Fallon and Carter Counties are the far-most Southeast counties of Montana, bordering North and South Dakota to the East and Wyoming to the South. There are about 3,000 people in Fallon County and about 1,000 people in Carter County. Agriculture is a major part of the local communities, with ranching and dryland farming being the major industries. Oil and gas also contribute to the local economy. Recreational hunting for deer, elk, and antelope brings visitors to the area, including other tourism hobbies like museums and dinosaurs. MSU Extension services are shared between Fallon and Carter Counties. We aim to provide quality information and resources to our clientele on agriculture, 4-H and youth development, family and consumer sciences, and community development.

Carter County
Photo Courtesy of Amanda Williams

Fallon and Carter Counties are in Pesticide Private Applicator Region 4, where the recertification cycle ended in 2021, and a new cycle started in 2022. There was a large effort to provide programs for continuing education private applicator credits last year for producers to maintain their licenses, but some producers let their license lapse. When this happens there are options for people to get another private applicator license. One option is to participate in an eight-hour, in-person training with topics on pesticide safety, reading and understanding the label, calibration, and pesticide laws. After the presentations, participants are tested to ensure they learned the important information. Fallon-Carter MSU Extension hosted a day-long training in May, with 15 individuals in attendance to obtain a license or receive renewal points.

Fallon and Carter Counties MSU Extension, in conjunction with the Fallon and Carter County Weed Coordinators, hosted Spray Days in February. This informative program focused on herbicides and how they work, range and pasture control of weeds, weed management after drought, and prairie dog management. The 23 attendees in Ekalaka and 38 attendees in Baker received license renewal credits.

In July, Fallon, Prairie, and Wibaux counties hosted the Tri-County Weed Tour and Ekalaka Range Tour. Speakers focused on rangeland and wildfire, range recovery following drought, and rangeland invasive weed management. The Ekalaka Range Tour, with the Carter County NRCS and Conservation District, invited Jerry Doan to speak about his personal experience with a multigenerational operation and regenerative agriculture. The Ekalaka Range Tour was along Sheep Mountain Road at three producers’ places. Participants came and went during the day, with 37 total participants. The Tri-County Weed Tour had 27 participants who visited a producer’s property that burned last year.

Tri-County Weed Tour
Photo Courtesy of Amanda Williams

The Fallon County 4-H Ambassadors were each challenged this year to come up with and lead an event or program. They would need to use the skills they were learning in the leadership project to direct their team. One event that stands out was an idea to incorporate the pledge into a fundraiser to help their clubs and community, and also their country and world. The ambassadors decided what to do for every aspect of the projects, and they included: challenging each club to submit a community service project they completed, donating to the local school and community cupboard to supply youth and adults with winter clothing, donating supplies for two veteran’s service dogs, and funding a heifer in another country. Other events that were created included a community dance during the fair and hosting small project judging.

Fallon/Carter 4-H Ambassadors
Photo Courtesy of Kodie Olsen

Since MSU Extension clients have shown increased interest in growing their own food and preserving the food they harvest, we provided a gardening program in May. It included basic information on soils, planning a garden, plant selection, pest infestation, and harvest. The goal was to provide key information from the Master Gardener Program, condensed into one evening. There were 10 participants, and two brought in soil samples afterward to see if they needed to add soil amendments. After the growing season, we offered a canning program. Seven participants joined a hands-on program to learn about water bath and pressure canning with Family and Consumer Sciences Agent Roubie Younkin from Valley County MSU Extension. Everyone learned the basics of canning and preserving food, then learned how to pressure can chicken. While the pressure canner was running, participants made salsa. They cut vegetables, assembled salsa in jars, and placed jars in a water bath canner. There was extra salsa, so participants also taste-tested the salsa while everything was in the canners. All participants said they enjoyed learning in a hands-on way and took home jars of salsa and chicken.

Making salsa in the canning program.
Photo Courtesy of Amanda Williams