CRP May Be Hayed or Grazed

Westok said:
im Not trying to say it’s not dry if it is. i was just hoping for farmers ranchers and the birds that they were getting some of the rains we were blessed with. Although its not looking like our quail situation in western ok is anything to get excited about. Even with the great summer rains.
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Like I said it's suppose to be dry this time of year. It's a normal weather pattern, not time for emergency grazing. Ks was completely off the drought monitor a month or 2 ago.
 
Speculation:
CRP seems to operate on an annual cycle that runs 10/1-9/30. The emergency haying and grazing provisions seem to kick in if a county reaches D2 at ANY POINT during that annual cycle. However, the haying and grazing is allowed only after nesting season, which ends on July 15. So, most of those Kansas counties open to haying and grazing this summer qualified because they were D2 at some point last winter. I'm not saying it makes sense, that's just how it seems to work.

There are only 2 counties that have experienced D2 this summer.
 
Made the drive out to edwards county yesterday morning. Rained all night. I’ve been enough to know not to mess with those roads. Did see some pheasants and that was the only positive of my trip besides the big well in Greensburg. No doves for me this year. Just a scenic drive. Lack of CRP is startling if you know what it used to look like. Will be back opening weekend. Btw standing water and teal everywhere in that area. Wish I was a waterfowl guy…
 
I wanted to provide some clarification on this topic from a WIHA perspective. Some of you have mentioned the workload situation; we had 4,551 tracts enrolled in the WIHA program for 1,181,461 acres last Fall. Average tract is 260 acres.

With that being said; we are fully aware of the emergency H&G provisions in the Farm Bill and work closely with NRCS and FSA to monitor. Previous to 2018 FB, a CRP producer could only hay up to 50% of a field. The rules have changed and it now allows 100% H&G with no hit to their rental rate, AND they can sell the hay. That's technically triple-dipping. However, some clarification recently came out from FSA National that also says that if the county is also eligible for FSA's LFP (livestock forage program, designed to pay landowners in times of reduced forage availability), then a producer can only Hay 50% of the field. All 30 counties that were eligible for Emergency H&G were also eligible for LFP which means that only 50% of a field can be hayed.

In regard to reporting; we do our very best to monitor for habitat degradation (specifically haying) like this and prorate a contract for the year. However, as has been stated, this is very difficult to catch every case. We also do an upland bird opener survey where almost 70 of our field staff (fisheries and other staff is included) go out and survey hunters on WIHA, one of the things we document in this survey is whether a tract has been hayed or grazed. This is even difficult because these are roadside surveys, therefore we aren't catching everything. At the very least, we are talking to our CRP cooperators about this issue and ways to avoid.

I assure you that we do care.
 
Thank you for weighing in on this sensitive topic. That only 50% of the grass may be hayed in the 30 affected counties is some good news. Glad the KDWPT is keeping an eye on UPH forum.
 
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5 stand said:
I hunt Kansas, and I hope to hunt it more this year.
What is - in compliance, as mentioned above.
Does anyone have a link?
What am I supposed to report?
Who am I supposed to report it to?
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you're not obligated to report it, but if you want to, report it to the KDWPT.
 
AteUp said:
Yes I’m concerned about the double and triple dipping. What can joe public do about that?
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If you find a walk-in patch that has no hunting value due to haying or grazing, report it to the KDWPT which may elect to recoup all or part of the payment made for walk-in enrollment.
 
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BritChaser said:
Here's the announcement:

Sheridan,Graham, Decatur, Norton, & Gove among other in NW KS are in the area authorized to be hayed or grazed.​

No loss or reduction of CRP payment.​

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Emergency Haying, Grazing of Conservation Reserve Program Acres Available to Help Livestock Producers Weather Drought​


MANHATTAN, Kan. – Aug. 23, 2021 – Agricultural producers impacted by drought can now request haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres in certain Kansas counties, while still receiving their full rental payment for the land.

“Drought is heavily impacting livestock producers in Kansas and across the country, and emergency haying or grazing of lands enrolled in CRP is one more drought mitigation tool to help producers,” said Zach Ducheneaux, Administrator of USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). “While CRP makes annual rental payments for land in conservation, under certain circumstances, FSA can allow the haying and grazing of these lands to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters without a reduction in payments. As part of our climate-smart agriculture efforts, we are working with all stakeholder groups to ensure that supplemental benefits of CRP acres, like emergency haying and grazing, can be accessed in a manner that is more universally beneficial.”

Outside of the primary nesting season, emergency haying and grazing of CRP acres may be authorized to provide relief to livestock producers in areas affected by a severe drought or similar natural disaster. The primary nesting season for Kansas ended July 15. Counties are approved for emergency haying and grazing due to drought conditions on a county-by-county basis when a county is designated as level “D2 Drought - Severe” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. FSA provides a weekly, online update of eligible counties. Producers interested in Emergency Haying and Grazing on CRP acres should contact FSA to determine if their county is still eligible for emergency authorization. If emergency haying and grazing is still available, producers will need complete a formal request.

Producers can use the CRP acreage under the emergency grazing provisions for their livestock or may grant another livestock producer use of the CRP acreage.

Producers interested in emergency haying or grazing of CRP acres must notify their FSA county office before starting any activities. This includes producers accessing CRP acres held by someone else. To maintain contract compliance, producers must have their conservation plan modified by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Emergency CRP Haying and Grazing Option

CRP emergency haying and grazing is available in eligible counties as long as the stand is in condition to support such activity subject to a modified conservation plan. Hay may be cut once in eligible counties each program year (October 1-September 30). Haying must be concluded prior to August 31 according to an approved conservation plan to allow time for regrowth prior to winter conditions and must be removed within 15 calendar days of being baled.

CRP emergency grazing is available in eligible counties as long as it does not exceed 90 days each program year (October 1-September 30) and must be stopped when the minimum grazing height is reached, as established within the modified CRP conservation plan or when the county is no longer eligible for emergency haying and grazing.

Non-Emergency CRP Haying and Grazing Option
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I contacted a landowner today and said the cover crops are being cut as we speak. Rough year for most of Kansas.
 
I would think it would be very risky business to mess with the government (and your contract) and hay ground not authorized for such. The satellite images will be out there and could be (should be, I would think), reviewed anytime those parcels get reviewed for anything. Not sure if the ground you are referring to has mid-contract management practices required, but that would be a good time to take a peek at all these. Here (Iowa) they get a little excited about a beaten track on the edge of a parcel that you use to access areas that require maintanence. If you mowed much of anything not authorized, I am confident the office would be in contact with you. These acres (pheasant factories) are so important to pheasant nesting in the spring. Here, after a required burn (similar to haying), those acres lack the cover for early nestings, but are great acres for chicks to navigate and grow. Your acres that aren't hayed/grazed will harbor BIG populations I will assume. I hope you fellas still have enough habitat to go around this season. Good luck with your "harvest", look forward to see the reports once season starts.
 
COWAN said:
I contacted a landowner today and said the cover crops are being cut as we speak. Rough year for most of Kansas.
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Was not a rough year in Kansas at all. I don't know why we have to spread disinformation like this. Kansas has been blessed with another rain filled year. Has been wet for 3 year in a row now for most of Kansas, which has hurt pheasant numbers. At one time in June and July, the drought map was completely white.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Was not a rough year in Kansas at all. I don't know why we have to spread disinformation like this. Kansas has been blessed with another rain filled year. Has been wet for 3 year in a row now for most of Kansas, which has hurt pheasant numbers. At one time in June and July, the drought map was completely white.
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This. We had good moisture throughout the summer. It’s been a little dry in my part of SEK here to start the fall, but nothing out of the ordinary for Kansas. We were very much spared the drought that afflicted states to the north of us.
 
First of November wet snow the last 2 years in a couple places I hunt concentrated the birds and layed down the remaining cover. This left the birds vulnerable to coyote predation . This is what I was told by the people farming the land. Whether or not that’s true I don’t know. I know that each thought they had a good hatch but saw very few birds by the time they cut milo.
 
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BrownDogsCan2 said:
First of November wet snow the last 2 years in a couple places I hunt concentrated the birds and layed down the remaining cover. This left the birds vulnerable to coyote predation . This is what I was told by the people farming the land. Whether or not that’s true I don’t know. I know that each thought they had a good hatch but saw very few birds by the time they cut milo.
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Curious as to what part of Kansas. I thought you hunted alot in my area but I may be wrong. Anyway, we have not had any snow to speak of here for the last 3 years. Last year we had any significant snow was 2017.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Was not a rough year in Kansas at all. I don't know why we have to spread disinformation like this. Kansas has been blessed with another rain filled year. Has been wet for 3 year in a row now for most of Kansas, which has hurt pheasant numbers. At one time in June and July, the drought map was completely white.
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How close are you to the Quinter area? I know you have answered this question several times for me but I am having a brain pain.
 
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