Farm406

Cory and Belinda Hawks are progressive young producers deeply commied to regenerative agriculture, starting with their dedication to building soil health. e Hawks' soil health journey began in 2009 when they returned to north central Montana aer college graduation. e couple purchased the ranch next to Cory's dad Adrian, land the family homesteaded since 1910. ey added to their operation over the next few years and now manage 17,000 acres of range and farmland spread over twenty miles. Adrian Hawks began working with NRCS over ten years ago through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) for his ranching operations. "Both dad and my uncle have been fairly innovative in what they were doing," states Cory. "Dad has done a lot of cross- fencing and water developments for the cows. He was probably more progressive on the cale side of things than most of the ranches around here. So, we had a good base to start off with the intensive grazing." Currently, the Hawks have 270 mother cows and 110 replacement heifers. "When I came back, we were running four or five different herds of fiy cows together, leaving them in a pasture for a month," states Cory. "About two years ago, we put them all together into one herd, and then last year we split up pastures with electric fence, moving them every three days. We now allow more rest time between grazing the pastures, and that act alone has started to increase our species diversity." To save time and labor cross-fencing, Cory engineered a mobile, solar-powered electric fence trailer with plans to tweak the design and build additional units. "We can take the unit out with the four-wheeler and reel out a mile of fence in about seven minutes," says Cory. "It works well for big moves. We use it for perimeter and cross-fencing for smaller sections." e Hawks constantly strive toward improvement by developing innovative ways to work smarter and save on inputs. "We are trying to come up with easy solutions to make things work smoother," states Belinda. Despite a year of low precipitation, the Hawks feel optimistic about their progress so far. "is year, we are experiencing a drought, but we are considerably less stressed than we've ever been before," continues Cory. e family's lower stress levels can be aributed to soil health improvements and grazing practices they are implementing on their land. "When it's not raining, and Producer Cory Hawks and NRCS District Conservationist Laurie Massar look at the soil and root structure of intercropped peas and barley during drought. Cory Hawks with disc drill purchased through NRCS EQIP program. Double disc drill design creates minimal soil disturbance. 25 farm406

• Cover