Livestock

All Livestock Content

An orange plastic hoop placed around a portion of tall grass on a range to provide a measurement.

You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure: Range Record Keeping

Range record keeping helps detect and demonstrate landscape changes that have a direct impact on your ability to maintain or grow your herd.

Two young women observing a group of sheep in a holding pen.

Managing Sheep Keds

Sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus) are blood-sucking external parasites that can significantly impact sheep production.

Cattle HQ

SDSU Extension's beef team provides valuable insights to improve the health, productivity and profitability of your herd through the Cattle HQ podcast and monthly webinars.

Herd of bison behind a fencline in a pasture.

Getting Started With Bison Ranching

While bison ranching has some similarities with cattle ranching, there are significant differences that must be accounted for to ensure long-term sustainability and profitability.

grass with field bindweed, a viny green weed with white flowers

Weed Control: Noxious Weeds

Weed control recommendations for noxious weeds in South Dakota.

Group of meat processing trainees inspecting parts of a beef carcass.

Testing for E. coli in Raw Meat Products: Basic information for meat processors

While the risk of Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) should be taken seriously, the incidence of positive STEC tests can be mitigated by proper animal, carcass, and product handling, as well as robust sanitation policies and practices.

Russ Daly, Professor and SDSU Extension Veterinarian, examining young beef cattle in a pen with two students.

Health Considerations for Beef Heifers Transitioning to the Breeding Herd

The length and success of a heifer’s breeding career depends on preventing and managing their health challenges – starting well before they’re even identified as breeding herd candidates.

Red angus cattle gathered in a feedlot in winter.

Livestock

South Dakota is home to a dynamic livestock industry.

small group of dairy cattle grazing in a pasture near a red monoslope barn

Dairy

As a member of the I-29 Moo University Collaboration, SDSU Extension connects South Dakota’s producers with peers and industry experts across a five-state region.

herd of beef cattle grazing in a pasture

Beef

Home to more than 1 million head of cattle, South Dakota’s producers can rely on SDSU Extension for research-based information, best management practices and resources to support healthy and profitable herds.