Section16cattleco’s Blog

Tales From the Outback

By Bryan Lutter

Once upon a time I lived in Wall, SD. What an experience for a crop consultant! I still believe that badlands and corn make a great marriage, and can’t wait for the drought gene. But before biotechnology comes along and takes all the fun out of growing row crops out west, I thought I’d share with you some things I learned out there.

Top Reasons that I love Western Agriculture;

1)   Indian Radio Stations!! I love their announcers. They crack me up with their 45 minute birthday announcements, and public service announcements such as; “Sally so-and-so is looking for her 12 or 14 or something year-old daughter Jenny. She hasn’t seen Jenny for a week or two, and thinks Jenny knows where the keys to the car might be. If you know where Jenny is, please tell her to go home.”

2)   Lots of weird bugs and pests never thought of east of Hwy 281 such as;

a)    Army Cutworms in Winter Wheat and Alfalfa.

b)    Grouse stomping grounds – I’m not kidding I’ve seen whole acres of corn stomped into the dust by grouse.

c)    Prairie dogs – not just a nuisance in pastures. Just try no-tilling corn or sunflowers into a Prairie Dog town.

d)    Crickets – a couple years ago whole townships of sunflower seeds got eaten by crickets before the flowers had a chance.

3)   So many different crops, so much land. Complicated rotations of the Outback really break up the corn-bean monotony.

4)   Brandings. If you’ve never attended a branding I highly recommend you check one out. It’s a trip back in time, involving heeling calves from horseback, lots of mud, dust, smoke, bawling cows, sweating calf wrestlers, and washing down fresh, and I mean FRESH rocky mountain oysters with endless beer. Brandings remain the best camaraderie and fellowship between neighbors I’ve ever seen. If I ever make it to heaven, it’ll be a non-stop branding.

5)   Why is it that so many great radio stations are West River? If you’re near Winner, SD on Friday, tune into 93.7 for all request music all day. Near the Hills? You gotta check out 101.1. I can’t believe the stuff they get away with! I’m convinced the further one drives west in SD, the more diverse that person’s tastes will become. Must have something to do the thin air. It’s why Western SD can pull off a motorcycle rally. By the time you get there you become a whole new person and ready to take part in a Toby Keith video.

6)   Repairing breakdowns. Breakdowns present a fun challenge out west. Its 300 miles to any implement dealer, and forget about on-farm tire service. One beautiful spring day while planting corn with Harney Peak in the background, a small hydraulic motor went out on a corn planter I operated. Through a complicated series of repeater towers, I got a hold of the farmer I worked for at the time. The nearest part of course sat in Pierre, which put us halfway between the part and the airplane required to get the part. Rather than wasting road time driving to an airfield, and because the delivery plane could not land in the field, we figured the pilot could hook the part to a parachute and drop it near me on the way home. (I’m NOT making this up!)

To make a long story short, the parachute deployed inside the cockpit as the pilot attempted to throw the package out the window. Thrashing arms from the pilot tore the part loose and it headed directly at me in a big brown box at 150 MPH. It occurred to me at the time that this never happened to me before. I’ve never once ran from a big object dropped from an airplane on a piece of real estate nowhere near a road, a person, or a witness. If the box killed me, and simultaneously the flailing pilot caught up in his own parachute inside the cockpit were to crash, who would tell this story? Or if someone were to find my carcass, how would they explain an eight inch hydraulic motor lodged within my skeleton? Oh the thoughts that goes through one’s mind while running for dear life from corn planter parts.

Economics of land rents in a fluid marketplace rule out one farming area of the US from maintaining an advantage over any other farming area. Basically the opportunities remain the same everywhere, but the details and hassles do change.

I couldn’t ask for a better life, for I get to travel from Winfred, SD to Rapid City on a weekly basis, working with farmers all along the way. I love my entire territory, but often find myself in disbelief over the obstacles that West River farmers overcome daily.