Wheat Country Montana

 On our drives through farmland in Montana, the main crop seems to be wheat, and lots of it. Corn and soybeans are prevalent in our part of the country; rarely do we see fields of small grain.

One of the reasons for our stay in the Great Falls area was to complete a geoart. We were about 30 miles north and west of Great Falls the day we collected the 79 puzzle caches.

We traveled on gravel roads between fields, pastures and hay land. There was very little traffic; no harvesting equipment or grain trucks to share the road.

The cache containers were preform tubes under a rock or two, next to a pole or fence post. Easy finds. Most of the ditches were not steep or wide. No snakes...just grasshoppers.

Some fields had not been harvested yet.

Some were done. Some had not been planted at all.

This field had been swathed. Those are some big, heavy swathes.

One thing I noticed was the lack of huge or numerous grain bins in the fields or on the few farms we passed. Often it was like this photo, three bins. So we think the wheat must be trucked to community elevators. The fields are HUGE and would fill the bins easily.

We saw some cows, but not many considering the size of the pastures and the amount of pasture land. But it is very dry in this area. No irrigation for the fields.

An abandoned farm house looking lonely and weathered.

And a field that is NOT wheat, but beans or peas. The house in the above photo was in this field. 

Hubby picked one pod. The kernel looks like a chick pea.

Pronghorn antelope. There were two standing in the field looking at us. They weren't there when we drove west, but were when we returned to the main road.

Then we realized there were three more resting in the field. They blended in so well. (The third one is to the right, just out of the camera shot.)

We also saw a coyote, but it was moving right along and I could not get the camera out and focused fast enough. 

There were a large number of horses in a number of different fenced areas on a farm. There were different breeds of horses. Two had the look and size of Percherons. Some had very long ears like mules or donkeys.

Without attracting too much attention (there was a gentleman working in the yard of the farm) I took photos. This was the only donkey we saw. But it was hard to tell if there were more among the about 40 we did see.

Not much grass for any of them to eat. The farmer did have hay racks in each of the fenced areas.

We stopped at an approach to switch drivers on the way back to Great Falls. We noticed a pile of spilled grain on the highway. The grain was not there three hours earlier. It looks like corn.

But it isn't. Peas? Lentils? My brother has planted field peas, but he cuts them green and chops them for cattle feed. 

This photo shows we were traveling on straight country roads to find the 79 puzzle caches. The truck was VERY dirty/dusty when we completed the geoart. It went through a car wash as soon as we got back to town.

This is what we accomplished on Saturday on our drive in the country. Eighty miles. Seventy-nine geocaches. Great country scenery. Wildlife and farm animals. Farming country. Sunshine and blue sky. It was a good day for these two farm kids!