Garfield County

Jordan, located in Garfield County serves as the county seat, serving approximately 1250 people, and 600 incorporated in the town of Jordan. Having Fort peck and the Missouri River Breaks as the norther boundary, which offers recreationalists a very diverse destination when visiting our county. Cohagen marks the midpoint of the southern landscape on Highway 59, while Sand Springs, greets travelers on the western side of highway 200. Brusett being recognized region that can be accessed only by dirt roads. All these locations add to the uniqueness of Garfield County, and all the opportunities that if offers families. Agriculture is the primary industry, with commercial and registered cattle herds running the range land. Historically this area was a sheep producing community, the sheep numbers have dwindled the past 20 or so years to only having a few thousand head. Dryland barely and wheat are the predominate crops in the area, followed by the annual forages and a scattering of pulse crops. Tourism in the forms of fishing, hunting, boating, and dinosaur digging are available throughout the year. Fort Peck Lake, the Hell Creek formations, and Hell Creek State Park recreational area draws individuals from all over the world. Garfield County Extension uses non- formal educational programs backed by research-based knowledge to teach community members and bring new opportunities to them. Programs including the Winter Ag series, 4H project workshops, other educational classes for the community on a variety of topics that the community finds a need/interest in.

Calving Seminar

In late February this year, we hosted a calving seminar, to help ranchers across the county, to build confidence, gain new skills, and refresh some old skills. This class was also made for members of the community that might not have a lot of experience in calving and wanted to learn more to help them go further. Becca Woodford DMV, from Crazy Mountain Vet, came and talked on the topics of, calving, prolapses, casting, IV therapy, and colostrum, while touching on any other topics the participants of the class had questions in. Dr. Woodford brought her life-sized cow Stella, to bring a hands-on learning method, where ranchers could try out the different skills that she was talking about that day. Community members left that day with knowledge and confidence going into calving season, knowing more skills that will help them, in difficult situations.

Caption: Becca Woodford DMV, teaching individuals how to pull a calf that is in a difficult position.

Credit: Photo Credit Teo Sinks

Gardening Mini Series

Gardening in Garfield County can be difficult at times, with the type of soil and the water that we have in the county. This spring we partnered with Jennifer Solf from Mushell-Golden Valley counties and brought a gardening class to the community. We met on two consecutive Tuesdays, in our local county meeting room. The first Tuesday we talked about soil basics and soil health. We taught about the different types of soil, and the importance of having healthy soil to grow what we want to in our gardens. In this class we showed how you can test at home what kind of soils you have, by using the ribbon test and placing the soil in a jar with other components and letting it all settle to determine what is in the soil. The individuals in the class got to be hands on and try the ribbon test and tell us what kind of soil that we brought in. Following the testing of the soils, we talked about what kind of things we can add to our soil to provide the nutrients that we want to grow different plants. The second class we learned about what we can now grow based on what we learned in the first class. Following the lecture of the class members got to go out to the local greenhouse and leaner from the owner some of his different tricks and tips that he has learned over the years gardening in Jordan. Everyone was then able to tour the greenhouse and ask him any questions they may have had. The participants of this class were able to learn and gain new skills about soil health, the different types of soil, what nutrients need to be added to soil, and new tricks that they could take home and execute in their own gardens.

Caption: Inside a greenhouse at In my Plants Greenhouse.

Credit: Photo Credit Jennifer Solf

Garfield County 4-H

4-H in Garfield County had a successful year, with 63 enrolled members and 18 volunteers, that made this year successful. Throughout this year of 4-h we offered different classes for members, some on record books our quality assurance course, cake decorating, showmanship clinic. Throughout the year we do different fundraisers including wreath sales, and fruit sales. Along with this we had 4 successful tagging days for all the 4H livestock in the county. We were able to host County Days, this is where members can do their demonstrated and illustrated talks, impromptu and prepared speeches, and livestock judge with a fun activity to end the day. A highlight of this year was the different camps that happen in the summer months for 4H members. Camp Needmore is held in the southeast part of the state in Ekalaka. Members aged from 3rd to 6th grade can attend the camp, along with some teen members as councilors. These members get to stay in cabins for 3 days and get to partake in different activities like repelling, team building activities, shooting shotguns, and may other activities. Oreo is another camp that our members can attend, being directed at the 7th and 8th graders. Each year this camp change’s locations to give its members a different experience. This summer we went to Medora ND. Members were able to participate in group activities and tour Medora, going to some educational plays and sights. Congress the final camp that members were able to go to this year. Members going to this can set up and help run this state event. This event is directed at members that are 14 years old and older. Members get to partake in different contests, like livestock judging, stir-ups, speaking contests, and they can show off some projects like quilting. These members attend different sessions in the evening and when not participating in a contest they attend sessions to grow their toolbox in being leaders. Garfield County fair this year was another successful fair. Members started the week with doing interviews and exhibiting their indoor projects. Then we had the horse and poultry show, this year was only the second year of having a poultry show at our fair and it was a huge success. Friday our members that show livestock got to see how all their hard work paid off for the year. What a rewarding time for members and a great learning opportunity for them going forward. Wrapping up the fair with another great livestock sale. We cannot thank everyone that participated in the sale and throughout the week enough, we have an amazing community and supporters. In the coming year we have some exciting things happening for our 4H program, as we are bringing back the teen leader and ambassador program, as well as the cloverbud program to the county. We are looking forward to another great year with our members.

Caption: Members learning new cake decorating skills to use on their fair projects.

Credit: Photo Credit Teo Sinks

Contact

254 Leavitt Ave, PO Box 81
Jordan, MT 59337
4065572770
https://www.montana.edu/extension/garfield/