Montana Farm's Profound Changes

01/22/20 • 16 min

In this episode, we feature a conversation with Kurt Myllymaki, a Montana farmer and rancher who, with his family, raises crops and beef cattle on 10,000 acres of leased and deeded land in north central Montana near the town of Stanford.

He talks about the profound changes the operation is making, including diversifying cash crops raised on the farm and adding cover crops to reduce the use of summer fallow.

The interview was conducted in collaboration with Western SARE, and Stacie Cleary of Western SARE acted as this week's guest host. Al Kurki, a sustainable agriculture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, introduces the conversation with some background on the Myllymaki operation.

He also has an important invitation for listeners at the end of the conversation to the upcoming Soil Health Innovations Conference cooperatively presented by NCAT, SARE, Montana State University, and USDA Rural Development.

You can get in touch directly with Al Kurki directly via email [email protected].

ATTRA Resources:
Soil Health Innovations Conference
Soils and Compost
Livestock and Pasture
Horticultural Crops
https://attra.ncat.org/topics/field-crops/

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. Our two dozen specialists can help you with a vast array of topics, everything from farm planning to pest management, from produce to livestock, and soils to aquaculture.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find our other extensive, and free, sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at NCAT/ATTRA's website.

You also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Northeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

COMING SOON!

The National Center for Appropriate Technology, in cooperation with USDA Rural Development, Montana State University, and Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (WSARE), is pleased to announce the 1st Annual Soil Health Innovations Conference. This national conference will be held at Montana State University on March 30 and 31, 2020.

The 2020 Soil Health Innovations Conference will bring together producers,

He talks about the profound changes the operation is making, including diversifying cash crops raised on the farm and adding cover crops to reduce the use of summer fallow.

You can get in touch directly with Al Kurki directly via email [email protected].

ATTRA Resources:
Soil Health Innovations Conference
Soils and Compost
Livestock and Pasture
Horticultural Crops
https://attra.ncat.org/topics/field-crops/

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find our other extensive, and free, sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at NCAT/ATTRA's website.

You also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Northeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

COMING SOON!

The 2020 Soil Health Innovations Conference will bring together producers,

Previous Episode

'Pocket Prairie' on the Golf Course

In this episode, Nina Prater, an agriculture specialist in NCAT's Southeast Regional Office in Fayetteville, Arkansas, talks with Jay Randolph about prairie restoration. Jay is the Ben Geren Golf Course Superintendent and Sebastian County Park Administrator in Fort Smith, Arkansas. They discuss the prairie restoration work Jay has undertaken at the golf course since 2016. The conversation covers all the improvements Jay has seen at the park since starting this work, and the benefits any landowner can enjoy from re-establishing diverse prairie ecosystems.

For more information on this topic, contact Nina Prater via email at [email protected]

ATTRA Resources:
Converting Cropland to Perennial Grassland
Managing Soils for Water: How Five Principles of Soil Health Support Water Infiltration and Storage
Switchgrass as a Bioenergy Crop
Voices from the Field: Allen Williams and Adaptive Stewardship Management Grazing

Other Resources:
Thomas Nutall: A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory during the Year 1819
The Prairie Ecologist
National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative
Missouri Prairie Foundation
Arkansas Game & Fish Commission Acres for Wildlife Program
Arkansas Monarch Conservation Partnership
Ben Geren Park

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find our other extensive, and free, sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at NCAT/ATTRA's website.

You also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website /

Next Episode

Direct Marketing Meat with Dave and Jenny Scott, Part 3: Relationships

In this episode – part 3 of our "Direct Marketing Meat" series – Dave Scott and his wife, Jenny, join Linda Coffey to talk about aspects of working with customers, planning pricing, assessing profitability, and deciding on the scale of the enterprise.

Dave and Linda are livestock specialists with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program. Dave works out of NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana, and Linda is on the staff of NCAT's Southeast Regional Office in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Dave and Jenny also are co-owners of Montana Highland Lamb near Whitehall, Montana. During the discussion, Dave and Jenny emphasize the challenges and rewards of their business and the importance of relationships – family, business partners, and clients.

Dave, Jenny, and Linda will be back next week with a different format – taking questions from listeners. You'll hear some innovative marketing ideas, as well as more information about both nutrition and production practices.

If you have a question for them, don't hesitate to contact Dave and Linda directly at [email protected] and [email protected].

ATTRA Resources:
Direct Marketing Meat with Dave and Jenny Scott. Part 1
Direct Marketing Meat with Dave and Jenny Scott. Part 2: Processing
The Lambulator
Working with Your Meat Processor (Podcast)
Working with Your Meat Processor (Publication)
Creating an Excellent Relationship with Your Processor
Intensive Grazing: One Farm's Setup
It's More than Getting the Wool Off
Putting a Hand on Them – How to Tell if your Lamb is Finished (Video)
Putting a Hand on Them - How to Tell if Your Lamb is Finished (Publication)
Direct Marketing Lamb: A Pathway
Lamb Cut Guide for Direct Marketers

Other Resources
Building a Sustainable Business, MISA/SARE
Montana Highland Lamb Facebook page

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find our other extensive, and free, sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at NCAT/ATTRA's website.

You also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.<