STURGIS, S.D. (KOTA TV) – The drought throughout KOTA Territory has impacted farmers and ranchers in very different ways, but they have one thing in common: a change in management practices.
For Dave Wilson of Sturgis, he added a cover crop to the mix for added forage content.
Wilson has used sudan grass in his program before, but with the drought and low alfalfa prices, he decided to plant it again this year.
Wilson says he was looking for a market in the drought that could help local livestock producers.
“This fall we decided we would bail up all the hay and sudan, and we would sell it online only. It gives everyone in a wide area an opportunity to bid. It is easy to register, they can take their time and they can inspect the product.

WARSAW, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) — "When Chinese company invested in Poland, we were worried about whether we could keep our jobs," said Malgorzata Bielica who works at Liugong Dressta Machinery in Stalowa Wola, southeast Poland.
Malgorzata and her husband both used to work for HSW, a Polish company preceding Liugong Dressta.
Local media reported that due to fierce competitions from American and German enterprises, its business condition continued to deteriorate, even near bankruptcy.
Michal Kolakowski, adviser to public administration and managing partner of Warsaw Consulting Group said: "Like a long-awaited rain after a prolonged drought, Liugong’s investment has saved struggling Dressta."
Five years since the acquisition, Malgorzata’s family have had a better life. When asked about the reason, Malgorzata said:"Liugong is a good employer, and this kind of family and work combination has many advantages, we discuss work even after we get home in the evening."
According to the data by Liugong Dressta, the company has provided more than 1,200 job opportunities in the region, with a total of more than 230 million zloty (about 66 million U.S. dollars) of various accumulated taxes and fees contribution to the country between 2012 and 2016.
According to Hou Yubo, vice chairman of Liugong Dressta, the new distribution centre covers an area of 3,500 square meters, with an investment of nearly 9.4 million U.S. dollars.
"Chinese investments in Poland are increasingly technologically advanced, and they help to build a modern knowledge economy in our country,"Kwiecinski said at the opening ceremony of Liugong’s regional headquarters in Warsaw.

At first when Wade Fischer was harvesting his industrial hemp, he thought he had a pretty good yield.
It is the third year running for the state’s pilot of the federally regulated crop.
There’s no crop insurance for industrial hemp, and the market is not yet well-defined in North Dakota.
“I am making sure DEA isn’t impeding our ability to do what Congress has given us the right to do,” North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said.
The prices for Fischer’s crop came out a few weeks before Fischer harvested it.
“I can’t believe the price they came out with,” Fischer said.
It requires drying after harvest, so it doesn’t go moldy and spoil.
That is if, of course, he can get permission to send the crop to a buyer across state lines.
Some don’t want it in their state, and they don’t want it to go across their state line.

Uttar Pradesh is staring at a drought, the senior-most official in the State has said.
The Chief Secretary has issued a three-page order containing a set of instructions to various departments of the government, including those of Farm, Irrigation, Energy, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Animal Husbandry, Food and Civil Supplies and Water Resources.
A government spokesperson said officials had been instructed to publicise ways of preserving moisture in the soil, to ensure that government tube-wells are operational, and fill ponds with water.
Officials have also been told to get non-functional transformers changed within 24 hours, get hand-pumps activated and mobilise water tankers to supply water to households.
There must also be sufficient feed for cattle and medicine in veterinary clinics, the order said. Wells must be deepened and farmers employed under the rural employment guarantee programme to meet the risk of famine. Mr. Kumar has instructed senior state and divisional officials to hold meetings at the district level with officials of all related departments and as per the parameters of the drought manual of 2016 examine the ground situation in their districts.
From October 30 to January, 2018, official will also have to produce weekly updates of the situation.

After suffering the worst drought in the nation, Montana ranchers with little grass to feed livestock are selling off their calves early, marketing reports show.
More than 40,000 cattle have moved through auction barns in Miles City and Billings since July as Eastern Montana ranchers cope with drought-scorched pasture land with little green for cattle to chew on. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Marketing Service tracks the sales.
Sales numbers were tabulated from the date of the 11,699-acre July fire in Central Montana.
They don’t have hay to feed.
Meged said he encountered a farmer this fall cutting green spring wheat that came up in late August.
Improving cattle prices are also helping sales, Meged said. Always a factor, low prices kept cattle out of the auction yard in early fall two years ago as ranchers waited for a better deal.
While Eastern Montana burned in the sun, the Yellowstone Valley did OK, said Joe Goggins, of Public Auction Yards. Ranchers around Billings started out the summer with good grass and an unusually wet spring.

The two 2 million-gallon cement water tanks and two new pumps are also the first system improvements built in nearly a decade.
“We need the capacity for pressure and to meet the need for fire protection,” said Trisha Whitfield, Tulare Public Works director.
Running at capacity, Tulare water pumps can produce 22,000 gallons a minute.
Already, the city has a water tower with a capacity of 125,000 gallons.
“During peak demand hours, [water users] will see the same pressure,” Whitfield said.
Doyle said the water system must keep pace with the city’s growth.
Hernandez said the older of the towers holds about 250,000 gallons while the newer one is bigger, with a capacity of 1 million gallons.

The IRS has granted an additional one-year tax deferral under Internal Revenue Code 1033 to farmers and ranchers on gains realized in the forced sale of livestock in drought regions of 42 states and the District of Columbia.
The deferral allows farmers and ranchers another year to replace the livestock in what are called applicable regions. Those are counties designated as eligible for federal assistance plus adjacent counties.
Farmers and ranchers who qualify must have sold the animals solely because of drought, flooding or other types of severe weather that caused the geographic area to be designated as eligible for federal aid.
This special report from Thomson Reuters Checkpoint addresses some corporate income tax issues that these e-commerce transactions raise.
The agency provides the extension to farmers and ranchers who live in the regions that qualify for four-year replacements if any county, parish, city or district included in the region is listed as enduring exceptional, extreme or severe drought conditions by the National Drought Mitigation Center between Sept. 1, 2016 and Aug. 31, 2017.
The mitigation center issues weekly updates on regions where exceptional, extreme or severe drought is reported in the U.S. Drought Monitor maps.
According to the IRS, taxpayers can use that list instead of the U.S. Drought Monitor maps to determine where drought conditions have been reported.

Jon Willoughby, forest technician specialist with the Virginia Department of Forestry located in Amherst County, said Sunday through Nov. 30 is fire season, which means there’s an increased potential for fires, and the drought watch advisory increases that risk.
The Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force, a group of state and federal agencies, issued the drought watch advisory because precipitation totals are less than 75 percent of normal over the last 90 days and less than 25 percent of normal total over the last 30 days for much of the areas in the advisory, according to a news release from the Virginia DEQ.
The advisory is aimed at encouraging localities and water suppliers in the affected areas to voluntarily take steps to conserve water such as minimizing nonessential water use; reviewing or developing local water conservation and drought contingency plans; including water conservation information on websites; monitoring water systems in partnership with the Virginia Department of Health; pursuing leak detection and repairing programs; and imposing water use restrictions when consistent with local water supply conditions.
If conditions warrant, the department’s next step could be to issue a drought warning, which means responses are required.
Willoughby, whose region covers Amherst, Nelson and Campbell counties and Lynchburg, said the agency prepares for fire season by ensuring trucks and equipment are ready and making sure they have the best contact information for local fire departments.
If people burn, state law requires them to stay with the fire the whole time it is burning, Willoughby said, adding he recommends notifying fire department before burning so if a fire spreads and individuals need to call 911, officials already have the address.
Willoughby also recommends checking local ordinances to see if the city or county bans burning.
Both Sunday and Monday are predicted to possibly receive less than a tenth of an inch of rain per day.
Willoughby said it is important to dispose of ash from wood fires properly, which means putting water over the ash in a metal container and then using a rake or shovel to mix it to ensure that all of it is cool.
Robert Beasley, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, said most of Virginia had less than normal rainfall in September compared to the average of 30 years from 1980 to 2010.

As wildfires burn in California and communities recover from massive hurricanes, environmental leaders opened the ninth annual National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas.
“You all know about us as being the entertainment capital of the world, but we’re also an international trailblazer in clean and renewable energy,” Sandoval said.
Reid, a Democrat, called Sandoval a “good Republican” and said the governor was always willing to listen.
Reid said he likes to drive by an array of 4 million solar panels on the way to Searchlight.
Since 2011, private investments in clean energy have skyrocketed, he said.
“We have invested $734 million in incentives,” Sandoval said.
Gore said carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is the heart of the problem, along with other factors, in warming the world and melting glaciers.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor, released October 12, offers some answers.
Iowa – most of the state saw one-class drought improvements except for the southeastern part of the state, which has received little rainfall over the past 5 to 6 weeks.
Minnesota – the southeast corner saw relief, but that was the only part of Minnesota that did.
Kansas – 1” to 3” of rainfall in the north and central part of the state contributed to one-category improvements.
Nebraska – some areas of D1 drought (moderate drought) were removed in the southeastern part of the state.
South Dakota – some small areas of D0 drought (abnormally dry) were trimmed following some rainfall in the eastern part of the state.
Looking ahead, more rain in the forecast means an opportunity for more drought removal, Artusa says.
For more information, visit droughtmonitor.unl.edu.