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Sell the Feeder Calf, or Create a Yearling?

Fall brings many weaning and selling time decisions for cattle operations. Learn some expert tips for evaluating your current situation and making informed management decisions given the price of calves, feed, and the futures market.

What can the construction industry learn from the motion picture industry?

Many of us take for granted the rating system used to indicate the appropriate audience for movies in the U.S. The interesting thing is that movie creators have no legal requirement to follow the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) guidelines. Yet, they do.

Picture shows a dense and diverse cover crop mix grown after cereal grain. The cover crop is very green with many brassica and grass plants growing. The top third of the picture is the sky with some gray clouds.

South Dakota Land Use Trends (2012-2017)

Significant education efforts for natural resource conservation have occurred in South Dakota during the last five years. Many stakeholder groups have brought awareness for soil health and water quality to the forefront.

Tomatoes growing in a high tunnel. Courtesy: USDA

Pollinating Tomatoes in High Tunnels

In field-grown tomatoes the air movement is sufficient to vibrate flowers and achieve pollination. This is not generally true in the high tunnel because there is not sufficient natural wind to vibrate the flowers. High tunnel tomato growers should therefore pollinate their crop by other means.

Old barn and windmill with the sunset in the background

SDSU Extension to host farm, ranch estate planning series

October 18, 2024

The conference provides farmers and ranchers with three days of information on creating their plan, no matter how big or small the operation. All members involved in the operation are encouraged to attend together.

Rancher standing in a vast, rolling grassland.

Grassland Fertilization: Terminology and Economics

This article is the first in a series of six focused on helping producers understand the pros and cons of grassland fertilization. We begin by learning some of the basic terminology and information related to fertilization.

Farming Strategies for the Future

There was a time in agriculture when greater yields always meant greater profitability. Today’s economic environment is characterized by high input costs and depressed commodity prices. Under this scenario when the optimum input/output relationship has been attained, more inputs do not necessarily result in greater returns on investment. Therefore, todays’ agriculture paradigm requires management that addresses production “optimization”. This is the point where a previously known level of inputs maximizes outputs before incurring into greater investments that result into diminishing returns.

Corn Production Costs in the Northern Great Plains

Supply and demand regulates U.S. agricultural and non-agricultural markets all the time. Prices increase when scarcity of a certain item is anticipated. Similarly, prices drop if the market is saturated because of oversupply or there is a reduced demand for the product.

Glory of the Snow, Daffodil, and Allium blooming in three gardens.

Bulbs to Plant in the Fall

Fall is the time to plant cold-hardy bulbs in South Dakota gardens. This will ensure that your landscape will have a variety of color, size, and bloom types the following season.

Let’s Talk BQA Assessments

Simply put, BQA assessments are a review of a farm or ranch by an assessor that helps managers benchmark their current level of cattle care and discover areas they may be able to improve.