Search
Sheep Breeds
Everyone has heard the fairytale “Baa Baa Black Sheep Have You Any Wool?” but what about the double-coated California Red, the multi-colored Katahdin sheep with hair, or the East Friesian dairy ewe that produces over 1,100 pounds of milk a year? Sheep come in different shapes, sizes, and colors and all of them provide different functions and uses for producers. These can range from meat, wool, and milk production or a combination of characteristics.
National Sheep Improvement Program: Performance-based data you can rely on
Sheep producers continually look for opportunities to improve their flocks through the introduction of genetic traits that will contribute to both improve the performance and physical appearance of the offspring. For hundreds of years, producers used the phenotype or physical appearance traits to select replacement stock, followed by performance trials and wool testing to quantitatively define the traits a specific animal may possess.
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.
Ergot: A Potential Livestock Poisoning Problem
Cool, damp weather followed by warmer temperatures favors grasses becoming infected with ergot bodies, which can cause a certain kind of poisoning that can affect cattle on pasture.
What are Those Gigantic Flies?
As we progress later into the summer, we commonly see an increase in horse fly activity.
Promoting Dung Beetles on the Range
In South Dakota, dung beetles help regulate rangeland health through dung dispersal.
Why Add an Agritourism Enterprise to Your Farm or Ranch?
Agritourism is the practice of touring agricultural areas to see farms and often to participate in farm activities.
Agritourism and Value-Added Agriculture: Legacy of a Tired Old Barn and 40 Acres
Driven by consumer interest, a growing numbers of farmers across the United States are embracing agritourism to improve their economic sustainability.
Feeding Damaged Wheat to Cattle
Feeding damaged wheat to livestock is one way to salvage value from the crop. Wheat can work well in cattle diets with some limitations.
2018 Field Plot Summaries for Wheat Disease Management Trials
The wheat disease management field experiments conducted in the 2018 growing season evaluated several experimental and commercially available fungicides for managing foliar, head or root diseases of spring wheat. Foliar and spike/head diseases incidence and severity were assessed. The field experiments were implemented at Volga Research Farm and Northeast Research Farm (NERF) near South Shore, SD. Results of the same experiment may vary between Volga and Northeast due to environmental differences between the two locations.