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How Does Cold Stress Affect the Energy Needs of Cattle?

Most beef producers understand that when the weather gets colder their cattle need more energy for maintenance. The questions are when do cattle start experiencing cold stress and then how much more energy do they need? Both the actual temperature and the wind speed interact to determine the effective temperature.

Silhouette of a bull grazing in a pasture at sunset.

Bull Check Up

Cattlemen can increase the breeding capacity of bulls through proper care prior to the breeding season. Because the production of sperm cells require 60 days with several factors having a potential negative impact on breeding ability, it is time to begin evaluating bulls now to ensure they are ready for the breeding season.

About six people sit around a table in a community room with notebooks and pens

SDSU Extension Community Vitality built on foundation of empowering people

February 09, 2024

Now a full-fledged capstone within SDSU Extension, community development – since renamed Community Vitality – has evolved and grown in the last 20 years. Program leaders agree the community work they did through Horizons laid the foundation for what would become a successfully thriving SDSU Extension Community Vitality program.

Sunflowers blooming in a South Dakota Field.

Sunflower Production: Late-Season Weed Escapes Should Guide Future Weed Management Plans

Many sunflower fields across the state are far enough along in their development that the window for preventing weeds with residual herbicides has passed. Weed escapes that remain in the field through the remainder of the growing season can contribute seed back to the soil seedbank.

Man shopping for vegetable seeds at a grocery store.

SNAP Benefits for Seed and Plant Purchases

Did you know that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants in South Dakota can purchase seeds and edible plants to grow their own food? It’s true!

Two producers observing an in-field cattle watering unit.

Water Monitoring Systems for Livestock

Depending on animal locations, checking water tanks can require hours of labor and significant fuel costs for remote pastures. Water monitoring systems offer producers a convenient way to check the status of the water sources remotely.

Three South Dakota fields that claimed prevent plant. The first field is planted with a cover crop. The second field has no cover crops, but tillage was completed to control weeds. The third has no cover crops and weeds are growing throughout.

Prevent Plant: Its Effect on Fall and Spring Fertilizing Plans

Driving around South Dakota, you can see the many acres that farmers were not able to plant. Now that fall soil-sampling season is well on its way, many people have questions regarding how different situations of prevented planting will affect soil sampling and fertilizer application needs.

Color-coded map of the United States indicating July 2023 precipitation outlook. For a detailed description of this graphic and data set, please call SDSU Extension at 605-688-6729.

End of Summer 2023 Climate Outlook

A recent run of warm temperatures and dry conditions in South Dakota has accelerated drought concerns, but some good news lies ahead in the NOAA’s 2023 end of summer climate outlook.

Graduation cap and tassel. Text reading “Scholarship.”

SDSU Extension 4-H awards 2024 state Shooting Sports scholarships

August 01, 2024

Six youths in the shooting sports program will receive scholarships funded through entrance fees paid at the shooting sports state match. A committee of volunteers reviews the applicants and selects the top candidates.

Adult red sunflower seed weevil on a sunflower leaf.

Malathion receives special local needs approval to treat red sunflower seed weevils in South Dakota from July 15 to August 31, 2025

The request was submitted and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency due to the large populations of red sunflower seed weevil present in South Dakota that are resistant to pyrethroid insecticides.