The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

This time of year the State of Montana puts out an interesting book about agricultural statistics in Montana.

Let’s start with the basics. There are 27,500 farms and ranches in Montana. The average acreage is 2,171 acres. The average value of a Montana farm or ranch is around two million twenty-nine thousand dollars.

Of those farms and ranches 4 % is woodland, 1.4% is other, 28.5% is cropland and 65% is pasture and range.

In 2012 Chouteau County had 774 farms and ranches. Land was two million seventy one thousand dollars and the average farm size in 2012 was 2677 acres.

Comparing Montana agriculture to other Montana industries, agriculture came in first with travel second, mining third, gas and oil fourth and lumber fifth.

Winter wheat production looks interesting in Chouteau County in 2015. There were 416,500 acres planted, 410 acres harvested; 47.5 is the yield in bushels and Chouteau County’s rank was number 1.

In spring wheat Chouteau County planted 158,800 acres and harvested 157,000. The yield in bushels was 34.1 and the rank was 8.

Looking at barley, Chouteau County planted 56,700 acres of barley and harvested 52,000.00. The yield in bushels was 43.3 and the rank was 6.

Safflower in Chouteau saw a mighty 7000 acres planted and 6900 acres harvested.

Private grazing fees state wide for 2015 were $23.00 per animal unit; $26.00 per cow and calf and $23.00 per head.

There is plenty of other information available in this annual book which is available at the Montana Department of Agriculture in Helena.

But you can see without taking much time that what we do best in Chouteau County as well as around the Golden Triangle is grow wheat and cattle. These days there are many different varieties of plants such as lentils and peas grown in years that wheat is not grown and those kinds of crops have been found to be very profitable too.

People have talked for years about the Golden Triangle as being the premier winter wheat growing area in Montana. That area starts at Havre in the east, Cutbank in the west and to make the rest of the triangle, it includes Great Falls to the south.

Many people have said that we could provide bread for the world just from the Golden Triangle.

Those people are probably right.