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The Held family has ranched along the Powder River and in Carter County for four generations. They raise registered black Angus breeding stock through embryo transfer and 350 mother cows. About 400 acres are under pivots, 100 are on flood irrigation, 300 are under dryland, and the rest is uncultivated hills. Most of the irrigated ground is in alfalfa. They’ve also raised triticale, peas, oats, barley, corn, and clover. Like other ranchers, the Helds are familiar with variable temperatures and precipitation that are up one year and down the next. However, they and other local ranchers are experiencing an increasing number of extreme climate and weather events – drought, excess...
Recent governmental events (kidnapping people off the streets, arresting dissenters, blocking free speech, withholding monies) brought back a few thoughts. One (from a political science class) was, “Power is seized – not granted.” The other (from a seminar on negotiations) was, “Th...
Picture this: You are with a friend and they get a phone call. You do your best to ignore the conversation - even the one side you can hear. Your friend ends the phone call and without them saying a word, you know something is wrong. Or this: You are with a group of friends. The air is happy and jov...
From Gulf of America to mass expulsion of “illegals” (people of color) to continuing genocidal complicity in Gaza to whatever the daily news brings us ... welcome to Trump America! Welcome to the small-minded, white nation so many long for, free once again from those large, inconvenient values &n...
What’s in a name? My daughter, who is expecting a baby, is currently considering this question and it’s a deep one for sure. A name can connote so many things. It can remind you of someone you really like - or really don’t like. It can inadvertently rhyme with a swear word. An easy nickn...
As moms, educators, and lawmakers, we came to the Capitol this session with one clear goal: to improve opportunity for Montana’s kids. But with just weeks left in the legislative session, we’re concerned that we may leave Helena having done only the bare minimum—and that’s not good en...
I have bad luck with avocados. I just can’t seem to keep track of them. I shop for them. I put them in my cart. I pay for them. And then, something goes decidedly – or perhaps magically – wrong. I leave the store with an avocado in my bag and when I come home, it is gone.&...
Montana livestock production will be challenged by the climate conditions projected for 2030-2100 that result from increasing greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. The challenges center on the interactions between a changing climate and evolving prices for animals, rising production costs, pan...
It took almost two centuries of tyranny, war and suffering for our ancestors, desperate for liberty and self-determination, to conceive of and draft our system of constitutional government that has endured for 237 years. They met in Philadelphia in the sweltering heat of the summer of 1787 to design...
I raise my voice for Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Kahlil. Trump is silencing Mahmoud through politically-targeted illegal deportation. Trump doesn’t like Mahmoud’s opinions and activism on Gaza. I’m a retired white guy living in Montana. I have a duty to my country ...
