We recently attended the ND Grazing Lands Coalition Succession Planning Workshop. This event was sponsored by the National Grazing Lands Coalition and the ND Grazing Lands Coalition. Marissa Nehlsen’s Freedom Financial Group and Starion Bank were sponsors and participants along with Alfredo Delgado, a communications specialist with Brain Masters Life Coaching. One of the highlights …
UPDATE ON 2022 LANDOWNER PRESCRIBED FIRE WORKSHOPS Landowner workshop dates are April 27th & 28th at the SDSU Extension Office at Mitchell Tech and June 2nd & 3rd at the SDSU Oak Lake Field Station near Astoria. Contact Jan Rounds at the SDSU Extension office in Watertown for both locations. Janice.rounds@sdstate.edu or 605-882-5140. Registrants will …
The Green Side Up: How will fire affect my plant community? Read More »
the trail boss by Charles M. Russell, is the logo of the Society for Range Management (SRM). This famous painting depicts the cowboy watching over cattle as they are driven up a valley. It is easy to look at the cowboy and imagine his job is to oversee the cattle drive. Another interesting viewpoint could …
in 2022 It is not hard to find a ranch mentor who is feeding the soil to create more productive rangeland. Glenn Elzinga, Bob Kinford, and Gabe Brown are just a few of the growing group of `healthy rangeland` advocates. All three mentors practice Holistic Resource Management. Glenn Elzinga featured speaker at the Grassland Coalition …
Finding the Right Balance: Holistic Resource Management Read More »
One of our board members recently posed a question about the carbon cycle and fire. The concern is that fire obviously releases carbon into the atmosphere that might otherwise be sequestered (stored) deep into the soil profile. Wouldn’t this then be counter to our organizational goals? A very legitimate question given the current state of …
Ranching in the northern Great Plains is a tough place to work, especially in the winter. Traditional winter feed costs can make up 60% or more of the annual cow expense due to the costs of making and feeding hay. A typical ranch operation might feed for 90-120 days or more depending on the severity …
Late summer rains in much of the state have boosted cool-season grasses extending fall grazing, but many producers harvested a minimal amount of hay to get them through the winter. With high hay prices, producers are looking at less expensive ways to supplement existing hay supplies. Even in western SD, corn and soybean residues are …
Fall is a great time to monitor your pasture resources and get a picture of how the grazing season went. It might be discouraging to do this in a drought year, but it is actually a very important management step toward preparing for next year. I am going to present three methods. The first method, …
Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) A native tree to the eastern half of the US. It has been slowly spreading into the Great Plains over the last 100 years. Historically, fire and grazing have kept this tree from overtaking our grasslands. If you think back to what life was like on the Great Plains …
We’re in our third year of custom grazing sheep at Rock Hills Ranch. Our pastures have a diverse mix of grass, forbs, and shrubs, some of which cattle won’t consume. Western snowberry has been problematic ever since Lyle and I arrived here 45 years ago. Leafy spurge moved in more recently as has Canada thistle …
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