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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.

corn showing symptoms of drought stress

Using Drought-Stressed Corn as Forage

When drought has compromised tonnage of corn grain, silage producers may still retain part of its feeding value.

a sprawling soybean field with a farm in the background

Soybeans & Sunflowers: Alternative Cattle Forages

Alternative forages like soybean silage or hay, and sunflower silage, can help stretch conventional forage supplies and help avoid overgrazing pasture.

mixed group of cattle at pasture

Management Minder Tool: Staying Organized on the Ranch

Daily life is busy on the farm and ranch and it seems as if once calving season is done, there is barely time to rest before fields must be planted or hay made.

three black cattle grazing cornstalks

Grazing Residue: Having Your Cake and Eating It Too

Integrating crop and livestock enterprises represents an incredible competitive advantage for farmers and ranchers.

hay bales lined up in a spring field

Resources and Options When Feed is Short

SDSU Extension offers resources to help producers find and evaluate feedstuffs to help meet their livestock’s needs.

group of young piglets

Utilizing Weather-Stressed Corn in Swine Diets

The goals of this factsheet are to help pork producers better understand the nutritional value of weather-stressed corn, how to determine if it’s economical to use, the potential of mycotoxin contamination, and how changes in bulk density affect feed mixing and transportation.

A green cut alfalfa field dries as the sun sets.

Forage Resources Available to S.D. Farmers and Ranchers

Forages are a very important part of the South Dakota livestock and cropping industries. Often, producers have difficulties finding enough forage for their herd or locating a fellow producer to buy, sell or rent forages and grazing acres too. South Dakota now has two widely-recognized, free resources to aid in these connections.

small group of sheep standing in a pasture

How to Trim Sheep and Goat Hooves

Guide on how to trim sheet and goat hooves

Youth For The Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) logo in front of a black and white image of a young girl feeding a small animal with a bottle

Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) in South Dakota 4-H resources

About YQCA – the national program
Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) is a national multi-species quality assurance program for youth ages 8 to 21 with a focus on three core pillars: food safety, animal well-being, and character development. The YQCA program is an annual certification created for youth producing and/or showing beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, meat goats, dairy goats, swine, poultry, and rabbits. The program has been designed by extension specialists and national livestock program managers to ensure it is accurate, current and relevant to the needs of the animal industry and shows, and is appropriate for youth learning levels.