What’s the soil food web got to do with it? This is a special podcast to prepare our audience for the upcoming Climate Smart Agriculture enhancements to the EQIP and CSP programs, amongst others. In our previous podcast recorded in November 2022, we spoke to South Dakota NRCS’s Jessica Michalski and Kent Vlieger about some…
Soil Health Labs Ep. 41: Ray Archuleta Follows Nature to Deliver Farm/Ranch Profit
It is a rare pleasure to speak with a person of consequence and have their undivided attention for an hour. Ray Archuleta, who needs little introduction, has been a person of consequence in the lives of Buz Kloot (Soil Health Labs at the University of South Carolina) and Tanse Herrmann, NRCS Grazing Lands Soil Health…
Soil Health Labs Ep. 40: Unlock Year-Round Grazing through Common Sense Forage Plans
In this, our second chat with Bart Carmichael, rancher out of Faith SD, we quizzed Bart on his approach to year-round grazing where Bart walks us through why he aims to graze year-round, what he does to make this possible and what benefits he sees from this practice. Given the dry conditions experienced at the…
Soil Health Labs Ep. 39: How Rangeland Health and Livestock Work to Solve Environmental Issues
We’re excited to introduce our good friend, Shannon Kulseth-Iverson. Shannon is a native of North Dakota and ranches with her husband, Eric Iverson and her three teenage children out of White River, SD. We caught up with Shannon (yes, she is always on the move) and talked about ranching, native range restoration, and her work…
Soil Health Labs Ep. 38: Biologist-Rancher Promotes Ranch Health with Prairie Dog Ecosystem
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. In this episode, we discuss Dr. Grassel’s work with prairie dogs…
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. 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. 32: Adaptive Management Applied
We catch up with Pat Guptill, rancher from Quinn, SD, Pat grazes his base herd year-round and when he has enough grass in the summer, will take on additional stockers. Pat discusses his basic operating philosophy and business model, he shares with us the number 1 thing he attends to: spoiler alert, these are livestock…
Soil Health Labs Ep. 31: Growing Rangeland Resilience
In this podcast, we talk with Miranda Meehan, NDSU Extension Livestock Environmental Stewardship Specialist. We chat with Miranda about a wide range of subjects that include environmental stewardship and livestock-environmental interactions including: range and riparian ecology, grazing management, integrated crop livestock systems, water quality, and reclamation. Miranda grew up in the agricultural community in North…