Pasture management seminar

Last Tuesday night I took a break from talking to people about the proposed River Horse subdivision to attend Cenex's "Pasture and small acreage management informational seminar". Cenex- or CHS as they are now called - held this seminar from 7 pm to 9 pm at the county's Vo-Ag building.

The topics were:

• Forage nutrition
  
• Grazing management
• Weed control
• Soil fertility
  
• Fencing ideas
  

The local CHS store is starting a new service and for a fee will come to your property and advise you on these topics.

I arrived right at 7 pm and the parking lot was near full with pickup trucks. Makes sense, this being Montana. Also, people who have acreage have pickups. As usual I am different and I drove my car. Only a few cars were there so that made it easier to find my car after the seminar was over - though my car was hidden among the pickups.

The seminar was in progress when I arrived. Fortunately the room had two doors and I was able to slip in the back door and find a chair to sit on. I eyed a tray of cookies across the room and had to wait till the seminar was over to satisfy my cookie craving.

The Valley has changed from cattle to horses the past 10 to 20 years. I shouldn't have been surprised to find the seminar was geared to people with horses on their property. But I was. No matter, the parts of the seminar I was interested in (weed control and soil fertility) were common to cattle or horses.

I did learn that the nutrition expert recommended a grass/alfalfa mix of hay to feed horses instead of mainly alfalfa hay. Straight alfalfa is too rich in protein and will cause health problems down the road. My hayfield is a good mix of grass with alfalfa.

The guy who spoke on fencing options for horses was a character. He was a sales rep for a company who sold electric fencing options. This guy was a 60ish old cowboy in jeans and cowboy hat. He looked like he chewed tobacco. He danced around and waved his arms as he told fencing stories.

He certainly was a lively character and not always politically correct. PETA probably wouldn't like this guy. The way he looked and the way he talked reminded me of the actor Slim Pickens, as seen in these two photos.

You may remember Slim Pickens from the movie, Blazing Saddles. He played Taggart.

Taggart: I hired you people to try to get a little track laid, not to jump around like a bunch of Kansas City faggots.

You know, that purple shirt he wore in "Blazing Saddles" sure looks like something from the 1970s!


After the seminar was over I spoke with the Flathead County weed officer about weeds, herbicides, and spraying methods. It seems I am using a good herbicide and doing the right things. He confirmed that the plant the local residents call "milkweed" is indeed "western salsify". And no, it is not on the list of noxious weeds.

I grabbed a pamphlet listing noxious weeds, a hand full of cookies, and left.