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Utilizing Cover Crops for Grazing: An Assessment on Economic Benefits
Grazing cover crops by cattle provides an option to offset cover crop seed costs and increase farm revenue. To facilitate farmers’ decision making, this article will evaluate the economic profitability from grazing cattle on cover crops using a partial budgeting approach.
South Dakota Declares February 21 Soil Health Awareness Day
February 20, 2020
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has declared February 21, 2020 Soil Health Awareness Day. Agriculture contributes over 132,000 jobs and 32.5 billion dollars in total output to South Dakota’s economy.
Interseeding Cover Crops Effect on Corn and Soybean Production: 2019
Incorporating cover crops into our cropping systems and moving from conventional tillage to no-till can improve soil organic matter, soil structure, and water and nutrient holding capacity of our soils.
Managing Weed Seed in 2020
Producers need to plan in advance on how to deal with bare fields that contain an overabundance of weeds. Weeds in these fields have deposited significant amount of seeds on the soil surface, which can easily germinate when adequate moisture and temperature are available.
Multi-Species Grazing as an Alternative to Pasture Spraying
Broadacre spraying of pastures is intended to reduce undesirable plants and increase grasses for livestock. This practice often results in unintended consequences, including damage and reduction of native forbs and reduced profitability. One approach to managing perceived “weedy” plants is incorporating different species of livestock into a grazing operation.
Marestail Fall Control
Marestail (also known as horseweed) is considered either a winter annual or biennial species that is often difficult to identify at the rosette stage. In the Dakota’s, marestail will germinate in the fall and bolt in the spring.
Climate Adaptability of Winter Wheat
For most of us, wheat is wheat. However, there is a distinct difference between spring and winter wheat, even though the vegetative characteristics of these two wheat types are very similar.
Alternative Pasture Weed Control
The term ‘weed’ can be broadly applied to any plant that is undesirable at any given time and place based on certain criteria. It is important to understand that the word ‘weed’ has become a general term with no universal definition, and many plants are considered to be weeds, depending on location.
Managing Weeds While Transforming Marginal Land Into Perennial Forages Production
There are currently millions acres across South Dakota impacted by saline and sodic conditions. Research has shown that salt-tolerant perennial grasses are a possible way to bring land back into production.
Perennial Solutions for Alkali Areas
Reclaiming marginal lands, especially those considered saline or sodic can be very challenging and may take many years to accomplish. The key to turning around salt or alkali areas in your fields, begins with getting a living root established in the affected area.