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group of students looking at a pair of beef cattle
Nov 19

Biosecurity and the Secure Beef Supply Plan Cattle HQ Live

Join SDSU Extension's beef team to gain valuable insights to improve the health, productivity and profitability of your herd. This month, we will discuss the steps needed to prepare operations and how to set up biosecurity plans using the guidance of the SBS Plan in case of a major disease outbreak.

Swarm of mosquitoes.

West Nile Virus Update: September 26, 2025

As of September 26, 2025, the South Dakota Department of Health (SD DOH) reported 74 human cases of West Nile Virus from Aurora, Beadle, Bon Homme, Brookings, Brown, Charles Mix, Clay, Codington, Corson, Douglas, Grant, Gregory, Haakon, Hamlin, Hand, Hughes, Hutchison, Hyde, Lawrence, Lincoln, Marshall, Meade, Miner, Minnehaha, Pennington, Roberts, Sanborn, Spink, Stanley, Union, Walworth, and Yankton counties.

A group of Custer County Master Gardener volunteers gathered for a group photo.

Becoming a Master Gardener Volunteer

If you enjoy gardening, volunteering, and helping your community, the Master Gardener program may be for you!

Several bales of hay stacked in a shed.

Planning Forage Needs

Inventorying and planning for hay and other forage feed needs is essential every year, especially when production is uncertain due to drought or excess moisture.

A group of people in an open pasture wearing light blue shirts smile for the camera

SD youth present at National High School Youth Forum in California

March 23, 2026

Two high school students from South Dakota were selected to be delegates for the High School Youth Forum at the International Society for Range Management meeting.

A strawberry meal replacement shake.

Meal Replacements: A long-term weight management solution?

The convenience meal replacements offer is appealing, but do they work for long-term weight management?

Multicolored Asian lady beetle, female mosquito, and boxelder bug.

Insects Are Being a Nuisance This Fall

The weather is changing, and many of us are noticing an uptick in the nuisance bites caused by several insects. The continued warm weather is going to increase the activity of all insects, including the ones that are causing us displeasure.

A picture of producers (ranchers) in a rangeland pasture looking into another pasture that has different forage biomass quantities. The

Systems Thinking for Agriculture: A tool for addressing complex ranch problems

A systems approach to management encourages producers to take multiple factors into consideration to solve problems within their agricultural operation.

Two rows of corn at V5 leaf growth stage looking down from above. Between the corn rows there are 3 separate cotton strips placed on the soil surface just before burial in a 2-inch-deep trench. The cotton strips are numbered for their identification after recovery at three different dates.

Cotton Strip Soil Test: Rapid Assessment of Soil Microbial Activity in the Field

Soil has always been considered as a living system due to its biological components: fungi, bacteria and plant roots. Under several ongoing research projects, we started researching how we can use ‘cotton strip assay’ to compare different cover crop mixes to optimize field soil activity and build up better soil health.

Adult red earthworm, cabbage looper, and brown-belted bumble bee.

The Seen and Unseen World of Invertebrates and Vegetables: The good, the bad, and the cute

The seen and unseen worlds of invertebrates in our gardens offer an opportunity to understand how each organism plays a crucial role in the balance of our environment, whether they are good, bad, or even cute.