Search

Economic Considerations for Early Weaning

There is an excellent reason why ranchers use early weaning as a drought management tool: Weaning calves early reduces the amount of feed required to maintain the cow.

Dairy worker giving tour of dairy facility.

How Are You Empowering Others as Leaders or Employees?

You will be amazed how well people can perform as employees or leaders when you take the time to establish job expectations and then empower them to accomplish them.

Pig Barn Turnover Rates: Challenges & Costs

Employee turnover is inevitable, but how managers respond to it and learn from it determines the resiliency of a pig barn’s future and the level of productivity that is achieved.

small group of cattle grazing on cover crops

Cover Crops & Livestock Integration: A Profit Opportunity for S.D. Farms

Cover crops have been gaining a reemerging acceptance over the last decade, with very few producers disagreeing about the potential soil health benefits of adding cover crops to their farming operation.

Bull Selection

Bull sale season is upon us and those who are in the market for a new herd sire face a choice that will impact their herd for many years.

several cattlemen on horseback moving a herd of cattle at pasture

Cow Share Agreements

Getting started in the cattle business can be tricky for beginning cattlemen due to the amount of capital investment needed upfront.

Requirements for Food Entrepreneurs Selling Food in South Dakota

Throughout the country and in the state of South Dakota, people are showing more interest in selling their own food products and starting their own business

Soybean seed drill planting soybeans. Courtesy: Soybean Checkoff [CC BY 2.0].

Improve Soybean Profitability by Reducing Input Costs

While declining prices and increasing costs considerably reduce profit for soybean production, there are certain input costs that might be reduced to increase profitability.

an image of red and yellow cherry tomatoes

Founding a Farmers Market: Form a Planning Team

The first step to forming a new farmers market is to form a planning team. Keep the team small enough so that it is simple, small and manageable.

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”?