First and foremost, the South Dakota Grassland Coalition (SDGC) provides educational opportunities for producers and agency personnel alike. Among other base needs, grassland management requires knowledge of the whole system: soil, water and nutrients, plants, animals and their interactions with one another. The SDGC has a wealth of informational tools available and is willingly prepared to share them with others seeking assistance.
Along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS), South Dakota State University (SDSU) Extension and private consultants, the SDGC offers assistance and information to individuals and groups who are interested in grassland management and are committed to improving South Dakota’s grasslands. Many of these supporting agencies also offer grassland management education, technical assistance and guidance.
Planning is the key to developing a holistic management approach to improving your grassland resources and your financial position. The complex nature of grasslands requires a holistic, integrated management approach. The SDGC supports workshops, tours, seminars and other educational opportunities to help producers improve skills in decision making on various topics that include their quality of life, environmental stewardship and creative ways to turn natural resources into financial capital, while still protecting the integrity and longevity of those resources. If managed well, grass is a proven renewable and profitable resource, and the SDGC strives to help producers achieve balance between land health, profitability and quality of life.
The SDGC, in partnership with ranchers across the state, has established a mentoring network to provide valuable hands-on learning experiences for both current and prospective grassland managers. Through mentorship by established producers, the mentee (you!) has the opportunity to see a system in operation and receive guidance from the mentor regarding the success and challenges of the system.
Our flagship outreach effort is the South Dakota Grazing School. Here participants can learn, through classroom and hands-on field instruction, the foundational principles of setting goals, grassland ecology, grazing planning, drought planning, monitoring and financial planning in an integrated setting with other producers and grassland managers from across the state.
The Healthy Grasslands article series is provided by the South Dakota Grassland Coalition in partnership with SDSU Extension. Contributing editors: Alexander J. Smart, Peter J. Bauman and Joshua Lefers. © South Dakota Grassland Coalition 2017. For more information, view the full publication or visit the South Dakota Grassland Coalition website.
