NDGF: Steinwand Retiring

[NDbowman]

If those tree rows are at the end of there life cycle, why not replant? I live in the Red River Valley, seems to be several tree rows being taken out and burned every year, while the farmers DONT practice no-till. Then comes the spring like we are having, extremely dry and windy, not that top soil ends up in the ditch and I hear farmers complain! And I think to myself "come on man!" don't take a tree row out or if you do, replant one!! If the no-till will keep the top soil on, don't till up black in the fall and spring! Blows my mind on the excuses the farmers give or other give for the farmers.

The reason not to replant is that those tree rows can be a pain in the ass. As they get older they are dropping branches during every wind event. It really sucks to clean up branches every time you seed, harvest, or do anything in that field. Also bigger equipment makes it tougher to farm around all those tree rows. IMO they don't really help all that much with wind erosion and can actually make the wind worse depending on the direction, think of how wind increases around bridges and buildings.

I have cattle so trees are very important to me for wind protection in the winter. I've planted lots and have plans for more. My biggest complaint with tree rows in my area is leafy spurge showing up in them. A real pain in the ass to control that in trees

 

[Fritz the Cat]

Lunker, I believe you are correct except the part about wild animals will be raised domestically. Animal husbandry, whether domestic or wild to be used for food is under attack.

 

[lunkerslayer]

Yes since science is always trying to figure out an easier way to produce food, not always healthy, less people will be able to afford the good stuff. if the democraps have their way they will try to ban all consumption of red meat, I will be thankful that day isn't here yet. Guywhoisknowlegableinstuff had a great post and when he stated people who don't own land will be the ones to enforce new laws on the ones who do. Take states like Iowa for instance with all their hog production areas the land is so toxic from animal waste. People who don't care about anyone else need to be told yeah that isn't going to work anymore but let me give you free money to make it all better.
Another member talked about roundup ready crops all those chemicals did a real number on shelter belts over the years yeah well we will see if this dry cycle is here to stay because even no till isn't going to stop dust storms from getting worse.
Not all land owners are conservatives hence no need for wildlife habitat got to get when the getting is good.

 

[Tommyboy]

Denbigh Experimental Forest.

Look it up if you don't know about it. History always seems to repeat itself. 100 year drought on the way?

 

[SDMF]

A lot of those tree rows were planted in the 50’s-80’s back when farming involved tilling the ground and making it black every year.

But now with the advent of no-till the dust doesn’t blow as badly as before.

You must be a concrete-jungle dwelling sock-puppet.

 

[Kentucky Windage]

The larger these farms get, the less “family farm factor” you’ll get. They are run like any other business.......to maximize profits. Providing habitat for wildlife only makes sense when a piece of land is not able to make more money than is spent on said piece of land. Hunting goes out the window. I get asked all the time: “why do you have a gun in your vehicle?” In pocket areas, hunting is beginning to only exist when a sales rep takes a guy out on a guided hunt somewhere else.

 

[FlatTopPete]

You must be a concrete-jungle dwelling sock-puppet.

No. I am a farmer. Born and raised In ND. Bachelor degree in agronomy. Have worked on the farm since I was old enough to walk and still do to this day.

I don’t know how it’s arguable that there’s less dust from the wind nowadays then there was in the 80’s and before. Farming has changed a lot and for the better in most cases. Are there cases where soil takes off in the wind? Of course! To my point earlier, we just went through the driest stretch ever on record. And there would be a hell of a lot more dirt in the air if we were all farming like we did 20-50 years ago. That’s just a fact. I can promise you that nothing makes a farmer more sick than watching his land blow. Everything we do on our personal farm is with land blowing in the back of our mind.

It’s a giant pain in the ass to farm around tree rows. Equipment has gotten so big now that no one wants to mess with tree rows in their land. Not to mention the amount of land they take up that takes away from your bottom line and the moisture they rob from the crop next to the tree rows. That and like stated above the tree branches that blow off in a wind storm. I’m sorry those are just facts.

Asking why farmers tear out tree rows and don’t replant them in the same area would be like me asking why there isn’t anyone that builds a 1,000 sq foot house and single car garage anymore cuz that’s better for the environment.

 

[Bacon]

Don’t bother Pete, most of these guys live in the valley and think that is the way we all farm. They are crying about some stupid single tree rows that don’t hold wildlife anyway. Unless there is corn by it. I’ve stopped trying to talk sense and pretty much just ignore it. My family has probably planted more trees in the last 40 years than the guys in the valley have torn out. I’m sure I’ll be called the dickhead farmer but I really don’t care.

 

[CAH]

Anyways, Mr. Steinwand, from flattoppete and myself, enjoy retirement! Thanks for making fishing great and for bowing down to farmers in North Dakota.

 

[Migrator Man]

I gotta say, there is an amazing amount of ignorance when it comes to production ag on here.

You still an anti vaxxer?

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If those tree rows are at the end of there life cycle, why not replant? I live in the Red River Valley, seems to be several tree rows being taken out and burned every year, while the farmers DONT practice no-till. Then comes the spring like we are having, extremely dry and windy, not that top soil ends up in the ditch and I hear farmers complain! And I think to myself "come on man!" don't take a tree row out or if you do, replant one!! If the no-till will keep the top soil on, don't till up black in the fall and spring! Blows my mind on the excuses the farmers give or other give for the farmers.

Who really cares about tree rows. I see no issue with farmers tearing them out. They don’t serve a purpose anymore and are dying out. What I don’t understand is when something is tilled up that isn’t going to produce any crop. Plant trees and grass in those places. Maybe even consider buffers in these areas to catch fertilizer run off.

People need to get off this dumb tree row argument. What is really a threat is the expansion of drain tile being used throughout the state. No only is it a water highway that has exasperated the flooding issues in the RRV it has also causes big flooding issues for downstream landowners in the Devils lake region. The upstream landowners literally flooded their own neighbors for their own financial benefit! That is criminal if you ask me! You should be held accountable for causing damage to others because of ignorance.

These drain tiles also pollute our waters with fertilizer run off and cause many environmental issues. Wetlands are natural water filters and we are tearing them out in favor of water ditches that act as superhighways that dump directly into waterways we fish and drink out of.

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Don’t bother Pete, most of these guys live in the valley and think that is the way we all farm. They are crying about some stupid single tree rows that don’t hold wildlife anyway. Unless there is corn by it. I’ve stopped trying to talk sense and pretty much just ignore it. My family has probably planted more trees in the last 40 years than the guys in the valley have torn out. I’m sure I’ll be called the dickhead farmer but I really don’t care.

You are not the problem. I would just hate to see what happens to the rest of North Dakota if we go the ways of the RRV. Iowa and places like the RRV had all kinds of good habitat before they tilled everything up and put in drain tile. All you can find there is tree rows and they should tear them out too because they do not hold any wildlife.

We need to increase the CRP payments to compete with cash rent and get more grass planted because the farmers and the hunters would benefit in the end.

 

[guywhofishes]

LOL. The ignorance on display toward modern agriculture continues.

Migrator Man just doesn't understand modern agriculture. Drain tiles, without question, improve the environment AND increase production.

Remember MM - production is THE metric here in ND. There are no considerations of good/bad outside increasing production - in order to be good businessmen.

:::

 

[CAH]

It’s not the tree rows I’m concerned about, it’s the fact that farmers are “businessmen” these days and only care about money. There has to be some coexistence between farmers and the hunting community, yet it’s all one sided it seems. What the hell do I know anyway, farmers are feeding America! Anybody know a local farm I can buy some fresh produce on?

It’s pretty sad that the argument is “well machinery is getting so big and it’s a pain to drive around stuff!” Can you imagine if we all just threw away or got rid of things that were pains in our asses at work?

 

[guywhofishes]

Don’t bother Pete, most of these guys live in the valley and think that is the way we all farm. They are crying about some stupid single tree rows that don’t hold wildlife anyway. Unless there is corn by it. I’ve stopped trying to talk sense and pretty much just ignore it. My family has probably planted more trees in the last 40 years than the guys in the valley have torn out. I’m sure I’ll be called the dickhead farmer but I really don’t care.

SE ND has (had) the largest, widest, most diverse tree rows (veritable forests) in the entire state.

Single tree rows my keester.

Ever get further than 20 miles from Napoleon?

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Why are you planting trees if they don't provide habitat for wildlife?

 

[espringers]

not a big opinion on tree rows. but, i certainly get the tilling of buffer zones, tiling, tilling every wet land as soon as it dries up other than tiling, i think the other two might not be as good for the bottom line as farmers might think. i used to see every lowland get tilled and planted every chance they had. now i see a lot more farmers just avoiding them altogether planted grass or dried up wetland cattails. one of few reasons... they realized it didn't make sense to till, plant, fertilize, etc.. only to loose the crop 50% of the time cause the rain came like they have over the last 30 years or so. or two... there is some government program compensating them for not planting there. or three... they are somewhat conservation minded. likely a combination of all three in most cases. which suits me just fine.

 

[westwolfone]

I gotta say, there is an amazing amount of ignorance when it comes to production ag on here.

And absolutely everything else.

Welcome to the Internet lol.

 

[Fly Carpin]

Southeast? Largest? No way Jose. GF County all the way.

 

[SDMF]

It’s a giant pain in the ass to farm around tree rows.

Auto-steer is a bitch.

 

[WormWiggler]

Don’t bother Pete, most of these guys live in the valley and think that is the way we all farm. They are crying about some stupid single tree rows that don’t hold wildlife anyway. Unless there is corn by it. I’ve stopped trying to talk sense and pretty much just ignore it. My family has probably planted more trees in the last 40 years than the guys in the valley have torn out. I’m sure I’ll be called the dickhead farmer but I really don’t care.

perhaps dickhead and farmer are not related whatsoever?

 

[guywhofishes]

Southeast? Largest? No way Jose. GF County all the way.

lol

 

[gonefshn]

I believe in the distance future of wild game is that; wild animals will be raised domestically in the same way that bison and elk are raised now. The world is changing with more in more people of the world relying on the united states to supply them with grains. Bill Gates is already thinking of that future and I can assure you that he has no intention of preserving land for us hunters. The last article I read is something like a quarter of a million acres, the articles never said what his intentions were but I think he is buying farmland to raise crops for china. China is turning their farmland into a toxic dump and cant produce enough to feed a billion people if we really wanted to destroy china all we would have to do is quit selling them our grains.

So Gates is buying land to sell grain to China? Only China? Or will other people be able to have some of his grain too?