CRP released.

sdviking

sdviking

Active member
So starting on 2 August CRP can be grazed or hayed 100 percent. Normally CPR can be hayed 1/3 each year after the third year. The Producer normally pays 1/4 of their CRP payment per acre hayed. In parts of South Dakota land owners got less than half the normal hay off their first two cutting of alfalfa. Ditch hay this year is shorter and also less dense so fewer bales there also. All ditches have to be mowed before 1 October or the land owner is charged. Ditches are mowed to reduce snow load on the roads in the wintertime. Sorry to say it but I think a lot of CRP is going to get hayed. Hay is going for around $180 a ton.
 
That is certainly not the news the pheasants or their pursuers wanted to hear! It has been a bit better (precipitation wise) in Iowa this year, so I am hoping we will not qualify for the haying/grazing of CRP again this season. I thought that SD was also in a bit better shape than in recent years too, maybe not.
 
sdviking said:
So starting on 2 August CRP can be grazed or hayed 100 percent. Normally CPR can be hayed 1/3 each year after the third year. The Producer normally pays 1/4 of their CRP payment per acre hayed. In parts of South Dakota land owners got less than half the normal hay off their first two cutting of alfalfa. Ditch hay this year is shorter and also less dense so fewer bales there also. All ditches have to be mowed before 1 October or the land owner is charged. Ditches are mowed to reduce snow load on the roads in the wintertime. Sorry to say it but I think a lot of CRP is going to get hayed. Hay is going for around $180 a ton.
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Is this for the whole state or just certain areas? I haven’t seen anything about it. Thanks
 
The unfortunate result of drought and the policies of big ag, which always has the upper hand when it comes to land use.
 
A couple of things to keep in mind in all of this. It is normal contract maintenance requirements for CRP to be occasionally hayed. So whether or not there is a drought there is always going to be some CRP that is cut each year. If it is a bone emergency situation the CRP payment is also reduced for those acres that are hayed. As a matter of fact ours is due and trying to figure out what year to do it as we have a window of time to work in. The other thing I just found out is that the maps released are not always accurate. The map shows, and the list includes, our county as being eligible for emergency haying but when checking with them I found out that our county is in fact not eligible for emergency haying. As it was explained to me we are in fact eligible per the guidelines but the situation has changed and the county committee felt that the drought conditions no longer existed that would warrant emergency haying.

I get as frustrated as anyone when seeing stuff needlessly mowed and bailed but wanted to share a first hand report. If you are concerned where you hunt may be more heavily hayed then normal a call to that counties FSA office can let you know if it is in fact doing emergency haying.
 
Matt D said:
A couple of things to keep in mind in all of this. It is normal contract maintenance requirements for CRP to be occasionally hayed. So whether or not there is a drought there is always going to be some CRP that is cut each year. If it is a bone emergency situation the CRP payment is also reduced for those acres that are hayed. As a matter of fact ours is due and trying to figure out what year to do it as we have a window of time to work in. The other thing I just found out is that the maps released are not always accurate. The map shows, and the list includes, our county as being eligible for emergency haying but when checking with them I found out that our county is in fact not eligible for emergency haying. As it was explained to me we are in fact eligible per the guidelines but the situation has changed and the county committee felt that the drought conditions no longer existed that would warrant emergency haying.

I get as frustrated as anyone when seeing stuff needlessly mowed and bailed but wanted to share a first hand report. If you are concerned where you hunt may be more heavily hayed then normal a call to that counties FSA office can let you know if it is in fact doing emergency haying.
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Good info....What does FSA stand for?
 
If you go to the USDA website and look up the emergency haying & grazing, the counties in SD are very few as most counties don't meet the D2 or greater for drought. If my memory serves me correctly there were only like 3-4 counties that were listed. Be interesting to see if that means anything as the area we normally hunt has been hit hard the last 2 years by haying. Almost all the CREP land and WIA land was hayed 100% and these areas aren't in the areas allowed for haying or grazing.
 
Keep in mind the areas in extended drought may incur bad thistle infestations that require mowing to control.
Having a thin field leaves bare ground. Thistles thrive on bare ground so around here there is a real thistle problem. Another thing is the dry sloughs ,ponds , creek beds all are fertile for....thistles.
 
When you get to South Dakota & all your usual crep & walk ins are mowed, the easiest thing to do is move to a different area. Theres so much pubilc land in sd there's never a excuse to not find plenty to hunt. Crep & walk ins aren't even the best to hunt usually. The most grass doesn't equal most pheasants, too many guys think if there's not a bunch of snow they just hang out in grass all the time. No.
 
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hyresmack said:
When you get to South Dakota & all your usual crep & walk ins are mowed, the easiest thing to do is move to a different area. Theres so much pubilc land in sd there's never a excuse to not find plenty to hunt. Crep & walk ins aren't even the best to hunt usually. The most grass doesn't equal most pheasants, too many guys think if there's not a bunch of snow they just hang out in grass all the time. No.
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Yea, not always that easy. I drove 12 hours 2 years ago and spent the entire first day driving around finding all CREP mowed like a lawn. 2 days left to hunt. Yea, day 2 we found some land to hunt. But since all the CREP was mowed, all the hunters in the area were crammed onto the few places that weren't mowed. So yea, we had fun when it was all said and done. But I'm not really looking to drive 12 hours to hunt land that is getting pounded all day. Maybe the answer is to move to a different state when haying happens?
 
HS Strut said:
Yea, not always that easy. I drove 12 hours 2 years ago and spent the entire first day driving around finding all CREP mowed like a lawn. 2 days left to hunt. Yea, day 2 we found some land to hunt. But since all the CREP was mowed, all the hunters in the area were crammed onto the few places that weren't mowed. So yea, we had fun when it was all said and done. But I'm not really looking to drive 12 hours to hunt land that is getting pounded all day. Maybe the answer is to move to a different state when haying happens?
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That is the exact problem we have run into, especially when the fields are hayed 100%, all the hunters in that area need to go somewhere and it concentrates them on the remaining GPA's & WPA's which typically can't support that kind of pressure on a daily basis.
 
Bad weather and hayed fields screwed up a hunt for me last year. Didn't really have other areas to go to and the roads were awful so I drove home. My fault for not being better prepared. Doing more scouting and hunting this year in different parts of the state, so I can move if and when I need to going forward.
 
Mosby said:
Bad weather and hayed fields screwed up a hunt for me last year. Didn't really have other areas to go to and the roads were awful so I drove home. My fault for not being better prepared. Doing more scouting and hunting this year in different parts of the state, so I can move if and when I need to going forward.
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Sorry to hear that. A lot of times hayed or cut crp concentrates the birds to draws and fence lines making them easier to hunt. A pheasants home range is small.
 
chad.vis said:
Sorry to hear that. A lot of times hayed or cut crp concentrates the birds to draws and fence lines making them easier to hunt. A pheasants home range is small.
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It wasn't the hayed fields as much as the roads and fields were a complete sheet of ice. I simply couldn't safely get to a lot of the areas I was familiar with and wasn't sure I wanted to put a dog out even if I could. Some guys I ran into had driven south a couple hours, got out of the ice and had much better conditions. I just need to invest some time into some other areas so I have more options to move around. Thanks.
 
the ice storm was horrible last year, almost impossible to hunt, couldn't walk in it whatsoever
had to get out of that area covered in ice, climate change.
 
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