Grass, Grit, and Generations: The Kammerers of Piedmont, SD
- sushmita62
- 29 minutes ago
- 3 min read
I haven’t met Jimmie and Riley Kammerer in person… yet. But I’ve spent time talking to their daughter Karlie, who has learned this way of life from her parents with a clarity and confidence that tells you everything you need to know about the teachers behind her. In that sense, I know the Kammerers vicariously — through Karlie, and through my longtime collaborator Joe Dickie, who has visited their ranch multiple times and loves the family.
The footage and photographs Joe captured don’t feel staged. They feel lived in. Horses under saddle. Parents riding together. Children moving easily alongside the work. A family at home on their land.
The Kammerers' ranch near Piedmont, South Dakota, was homesteaded in 1883. Their girls are the seventh generation to live there. Jimmie’s family also homesteaded nearby in the early 1900s, making their children sixth-generation on her side. This is not just where they ranch — it’s where grass, grit, and generations have shaped their story
Jimmie speaks first, and often, about family. “Kids don’t learn if they get left behind,” she says. So the girls go along — on horseback, on foot, in chore trucks. Homeschooling gives them flexibility, but more importantly, it keeps learning rooted in land, animals, and responsibility. Work isn’t something separate from life; it is life, shared together.
That togetherness mattered deeply during the hard years. After the Atlas Blizzard wiped out most of their cow herd, the Kammerers were forced into survival mode — rebuilding, taking off-ranch jobs, and questioning everything they thought they knew. Jimmie is frank about how deeply that season affected their mental health. “In agriculture, we’re strong, fix-it people,” she says. “But if you don’t deal with the mental side of things, you can’t move forward — in your business or your family.”
For Riley, moving forward meant changing how they managed grass and cattle — not chasing trends, but responding honestly to what wasn’t working. “We were doing everything the experts told us to do,” he says, “and we were still going backwards. That’s when I knew we had to do things differently.”
Today, their ranch operates with an intense focus on grass management and animal behavior. Cattle are run in a single herd and moved frequently, giving pastures long rest periods — often close to a full year. The goal isn’t simply to run more cows, Riley explains, but to grow healthier grass and let the land do more of the work. “If we grow more grass,” he says, “everything else gets easier — financially and personally.”
That philosophy carries into their husbandry as well. The Kammerers shifted their calving season later, closer to green-up, which dramatically reduced stress on both cattle and people. “Calving has gone from being something we dreaded,” Riley says, “to something we actually enjoy.” Jimmie adds that now they drive through cows on grass, seeing healthy calves instead of battling weather and exhaustion.
Their approach is quiet and intentional. Less yelling. Less chasing. More walking, more watching. “We don’t want to break the bond between a cow and her calf,” Riley says. “If you handle cattle with respect, they respond.”
One of the most striking changes Joe witnessed — and captured — was how the cattle now follow the process. When polywire is rolled up, and a gate opens, the herd moves to fresh pasture. “They figured it out by the second or third move,” Riley says. “After that, they were ready before we were.”
For Jimmie, those moments matter. Riding together. Opening a gate. Watching animals do what they were designed to do. “We love the land, and we love the animals,” she says. “That’s why we’re here.”
The images Joe shot show that love clearly — a husband and wife riding side by side, children close at hand, grass under hoof. Not a ranch frozen in tradition, but one adapting carefully, intentionally, for the next generation.
“We’re trying to be better,” Jimmie says. “For our kids. For this place.”
And in Piedmont, South Dakota, better looks a lot like riding together into the work ahead
A Few More Resources of the Kammerer Family
Amazing Grasslands Video (must watch), 7:49 min: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXdvpfwRo14
Podcast with Daughter, Karlie Kammerer: https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/podcasts/episode/223d1eba/the-future-of-agriculture-the-next-generations-roadmap-for-regenerative-ranching
Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages:
1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more.
2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture.
3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media:
4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com
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