Carter County

Carter County is the far-most Southeast County of Montana, bordering South Dakota to the East and Wyoming to the South. There are roughly 1,400 people in Carter County. Agriculture is a major part of the local community, with ranching and dryland farming being the major industries. Hunting brings visitors to the area, including other tourism hobbies like museums and dinosaurs.  In Carter County, MSU Extension fosters community development, teaching family and consumer sciences, youth development programs, and agriculture and natural resources programming.

Contact

214 East Park Street
Ekalaka, MT 59324
406-775-6305
https://www.montana.edu/extension/carter/index.html

Workshops to build community

Carter County MSU Extension hosts community activities to increase connection among community members. 

In 2025, approximately 40 participants attended a crochet workshop, a leather workshop, and a wreath making workshop. The participants enjoyed spending time with community members and friends, networking, and learning a new skill. MSU Extension will continue to offer programs like this to help connect both youth and adults in our community.

Caption: Youth participants display their creations from the leather workshop. 

Credit: Amanda Williams

4-H in the Community

The 4-H program in Carter County continues to grow. Carter County had seven active teenage ambassadors, and one of them helped on a regular basis with the Cloverbud program for youth ages 5-8.

Cloverbuds met five times in Ekalaka and four times in Alzada, with more than 30 participants. Youth participated in many hands-on activities that introduced them to ways they can participate in 4-H.

Teen youth ambassadors also played a major role in the Carter County Fair. These young leaders in our community managed daily flag duty at the fairgrounds and hosted a kids dance for the community which included fun games and a dance contest. Ambassadors also hosted an animal showing fundraiser, the Ol’Dawg round robin, where people nominated community members who are beyond 4-H age to participate in an adult competition for showing both small and large animals. More than 60 people were nominated and competed in both round robins. 

Caption: 4-H Week Hay Bale Display

Credit: Amanda Williams

Ventenata Control

Carter County MSU Extension receives many questions about how to manage and control Ventenata, a highly invasive winter annual grass that can reduce livestock forage by up to 70 percent. MSU Extension, with efforts of the local NRCS office and local Weed District, has presented programs to help educate local producers on how to identify this weed. Because of these efforts, the weed was found to be widespread throughout Carter County.

Thankfully the producers of Carter County are very proactive in managing weeds and have already been working to manage Ventenata. One producer is utilizing a drone to monitor and manage Ventanata, and so far is seeing promising results. Other producers have expressed interest to utilize fire to manage ventenata, however, there are no studies yet on this management approach in the northern Great Plains.

In the summer of 2025, MSU Extension Weed Specialist Jane Mangold and ARS Scientist Lance Vermeire from Fort Keogh came to Carter County to evaluate potential research projects for Ventenata control. With a few sites that might work and some producers who are willing to participate, MSU Extension is working to continue education on weed identification and helping coordinate weed management options.

Caption: Scouting for Ventenata research locations.

Credit: Amanda Williams