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Riley and Jimmie Kammerer with daughters, Karlie, Katelyn, and Kymbal. Photo Credit: Joe Dickie Calving in Sync with Nature: What Changed On a Western South Dakota Ranch Riley Kammerer, his wife Jimmie, and their daughters Karlie, Katelyn, and Kymbal, ranch near Piedmont, South Dakota, where spring does not politely arrive on the calendar. It fights its way in — sometimes through blizzards that drop feet of snow well into April. The Kammerers are a multigenerational ranching family running roughly 400 cow–calf pairs in western South Dakota. Their operation isn’t small, and it isn’t theoretical. It’s real cattle, real grass, real weather, and real risk. A short reel we posted recently — South Dakota Ranch Riley talking about “calving in sync with nature” — crossed 100,000 views in a matter of days. Hundreds of likes. Dozens of comments. Shares across state lines. For a 20-second clip filmed on a ranch yard, that kind of response surprised us. What surprised me even more was the tone. Most of the comments were supportive. Some were cautious. A few pushed back on the economics. Ranchers from Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Montana raised thoughtful questions about milk production, breeding in cooler weather, fall market timing, and whether later calving is truly the most economical system. In other words: serious producers engaging seriously. That felt less like controversy and more like an opportunity — an invitation to slow down and look more closely at what actually changed on this ranch and why. “Calves Aren’t Born with a Winter Hair Coat” When I spoke with Riley this week, it was five degrees with a stiff thirty-mile-an-hour wind. “I’m glad I’m not calving today,” he said. That sentence carries weight in western South Dakota. The Kammerers used to calve in what many would call winter, late February through early April. Some of their worst losses came from blizzards that arrived right up until the tenth of April. Frozen calves. Long nights. Stress stacked on stress. At some point, Riley says, the paradigm shifted. “Calves aren’t born with a winter hair coat.” It’s a simple biological truth. And yet much of our management in agriculture involves trying to outmuscle it. By moving the bulk of their calving into May — with only a few early calves trickling in by late April — the Kammerers shifted their exposure to weather risk. That doesn’t mean it would make sense everywhere. A rancher in Oklahoma or Pennsylvania is managing a different climate and a different risk profile. Even ranchers 100 miles north of Piedmont may face different conditions. Context matters. But for this particular ranch, in this particular place, the weather risk alone was reason enough to reconsider tradition. Moving the Production Cycle The deeper shift wasn’t just the date on the calendar. It was the production cycle itself. Instead of trying to hold cows at a body condition score of five or better through February on harvested hay, the Kammerers restructured their system so cows spend winter in their second trimester grazing stockpiled pasture — forage that hasn’t been grazed or disturbed for 10 to 12 months. By the time those cows enter their third trimester, they’ve already been on green grass for weeks. “We can put 150 pounds on a cow fast,” Riley told me. “By the first of May, they’re in a body condition score of six — with no feed.” That statement challenges a lot of assumptions. Later calving, in their system, aligns peak nutritional demand with peak forage quality. It reduces hay. It reduces supplement. It reduces stress. And for a 400-head operation, labor matters. Winter calving in this region takes a crew. It takes tractors. It takes diesel. It takes barns. It takes nights in bitter wind. The Kammerers decided they didn’t want to build their business around that model anymore. Cutting Hay as an Enterprise One of the most significant changes wasn’t about calves at all. It was about hay. “We cut that enterprise out of our business,” Riley said. At one time, feeding costs were running around $3 per day per cow — roughly $1,000 per day for their herd. Today, through year-round grazing, stockpiled forage, and full-season cover crops (we're creating a separate post on this subject), feeding costs are closer to $1 per day per cow. Hay is reserved primarily for severe weather events. That shift eliminated not just feed bills, but much of the associated capital and labor: fewer tractors, less diesel, no calving barn, no large-scale haying operation. Could they run more cows by adding a massive haying enterprise? Possibly. “But we’ve been there before,” Riley said. “We ran ourselves ragged. We’re not willing to do that anymore.” That’s not laziness. That’s clarity. More Than a Calendar Change During our follow-up conversation, Jimmie offered a perspective that deepened the entire discussion. “So the biggest aspect of all of this is people don’t see what our goals are,” she said. “Our goal for our business is to not degrade our resources. And those resources include the land. They include our financial situation, they include our labor, and they include our family.” That sentence deserves to be read slowly. “Ranchers are hard workers,” she continued. “We can work hard, and we do the work. But at what cost? There’s a mental health crisis in agriculture. The average age of farmers and ranchers keeps climbing. Young people don’t want to return to this field. Why are we having these crises? That goes back to our goal of not degrading our resources.” For the Kammerers, moving their calving date wasn’t just about weather. It wasn’t just about weaning weights or market timing. It was about aligning their production system with their goals. Land. Finances. Labor. Family. All four count. An Invitation to Think in Systems None of this suggests that later calving is universally superior. Several commenters rightly pointed out tradeoffs — lighter calves at certain sale windows, regional differences, breeding considerations. Those questions deserve thoughtful answers, and we’ll continue exploring them in future conversations. But what this moment revealed is something encouraging: ranchers are thinking in systems. They’re asking not just, “What have we always done?” but, “What fits our land, our climate, and our family?” For the Kammerers near Piedmont, South Dakota, calving in sync with nature has meant fewer frozen calves, lower feed costs, reduced capital outlay, healthier cows, and a more sustainable rhythm of life. That may not be everyone’s system. But it is theirs. And if a short video about that can spark a thoughtful national discussion, perhaps that’s not controversy at all. Perhaps that’s education. If you’re evaluating your own calving window, explore the South Dakota Grassland Coalition’s Calving Considerations resources to weigh the tradeoffs in your context. __________ 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: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Spanish goat browsing native blackbrush shrub in dry rangeland ecosystem This Friday, Joe Dickie and I will drive west from Denver, across South Park, over Trout Creek Pass, and down into the valley the locals call Salida. We are going back to a ranch. Not just any ranch — but the one where a young man named Fred Provenza once flood-irrigated hay by hand, moved cattle on horseback to 11,000 feet, and learned to know the range long before he learned to write a scientific paper. Today, Dr. Fred Provenza is a Professor Emeritus at Utah State University. He is the author of Nourishment, and co-author of The Art of Shepherding and Hoofprints on the Land. His research has helped reshape how we think about livestock nutrition, plant diversity, and the hidden intelligence of animals. But before the science — there was Henry. Henry DeLuca never finished grade school. He did not speak of phytochemicals or adaptive grazing systems. He spoke of seasons. Of water. Of wind. Of where the cattle would likely drift when turned onto a new pasture. The herd did not move as one indistinguishable mass. It spread across the mountain in extended family groups. You had to know the canyons. Know the benches. Know where to look. Henry knew. Fred learned there that animals are individuals. That landscapes hold memory. That health — whether of land or livestock — is born of relationship. Years later, research would confirm what that ranch already knew: that animals balance nutrients when given diverse forage; that they learn from their mothers; that plant diversity matters; that grazing done with attention can nourish land as much as land nourishes animals. But none of that knowledge floats free of place. It began on that mountain. The ranch is no longer whole. What was once one working place is now divided. A third sold. Houses built where cattle once grazed. Fence lines marking not just property but change. It is not just this ranch. Across the West — across rural America — mid-sized farms and ranches have thinned. Some consolidated. Some subdivided. Some simply faded. The middle hollowed out. Henry used to say there was never much money in ranching. That has not changed. What has changed is the pressure — land values, debt, fragmentation, distance between those who live on land and those who consume what it produces. When land fragments, something else fragments with it. Memory. Knowledge. Belonging. Today we speak of regenerative agriculture as if it were a technique — something to be implemented, optimized, scaled. Standing where cattle once moved by horseback, you begin to suspect it is something quieter. You cannot love what you do not know intimately. Fred said that recently. It stayed with me. On that ranch, irrigation was done by hand. Cattle were moved by people who knew them. Grazing systems were designed with plant health in mind, though no one used that phrase. There was rest and recovery. There was attention. There was presence. There was intimacy. Modern livestock nutrition research now confirms what lived experience suggested: animals given diverse plant communities can regulate their own intake, self-medicate through plant compounds, and adapt culturally to landscapes. Soil, plants, animals, and people form a nested set of relationships — each shaping the other. But you do not learn that first in a lab. You learn it by watching cattle disappear over a ridge and knowing where they will reappear. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe has been talking about filming wind in the trees. He referenced a documentary where history was told not through archival footage but through the sound of prairie grass. You do not need to show the past if you can let the place speak. Fred remembers September on that mountain. Elk bugling. Bulls gathering harems. Cattle spreading across alpine benches. The long descent before winter. We will not recreate those scenes. But we will stand where they happened. Fred is 75 now. He still skis. He still reflects. When he talks about that ranch, there is less of the professor and more of the boy. The mountains have a way of stripping away titles. There is something about returning to a place that formed you. Something that bypasses argument and goes straight to the chest. We do not go to extract content. We go to listen. To see how livestock nutrition connects to plant diversity. How plant diversity connects to soil. How soil connects to community. How community connects to meaning. We will walk the ranch. We may drive up the mountain. We may sit inside the old house and talk. It will unfold as it should. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you would like to revisit earlier conversations with Fred Provenza before we share what comes next, you can listen here: · Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of Livestock to Restore Your Land https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/podcasts/episode/1b03b2a9/71-tap-into-the-hidden-wisdom-of-livestock-to-restore-your-land-with-renowned-ecologist-fred-provenza · Fred Provenza’s Top Tips for Unlocking Livestock and Land Potential https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/podcasts/episode/2a6231c1/ecologist-fred-provenzas-top-tips-for-unlocking-livestock-and-land-potential · Reimagining Agriculture: Rethinking Our Relationship with Nature and the Land https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/podcasts/episode/e3298d4b/reimagining-agriculture-dr-fred-provenza-on-rethinking-our-relationship-with-nature-and-the-land We will share reels from the visit in the coming days. For now, we head toward the mountains. __________ 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: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

The Kammerer family, working together while checking cattle in western South Dakota: Photo credit: Joe Dickie 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: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

The mission of Growing Resilience Through Our Soils is to help ranchers and cropland managers maximize soil health to deliver profitable farming and ranching and well as soil resilience. This educational platform–led by passionate researchers and storytellers—uses videos, photos, and words to showcase the trials and successes of ranchers and farmers as they continue along their soil health journeys. Recipes Filter by Level Number of recipes found: 0

Through Growing Resilience, healthy crops and soils mean healthy farmers and consumers. Regenerative Farming is the idea that if farmers change the way they manage the soils, you can improve environmental conditions through less disturbance, have more profitable faming, and more time with family. GROWING RESILIENT SOIL Learn soil health practices from ranchers and farmers to make your operation resilient and profitable. We’re Changing the Way Ranchers and Farmers Think About Soil Ranchers and farmers are often told that better production means higher inputs—but at what cost? In the face of skyrocketing input costs, many producers across the nation are being forced to ask this question. Does a better and more cost-effective way to regenerate exist? Ranchers and cropland managers are telling us yes, it does even as they reduce operating costs and increase their bottom line. Read More Read More Featured Content Farmers Journey to Find the New Cropland Grazing Model See how South Dakota farmer/rancher Brian Johnson and his family are discovering increased profits, decreased workload, and enhanced land and operation resilience through an innovative approach to grazing. Here's How Ranchers Are M aking Their Ranches Drought Proof. Prescribed Grazing —Our ranchers are rotating livestock, resting grazed land, and thereby allowing their land to recover. Increasing Diversity —A great indicator of healthy soils is diversity. Our ranchers are managing their land for diversity so that their forage base includes a wonderful mix of native warm and cool season grasses and forbs. Grazing More, Feeding Less —As their forage base increases, our ranchers are making more money per acre by grazing more and feeding less. Being Adaptive — Our ranchers embrace the fact that nothing in life is set in stone and that flexibility is an asset. As SD rancher Bart Carmichael says, “We make plans, assume we’re wrong, then adapt as the weather or livestock dictate”. Plan, observe, adapt, repeat. Changing their Mindsets —Through embracing free resources, such as those provided by the SD NRCS, the SD Grassland Coalition, the SD Soil Health Coalition and this platform, our ranchers are changing their thoughts about what successful, profitable ranching can be. The range management techniques we highlight are tools that any rancher can use to change and improve their land. Drought Resources Our partners at the South Dakota Grassland Coalition just launched their "Pray for Rain. Plan for Drought." project. Click below to find out more; Struggling With Drought? Click Here The ranchers and technical advisors listed in the downloadable document below are ready talk with anyone interested in weathering the worst impacts of drought. Give one of them a call. Talk To A Drought Expert Download Now What Ranchers Are Saying The time savings doing something like this has for me. I was going to have my wife come out and talk to you. She’s complaining I’m around too much now. Reid Suelflow, Rancher Drought Tolerance, Diversity, and Déjà Vu: What Dakota Lakes Is Teaching the World 5 days ago 2 min read “It Won’t Work Here”—Until It Does: Twelve Years of Lessons from a Southeastern Farmer 6 days ago 3 min read Can We Really Fix Wet Spots With Tillage? If So, Why Are They Still There? 7 days ago 3 min read Behind the Lens: Stories From South Dakota’s Grasslands and the People Who Care for Them Dec 11 3 min read Corn–Soybean Rotation Economics: The Data Behind “No-Till, No Yield” Nov 25 3 min read Year-Round Grazing in South Dakota: Lessons from Pat Guptill & Bart Carmichael Nov 24 5 min read Be first to know about new blog posts! First Name Last Name Email Subscribe Thanks for subscribing! Watch Don't Know Where to Start? Ask A Mentor! If you're looking for an agricultural expert to help you improve or expand a certain area of your operation, consider joining our Mentor Network where you can reach out the experienced producers in various agricultural fields who provide technical and planning assistance to South Dakota farmers and ranchers. I'd like a mentor! Less Time in the Field = Less Stress (and More Time With Family) Two things are always out of a rancher’s control: the weather and the cost of doing business. But ranchers who have changed the way they think of the land are finding themselves more in the driver’s seat of their operations and their wallets. Through understanding the soil health principles and implementing these to suit their operations, our ranchers are waking up to fewer operating costs, less time needed ‘working the land’ and more down-time enjoyed with their families. That’s less worrying about money and less time working—all by simply allowing the land (and livestock) to work for them. Read More MORE CONTENT PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES OUR PARTNERS

Healthy soils and healthy crops, mean healthy farmers and consumers, never mind an ever-improving environment. One idea we are embracing is that of Regenerative Farming where we embrace the idea that if farmers change the way they manage the soils, they can actually improve, or regenerate environmental conditions through less disturbance, keeping soils covered with residue or canopies, keeping live roots I the soil year round and be reintroducing animals into the whole system. Free Resources Adaptive Grazing All Bale Grazing Calving On Grass Climate Smart Drought Management No-Till Prescribed Burn Soil Salinity No-Till: Common Questions & Straight Answers VIEW OR DOWNLOAD When No-Till Yields More: Global Analysis VIEW OR DOWNLOAD How To More Profitably Manage Saline Soil Spots VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Climate Smart Ranching & Farming Facts VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Adaptive Grazing Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Grazing Lease Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Drought Planning Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Drought Monitoring Map VIEW LIVE MAP Calving On Grass Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Dakota Lakes Interview VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Soil Salinity Management VIEW OR DOWNLOAD A Better Way To Manage Saline Soils Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Climate Smart Ranching & Farming Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Soil Food Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Grazing Lease Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Drought Contingency Plan Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Bale Grazing Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Conservation Agriculture: Yield Limits & Potential VIEW OR DOWNLOAD NRSC Salinity And Sodic Soil Management VIEW OR DOWNLOAD 2023 NRCS Grasslands Planner VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Adaptive Grazing Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Soil Food Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Year Round Grazing Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD South Dakota Drought Tool VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Bale Grazing Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD CONTACT US Profitable Farming - Profitable Ranching - Farming Community - Soil Heath - Bale Grazing