fall.
Photo Credit: Samantha Ferrat
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Image 5 Caption: The Ferrat Ranch calves in the fall and sells year-old calves the following year at harvest time. Shown here a momma cow and her newborn calf.
Photo Credit: Samantha Ferrat
