Education

Canada goldenrod is a native flowering plant that most consider a weed in pastures. Canada thistle and perennial sow thistle are both common noxious weeds in South Dakota,

Driving through the state we’ve noticed a fair number of shelter belts with dead trees. If your trees are dying or your shelterbelt is old

Flies—the plague of summer! Fly control is part of a comprehensive management plan for cattle. Chemical control has been

Partial budgeting or cost-benefit analysis is a useful tool to help guide investment decisions in farm businesses. The premise is simply “if I invest in the business will it pay off”. Since most investments take several years to realize the benefit, the time value of money must be considered. I use

When Al and Simone Wind purchased their ranch east of Newell, in April of 2007, the region was entering the 6th year of what would be a 7 year drought. But the lack of rainfall was further exacerbated by 50 to 75 years of bad range management. The only thing their future property had been spared was the plow. Overgrazing

1984 was a tough year to be a rancher in northwest South Dakota. A perfect storm had spread across the Great Plains. A cow killing blizzard, drought, scary low cattle prices and land values so far into the toilet many

Dealing with farm/ranch transfer is important, but often difficult to accomplish. The Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition recently hired a ranch transition task manager to work with ranch families in

We recently attended a session of “Edible Landscapes,” a two-day Soil Health Summit held at Bismarck State College. The ND meetings are always very informative and usually include a human health

As the summer winds down and leads into the fall, it seems that our growing season never really became normal. Wetness has persisted, and even the small creek in my pasture, normally dry in August, has remained at a muddy high flow all summer due to upstream surface runoff and field tiling creating seemingly huge

Last winter was a tough one. The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a “parade of snowstorms” on the Northern Plains. The verdict will be in next April. In the