Help in the field 

Area rancher finds benefit of conservation program; farmer takes advantage of no-till drill rental  

     When Butch Sees purchased Winding Sprague River Ranch outside Beatty, it already was part of the Oregon Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.

   For the past five years, around 300 acres of land bordering the Sprague River have not been grazed by cattle, allowing the land to return to its natural state, Sees said. The rest of Sees’ 1,540-acre ranch still serves as pastureland and hay fields, and Sees receives annual payments to keep the land natural for the next 10 years.

   “There was a lot of planting of trees and bushes back there,” he said.  

   Sees said when he bought the property four years ago, the restoration work was done, but the plants were quite young.

   “You couldn’t see it,” he said. “You’d have to go out there and really look for it. Now it’s grown up.”  

   Aspens and cottonwoods, elderberry and cu r ra nt trees, a long with various bushes and native grasses, provide food for wildlife, Sees said. He still cages new tree starts because beavers enjoy eating them.

   Sees said while he may not have chosen to commit the land to the program independently, he doesn’t miss the production that much. He would not be using it to run his cattle and likely would have rented it out. The federal payments help of fset that lost income potential.

   “I think it’s a pretty even trade,” he said.  

   And while the land is committed to the program, Sees gets visits from ducks, geese, deer and antelope.

   No-till drill program

   For Dave Reite, the no-till drill rental from the Klamath Soil and Water Conservation District is an ideal way to have access to a piece of equipment a hobby-farmer like himself couldn’t purchase.

   “I’m not a big-time farmer,” Reite said.

   After buying land near Merrill, Reite, who is employed full-time by a phone company, decided   to give farming a try.

   “It did start out as a hobby,” he said. “Since you’re out in the area, everybody else farms and you do a little bit and you think that’s OK. Each year, I buy more equipment, take on more responsibility, more land.”

   Reite grows oats and barley one season, and in the fall plants among the stubble his alfalfa and orchard grass mix, he said.

   “That gets your crop established. That’ll sit there all winter doing nothing, and in spring that’ll be the beginning of four or five years of alfalfa and orchard grass hay,” he said.  

   During the past three or four years, Reite has been planting the grass mix in 30- or 40-acre plots on his 150 -acre farm.

   “I don’t have time to do it all,” he said.

   The no-till drill rental saves Reite time and money as well.

   “It’s always in good working condition,” he said. “Since I’m not doing this all the time, I don’t have to maintain it either.”