Area ranchers optimistic as summer grazing season begins
Steve Hallstrom
Special to The Farmer
The summer grazing season in McKenzie County begins with a deep green palette, and that’s easy on the eyes for the region’s cattle ranchers.
“It is one of my favorite colors,” laughs Pete Best, of Best Angus Ranch and Quarter Horses. “I grew up in Rolette, North Dakota, so it’s a little different environment here. I guess I’ve always thought of this country as being really brown and not usually looking like this. I’d say this is one of the top three years I can remember, just for the way the grass looks. I mean, it’s thick and green and compared to last year, it’s terrific. I was fairly concerned with all the grasshoppers we had last year and then dry through the summer that the pastures were going to be touch and go or that it would be hard to get them going this spring. But this has been a real godsend”
Titus Stenberg, of VN Ranch near Watford City, agrees.
“I was just looking at the rain totals here for the last couple of months and we’re at 3.89 inches for June and 3.65 inches for May. That is just outstanding after we had a pretty dry winter and April was well below average for moisture. So, we’re thankful for every drop of rain that we get out here. And it’s made a lot of difference in the way things look. You notice that when it’s dry, the cattle start taking more minerals from tubs and needing more supplements, and right now the green grass has given them almost everything they need. We still offer salt and mineral to them, but they’re just taking less because they’re able to get more from nature.”
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