I had planned on a follow-up to last week’s saline topic (it’s actually written already) but given the date I thought maybe we should talk about CRP Haying and Grazing opportunities. So we will kick that can down the road to next week.
CRP haying season officially kicked off on August 2. Hopefully those of you who use this opportunity regularly have already been into your respective county office and requested your haying plans. This can be a very busy time for FSA with these requests in a normal year, but this year CRP sign-up has been lumped into this window as well. So, if you are planning on haying keep that in mind and don’t wait until the last minute as you only have the month of August for that activity.
Grazing you can go longer but that is something you would need to discuss with your NRCS office to see exactly what the duration is. You will develop a grazing plan with them if you go that route and their main focus is going to be on the forage utilization. You may have a certain head in mind you want to graze and so with NRCS you will determine how long that will be for. The other way to look at it is you want to graze for a certain duration, then what needs to be determined is the number of head to put out there.
There is a term in our old school CRP vernacularthatIwouldliketoerase:“When are they going to release CRP for haying?” Another variation may be, “when are they going to open CRP?” The process of being able to hay CRP no longer follows the strict rule of only being able to do it when there is an emergency drought declaration. There are still some things that change with the declaration, but you can hay (or better graze) without one.
The term for utilizing your CRP forage in non-disaster years is Non-Emergency Haying or Grazing, in disaster years its Emergency Haying or Grazing. Yeah, it can get confusing but just know that you have an option to be using your CRP on a regular interval no matter the weather pattern. For haying you have the option to hay 75% of the total field every three years, or you could take 1/3 of it each year. Basically, you can only utilize a given acre once every three years, but you have to leave at least 25% of the stand. The 1/3 example is just for explaining it easier but it by no means has to follow this perfectly.
Grazing only has a two-year interval. Again, you can split this up and graze part of the CRP field every year. As I was saying above, you will need to work with FSA and NRCS on a grazing plan each year but that is all it takes. I do want to mention again the opportunity for beginning farmers to graze CRP each year without a payment reduction. They are able to graze CRP every year they are still a beginning farmer (10 years) but only if they are a shareholder on the CRP contract. This takes some planning but to me it is a huge advantage if you are or know someone who is thinking about getting into the game.
I just mentioned payment reduction; this is the difference between Emergency and Non-Emergency haying and grazing. In Non-Emergency years the acres utilized are subject to a payment reduction of 25% of the CRP rental rate on that field. Because it’s a percentage each person and each field’s rate reduction will be different just like the CRP rates are different.
“If I have it for hunting, why would I let some one hay or graze my CRP?” I would much rather you have someone put cows out there than hay it but something is still better than leaving it idle (no management activity) for 10 years. Right, wrong, or otherwise mowing “hunting” strips has been a thing as long as there has been CRP. It’s common in almost every pheasant hunter’s tactics to want to seal off the area you are hunting. Well, if you plan it right you may be able to use one of these management activities to break up your CRP into manageable hunting zones. I want to beat you over the head with, grazing is better for the grass and wildlife, but it is your right to hay.
Haying is of course popular as most CRP are crop fields where the fence has deteriorated and there may no longer be a running well, so haying seems easier than grazing. I feel the fence is not as big of an obstacle as the water as quick electric fence will do the job. But if you can find a way to water (hauling is always an option) you are going to get more use out of that CRP and it will be better for your grass. There may be some help on the horizon for fence and water. It’s been talked about for several years now but the bill write-up to make changes to CRP has finally been released. If passed there will be available cost share for fence and water on CRP. There are some other changes the bill covers but that’s the one pertinent for this. SD GF&P currently offers cost share on boundary fence for CRP if you are willing to commit to only using grazing on those acres.
I want to end with a PSA for an upcoming field tour. On Monday August 25 there will be a Society of Range Management Field Tour at Grand Ciel Lodge located at 39037 245th St Plankinton, SD 57368 starting at 9 a.m. This tour will cover how a hunting lodge has incorporated cattle as a management tool and how they have turned farm ground back into grass while maintaining profitability with their hunting operation and cattle herd. This is a unique opportunity to talk about rotational grazing, habitat management, seeding techniques, and much more! Lunch is provided and if interested please RSVP Nick Goehring at 605-216-4390. Not sure if you want to commit, call me with any questions you have before signing up. Whether you own land for hunting or have been around cattle for decades, there is something for you.