Skip to main content

Farm Management

All Farm Management Content

Yogurt cups are filled with a warm yogurt, then quickly sealed and cooled at a dairy processing plant

Yogurt: A Bright Future for Dairy?

On a percentage growth basis yogurt has clearly been the dairy industry’s shining star.

Man wearing a long-sleeved shirt and waterproof gloves loading pesticide-contaminated clothing into a washer. Courtesy: NDSU Extension

How to Properly Launder Insecticide-Contaminated Clothes

It is important to prevent insecticide exposure from occurring when laundering contaminated or potentially contaminated clothing.

financial paperwork sitting on a desk

Financial Record Keeping Software: A comparison of Quicken and QuickBooks

As fall nears many producers are beginning to gather their records to prepare for taxes. From these records many important operating decisions are made. Agriculture producers often use computer software to keep financial records. While there are software packages tailored for farm and ranch businesses, many producers successfully use general commercial software such as Quicken® or QuickBooks®. Both products can be useful for an agricultural producer’s record keeping. The question which often arises from producers is, “which one do I need”?

A horizontal bed biofilter diagram. Contact SDSU Extension for more information.

Horizontal Bed Biofilter Construction: Lessons learned at the SDSU gestation unit

This article outlines the design considerations, experiences and cost to construct a horizontal bed biofilter for a pit fan on the new South Dakota State University Swine Education and Research Facility gestation room.

filed of sunflowers in bloom

Why Add an Agritourism Enterprise to Your Farm or Ranch?

Agritourism is the practice of touring agricultural areas to see farms and often to participate in farm activities.

Dairy cattle on a dairy farm.

Heat Stress in Dairy Cows: Is Genetic Selection a Solution?

The summer season is just around the corner, and the knowledge and understanding of the effects of heat stress on cow production and how to mitigate these effects are important for dairy operations.

A small business owner giving a demonstration.

Credibility: The Foundation of Leadership

Research has shown that credibility is the foundation of leadership.

A group of people watching a speaker. American flag in background.

Are People Born Leaders?

In leadership research during the 20th century, the question: are people born leaders? drew great attention to determine what made certain individuals leaders over others.

stack of coins with faded chart lines showing in the foreground

Financial Ratios and Trend Analysis

Financial Ratios and Trend Analysis is designed to formulate financial ratios and data, utilizing information provided by the producer.

a graphic image of South Dakota with multiple colors

Grain Merchant and Processor Consolidation, Concentration, and Competition

A general trend in the last century has been for greater consolidation among Grain Merchants and Oilseed Millers and Processors. The U.S. Census Bureau tracks the number of firms and/or establishments and value of sales (market size) by industry sector every 5 years as a part of the Economic Census. In addition to the number of firms and sales, the Census Bureau publishes concentration ratios for each sector. One concentration ratio they publish is the amount of sales attributed to the four largest firms in that sector. The percentage of sales of the 4 largest firms is a measure that aids in identifying the type of market structure that exists.