For this week’s “Resilience Rodeo”, farmer and cow/calf producer, Brian Johnson, talks about a past of fighting against Mother Nature and how his experiences changed his mindset to one focused on working with her instead. Brian Johnson is a fourth-generation farmer who runs a diversified no-till crop and cow/calf operation near Frankfort, South Dakota with his children his and wife, Jamie. In the 80’s, Brian’s father first implemented no-till practices on their land to try to retain moisture. Over time, Brian observed that maintaining living root structure as well as planting and grazing cover crops are important counterparts to those no-till practices. When facing saline seeps, Brian champions perennials as a tool to work alongside Mother Nature and restore balance to the soil biology. Brian Johnson 1)    What is the one thing you've done that has been most important to the success of reclaiming some of these salinity seeps?   The most important thing we’ve done is probably change our mindset. Instead of fighting nature, we’re working with nature on those acres. We used to continually try to fight the problem and grow a crop there instead of allowing nature to grow a perennial there. That seems to be probably the most successful thing that we changed.   2)    Can you recall a moment when the light bulb went on for you that you realized soil health practices make sense or that you should change the way you were farming?   I think it was probably a couple decades ago when we were still trying to crop a saline area in one of our fields. It would be dry on top, but if it got a little slick under that top crust for any reason, the wheels would spin and you might get stuck there with the tractor. So, you realize, why am I continually doing this every year? As you're sitting there waiting for help to come pull you out, the light bulb goes off and it’s like, maybe we need to do something different here. Maybe instead of planting corn and beans here every year it's a perennial that will fix the problem, so we don't have to keep losing money on these acres. Because they truly are not profitable. The data shows us that it's not profitable to crop those acres, the yield maps and the profitability maps show us that it's not profitable. If you put in a perennial, you’re going to be profitable on those acres because your inputs go down significantly.   3)    What surprised you the most when you started implementing soil health practices?   I think what surprised me the most was that you could see a drastic change in just two years. Sometimes it takes longer, of course. But on certain spots where we planted the perennials, we could see that change very quickly in the span of two to three years. And not only do you see the growth of those perennials, but your stress level goes down because now you're not having to fight those acres trying to crop them.   4)    What would you say is the biggest misconception people have who are not managing their farming systems for soil health and resiliency?   I think the biggest misconception is that you can fix the problem without a perennial. I think people try to change it just by installing tile and thinking that change alone is going to solve the problem or think that continuing to grow corn and beans but not tilling it is going to fix the problem. At the end of the day, you need living roots in the soil to fix that problem. And those living roots need to be perennials.   5)    Is there something you'd still like to do that you haven't yet done to improve salinity conditions on your land?   What I’d like to improve with our salinity is to fix all of our acres. We still have spots that will show up from time to time. We know how to manage them now, but there is still a problem area occasionally when you have the right weather conditions and the wrong rainfall at the wrong time. Or the wrong crop in that field. Nothing’s ever perfect and we’re never done learning, but I'm always going to be trying to improve those acres for the rest of my life.   6)    What advice would you have for someone who is just starting to face their salinity seeps?   I would say find somebody who has remedied some of those acres of their own, or talk to a technician in your NRCS office or a soil health professional, and they will help to lead you down the right path and give you options of how to fix that. There’s a lot of knowledge about how to fix these problems now, there's a lot more information out there available, so you don't need to reinvent the wheel on your own. Don’t be afraid to open your mind and ears to somebody that maybe has a lot of expertise in that area and can help you fix it and give you a lot of options for your farm. There’s a lot of organizations that have taken a role in trying to fix this problem now, they’re working together collaboratively. Every Acre Counts is a great tool for producers to highlight the acres that they need to change. There’s Pheasants Forever or Ducks Unlimited and a lot of other soil health organizations that are out there and we all have the same goal: to do what’s best for the soil and for the land, but what’s best for the producer as well. So, we’ve all got the same end goal. And it’s not just for the sake of the soil, but a lot of times it’s good for the wildlife as well, and that provides another opportunity for the producer.   7)    When you walk across your crop lands and your native rangeland, what do you look for as indicators of soil health?   For me, if I can't see the bare soil, I know we’re doing something right there. At the end of the day, residue is insulating the soil from the sun and the wind, it helps prevent erosion on our farm and it helps retain the moisture. When we go back to the mid-80’s, the reason my dad switched to no-till was to retain moisture. Well, you need residue to help do that here in South Dakota. So you leave the cornstalks intact on the field, you grow a cover crop before soybeans, you grow rye so you've got a living root in the spring before soybeans, you've got a lot of residue and organic matter there. If I can see residue covering the soil, I feel good about my chances.   8)    Is there any change you’ve made that you thought would never work?   When we first started out, our first test with rye was my wife’s garden. It’s probably no more than a forty-by-forty little plot, and because rye was not something you saw in this part of the world produced very much or as a cover crop, I had to see firsthand what it did to the soil but also how it helped control the weeds. From there we tried it on a few fields the next year, and within three years we were doing aerial application of a rye cover crop on a hundred percent of our corn acres in the fall that then go to beans the next year. In a span of three years. So that’s a big change. It was a little nerve wracking for my father because he viewed rye as something that would use up moisture when you wanted to save it. That comes from his experience of struggling with really dry fields in the 80’s. What we saw in the spring of ‘22 was a massive amount of rye cover crop in our field that was actually insulating the soil from the sun, and so that first inch of soil was moist. Then once you place the seed about two inches down it was perfect. So, the rye was helping us retain moisture in that case, and it wasn't utilizing any extra. My biggest learning experience was trusting the wife there. She knows what she’s doing in the garden, and I can carry those principles out into the farm and the crop fields.   9)    What are the signs that your land is resilient?   I think we saw some of the signs earlier today when we put a shovel in the ground on a high-residue wheat field. We’ve been extremely hot and dry here this spring, way more than normal, and to see that amount of moisture that deep in the profile, it shows me that we’re insulating ourselves from the extremes of Mother Nature in a way, because we can retain so much water and that is usually our limiting factor here. If we can replicate that on most of the acres on our farm, it can take away probably the most limiting factor for crop production for us; water. It’s purely water. It gets me really excited to see that moisture retention because our land here can get really dry.   10)  What does resilience mean to you?   To me, resilience means being productive and healthy for years to come. And I think that’s what we’re creating on our farm, what my father helped create and what we’re taking to another level through a variety of cover crops and livestock on the soil. So, it's about passing it on to the next generation better than how we found it.   11)  As a row-cropper, what’s in it for you economically to change things and start considering perennials?   I think the first step for producers towards change is knowing your cost per acre. Some people do and others don’t. So that’s the first hurdle: are you tracking input costs at the field level and at the acre level? Because most people have the yield maps, but until you know your costs and you coordinate them with the yield maps, you don't know your true profitability on those acres. That's usually when the light bulb goes off for those producers. If you're not making money on those acres and it’s an every-year occurrence that you're in the red, you should consider doing something different. And if that change is a perennial rather than a crop, you're going to be more profitable, it's guaranteed. Because you're not losing money on that parcel. And at the end of the day, isn't our goal to be profitable as a business? So, it should be something to seriously consider. ______________________________________________ ______________________ 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

In this week’s “Rodeo”, Jeff Hamilton shares with us the successes he’s starting to see in his unproductive, saline cropland areas when he started thinking about them differently. Jeff Hamilton farms with his brother Scott and his son John in east central South Dakota. They primarily grow corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and have started planting other forage crops on saline soils.  Rye is also grown for seed, harvested as forage, and used for grazing.  The farm supports 1200 beef cattle, and they finish their own calves.  Jeff has started large-scale composting of the manure generated from the livestock to improve his soils’ health. Jeff Hamilton 1)    What one thing have you done that's been most important to the success of your operation?   I would say staying diversified. Growing up, my number one income producing item was cattle sales. As grain prices rose, grain overtook the top spot on the income statement.  As a result, the cattle and fences disappeared in this part of the country. Much of the pastureland was converted to cropland. Folks didn’t want to work with livestock and invest that much capital and labor for keeping the cattle around. There was an economic decision to be made. Why should I keep the cattle? Where I live, there's a lot of marginal ground that's not suitable for growing corn and soybeans, even though that's what people have been trying do with it.  I've started putting those areas back to other uses. I just got tired of watching areas that shouldn't have ever been planted to cash crops get worse. Diversity has value in more than one way. Caring for the cows and finishing the calves is a good part time job and it keeps you out of the bar at night!   2)    Can you recall a moment or a time when the light bulb went on for you that you realized soil health practices make sense or that you should change the way that you were farming?   2019 was extremely wet in South Dakota, and it carried over into 2020. In 2019 there were a lot of prevent plant acres. We planted a 7-species cover crop mix on some of our ground, and even though my corn and soybeans looked phenomenal, it was the cover crop that excited me. The grain prices were such that even though I knew I was going to have a good crop, I wasn't going to make any money.   I found myself driving up and looking at the cover crop.  I would open up the canopy and realize what was growing. That’s when I started looking at things differently. In that mixture there was forage sorghum, Japanese millet, oats, radishes, turnips, and crimson clover. The Japanese millet grew to the water's edge, and on the hilltop, which was only five feet higher in elevation, was predominantly forage sorghum.  Everything else I planted was growing well together.  I remember taking a picture and thinking, why?   We have a lot of saline areas on our land. The water runs to the low ground, and during the summer it evaporates, leaving the salt. I had been planting corn and soybeans, collecting my prevent plant check and watching those areas get larger. It wasn't until I started looking at what the ground was telling me that it made sense.   3)    What surprised you most when you changed the way you farmed to include soil health practices?   The speed at which the soil can correct the saline areas if we let it.  The saline areas bothered me because they kept getting bigger. In 2016 we started seeding a blend of salt tolerant grasses and alfalfa directly into these saline areas.  I remember taking a picture and sending it to my consultant asking, “Is this success or is this failure?”  We started just haying it and now I am getting good quality and quantity of forage from these acres. A negative producing piece of land was turned to a positive. We have planted over 160 acres back to perennial grasses now. We did it three, four, or five acres at a time.   4)    What would you say is the biggest misconception people have who are not managing their farming systems for resiliency and soil health?   Farming the easy way is the most profitable way. Farmers tend to think more yield equals more profit. You still need to produce bushels, but at the same time you have to do it profitably. If I look back at the last 10 years, there were some very tough years where we were basically running at break even or just below.  What would happen if we removed some of the lowest producing soils from our field and let the precision equipment do its job?    Our cash crops are inundated with technology. To kill weeds, pests, diseases now we use multiple modes of action that overlap.  A few years back 1 mode took care of the problem.  When you add up all the inputs on the non-productive soils, it’s a no-brainer to stop farming them. But it is easier to drive straight, so most farmers do this and resist change.    5)    Is there something you'd still like to do that you have not yet tried to improve your soil health on your farm?   I started composting. It was not on the list of things to do in 2022, but the whole composting process has made a believer out of me. I took cattails, rye straw, dry cattle manure, wood chips, and a little bit of rye grain, combined them with water and I watched it turn to humus compost in six weeks’ time. We've sent our compost to be tested chemically, biologically and are encouraged by what we are finding.   6)    What advice do you have for someone who is considering changing their farming system to one that is better for building soil health?   Start small and watch the plants. There are a couple older gentlemen I visited with and asked, “how do I tell if I’m succeeding?” One response was “If you want to know how much biology is working in your field, just take a rod, stick it in the ground. However far you can push that rod in is how far your biology is working.” Very, very basic answer. The other response was “just watch the plants”.   7)    When you walk across your crop lands, what do you look for as an indicator of healthy soils?   Bringing back the diversity that was there when we started tilling the soil. When you stop doing stuff to the land and start working with the land you will see indicators that you are doing something good. One day while feeding cattle I was thinking, “why don't we have all these saline areas out in our pastures?”  God gave us a plant for every acre and the human, doing what humans do, we screw it up. We took out that diversity. We have been told that to grow corn, it cannot have any competition around it. To grow soybeans, it cannot have any competition around it. But look at Mother Nature, she doesn’t have 30 inches between her plants with no competition around them.   8)    What change have you made that at first you thought would never work?   Planting salt tolerant plants in ground that is barren and won’t grow kochia and wondering, “is this just a waste of $100 per acre of seed cost?” You have to have a little bit of faith or a lot of “what the hell” in you, because otherwise you say, “why would you do that?” That's a fair point. Who is going to spend $100 an acre and not know if something's going to grow?   9)    What are the signs your cropland is resilient and what does resiliency mean to you?   My father bought a quarter of ground that was productive soil when my brother and I were in high school in the 1980’s.  By 2019 that quarter has 30 to 50 acres of moderate to high salt. I was the one who farmed it during those years and followed accepted farming practices. We let it get into that shape.  I do feel like a hypocrite. Those 30 to 50 acres are now growing a solid stand of oats and will be transitioned into perennial grasses.  The land is resilient and will correct itself if we let it.   10) What indicators do you have that healthy soil practices also make economic sense for you?   On my saline areas, I had grass seed investment that first year I took the saline soils out of crop production.  I don't have any costs associated with fertilizer or chemicals, yet my tonnage goes up. Those areas have plenty of moisture, but they don't grow any plants because the natural system is broken. We are going to study applying compost to my crop land and cutting back on commercial fertilizer to determine what the economic threshold will be.  ______________________________________________ ______________________ 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

By the Growing Resilience Team I’ve visited Vermillion, South Dakota, several times, usually under slate-gray skies and spring winds that sweep across the flats without asking permission. But in May of 2025, I made my first trip 26 miles west to Yankton—a place I had long overlooked, nestled near the Jim River and Missouri confluence. As Joe Dickie and I drove from Vermillion toward Yankton—and between Joe’s exclamations of “rooster!” or “hey, two hens!”—I noticed how quickly the landscape began to shift. What started as flat, row-cropped uniformity gave way to rolling ground—some of it still in row crops, but much of it was given over to pasture and tree-lined creek bottoms. Like a good conversation, it was as if the land began to open up the farther west we drove. This reminded me that context is everything in farming, as in life. We met Nate Hicks on his family’s farm, and I soon realized I wasn’t just speaking to a farmer, but to an engineer who honed his profession through study and fieldwork—first in college out West, then on the job in Idaho and Colorado—before returning home with a mind wired for systems, tinkering, and close observation. Nate’s father, a transplant from West River ranch country, brought his cows—and his mindset—to Yankton. That influence still lingers. Nate brands his calves and moves livestock through a web of cross-fenced paddocks, and while they no longer stack hay the old-fashioned way, they do use a loaf stacker to harvest and store cornstalks. That blend of traditions—West River grit meeting East River green—has shaped Nate’s approach. He’s not afraid to experiment, and it shows. Take his transition to no-till. Rather than invest in a drill, Nate modified his old Kinze planter for 19-inch rows. He added hydraulic downforce and adapted it to plant everything from cereal rye to radishes to millet. “Controlled spill,” he called it. And it worked. He now plants green into rye and often lets his fall-calving herd graze the residue beforehand—but he draws the line after planting. “I don’t let cows graze after planting,” he said. “Haven’t tried it anyway, but not sure it’s on my list of things to try at the moment.” The cows are central to his system, not just livestock but land managers. They graze harvested fields, cereal rye, and diverse cover crops. He turns them out in dry springs early and captures value from what little forage grows. He lets the rye grow tall in wetter years, laying down biomass and thatch to feed the soil. His grazing rhythm follows the terrain: bottoms to hillsides and back, moving with moisture and regrowth. We stood in a test strip where rye had grown chest-high the year before. Nate pulled back the thatch to reveal dark, moist soil and earthworms by the dozen. In that single field, he had harvested silage, grazed cows, planted rye, and returned with soybeans. The soil held together like a piece of chocolate cake—structured, but alive. Nate doesn’t preach about soil health. He’s too practical for that. But it matters. Nate and his wife, Kristen, are raising their young family on the farm. “Kristen and I don’t want to miss our kids growing up,” he said. “So if I can run the planter instead of the feed wagon, that’s the time I get back.” And when the rye rises fast or beans emerge through mulch, he takes note. He doesn’t overhaul everything at once. He tests, observes, and adapts. That kind of attentiveness feels rare these days. Out here, where row crops meet rangeland and the wind carries both promise and warning, Nate Hicks is building a system that fits his place—not someone else’s model. His own. And that, too, is a lesson in 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

Anthony Bly In 2023, NRCS’s Marcia Deneke and Kent Vlieger generously took time to guide me through the salinity challenges of South Dakota. We visited the Beadle County Dale Demonstration Farm, Cain Creek, producers like Scott and Jeff Hamilton — and finally sat down with Anthony Bly in Sioux Falls. At first, I couldn’t make sense of one question: Why would salinity increase when rainfall does too? More rain should be good, right? It took conversations with Kent, Ducks Unlimited’s Matt Hubers, and especially Anthony Bly to open my eyes to the bigger picture. The turning point came when I understood that salinity isn’t caused by any one thing — it’s a perfect storm. The geology of the James River Valley — salty Pierre Shale soils just below the surface — sets the stage. The geography — a broad, slow-draining valley — compounds it. The climate — several decades of wetter-than-normal years — lifts those hidden salts closer to the surface. And then, over the past few decades, necessary and understandable changes in agriculture added to the pressure: Loss of pasture, rangeland, and perennial systems that once helped use excess water. Fewer small grains and more soybeans , crops that don’t draw down water tables the same way. Market signals encouraging certain rotations and land uses, in response to larger global needs. As Anthony put it: “Farmers are receiving market signals to do certain things. What creates the market signal? It’s the support from the system. So is it anyone’s specific fault? No, it’s not. It’s a societal problem”. That helped me see: Increased rainfall didn’t cause salinity — it revealed vulnerabilities shaped by geology, geography, climate, and years of honest, well-intentioned management decisions. When we tried to talk about salinity early on — with blog posts, long videos — the response was modest. After all, salinity isn’t a flashy topic. But when we shared short, 30-second video clips distilling Anthony’s holistic perspective, people engaged. Maybe it was the format. Maybe it was Anthony’s clarity. I think it was because the message wasn't about blame — it was about seeing the land clear-eyed , and with hope. In the end, salinity is a symptom of a broken water cycle — landscapes that were once in balance are now more variable. It’s not anyone’s fault. But it is everyone’s opportunity — to respond, adapt, and move forward with the land in mind. ______________________________________________ ______________________ 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

Some of the forbs in Darrin Michalski’s pasture that form part of nature’s Pharmacy for Livestock. In a short clip taken from the recent SD Grasslands Amazing Grasslands video , we shared Mike McKernan, SDSU’s Pete Bauman, Madison Kovarna, and Josh Lefer’s work clipping and testing dozens of native forbs and grasses to study their nutritional value throughout the season. That video triggered a flood of thoughtful—and skeptical—comments. One in particular stuck with me: "Lots of plants are nutrient dense but it doesn’t mean anything if [they’re] not palatable to livestock." This raises an important point—but maybe not in the way the commenter intended. It reflects a lingering assumption that livestock, especially cattle, are essentially grass-eating machines. And if that’s the worldview we start with, then sure, sampling 30 different plants might sound irrelevant. But what if we’re missing something bigger? Cattle Eat More Than Grass Let’s start here: cattle don’t just eat grass. Pete Bauman says it flatly in the video: "The assumption that they're only eating grass is really a falsehood." The South Dakota Grassland Coalition has been working with researchers and ranchers to understand the nutritional contribution of non-grass species. The results are eye-opening. Pete and Mike tested goldenrod and found protein levels rivaling dairy-grade alfalfa. The same was true for native thistles. Cattle select plants, often taking a bite or two off goldenrod, for example, without visibly damaging the plant. This is targeted, strategic grazing behavior. It may not be obvious, but it matters. Provenza and the Wisdom of the Herd This is where Dr. Fred Provenza’s work becomes essential. Provenza, an animal behaviorist and author of the book Nourishment , has spent a career studying how livestock learn what to eat. In his research with rumen-cannulated animals, some cattle on diverse pastures had up to 60 species in their rumens. That’s not just about calories. That’s about medicine. Provenza argues that animals use plant diversity not just to meet nutritional needs but to regulate their health. Different compounds in different plants help buffer digestion, balance energy, manage parasites, and support mineral needs. This isn’t fiction; it’s ecology. Rethinking Palatability Palatability isn’t fixed. Pete Bauman and Kathy Voth co-authored a valuable guide called Cows Eat Weeds , which walks producers through practical steps to help animals learn to eat plants once thought unpalatable or toxic. It turns out, animals are excellent learners—if given the chance. The bigger question is: Are we managing in a way that allows animals to express their full potential? Or are we limiting their choices to a narrow slice of what the pasture could provide? Bottom Line There’s a growing body of evidence—from South Dakota to Utah to Texas—that livestock are capable of complex foraging strategies. Sampling 30 species, as McKernan, Lefers, and others are doing, isn’t about just proving plants are nutritious. It’s about understanding the full buffet nature offers. And when animals can access that buffet, they get healthier. Inputs go down. Profit potential goes up. It might be time to retire the idea that grass is all they need.   Further Reading: Nourishment by Fred Provenza Cows Eat Weeds (Bauman & Voth) Plan Now to Control Weeds by Grazing Next Season (Pete Bauman) Our Podcast Series with Dr. Fred Provenza Podcasts: ·      Tap into the Hidden Wisdom of Livestock ·      Top tips for unlocking Land and Livestock Potential ·      Reimagining Agriculture: Retinking our Relationships with Nature and the Land ______________________________________________ ______________________ 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

Heath Bullington (Van’s nephew), who runs the farm with Van Mansheim, Lealand Schoon, Van’s soil Health Mentor, and Van in one of his pastures, October 2020. I first visited Van Mansheim about 5 miles north of Colome, in Tripp County, SD, on his farm in October 2020. When I recently sat down again for a podcast interview with him, the conversation quickly grew beyond a podcast. Van is the whole package: no-till, long rotations, cover crops, bale grazing, livestock integration, and even a pheasant hunting enterprise. In the past week, I’ve spent hours answering questions on our social media about no-till, inputs, weeds, and soil biology — and Van spoke to every one of them from lived experience. He doesn’t deal in abstractions. He says as a fourth-generation farmer, a businessman, and as a board member of the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition who knows how to make soil health principles work in real fields. Walk onto Van Mansheim’s pastures today and you’ll find something rare on the northern plains: a constellation of forbs, native grasses, shrubs, and wildflowers. But it wasn’t always this way. For years, Van — like so many — assumed his “native” rangeland was just that. In reality, it was a monoculture of smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass, crowding out the diversity that once defined the prairie. That realization hit home around 2016–2017, when he began working with grazing mentor Leland Schoon and moved from what was essentially season-long grazing to rotational grazing. The result is that Van’s pastures began to thrive. A South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks survey tallied 10 native warm-season grasses, 6 native cool-season grasses and 42 native forbs! Sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chickens, both native birds, flourished. Interestingly, pheasants, not native, have made a slower but stead comeback — a boon for Van’s hunting enterprise. “It wasn’t what we brought in,” Van says. “It was what came back when we changed the management.” Van’s leadership extends beyond his own pastures. As a board member of the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition , he shares what he’s learned with other producers. His credibility comes not from theory but from practice: restoring prairie, balancing cattle and wildlife, and proving that good grazing can rebuild diversity. Forbs, often maligned online as weeds, turned out to be some of the best forage. Research from NDSU’s Kevin Sedivec shows many native forbs grade out at 20–24% crude protein, rivaling alfalfa. Van sees it firsthand in his cattle: healthier animals, better gains, less need for supplements. Even the land itself responded. Old waterholes stopped filling — not because rain quit falling, but because the water was infiltrating instead of running off. Infiltration that once seemed impossible became normal. It’s a point worth emphasizing, especially amid the debates we see in our Facebook comments. Some insist weeds are useless. Others claim no-till or grazing systems don’t work in heavy soils. Van’s rangeland offers a living rebuttal. Diversity isn’t theory here — it’s a visible, measurable shift in plant communities, animal health, and wildlife. “Healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy livestock, healthy people — it all goes together,” Van says. And he’s not speaking from theory. He’s speaking as a fourth-generation farmer, a conservation-minded grazier, and a leader helping other South Dakotans see their pastures in a new light. This post is part of a companion piece. There was too much to share in a single post, so we decided to separate them even though they form a whole. Be sure to read the other post here to get the full story. ______________________________________________ ______________________ 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

Iconic Ray Archuleta Image captured ca. 2013 before a Slake Test Demonstration. Introduction In 2010, I met Ray Archuleta on the farm of the late Ray Steyer. That day changed the course of my life. I was still working as an aquatic scientist, but one afternoon with Ray shifted my entire research and outreach emphasis to soils and soil health. Ray introduced me to the four soil health principles that, at the time, seemed almost radical: 1. Limit disturbance 2. Keep the soil covered 3. Maintain a living root year-round 4. Foster diversity Livestock integration and context weren’t yet part of the conversation, but even then, Ray was clear: if farmers were going to stay in business, they would have to reduce inputs. In 2010, that was a crazy idea. Fifteen years later, it feels more like common sense. This blog is longer than most, and I’ll apologize for that up front. But disturbance and our dependence on agricultural chemicals are deeply connected, and to understand how soil health moves forward, we need to look at those connections together. Disturbance as More Than Just Tillage Ray and I had another long conversation just last week where we drilled down into the idea of disturbance. It was a good reminder to me that disturbance isn’t just tillage. Tillage is dramatic — you can see and feel it — but soil disturbance is much broader, reaching into fallow, pesticides, and other chronic pressures that often slip under the radar. Ray encouraged me to think about disturbance on a spectrum, from acute to chronic. Acute disturbances are shocks — a tillage pass, an insecticide spray — while chronic disturbances are the slow, grinding pressures of repeated disturbances that wear soil down over time. Here’s one way to think about it: Chronic disturbance (long-term pressure):  fallow, tillage, pesticides (insecticides, fungicides, herbicides in varying degrees depending on context) Acute disturbance (short-term shock):  tillage, insecticides, fallow, fungicides, herbicides The shock for me was how damaging chronic fallow can be for soil. Bare ground — or even ground covered with residue but without a living root for eight months of the year — turned out to be among the most harmful chronic disturbances. We see the legacy of this in conditions like fallow syndrome. Of course, these rankings aren’t absolute — tillage fallow vs. chemical fallow may differ, the frequency and duration of fallow matter, and pesticide impacts vary by type and by crop. Insecticides tend to have the most direct effects, while fungicides and herbicides differ in frequency and breadth of use. The bigger point, though, is that soil health is shaped not just by one disturbance (like tillage), but by the accumulation of many, and rotation diversity goes a long way in reducing the need for them. This is where diverse cropping systems matter. Including small grains in South Dakota rotations or planting cover crops ensures there’s something living in the soil. And when cover crops are in play, they can open the door to livestock integration, layering another principle of soil health onto the system. The Herbicide Debate — and the Fungicide Blind Spot No-tillers are often criticized for relying on herbicides. It’s true: herbicide use can be a crutch when it replaces diversity and rotation. But focusing only on herbicides creates a blind spot. In conventional tillage systems, fungicides are often the silent cost. Bare soil leaves plants vulnerable to rain splash and soil-borne pathogens, which can prompt farmers to apply fungicides. By contrast, surface residue in no-till systems acts as a buffer against splash and supports microbial communities, making the system more resilient. South Dakota farmer Van Mansheim recalled the simple advice of his mentor, Rick Bieber: “Go walk out in your field and look down at your feet. If you see soil, you’d better spray fungicide. If you see residue, you don’t need to.” That wisdom captures the point: residue isn’t just cover, it’s protection. Research suggests that when fungicides are used, they can be more disruptive to soil biology than herbicides—a reminder that the real issue is disturbance in all its forms, not just the ones we can see. These principles are not just ecological; they are also economic. Back in 2010, Ray emphasized that if farmers were to stay in business, they would need to reduce inputs. What seemed like a radical claim at the time has since been borne out in recent studies. Very recent research (since 2022) from USDA-ERS, the Soil Health Institute, and NACD shows that producers adopting soil health practices consistently report stronger profitability and greater stability. Ray was prescient in his 2010 observations — and more than a decade later, the science is catching up to what he was already teaching. Lower fertilizer and herbicide costs, coupled with more resilient soils, translate into real financial gains. In cotton systems on the Texas High Plains, for example, farmers increased net income by more than $150 per acre after adopting soil health management. And when fertilizer spiked to $1,000 per ton, Ray recalled how farmers began searching for alternatives. Those who embraced no-till, diversity, cover crops, and grazing reported fertilizer reductions of up to 90% and herbicide reductions of 75%. Profitability, as Ray often says, isn’t about the equipment — it’s about understanding how the soil functions. Where We Stand Now What seemed radical in 2010 is being lived out across South Dakota today. Farmers are discovering that reducing disturbance, promoting diversity, and keeping soils covered with living roots not only leads to healthier land but also to healthier balance sheets. Ray once told me, “ Nature doesn’t disrupt itself.” That’s the lesson we’re still learning. Farming and ranching with Mother Nature isn’t quick or easy, but it is patient work — the kind that builds soils, reduces dependence on chemicals, and keeps families on the land for another generation. References Tillage & Soil Health Kibblewhite, M. G., Ritz, Karl, and Swift, M. J. “Soil Health in Agricultural Systems.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences , vol. 363, no. 1492, 2008, pp. 685–701. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2178 United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Soil Health: The Importance of Soil Health in Conservation Tillage . USDA-NRCS, 2024, www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/Soil%20health.pdf Pesticide (Herbicide, Fungicide, Insecticide) Effects Beaumelle, Léa, et al. “Pesticide Effects on Soil Fauna Communities—A Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Applied Ecology , vol. 60, no. 7, 2023, pp. 1239–1253. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.14437 . Rose, Michael T., et al. “Impact of Herbicides on Soil Biology and Function.” Advances in Agronomy , vol. 136, 2016, pp. 133–220. doi:10.1016/bs.agron.2015.11.005 . Broad Overviews of Agricultural Management Impacts National Center for Biotechnology Information. Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture . NCBI Bookshelf, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2024. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK609370 Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE). Farming with Soil Life: Farming Practices That Can Put Soil Health at Risk . SARE, 2024, www.sare.org/publications/farming-with-soil-life/farming-practices-that-can-put-soil-health-at-risk/ Economic Impact United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Economic Outcomes of Soil Health and Conservation Practices on U.S. Cropland . ERR-353, June 2025. www.ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/112841/ERR-353.pdf National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), and Soil Health Institute. Nationwide Study on 30 U.S. Farms Shows Positive Economic Impact of Soil Health Management Systems . NACD, 2022. www.nacdnet.org/newsroom/nationwide-study-on-30-u-s-farms-shows-positive-economic-impact-of-soil-health-management-systems/ Soil Health Institute. The Economics of Soil Health: Cotton Production in the Texas High Plains . Soil Health Institute, 2021. https://wtamu-ir.tdl.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/55eea986-9fb7-4755-becb-0475f043768e/content ______________________________________________ ______________________ 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

Bart Carmichael. Photo Credit: Joe Dickie When I first met Bart Carmichael  in Faith, South Dakota, in October 2020, the air had that clear prairie sharpness that always comes before winter. He had a ready grin and a mind that ran faster than my pen could keep up. Bart doesn’t just talk about ranching—he tells stories about it, and somehow every one of them ends with a laugh and a lesson. My friend and colleague Joe Dickie , who wears more hats than a South Dakota wind can carry off, had met Bart earlier in 2019 while filming for the Amazing Grasslands  series. Joe came back talking about this rancher up near Faith, SD—a man who could make you laugh one minute and teach you more about soil health in the next breath. Joe loves the cold weather, so he was the perfect guy to go back out and film Bart again, once in January 2021 and again in February 2022, to capture his winter grazing and bale-grazing work. When I finally got to visit Wedge Tent Ranch  myself—on the drive from Lemmon down to Faith—I saw firsthand what Joe had been describing. The place rolls between sage and grass, a big open bowl of country where the wind never takes a day off. But here, against all odds, Bart has found a way not just to survive but to thrive. Scared to Death of Twelve Hours Bart’s story of change begins with fear—twelve hours’ worth of it, as he tells it. “When I first tried short-duration grazing, I was scared to death it wouldn’t last three days,” he told us, smiling at the memory. “I called Wayne Berry and said, ‘There’s not enough grass.’ Wayne said, ‘Will it last a day?’ I said yes. ‘Two days?’ Sure. ‘So you’re worried about twelve hours?’” That simple exchange was enough to get him started. Since then, Bart’s grazing days have nearly tripled , his harvest efficiency has doubled from 30% to 60% , and his ground cover has thickened even as his carrying capacity has grown. .“People think you’re fencing cows into a small space,” he said. “Really, you’re fencing them out  of the rest—so it can rest and recover. On any given day, we’re resting 95% of our place.” Nine Minutes to Simplicity At Wedge Tent Ranch, winter grazing isn’t complicated—it’s a matter of rhythm and attention. “It takes me about nine minutes to move a fence,” Bart said. “If you’re checking water anyway, roll it up, let the cows move. My banker came out once and timed me—nine and a half minutes. He said, ‘Who’d want to work eight to ten minutes a day like this?’” Winter in northwest South Dakota is a mix of wind, ice, and sudden change, but Bart has learned to make it work. “Running a tractor costs $150 to $200 an hour,” he said. “If I’m not running it, that’s real money saved.” His philosophy is simple: less machinery, more observation . Each move keeps the cows nutrient-balanced, the grass rested, and the ranch resilient. Diversity: The Prairie’s Insurance Policy For Bart, diversity isn’t a talking point—it’s the secret engine of the prairie. “There’s always something out there worth grazing,” he said. “Sub-shrubs like winterfat are 20% protein in the dead of winter. Even when the grass looks dormant, the roots are still alive.” That living mosaic has drawn new life to Wedge Tent Ranch. “There weren’t turkeys here when we moved in,” Bart said. “Now they roost in the trees. Deer live here year-round. We’re running more cows than before, but there’s more of everything else too. The whole system’s healthier.” It’s the same truth we explored in Do Cows Eat More Than Grass? —that diversity is nature’s design for resilience. Where scientists like Fred Provenza describe how animals use variety for nutrition and health, Bart shows what that looks like in practice: a living, self-healing prairie. The Adaptive Mindset “We moved here in 1993,” Bart said. “We started with four seasonal pastures. Now we’ve got 54 permanent ones, and we strip them into smaller chunks. We never graze the same piece of land the same way twice.” Working first with EQIP and later on his own, he built a permanent water system that lets him move cattle efficiently in any season. “My imagination wasn’t big enough when I started,” he admits. “I thought half-section pastures would be plenty. Now we’ve got 53-acre pastures, and every one has water.” That kind of imagination—growing as fast as the grass itself—is the hallmark of an adaptive mind. “Every time you think you’ve got it figured out,” Bart said, “nature throws you something new, and you learn again.” A Vision Rooted in Family As we stood on the ridge at Wedge Tent Ranch, the wind cutting across the draws, Bart looked out over the land and talked about what comes next. “My ideal future,” he said, “is that we’d be big enough that one of my kids—or maybe two—could come back to help. And then I could retire and do something different. But I love what I do, so I don’t see that happening too soon.” You believe him when he says it. Closing Reflection When Joe and I think back on our visits with Bart, what sticks isn’t just the impressive grazing metrics—it’s the man himself. The humor, the humility, and the unshakable belief that if you listen, the land will teach you. At Wedge Tent Ranch , Bart Carmichael has built more than a business model; he’s built a living conversation between grass, cow, and soil. He’s living proof that regenerative ranching isn’t about perfection—it’s about persistence, curiosity, and keeping things simple enough to let nature speak. As Bart likes to say: “Keep it simple. The land’s got the answers if you give it a chance to talk.” ______________________________________________ ______________________ 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

Root exudates from maize feed beneficial soil microbes, forming a protective rhizosphere that improves water retention and supports drought tolerance under diversified crop rotations. By Buz Kloot I’ve had the good fortune to spend time with Natalie Sturm and, before that, to follow the work at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm (DLRF) for more than a decade. Long before her thesis made the rounds online, what struck me was not just the data, but the patience of the body of work at DLRF itself — decades of asking the same simple question in slightly different ways: What happens when we let diversity do its work? That question resurfaced again recently in a lively discussion following a post about Natalie’s work and the podcast we recorded with her. The comments will sound familiar to anyone who spends time in soil health circles: debates about no-till versus tillage, roots versus trees, microbes versus mechanics, plants versus animals. Lots of passion. Lots of partial truths. What’s helpful is when we can step back and ask: Are others, in other places, seeing the same thing? Two recent peer-reviewed studies suggest the answer is yes. A long-term experiment in Canada 1  found that diversifying maize rotations reduced yield losses under drought by roughly 17% , even when no-till alone did not make the difference. The key wasn’t a single “silver bullet” practice, but the cumulative effect of diverse rotations that build soil organic matter and improve how plants experience water stress under dry conditions. More recently, a 20-year rotation experiment in China 2 showed that higher crop diversity dramatically increased maize drought tolerance at the seedling stage . What stood out was how  this happened: thicker roots, more stable rhizosphere microbial communities, and enzyme systems that didn’t collapse under drought. In other words, diversity didn’t just help plants survive drought — it helped the soil system stay functional while stressed.   That should sound familiar to anyone paying attention at Dakota Lakes. What Natalie’s work keeps reminding us — and what these studies quietly confirm — is that drought resilience is not something we bolt on in a crisis year. It’s something we grow, slowly, through intentional crop rotation diversity that feeds roots, microbes, and soil structure over time . Different continents. Different soils. Same direction of travel. And that, to me, is where the real confidence comes from. 1. Long-term rotation & drought resistance (Canada) Renwick LLR, Deen W, Silva L, et al. Long-term crop rotation diversification enhances maize drought resistance through soil organic matter. Environmental Research Letters.  2021;16(8):084067.doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac1468 2. Crop diversity, roots, microbes & drought tolerance (China) Jia R, Chen M, Zhou J, et al. Diversified crop rotations strengthen maize seedling drought tolerance by modulating rhizosphere microbiota and enzyme activities. Plant, Cell & Environment.  2025;48:8604–8615.doi:10.1111/pce.70150 __________ 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

Alejandro Carillo of Las Damas Ranch Mexico Photo Credit: Joe Dickie When Ray Archuleta talks about Alejandro Carrillo, his tone carries equal parts awe and conviction. He recalls standing in the heat of Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert — a place that gets ten inches of rain a year, on a good year  — and watching grassland reappear where bare soil and thorn scrub once dominated. “I saw cattle bring the desert back,” Ray says, “and transform it back into native rangeland. It changed the local climate. He’s getting more rain now.” The transformation Ray describes wasn’t magic — it was management. Alejandro Carrillo’s Las Damas Ranch  began its shift decades ago, rooted in a simple but radical belief: the land doesn’t need more inputs, it needs more life. Through adaptive, holistic grazing, he used his cattle to mimic the natural movement of wild herds — short, intense grazing followed by long rest periods. Over time, living roots stayed in the soil longer, organic matter increased, and water began to infiltrate rather than run off. If it works in the desert… Ray often tells this story because of what it means for the rest of us. “If it can be done there,” he says, “it can be done anywhere.” That’s not wishful thinking — it’s a challenge to rethink what’s possible. In much wetter parts of the Great Plains, ranchers already see the same principles at work. Take Bart Carmichael in northwestern South Dakota. Years ago, he grazed on land that couldn’t produce 800 pounds of forage per acre. Today, he leaves 1,000 pounds of residue  on that same ground after grazing — proof that life and management, not rainfall alone, determine productivity. The philosophy behind it Both Carrillo and Carmichael embody what Ray calls the regenerative mindset  — learning to “interpret the world through nature’s eyes”. Instead of forcing the land to meet our expectations, we learn from its feedback. Adaptive grazing, Ray reminds us, means watching the plants, the animals, and the climate—and adjusting constantly. That mindset turns “problems” into patterns: brittle environments become places where livestock can be tools of restoration rather than sources of degradation. Why these matters Carrillo’s desert ranch and Carmichael’s Dakota pastures tell the same story in two different climates: life begets life. When managed properly, cattle are not the enemy of grasslands — they’re the key to their renewal. If a man can grow grass where rain barely falls, what’s possible for those of us with twice or three times that rainfall? 👉  Watch the short film with Ray Archuleta  — filmed by Joe Dickie and inspired by Alejandro Carrillo’s desert transformation — to see this story come alive. Learn more about Alejandro Carrillo’s work: Las Damas Ranch – Holistic Management International Las Damas Ranch – Understanding Ag Case Study The Ranchlands Podcast #14: Alejandro Carillo __________ 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

What does Bale Grazing look like from the Sky? Photo credit: Joe Dickie We weren’t planning to talk about bale grazing that day. The conversation started the way many winter conversations do—by noticing the weather. Tanse Herrmann (State Grazing Lands Soil Health Specialist) and Emily Rohrer (State Rangeland Management Specialist) had joined us for a check-in, and before long, the conditions outside crept into the room. The ground was frozen. Snow was scarce. The forecast, for once, didn’t feel threatening. After a pause, Tanse said something close to, “This might actually be a good time to try bale grazing.” Not as a long-term overhaul. Not as a permanent system change. Just as a response to the winter in front of us. Why an Open Winter Favors Bale Grazing What makes an open winter different isn’t optimism—it’s practicality. Frozen ground changes how you move across the land. Bale placement becomes deliberate instead of rushed. Compaction concerns ease. Mud no longer decides where you can and can’t go. Without snow to fight, winter bale grazing becomes easier to consider, even for producers who have never tried it before. Tanse shared a familiar story: equipment that gelled unexpectedly, cold hydraulics, a day derailed before it started. Bale grazing doesn’t eliminate winter risk, but it does reduce daily dependence on equipment during the coldest months. For now, the land isn’t pushing back as hard. Starting Small with Bale Grazing One of the assumptions that keeps bale grazing on the “someday” list is the idea that it has to be all or nothing. In practice, many producers start with five to seven days of bale grazing at a time . Not the whole winter. Not every field. Just enough to see how cattle respond, how manure and residue distribute, and how it feels to wake up knowing tomorrow’s feeding is already planned. If it works, you move the following week again—to a different corner of the field or a different problem area. If it doesn’t, you stop. Either way, winter bale grazing is quick to learn. Fencing, Water, and Real-World Limits Emily pointed out something that often surprises people: temporary fencing isn’t always the barrier it’s assumed to be. Some producers use poly wire and step-in posts for tighter control, even in frozen ground. Others start bale grazing without fencing by placing only a limited number of bales at a time and moving locations weekly. The land impact is still there, just spread across the field. Water is less flexible. Cattle drink less in winter, but they still need access—especially on hay-based diets. In most cases, that means leaving a lane to a permanent water source. Mobile winter water systems often create more problems than they solve when temperatures drop. And the small things matter: knowing what’s in your hay, watching for weed seeds, removing net wrap and twine. Winter doesn’t excuse carelessness. More Than a Winter Feeding Decision As the conversation drifted, it moved beyond feeding. Winter bale grazing often opens other questions—about labor, calving timing, and how closely livestock operations align with seasonal forage growth. For some producers, bale grazing becomes a gateway practice. For others, it remains a tool they return to when conditions allow. Either path is valid. Not every practice needs to become a philosophy. A Window Worth Paying Attention To If bale grazing has been on your mind, this open winter may be one of those brief moments when the land lowers the barrier to trying it. Start with a week. Pick a field. Pay attention. For producer stories, videos, and deeper background on bale grazing, visit the Bale Grazing Ranching Topic  on the Growing Resilience website: https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/bale-grazing Sometimes resilience doesn’t start with a big decision—just a well-timed one. __________ 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