Western Farmer-Stockman www.FarmProgress.com June 2013 31

Property Management

Buying land requires preparation, luckBy ROBERT WAGGENER

FARMER Glen Reed believes that one day Lady (Land) Luck will be on his side.

“I’ve wanted to own some more farm-land for many years,” says Reed, who raises sugarbeets, malt barley, alfalfa and grass hay with his brother, Dennis, on their

Key Points

■ Wyoming farmland sales on slight uptick, while ranch land is in less demand.

■ Farmers like Glen Reed hope to own more property someday in Wyoming.

■ Average cropland value in Wyoming was $1,290 per acre on Jan. 1, 2012.

parents’ farm and on lands they lease in northwest Wyoming between Cody and Powell.

Reed is making a decent living for his family, but he still hopes to call another piece of farmland his own someday.

“You need money for that, and appar-ently I don’t have enough,” he says with a laugh.

Reed has come close a few times, like last November when he bid on 179 acres just east of Cody, one of the areas of Wyoming where land prices have shot up for their scenic and recreational values.

His bid came up short, but he was still pleased with the outcome of the auction.

“As far as I know, the land is going to stay in agricultural production, which makes me very happy,” says Reed, who has seen many area farm and ranch lands developed into rural subdivisions, which has also contributed to rising land values.

“It’s very diffi cult for people in agri-culture to compete for land. It’s that way

across Wyoming,” Reed says.

“You need to keep working at building a nest egg, and that takes a lot of hard work and patience. And you also need to be ready when that opportunity fi-nally arises because opportunities don’t

come around that often.”In Reed’s view: “Success is 90% prepara-

tion and 10% luck.”

Farmland movingFarm and ranch real estate appraiser Rick Six, who lives in nearby Worland, says there is pretty good demand for farm ground in northwest Wyoming, while slightly less demand for ranches.

“We’re starting to see some farmland move,” says Six, who notes that interested buyers are both local farmers and out-of-staters.

Asked if it’s a good time to be selling or buying, Six responds philosophically: “Who knows, since everyone has their own way of analyzing things. From a seller’s standpoint, it’s probably a pretty good time to sell because we’re on a little uptick in terms of land prices. We’ve been seeing that for the last three or four years with farmlands in this area, not so much with ranch lands.”

He quickly adds that it’s also a good time to buy based on a number of factors: generally strong commodity prices, low in-terest rates, good loan programs for young and beginner farmers and ranchers, a rea-sonably dependent supply of irrigation water, and farmland prices that are gener-ally cheaper than the Midwest.

“We’re starting to see some farms ap-proaching the $3,000-per-acre threshold,” Six says.

Average cropland value in Wyoming was $1,290 per acre on Jan. 1, 2012 (the USDA’s last reporting period). This is an increase of about 2% over the previous year, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

This contrasts sharply to average crop-land prices in the Northern Plains and Corn Belt, which increased 31.1% and 18.5%, re-spectively, from the previous year.

Someday, Reed — along with many other young farmers and ranchers — hopes that he can own a piece of prop-erty that can become part of the cropland report. “We’ll keep looking for that right op-portunity,” he says with optimism. “We’ll just keep plugging away at it.”

GLEN REED

Justin MayfieldShepperson Ranch RancherMidwest, WY

fcsamerica.com/justinmayfield

Western Farmer-Stockman www.FarmProgress.com June 2013 31

Property Management

Sheep take bite out of menaceBy LISA SCHMIDT

CHEMICALS have little success, but the often-maligned ovine can reduce wheat stem sawfl y populations by as

much as 75%. Researchers continue to battle against

the pervasive wheat stem sawfly that causes $250 million of damage to Northern Plains spring and winter wheat each year.

The insect lays eggs inside each wheat stem, protecting them until the larvae hatch over a period of four to six weeks and feed on the inside of the stem. The larvae then migrate down to the stem

Key Points

■ Sheep can reduce wheat stem sawfl y populations by 75%.

■ The insect lays eggs inside each wheat stem; larvae eventually plug the stem.

■ The sheep also clean up crop residue and fertilize the soil with their manure.

base and plug it, weakening the stem and causing the plant to lodge.

Sawflies resist almost everything except teeth and toes.

So two north-central Montana neigh-

bors agreed to a mutually beneficial grazing system.

“About fi ve years ago, we had sawfl ies really bad,” says farmer Paul Kronebusch. “Zane [Drishinski] started bringing his sheep to our stubble fi elds, and we haven’t had much problem since then. We still spray in the spring, but the sheep are a real benefi t.”

Sheep help with recropDrishinski turns his fl ock of about 400 on about 2,000 acres of Kronebusch’s wheat stubble in the fall after the last irrigation and brings them home in April, just as the ground thaws in time for farming.

Besides managing for sawflies, the sheep clean up the crop residue and fer-tilize. “We rotate crops — peas, mustard, canola, wheat and barley — and the sheep really help the recrop. There’s no seed left from the last crop,” Kronebusch says.

None of the fi elds are fenced.“We herd the sheep out in the morning

and bring them in to a lot at night,” Drishinski says. “We have four areas, so I leave them in one spot for a month or two and then send them in a different direction for a while.”

It is not rocket science, just win-win management.

Reduce costs, crop residue

IN a summer-fallow program, farmers constantly battle kochia, cheatgrass,

volunteer grain, wild oats and Russian thistle. Often the weapons of choice are herbicides or tillage, but fuel and chemical costs are rising.

In come the sheep, which eat weeds. They prefer young plants, so a spring and fall grazing system fits with Western precipitation and plant growth patterns.

For best weed control, a Sustain-able Agriculture Research and Edu-cation study funded at Montana State University found that stocking density should be higher during the spring, when weeds grow fastest. Anywhere from 50 to 150 sheep per acre will reduce weeds and keep the animals in good condition on most fields, but the sheep will be less selective, eating more weeds, at the higher stocking rates.

Many farmers worry that allowing animals to graze will compact the soil, but MSU research did not find compaction to be problematic. In fact, sheep hooves are small and sharp so they churn the soil instead of pack it. Studies show plants grow vigorously after sheep have grazed a field.

How much and how often?

RESEARCH from Montana State University demonstrates that 182 sheep days per acre reduced stubble to a level comparable to tillage. In one study, tillage

killed 40% of the wheat stem sawfly, burning killed 45%, while sheep grazing eliminated 75% of the population.

Grazing to target weeds works best with several quick attacks so the weeds will not use much soil moisture. However, grazing to target sawfly control works best with a sustained, longer period of grazing. Late fall through early spring works well. Many sheep will not maintain their condition on a stubble field at first, but they can be trained.

Sheep producer Zane Drishinski noticed newly purchased ewes that were fed hay during previous winters do not do as well as his sheep that have learned to graze stubble. “It takes them about a year to figure out what to eat,” he says.

Plant scientist new head of WSU ag research centerBy T.J. BURNHAM

JAMES Moyer wants to build collabo-ration and cooperation with industry to advance work at the Washington

research centers he has headed up since May.

That’s when he took over as Washington State University Agricultural Research Center director, and launches into aiding leadership of the WSU College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resources Sciences as associate dean.

“Meanwhile, I will be learning the priori-ties of my new position in terms of what the commodity groups and others are looking for from the university,” he says. “Working on strategies to increase competitiveness and attracting federal funding will be more important than ever in the future”

More of the grant programs pro-viding funding for research are requiring matching funds, he explains, a role that industry must recognize.

But he is already reassured that those collaborative affiliations will unfold in Washington, after viewing the heavy con-tributions the fruit and beef industries have assigned to WSU research.

Support appreciated“One of the things that attracted me to this job is the progressive support and strate-gies from commodity groups like the wheat growers and others, which is the envy of many other states,” says Moyer.

“But we must also remember that there are ways for industry to support research other than through funding,” he adds. “Farmers and ranchers who allow us to use

their land for research is a great example of collaboration and cooperation.”

“Jim brings more than 30 years of pro-fessional experience as a plant science researcher to the position,” notes Dan Bernardo, dean of the college.

Moyer, well known as a plant patholo-gist, is a past president of the American Phytopathological Society and a recipient of the USDA Agricultural Research Service Morrison Medal, as well as the Alex Laurie Award from the national fl oral crop in-dustry for his research contributions.

Moyer replaces Ralph Cavalieri, WSU’s associate vice president for alternative energy and director of a large, regional bio-fuels research and development project, the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance.

Joining WSU is an “exciting new phase

of my career,” says Moyer. “I look forward to working with new colleagues on cutting-edge science and projects that serve the needs of the people of Washington and the world.”

Richard Zack, a WSU entomologist, has been named assistant director of the center. He will take the lead on the re-porting system for all research projects. He will also assist with the work plan and annual report to USDA, and represent the center in outreach programs.

The goal at WSU’s Ag Research Center is to promote studies benefi cial to the state’s residents.

Seeking to promote a safe and abundant food supply is high on the center’s priority list, as is increasing energy supplies and enhancing the sustainability of agriculture in the state.