Emergency Haying and Grazing Opens on CRP Acres - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

A dry summer opens CRP acres to emergency haying and grazing. 

In few days, North Dakota farmers and ranchers will be able to cut hay and graze cattle on land that's been set aside for conservation.

    Emergency Haying and Grazing on Conservation Reserve Program acres has been approved in all counties in the state.

  Morton County FSA Director Linda Urlacher says grazing and haying won't be allowed on some acres, such as those that are sensitive to wet land restoration.

Urlacher says choosing to emergency hay or graze will also change the management schedule of those acres.

(Linda Urlacher/ Morton County FSA) "There's a 25% payment reduction under managed, under emergency reduction, only a 10% reduction. Under emergency they only get to hay 50% of each field or continuous field, so as far as what you can hay is going to change with managed or emergency."

Urlacher says whether your contract is for managed or emergency acres-- you can't start until Thursday, August 2nd.

(Linda Urlacher / Morton County FSA) "The problem we are hearing is the quality of hay out there is pretty bad right now. A lot of hopper problems, a lot of them that the sticks are just standing there and they are just saying this isn't worth my times, efforts or my fuel cost to put it up, even to put it up at a 10% reduction. So that is what we are up against having to wait till August 2nd is the quality."

Morton County has approximately 15,000 acres in CRP. 

Statewide there are about 1.6 million acres of CRP land available in North Dakota for haying or grazing.