“.. Everything works together. The more diverse a pasture or grassland is, the healthier it is, the more resilient it is to any disturbance that comes at it. So, if we can have that diversity it’s going to reduce the inputs needed and the landscape can be more resilient as well”. If you find yourself…
Soil Health Labs Ep. 37: Biologist-Rancher Renovates Pasture for Wildlife and Livestock
Dr. Shaun Grassel is a wildlife biologist who works out on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation’s headquarters for the tribe’s Department of Wildlife, Fish and Recreation. In addition, Shaun has recently taken a more active role in managing his family land in Lower Brule, both in ranching and experimenting with growing native grasses, including big…
Soil Health Labs Ep. 36: A Rural Videographer’s Eye-Opening Journey Promoting Soil Health
In the last seven years, the name of Joe Dickie has become more and more synonymous with high quality video that highlights outstanding farmers and ranchers in South Dakota. Many in the South Dakota agricultural community know and trust Joe, but he is a busy man and doesn’t always get to share his whole story….
Soil Health Labs Ep. 35: State Grazing Lands Specialist Reveals Top Tips for Driving Soil Health
In this second of two podcasts with Tanse Herrmann, State Grazinglands Soil Health Specialist in South Dakota, we discuss a number of topics including: How can rangeland managers think about soil health principles as applied to rangeland and not just cropland? What makes adaptive grazing managers so successful, what is their secret? What goes on…
Soil Health Labs Ep. 33: Calving with Nature Cuts Costs for Year-Round Grazing
In this second of two chats with rancher, Pat Guptill (Quinn, SD), we discuss how he can graze his livestock year-round and (to us, at least) the surprising link between year-round grazing and calving on grass (so when you see fawns out on the prairie, that’s the time to calve in your area). Pat’s basic…
Soil Health Labs Ep. 27: Exploring the Future of Ag with Dr. Dwayne Beck
To most farmers in South Dakota, Dr. Dwayne Beck needs very little introduction, Dwayne is the manager of the Dakota lakes Research Station near Pierre, SD and has been an influential force in promoting no-till farming and an awareness of soil biology with farmers. While Dwayne has written a good bit on no-till farming, he…
Plug and Plant Ep. 23: Bringing Prosperity Back to the Range
It’s often thought that being a rancher is a noble profession—but not one that easily pays the bills. In this episode, Jenita Qualm (current Farmers Network Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Specialist) calls on us to question this old way of looking at the ranching profession and invites us to step into a reality where ranchers…
Plug and Plant Ep. 10: Planting Season and Priorities
This podcast is the second in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer….