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. 22: Overcoming the Fear of Prescribed Burn
“The Eastern Red Cedar invasion is happening right in my backyard. It affects many of my friends, landowners, ranchers, and people I work with in the county.” Sean Kelly, South Dakota State University (SDSU) Extension Range Management Field Specialist, Winner, South Dakota, discusses the process of a prescribed burn to showcase the safe use of…
Plug and Plant Ep. 20: Optimizing our Soils with Former NRCS State Conservationist Jeff Zimprich
“Soil health knows no bounds,’ says Jeff Zimprich, the recently retired NRCS State Conservationist in South Dakota. “It can be accomplished on the front lawn and is alive and well in our grasslands and our croplands. But we can always do more to become more resilient to handle the weather patterns coming our way.” Hear…
Plug and Plant Ep. 19: Increasing Rangeland Soil Health with Stan Boltz
Stan Boltz, a USDA NRCS rangeland management specialist in South Dakota for 33 years, describes how healthy soil and cattle grazing management can reduce invasive species, bring back native rangeland and increase stocking rates. Listen to the podcast interview with Robin “Buz” Kloot on Growing Resilience podcasts or Soil Health Labs podcast.
Plug and Plant Ep. 18: Promoting Healthy Grass in Cropland Country with Larry Wagner
“Here in South Dakota, we always say we’re two weeks away from a drought. Having your soil in good condition in wet years helps store more water than having it runoff. You get through a really dry year pretty well.” Larry Wagner, a rancher who grows grass in cropland country southeast of Chamberlain, SD, has…
Plug and Plant Ep. 17: Growing Resilience Talks to Range Evangelist, James Halverson
The Stockgrowers is a wonderful organization trying to do some great things, trying to help ranchers and help our independent cattle producers of this country and trying to save our rural towns, which are in decline. And so we need to help these things economically and ecologically. And I think those things can all work…
Plug and Plant Ep. 16: A Practical View of Drought Planning with Mitch Faulkner
In this podcast with we take a deep dive into drought management and the South Dakota Drought tool. Our guest is Mitch Faulkner, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Rangeland Management Specialist, out of Belle Fourche, SD where he talked to us about his own background in rangeland in dry areas, why we need to…
Plug and Plant Ep. 13: Soil Structure and Conservation
This podcast is the fifth 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….