We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Not Just No-Till: Sorting Fact from Fiction in a Lively Debate Few topics on our site spark as much interest—and as much spirited debate—as no-till farming. Scroll through our Facebook threads and you’ll see it: farmers, agronomists, gardeners, and even a few armchair soil scientists weighing in with strong opinions. Some argue no-till is the clear path forward; others point out it’s no silver bullet. We get it. For some, no-till sounds like the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland —asking you to “believe six impossible things before breakfast.” Perennial roots going 12–20 feet deep? Diverse soils that act like sponges instead of concrete? It can be hard to picture if you’ve never seen it. But producers who’ve lived through the transition know it’s possible—and profitable. That’s because no-till isn’t meant to stand alone. As Dr. Dwayne Beck has spent decades demonstrating, when no-till is paired with rotations, cover crops, and sometimes livestock, it becomes part of a system that restores natural pore space, improves infiltration, and often lowers costs. And while regional soils—from South Dakota silt loams to Kansas clays—behave differently, research and farmer experience show that context-driven management makes all the difference. Our goal here isn’t to push a single narrative, but to share the science and stories so you can sort through the information for yourself. You’ll find podcasts with innovators like Dr. Dwayne Beck, Gabe Brown, Ray Archuleta, and Dr. Ray Weil, alongside South Dakota farmers who’ve put no-till to work in their own operations. You’ll also find blogs where we dig into questions like: Does no-till really improve water infiltration compared to tillage? How do crop rotations affect no-till outcomes? What do large-scale studies (and real farmers) say about yields and profits in no-till systems? When does no-till work—and when doesn’t it? Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner, a skeptic, or somewhere in between, we invite you to explore, question, and draw your own conclusions. Thank you to the USDA-NRCS for collaboration on these valuable no-till stories. Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied All VIDEOS No-Till Podcasts All PODCASTS No-Till Blog Posts Being Hung by the Tongue: How Tillage Language Shapes Soil Outcomes Confusion around tillage terminology especially the modern use of “vertical tillage” may be shaping farmer decisions in ways we don’t fully understand. In this guest piece, Jim Martindale explores how soil disturbance, temperature, and terminology influence corn root development, challenging us to rethink how we define and evaluate tillage systems. Apr 13 3 min read The Wind You Don’t Notice (And What It’s Taking from Your Soil) Most soil loss doesn’t happen in storms—it happens on ordinary spring days. In dry conditions across South Dakota, steady winds are quietly moving soil, nutrients, and long-term productivity off exposed fields. Mar 31 4 min read Can We Really Fix Wet Spots With Tillage? If So, Why Are They Still There? “Standing in Jesse Hall’s field, Joe and I exchanged that familiar look — the one we’ve shared with several South Dakota producers — because once again someone was demonstrating a truth that runs against the old playbook: you don’t fix water problems with tillage; you fix them with biology.” Dec 17, 2025 3 min read Cows on Cover Crops: South Dakota Farmer Adds $86/acre and 70 Bu Corn On our spring tour of South Dakota farmers integrating livestock, my partner in crime, Joe Dickie, and I left Huron, and a couple of hours later crested the rise where Ryan Urban lives. Ryan identifies himself as a fourth-generation Pukwana crop-and-cattle producer—he jokes that they’re “cattle people who farm on the side.” With a name like Urban, I half expected him to grab a guitar and sing us a country tune. Instead, he grabbed the keys to his pickup, and we rode out into Aug 11, 2025 3 min read No-Till vs. Tillage: Which Really Lets the Water In? Jeff Hemenway, former Soil Health Conservationist, pointing out Roots in the Subsoil at 80” in a No-till, Cover-Cropped Field in Brookings, SD When a commenter wrote on one of our recent videos Dwayne Beck, no-till , he put it bluntly: “Without tillage water won’t penetrate. I rented 400 acres that was zero till for decades and it was like a concrete block.” That comment — echoed by others in our threads — hits at one of the most common criticisms of no-till. If the soil is h Aug 11, 2025 4 min read No-Till, No Yield? Are We Putting Corn Above Soybean Yields? As a response to several requests for more peer-reviewed material on the economics of no-till (NT) vs. conventional tillage (CT), I went digging into the usual suspects — input costs, yield comparisons, and long-term trials. That’s when I stumbled on research from South Dakota State University’s Beresford Research Farm that made me realize: I had a bias . In an earlier blog , we cited a meta-analysis showing no-till yields averaging 5.7% lower overall compared to conventiona Jul 21, 2025 3 min read ALL BLOG POSTS No-Till Resources No-Till: Common Questions and Straight Answers Click here to download! ALL RESOURCES No-Till Shorts ALL SHORTS

Learn about different soil health practices from ranchers and farmers to maximize resilience and profits. Regenerative agriculture starts with no-till practices -- but it doesn't stop there. Not-Just No Till View Topic Healthy soils and productive pastures go hand in hand - see how livestock complete the regenerative agriculture system. Livestock Integration View Topic Explore the journey of reclaiming saline soils through expert insights, practical strategies, and farmer-led solutions—empowering resilience and renewal in the heart of the James River Valley. Soil Salinity View Topic Virtually everything can change for the better when you evolve to year round grazing. Year Round Grazing View Topic Plan for it. Soften the impact. Make your ranch resilient. Drought Management View Topic 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? Easier Winter? Graze Bales! Bale Grazing View Topic Struggling With Drought? Best Advice. Burn Before They Get Big. Prescribed Burn View Topic Struggling With Drought? Less Labor, Feed, Vet Bills. Calving On Grass View Topic

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. Made possible through partnership with the USDA-NRCS in South Dakota. USDA-NRCS in SD 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 When Should Farmers buy Diesel? Managing Fuel Price and Supply Risk Jul 21 3 min read The One Big Problem Facing Agriculture (According to Farmers & Ranchers) Jun 19 5 min read What Happens When the Middle Disappears? Family Farms and Rural Communities in a Changing America Jun 16 4 min read Are We Measuring the Entire Phosphorus Story? Jun 2 4 min read Five Practical Themes Emerging from Dry-Year Conversations Across South Dakota May 19 3 min read Supermarkets and Medicine Cabinets: What Fred Provenza Taught Me About Nutritional Wisdom Our Posts May 4 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

We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Calving On Grass Video Many ranchers/farmers have grown tired of the increasing animal (and financial) losses and the associated human stress caused by calving during more extreme February and March weather. Calving on grass has become the management tool of choice for many ranchers in South Dakota. This video features Mike Blaalid (Micthell, SD), Candice Olson Mizera (McLaughlin SD) and Larry Wagner (Chamberlain/Pukwana, SD) discussing the advantages of calving on grass, why they changed calving dates, a few pointers to success on calving on grass, cattle traits for grass calving, calf health, reductions in costs (also reductions in capital for infrastructure ), and the knock on effect in terms of reduced labor and human animal stress. This short video (10 ½ minutes) is really a small sample of the benefits of calving on grass. One final question: what does calving on grass have to do with soil health and healthy rangeland. One of the biggest threats to rangeland in South Dakota is conversion to cropland and this land use change is especially tempting when corn prices are higher. May calving allows (1) folks like Larry Wagner to stay in the cow business and (2) reduces the barriers to entry for new producers to come into the cow business because of lower infrastructure costs (covered in the final section of how calving on grass can work for you) – in short, keeping the prairies in ranching and recruiting more folks into ranching allows us to keep the grass green side up, allows us to preserve the prairie, a national treasure and finally, allows us to preserve a way of life. We're grateful for our partnership with USDA-NRCS to share stories just like this. Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied All VIDEOS Calving On Grass Podcast All PODCASTS Calving On Grass Blog Posts Calving in Sync with Nature: How One South Dakota Ranch Rebuilt Its System After years of winter calving and rising feed costs, the Kammerer family of western South Dakota shifted their system to align calving with green grass. The result? Lower weather risk, reduced hay bills, and a renewed focus on land, labor, and family.We are not going to extract content. We are going to listen. sushmita62 Grass, Grit, and Generations: The Kammerers of Piedmont, SD On a seventh-generation ranch near Piedmont, South Dakota, Jimmie and Riley Kammerer manage grass, cattle, and family together—building resilience through thoughtful grazing, husbandry, and shared work. sushmita62 All BLOG POSTS Calving On Grass Resources CALVING ON GRASS FACTS Click here to download! CALVING ON GRASS Q&A Click here to download! ALL RESOURCES Calving On Grass Shorts ALL SHORTS

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

We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Livestock Integration Livestock integration is one of those ideas that sparks both excitement and hesitation. For some, cattle are the missing piece in rebuilding soil. For others, they represent added cost, complexity, and risk. That tension is real. Bringing livestock back onto land that hasn’t seen animals in years isn’t simple. It takes fencing, water, labor, and careful timing. And as many producers in this film point out, no two operations are the same—what works in one place may look completely different in another. But for those who have made the shift, livestock often aren’t seen as an addition—they’re a return. A way to rebuild what was once a natural system. Through managed grazing, producers are using cattle as a tool to cycle nutrients, stimulate plant growth, and bring life back into soils that have been pushed hard for decades. In some cases, that means turning crop residue into forage. In others, it means converting marginal cropland back into diverse pasture. The results can be meaningful: improved soil structure, better water infiltration, reduced reliance on inputs, and in some cases, new revenue streams through livestock or differentiated products like field-finished beef. But outcomes depend heavily on context—soil, climate, management, and goals all matter. This film brings together producers, researchers, and conservation partners to share both the promise and the challenges of livestock integration. Not as a prescription, but as a set of experiences to learn from. Whether you’re already grazing, considering it, or just curious, we invite you to explore the stories, weigh the tradeoffs, and decide what might fit your operation. This project was made possible through a partnership with USDA-NRCS. Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied All VIDEOS Livestock Integration Podcasts All PODCASTS Livestock Integration Blog Posts Supermarkets and Medicine Cabinets: What Fred Provenza Taught Me About Nutritional Wisdom What if animals don’t just eat—they learn how to nourish themselves? Drawing on insights from Fred Provenza, this piece explores how livestock use experience, social learning, and plant diversity to manage their own nutrition—and what that means for the future of ranching and land management. Drought management depends on early action, flexibility, and protecting soil and resources rather than waiting for rain. May 4 5 min read When Cattle Bring the Desert Back: Alejandro Carrillo’s Regenerative Ranching Story “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.” Jan 7 2 min read Healing Rangeland, One Graze at a Time — Van Mansheim’s Story 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 Aug 21, 2025 3 min read How the Michalski Ranch Turned Marginal Cropland into a Diverse, Profitable Pasture On the South Dakota Coteau, the Michalski family transformed marginal cropland into a thriving, diverse pasture. Discover their grazing strategies, land ethic, and how diversity drives both resilience and profit. It was July 2021 when Joe Dickie and I rolled up to the Michalski spread on the Coteau. Waiting to greet us were Darin, his wife Jessica, and their son Cutler. Darin cut a dashing figure — blue sleeveless button-up, well-worn jeans, cowboy boots planted in the ground Aug 19, 2025 4 min read Cows on Cover Crops: South Dakota Farmer Adds $86/acre and 70 Bu Corn On our spring tour of South Dakota farmers integrating livestock, my partner in crime, Joe Dickie, and I left Huron, and a couple of hours later crested the rise where Ryan Urban lives. Ryan identifies himself as a fourth-generation Pukwana crop-and-cattle producer—he jokes that they’re “cattle people who farm on the side.” With a name like Urban, I half expected him to grab a guitar and sing us a country tune. Instead, he grabbed the keys to his pickup, and we rode out into Aug 11, 2025 3 min read Sorting Goldenrod Fact from Fiction: Toxic Weed or Overlooked Forage? We recently posted a video short of Pete Bauman talking about goldenrod on the July "Our Amazing Grasslands" video, and it took off! 110,000 plays and 1,000 likes in just 11 days. With that reach came a tidal wave of comments, and not surprisingly, many folks had strong opinions about goldenrod. They ranged from “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Let’s feed shoe leather” to “Spot on—my sheep will hit the goldenrod, sunflowers, amaranth, giant ragweed, and mares tail first.” In between Aug 7, 2025 3 min read ALL BLOG POSTS Livestock Integration Resources No-Till: Common Questions and Straight Answers Click here to download! ALL RESOURCES Livestock Integration Shorts ALL SHORTS

Explore the regenerative agricultural practices of South Dakota's farmers and ranchers. Learn from their experiences in soil health and conservation as they share valuable lessons and strategies for a sustainable future. Discover the Journeys of South Dakota's Farmers and Ranchers. Regenerative Mindsets: Lessons from South Dakota's Soil Health Journeys

We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Drought Management Resources As South Dakota faces the challenges of drought in 2025, Growing Resilience is here to support ranchers and producers with valuable resources to manage and mitigate its impact. This page serves as a comprehensive hub for drought management information, offering videos, podcasts, PDFs, and blog posts designed to provide practical insights and solutions. Additionally, we are proud to partner with the South Dakota Drought Plan , a vital resource for preparing for and responding to drought conditions across the state. We encourage you to explore their site for more in-depth information on drought strategies, mitigation, and support available to you. With help from the USDA-NRCS , together we can build resilience for the future. Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied All VIDEOS Drought Management Podcasts All PODCASTS Drought Management Blog Posts When the Rain Doesn’t Come: A Practical Drought Playbook for Farmers and Ranchers Apr 27 5 min read When Cattle Bring the Desert Back: Alejandro Carrillo’s Regenerative Ranching Story Jan 7 2 min read Drought Tolerance, Diversity, and Déjà Vu: What Dakota Lakes Is Teaching the World Dec 19, 2025 2 min read Ray Archuleta on Bare Soil, Fungicides, and Rethinking Soil Health Sep 2, 2025 5 min read Mastering Drought: The Sustainable Secrets of a South Dakota Rancher May 7, 2024 5 min read Rancher Prepares Drought Plan to Save Grass, Soil and Cows Apr 6, 2022 2 min read ALL BLOG POSTS Drought Management Resources DROUGHT 2025 - ADVICE AND TOOLS Click here to download! DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN Q&A Click here to download! DROUGHT MANAGEMENT FACT SHEET Click here to download! DROUGHT TOOL Click here to download! DROUGHT TOOL INSTRUCTIONS Click here to download! DROUGHT MONITORING MAP Click here to view! ALL RESOURCES Drought Management Shorts ALL SHORTS

We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Bale Grazing Videos Play Video Share Whole Channel This Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Now Playing 14:12 Play Video Now Playing 03:07 Play Video Now Playing 02:35 Play Video Now Playing 01:20 Play Video We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Special thanks to Drew Anderson and Jodie and Harold Gaugler for additional still images and explanations which were so crucial to this story and to the USDA-NRCS for helping us get this story out! Bale Grazing Podcast All PODCASTS Bale Grazing Blog Posts Winter Grazing in South Dakota: Reid Suelflow’s Practical Approach to Corn Grazing and Bale Grazing In January 2021, Joe Dickey visited Reid Suelflow near White Lake, South Dakota, to document how winter corn grazing and bale grazing reduce feeding costs while improving soil health. We are going to listen. sushmita62 Why Bale Grazing Makes Sense in an Open Winter This open winter can be a unique opportunity to experiment with bale grazing without making a complete system change commitment. Winter management can be made easier than you might think by starting small, lowering daily feeding pressure, and letting the land do the work. sushmita62 All BLOG POSTS Bale Grazing Resources BALE GRAZING FACTS Click here to download! BALE GRAZING Q&A Click here to download! All RESOURCES Bale Grazing Shorts All SHORTS

Growing Resilience Through Our Soils exists to help ranchers and cropland managers maximize soil health to deliver farm and ranch resilience and profitability. This platform uses videos, photos, and words to showcase the trials and successes of ranchers and farmers as they continue along their soil health journeys. 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.

Each week we release new content that is aired on multiple radio stations. You can listen to everything that has previously aired here and check back next week for new content! Radio Media NEW CONTENT UPDATED WEEKLY! Gene Ausland Rancher “When somebody asks me about it, I tell them it's a lot of hard work; it takes a lot of dedication, but in the long run it's going to pay off big time because you're going to have grass when you need it.” Amy Cammack Rancher “When we move our cattle because they're used to the rotational grazing you just go to the gate and holler “come boss, come boss.” and they are ready to go through and shut the gate behind them. It works really well; you can move them on and make sure grass grows better. We're seeing very good benefits.” Sandy Limpert Rancher “We're in Northwest South Dakota where the old-timers say we have a drought three years out of ten, and that's probably close to right. Our theory is to keep a lot of pastures with a lot of old growth ahead of us. Everybody I've talked to, that has done this rotational grazing for longer than we have, say they've yet to reach their potential; the pastures continue to get better and better.” Stewart Schmidt Rancher “We get credit for being Cowboys, or we get credit for being horsemen, or cattlemen, but really what we are is grazers. We are grass managers. We use cattle or buffalo or sheep or horses or whatever we use as a tool to be able to market it and that's what we've found a way to market grass through cattle and in using the cattle to benefit the grass.” Dominic Harmon “I don't think there's any one shoe fits all for a rotational grazing system, depends on what grasses you have and what paddocks. Because you got certain species in certain areas, so you can graze early, and then you've got species you can graze later that are good late season feed. I think I've increased production by around 90 to 100 percent on a lot of the paddocks.” Dan Anderson “Then we got into an EQIP contract. Split our pastures up even more, hot wire, because we were on both sheep and cattle. We run four smooth wires and a couple of more hot. We just noticed the more rest you give a plant, the more root system it develops, the more growth it gives on top, the greater resilience it has when it is either eaten or drought comes in. It'll snap back.” Chris Bowlander Rancher “If I’m riding across land that I haven’t ridden across, the first thing I look for now is soil. I look down. Can I see soil? And I know now that’s bad news. I want to look down and not see soil. I look for variety of species of the grasses. It gets addictive, truly, to look at different species of grass.” Steve Davis “We’re not a very big operation…. we run anywhere from about 70 to 100 hunters through, and we’re harvesting anywhere from 300 to 400 birds in a season. Obviously with all the grasses that we have, that’s a beautiful place for birds nesting. I’ve noticed just being out there’s a lot of hens with a lot of little ones running behind them, and that’s a good thing to see.” Mike McKernan Summit Lake Project “We’re not here just for the cows. I guess I look at the cows as using the tool to help manage the grass so we can get good production from our cows. We get good cover for the wildlife. And compared to a lot of other pastures that are around, we find more wildlife out in here than you do in other areas where they’re just not managing the grass.” Bruce Haerter Rancher "Over the last 20 plus years, we've converted a lot of acres away from crop into grasslands. We have lots of cross fencing. We do rotate our cattle. There'll be times where we use acres more and then maybe for a year, don't use them at all. If I could give somebody some advice, what I would say is go to the people that live and work with grassland conservation and water and all those things. Cause there are those people out there. They're easy to talk to." Ray Effling Rancher "We winter a few cows that we own of our own. And then we custom graze. We've done the slow moves we've done. The fast moves. We like them all. Our primary goals when we are moving these cattle is the soil health. Moving the cattle through and letting the plants recover, all our paddocks, we try to give a 60 day rest, no matter where we're at, we've seen where that has really benefited the soil and benefited the cattle." Robert Boylan Rancher "Cattle and sheep out here. Honestly, I think I I've run the cattle so I can wear a cowboy hat. I run the sheep to make the payments. I believe it was 2012 that I realized the importance of rest and rotate. Cause we just didn't get a use in pastures because there wasn't water. We've probably got close to 60 miles of pipeline put in. I've built 120 reservoirs the last four years, got probably close to 80 water tanks on the place. Water distribution is the best thing you can do for grasslands." Dave Grassel Rancher "Tyler Moore and I've been best friends for about 20 years. We had the opportunity to rent some grass together. We approached the land owner and told them that if we were given the opportunity to rent the land, that we would rotational graze on it. And they took us up on that. We underbid some fellow ranchers, but we offered a rotational graze and they thought that'd be a better deal for everybody in the long run." Jon Smikle Rancher "My dad and grandfather did a great job setting this place up for rotational grazing. Take half leave half. We have 54 tanks on the place, so our water situation is amazing. Without a lot of labor, we can just put more cattle in the pastures for shorter amount of time and just move them faster. It's amazing how resilient range land is. If you're not continuously overgrazing it year after year, it, it heals pretty fast." Charlie Totton Rancher "We went to just a lot of these one-day classes like ranchers workshops and pasture walks, and then we finally went on some bus trips that the NRCS and Extension Service put on, when you're on a pasture walk or a bus trip, you know, you're on the guy's place; You can see if it's working or not. Learning or knowledge is probably the most important thing." John Rittberger Rancher "Our grandparents homesteaded this land in 1909, my father stayed on the place, and then we took over from there. Our goal for grazing is to always leave grass. We love grass. I like looking out on a pasture that looks good even after we take cattle off. Having an inventory of what's in a pasture has really helped me…knowing how many AUMS are in each pasture is really beneficial." Bart Carmichael Rancher "Pastures range from 30 acres to 160 acres. Move cattle sometimes every day, but at least every week. Try to give everything of rest of at least 14 months on our pastures to give it a chance to recover, rest. Trying to graze all year long. Trying to have pasture that can be grazed any time of the year and have a cow that'll do it with the management grazing, we've seen an increase in wildlife and increase in plants." Amy Cammack Rancher "When we had that terrible drought, we had a new pasture every week in that way we had 13 weeks worth of grazing and every week they have new grass and every time you put them on fresh grass and makes them eat grow better, milk better, look better. Every year you start in a different pasture so that you're grazing at a different time." Randy and Jean Shultz "If the cattle are on the same pasture they’re going to keep eating their favorite plant and those plants will disappear and decrease, and the less desirable plants will come in. You get more diversity with your cool season and warm season grasses as you move your cattle and have shorter duration grazing. With the cross-fencing, with the more pastures, we’ll see warm seasons grasses come in. They may not have been evident for fifty years, but the grass is still there and it comes back. I don’t know how to measure the improvement in the soil, but I’m sure there’s an improvement." John Shubek Rancher "I just got really interested in sustainable practices and how to maintain the land. It’s enhanced our profitability. Rotational grazing worked great. This year we’ve been doing daily moves, just trying to better manage what they’re eating and manage the grass, give it an opportunity to recover you see how the more you move the cows, the better the cows stay in condition, the better the grass and the ground stays in condition." Kristen Johnson Rancher "When we’re going out and we’re moving cattle from one pasture to the next, you can just see how it benefits both the grass and the --how much better nutritionally we can offer different grasses to our cattle by letting that grass rest. And see the cows get excited. They want to come. They want that new grass. You can see a very big difference in what some of the more continual grazed systems versus our rotations,—you can see a big difference in your stand of grass, in the healthier cattle, in the wildlife, in all of it." Joel Erickson Rancher "The last couple years we’ve seeded full-season cover crops just for grazing. The cows are a great recycler. Those deep-rooted brassicas pull up nutrients, and then run them through the cows, we’re not afraid to put up electric fence and we can haul water, too, if we need to. We do that quite a bit for fall grazing. It’s cheaper to haul water than it is to haul feed, so that’s why we really like the fall grazing or the winter grazing, as long as winter will allow." Dustin Jewett NRSC Soil Health Specialist "The programs that we offer through the NRCS, the main ones, you know, we have EQIP, we have CSP, CRP, we can do practices like waterline, tanks, windbreaks, trees, fences, ponds, seeding, If you have cropland that isn’t producing that great or you want to convert it back to grass for soil health we can cost-share anywhere between 75 and 90 percent cost-share on a lot of these practices. Practices that really help out our area are fences, waterlines, and windbreaks." Beau Bendigo Rancher "We sat down and we made plans where we needed water—we got the water where we needed it with pipelines and big water tanks, and then we went to cross-fencing so we could utilize rotation. The cross-fencing has been tremendous once we got it in place—we can put cows in there for twenty-one days and they’ll utilize more of the pasture, and then you kick them in the next place and they have fresh grass." Chris Bohlander Rancher "We keep evolving. I know with the cross-fencing and temporary fence and water we can do a much better job, utilize that, improve—improve the diversity there. We’re also using temporary water, running pipe above ground for temporary moving cattle around. It’s exciting. I can’t get enough of it." Tanse Herman NRCS - Soil Health Specialist "Grass is abundant. That’s not by accident. When we dig a hole and study the soil. It almost has a cottage cheese type structure. That soil texture allows water to infiltrate rapidly, where water and air can freely move. That plant stand was very, very healthy and the impact of grazing was absolutely beneficial." Jody Brown Rancher “We try to leave about half the ranch stockpile winter grazing ground, we used to just cut it every year and haul it off into a stack, and now we graze it with the yearlings on a daily move. I don't see a lot of people jumping into this type of grazing. It's easy just to keep doing it the way you are, but I think a constant urge to learn is probably the best thing you can do.” Bart Carmichael Rancher “My grandpa, when he had cattle here, pretty much just grazed in the draws. We've changed that to where they go into a spot and graze it out in two or three days, and then they're moved to a new spot. We're getting them more variation, more biodiversity out there, it's a lot healthier system.” Eli Little “So when we first started with rotational grazing, we rotated cattle every five days and 45 acres and now we are down to six or seven acres sometimes, and moving them once a day, we would like to go two times a day and do a lot more intensive grazing that way. You'll really see a lot of improvement if you're able to manage that way.” Reid Suelflow Farmer “As far as my rotation, I have three different groups of pastures, and there’s several smaller pastures within each group, and I try to rest one group for the full growing season. Then I graze the other two groups. It’s much healthier than they've been in the past and just rotating them as fast as I do, it's just a cleaner environment for them, and they just seem to be doing better.” Van Mansheim “As I became more passionate about my crop lands soil health, I started hearing these things about range land. I'm starting to realize the correlation of the soil health principles and how important the livestock integration is the same way, and diversity's the same way. Keeping the soil covered with armor, having a green living plant as long as you can during the year.” Louis Bergner Rancher “A few years ago we bought a pasture up north, it’d been overgrazed for quite a few years, so that was kind of the area that I started with the cross-fencing and rotational grazing, to try and get that back into better use. There was like bare spots in the pastures and as I did the rotational grazing those bare spots would fill in and you’d notice a lot more litter on the ground there to hold the moisture.” Shad Larson “I can’t say enough good about this land. Different species of grasses and that was a learning curve on my side I’ve come along with the tours out here they put on and this was the first pasture that dad and I have ever introduced rotating. There’s always ups and downs, but let me tell you, it’s more positive than negative over here.” Kristen Johnson “I guess it is just kind of fun for me too, when we’re going out and we’re moving cattle from one pasture to the next, you can just see how it benefits both the grass and the cattle because you can see how much better nutritionally, we can offer different grasses to our cattle by letting that grass rest. And see the cows get excited. They want to come. They want that new grass.” Candice Olson-Mizera “Moving cattle calving back to April has greatly reduced stress as far as calving. And then rotationally grazing, we decided to have one bunch, to rotationally graze and trample more and have the cows be not so picky, so that they ate what they were given and then we could move them. I think we’ve seen tremendous grass improvement just because of the rest that the pastures have when you’re in a smaller area.” Brad Magness Rancher "We do rotationally graze with the object in mind that we want to utilize cool season grasses, which we have a predominance of, and rest the warm season grasses so that they don't get exclusively grazed out by continuous grazing. Our management style is probably different than a lot of people because we don't manage for profit. We manage for stewardship and have learned that if you're good stewards that is profitable." Justin Thompson Rancher "I remember Ryan coming out and advising us. It was pretty much just three pastures on that whole place. We formulated the plan and started building cross fences. And I started attending grassland schools, I got really excited about improving the range. We started changing our season of use and our rotation. I wouldn't say we're drought proofed but we can handle a dry year now and before we could not." Doug Hansen Rancher "We've been on this place since 1964. I guess restoration is in my blood. We restore wagons and, build stagecoaches and I've become more keenly interested in the restoration of the grasslands. It's a value to restore that to its native state. On the production side, as we gain a more native grasses and Forbes, we also see the production go up. So it's kind of a, win-win." Dugan Bad Warrior Rancher "I met a guy in rapid city and he says, ”I'm a grass farmer, how I harvest my grass is through cows.” And that really stood out to me. I was like, yeah, he's right. I've done some rotational grazing in smaller paddocks. When I go for a walk, now I try to look for some of the species that tell me that my grasses or my pastures are healthy. There's always better ways to manage your ground. If you just change your paradigm to see that it can be so much better for you." Van Mansheim Farmer "I'm not a rancher by any means, but the cropland is something farmers assess every day. Rangeland doesn't become a priority to a lot of guys, but I learned that we need to make it a priority. …And even with as dry as we've been, the cover crops are just flourishing because of the diversity. And I think if we can make my rangeland more diverse, we make ourselves more drought tolerant, more resilient." Reid Suelflow Farmer "I probably move my cows on average every three to four days. At times everyday… I have three different groups of pastures, and there's several smaller pastures within each group, and I try to rest one group for the full growing season, I feel like it gives some of the native species the full year break to maybe get more established because when you turn the cows out in the pasture that's the first thing they go for." Sandy Limpert Rancher "We run the buffalo herd all in one large here. We have about thirty two pastures that we rotate them through, so they're only in a pasture five six seven days, and they don't come back to that pasture till the following year, we utilize the pastures at different times every year. It's had a tremendous effect on the vigor of the plants. We've just seen tremendous differences in the pastures as opposed to the way we used to graze them." Dan Connor Rancher "I would recommend to a young producer to go with some sheep…you can run sheep were a cow wouldn't even want a be, and they're quite a little cheaper to get into, we don't over stock. we try to keep the numbers at a workable level… And they don't use all the grass, it's kind of real rule take half and leave half, and we try to follow that… Wildlife seems to have something to eat too." Simone Wind Rancher "It’s a difficult place to ranch, but it’s ours now and we’re trying to make it better. We’ve gone from the original fifteen pastures to thirty pastures ranging from 25 to 40 acres. When we’re finished we’ll have over sixty pastures. We’ve installed twenty-five miles of electric fence, mostly two-wire. We’ll have another twenty-five miles put in before the end of the project. That type of a system allows the diversity to increase. When we first got here we didn’t have a lot of diverse forage --no nettle, saltbush, or winterfat, and forbs were few and far between. Now there is much more of a diversity in our grasslands." Alan Wind Rancher "Our optimum grazing time is three to five days. We try to be in a cell and out of the cell within that period of time. That’s followed by 750 days of rest. So the rest of that grazing season we don’t go back in a second time, the next year it’s completely undisturbed, and then that third year, we try to shift the season of use." Brett Blank Game, Fish, and Parks "Years ago we used to never really manage our grasslands. They were just left idle and the diversity was not there, it was pretty much a monoculture of bluegrass and smooth brome. We started integrating cattle into our management and we’re starting to see great improvements on our grassland. There’s proof in the pudding if you just come out and look on some of these areas, the diversity in the plants, the birds, the animals. You have a lot better hunting opportunity out here because of the cattle doing what they’re doing on the ground versus if we just did absolutely nothing." Mike McKernan Rancher "This all fits all right into what I believe in and the way I like to live. I like to hunt. I like to fish. Anything I do with the cattle generally involves looking at it from the conservation side as well. I can still get good benefits, the cattle can still get me where we want to be, and I can still have good wildlife habitat. A long-term success would be having a high diversity of plants; it’s diversity. Diversity in grasses, diversity in the insects, diversity in the birds. If we’ve got multiple species of all of them out there, then I think we’re being successful." Ed Blair Rancher "We started out really small, running 45-50 head of replacement heifers and rotating that and, within four or five years I was seeing some big changes out there. I says, “Man, this works. You know, we need to start doing some more of this, the big thing that I think I’ve seen is diversity, but also groundcover. Unless the soil is really bad, we don’t have any bare spots." Stacy Turgeon NRCS Soil Health Specialist "And having cattle out on grass, rotational grazing, you know, if you’re doing it right it’s helping the water infiltrate. The water’s actually going in the ground where you want it for grass production. Introducing livestock, getting them out there and aftermath grazing, it just stimulates the soil biology and it’s really, really important to keep us sustainable and productive for the long haul." Fannie Fritz Supervisor "Everything we do is a partnership. we’ve developed a partnership with US Fish and Wildlife Service because if you have grass and you just leave it alone and you don’t do anything with it, it’s going to diminish. The best thing you can do is put livestock on grass because you have the foot action, you have the grazing, you have the interaction with the wildlife. The best thing you can do is put livestock, especially cattle, out there." Rod Voss NRCS Grazing Land Management Specialist "We know that rest grows grass, and when we’re going through a system twice through we’re taking very little amount the first time through. We’re leaving a lot of leaf area for that grass to regrow. The second time through then we can take our proper use out of that grass and still leave enough residual cover for that grass to maintain its health and vigor. It’s been good for the grass, it’s been good for the livestock, and the cooperator that’s running the cattle out here." Gene Ausland Rancher "We graze only one pasture once a year and then they rest for another year. We move cattle from anywhere from five to ten days.I'm out in a pasture every day checking grasses to see when we should move. We try to leave anywhere from four to six inches of grass standing in the pasture every year." Gary Cammack Rancher “When it comes to rotation, rotating pastures, it can be difficult to move cattle, but it's easy to let cattle move themselves. Different things that we've done over the years we can see a difference in weaning weights we can see a difference in herd health overall success in the cattle business is doing a thousand little things right.” Dan Connor Rancher “We try to manage our numbers, we don’t over stock. We don't use all the grass, and wildlife seems to have something to eat too. We put in several miles of new fence with NRCS cooperation and the BLM. It cut the size and pastures down so we rotate more, and it seems to help with the grass production.” John Rittberger “The main thing to protect us against drouth, main thing we do is always leave grass after we leave the pasture, and if we have to sell cattle or look for a land to lease, well, we've learned you've got to do it. You can't, you can't take all the grass. We rotate them through summer, but not only that, we rotate through the winter.” Charlie Totton Rancher “When we added our mob grazing, we figured out it only took half as much land to some of the cows. So instead of running twice as many cows, we extended our grazing season by four months. So now, we only feed cows two or three months out of winter instead of five or six. Same amount of cows in the same place but just a difference in management we gained, that much grazing season.” Josh Lefers “I don't think anyone's an expert on soil microbiology, the best I've found is, you look above the ground, and you look at healthy soil indicators. Digging, bringing a spade, digging your soil up and looking at soil structure and measuring that infiltration. All those things are going to give you indicators of, whether you're providing the right conditions for your soil microbiology. Ultimately what we hope to see is more production.” Britton Blair Rancher “Any ranch that we go to, has a lot of different pastures sizes, you run different herd sizes at different places. And I feel like we just stick to our basic principles and our basic way that we want the grass to look, but you’re always changing, like the number of days that you’re in a pasture and that’s really been fun.” Jack Davis Rancher “Another practice that we did was went to weaning early. We wean the 1st of September. That’s really saved on grass, and those cows, once they’re weaned, can winter pretty good on the grass and crop residue. And now that we’ve introduced cover crops, some of that, too. And the rotation has really helped bring in the natives really show that big bluestem and how that’s recovered just by having its rest and rotation.” James Erickson “It helps to have both sides, to have cattle and crops. You know, you’ve got crops to feed the cattle and the cattle to help feed the crops and your soil, to help benefit soil health and what not. And then we do a lot of stuff with cover crops to help kind of diversify everything, and that makes it a lot easier on the cattle operation, too, for grazing purposes.” AJ Heiss Cattle Manager "When I came on to the place, they just bought the ranch. We put it directly into an intensive grazing system, which my goal was to rotate, rest and recover. We basically made three pastures into 10 separate, different pastures. When we go back in every pasture, we'll get at least 90 days of rest and recovery time. The cattle have benefited from it. The pounds per gain have benefited and we've ran, I would say 40% more cattle on a rotation program as opposed to running a season long grazing." Mark Hollenbeck Rancher "We've been developing our water and fences for the better part of 10 years now, and focusing on proper management as well as our hunting business. We're always dry, but part of the reason we have grass is that we have been actively managing for grass. So all these plants that are really nutritious were grazed out and by managing, we're getting those plants to come back. We're getting them to come back by giving proper rest." Crystal Neuharth Rancher "Duane Beck always told us stop and walk out into nature and just have a look, see what she's been doing. She's been doing it best for way longer than we have. If we can take in what we're seeing, and a lot have to do with the five principles of soil health. If you can take what you learned from mother nature and apply it to what we're doing, you can become more successful and your crops and your grass should be resilient and recover well." Tyler Moore Rancher "I was recommended to go to a grazing school and that grazing school was a huge, huge part of getting to where we're at today. One thing that I really noticed… been doing a lot of grass testing, sending in grass clippings and the nutrient nutritional value of the grass when you're letting that grass rest for 60 days that top 25% of that grass holds so much more nutritional value than if you continuously graze." Abby Smikle Rancher "And from a wife and a mom perspective, I've noticed a huge difference in the way that my husband is handling the cattle herd. He knows where he's going to put them in why he's going to move that herd into that pasture. At that time, we have two boys. They're full of energy. They're fully aware of the ground around them and their dad is sharing that knowledge so that they end up with more information to make this place better than what they inherited." Dwayne Beck Rancher "The outcomes are what we're really looking for. We can't get to that outcome with no-till alone, we can't get to that outcome with cover crops alone. We can't get to that outcome, in my opinion, with rotations that aren't diverse. Can I cycle the nutrients without having a perennial? No, I don't think we can. After 20 some years, I have pretty good evidence we can’t." Stewart Schmidt Rancher "My great grandfather Charles Schmidt came here in 1910… This is a reservation…And a lot of the things that we do today really are quite similar to what they had developed early on in the 20s 30s 40s… We calve more in sync with nature… rotational grazing and moving your cattle. we try to mimic, you know, our operation on to be in sync with nature… I think that it it gets managed as a holistic operation, and I think that that's kind of where we are today." Eli Little Rancher "My dad and I have been farming together basically since I got out of college. We do corn, beans, wheat, cover crops. We have cattle and sheep, hogs, chickens, and we try to integrate everything that that we do and getting cattle out on cover crops and getting them out on all of our fields and trying to improve our soil health. it's kind of our number one priority around here." Jody Brown Rancher "Just growing more grass, giving it more time to rest, I think is a big deal and gives us more of a grass bank for a drought year. We were talking the other day about how many cattle we're running in a certain pasture we leased, and we've got it split into quarter mile strips now, and we were running about a cow to two acres in the grazing, and now, it's 1.4, so that's a real increase in production with very minimal." Alan Wind Rancher "When we bought this place we could barely run 130 pairs on the whole ranch. Now we’re running 160 pair on half the ranch and the other half is set aside for drought, it’s set aside for hailstorms, it’s set aside for just growing and resting, deeper roots, more litter, shade, less grasshoppers." Candace Olson-Mizera "We went all no-till and planted cover crops and started rotational grazing here in the last five years. We’ve really intensified our rotational grazing and use of cover crops. The cows are in a smaller area, so the rest of the pastures have all got time to grow. That’s made a huge difference; it’s just improved our lives in so many different ways that time management—and efficiencies and profitability, and just improving the water infiltration and the holding capacity. we’re just trying to drought-proof the farm is what we’re trying to do." Pete Bauman South Dakota Stat University Extension "A lot of times we think about crops, we think about regenerative agriculture. Well, there’s nothing more regenerative than the grassland, the biological relationships between the cattle, the grazing, the microbes, the fungi, their saliva, defecating, their urinating, nitrogen cycling, all of these things make just perfect sense. I think this emerging science with that relationship is really going to continue to help people understand that healthy systems need healthy animals, and vice-versa. healthy humans are part of that story as well." Bernie Davis Rancher "I come out here practically every day to take care of the cattle or do the rotating, moving cattle. When they see the four-wheelers they come to you and you can open the gate and they will pretty well go through. In the rotational grazing we try and do it about every two to three weeks, depending on the size of the pasture, and that has tremendously helped on the grasses. The cattle seem a lot better, they seem healthier, the calves seem healthier. It’s been a good thing for us to do." Jack Davis Rancher "We were counting it up here the other day, close to ten miles of fence and also probably a mile or so of waterlines. And so the water and the fence has helped us reduce the amount of hay that we’ve had to feed, and we’ve moved to using more grass for feeding and can rotate more and stockpile some for the winter, not put up as much hay. And diversity has really improved since we started making the rotations. You’re seeing more of the natives come back in, more wildlife is showing up." Kent Vlieger NRCS State Soil Health Specialist "The first years that we were out here our infiltration rates were really not good. it would take fifteen to twenty minutes for that second infiltration rate to go in. And what we just did here a few minutes ago, that second inch went on in twenty-three seconds. that means there’s very little runoff. water is staying onsite. It’s going on into the ground. A lot of it’s being intercepted by our healthy soils that we’re building here." Shad Larson Rancher "To introduce rotating into our operations, that was kind of an eye-opener for my father… I’d turn out the same time dad did, and my calves would always come home bigger because the weaning weights, as far as rotational grazing, is just phenomenal. dad and I partnered up with Ducks and Game, Fish, and Wildlife to do some fencing, and we’ve got 200 acres and 375 acres that are all cross-fenced, ready to roll. And that’s been a significant boost to our operation, as far as saving the grass." Britton Blair Rancher "I just grew up rotating pastures and just learning how to read the grass, and a take half/leave half mentality. We try to rotate every two to six days, depending on pasture size and herd sizes. It’s important to get that rest and that rotation going… Those cows love to get to that fresh pasture and love that grass, and they get pretty used to rotating. " Louie Bergner Rancher "When I first came home we had two pastures. there’s eight different paddocks now in the heifer pasture. The river pasture, I have that divided into four different sections. My plan with rotational grazing was hopefully that I would be able to survive a dry year by having the pastures in better shape so that I could make it through those dry years. And I was able to make it through." RADIO STATIONS: KOTA 1380 AM | KZZI 95.9 FM | KGFX 1060 AM | KWAT 950 AM | KDLO 96.9 FM | WNAX 570 AM | KWYR 1260 AM | KBHB 810 AM *Photos and audio courtesy of the South Dakota Grasslands Coalition. // Distribution paid for by South Dakota's Conservation Districts.

Growing Resilience has produced dozens of videos ranging from many farming and ranching topics such as Bale Grazing, Drought Management, Year Round Grazing, Prescribed Burning, Calving On Grass, and many more. Featured Videos SD Drought and Land Management Tools Prescribed Burn Top Bale Grazing Advice From Dakota Ranchers Merit or Myth Season 1 The Science of Soil Health Join the Cover Crop Movement: Help Us Reach 1 Million Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Play Video Play Video 03:01 The Rising Soil Crisis: The Perfect Storm Threatening Agricultural Land and Production Soil salinity has been creeping into agricultural landscapes for decades, and Anthony Bly explains why. Drawing from his long career in soil science, agronomy and firsthand work with farmers, he explains how changes in rainfall, land management, and economic pressures have contributed to rising salt levels. Recalling his time at SDSU in the early ’90s, Anthony describes how diverse crop rotations and livestock once helped keep salinity in check. But as grasslands were converted to cropland, water tables rose, bringing salt to the surface. Rather than pointing fingers, he focuses on the big picture—helping farmers and ranchers find real, practical solutions. This is a must-watch if you want a clear, down-to-earth explanation of soil salinity and what can be done about it. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. #regenerativeagriculture #farming #soilhealth #agriculture Play Video Play Video 14:50 Fix Saline Soils: Regenerative Farmers/Ranchers Share Proven Tips for Restoring Soil Health & Yields In 2023, Buz Kloot and Joe Dickie filmed an interview with Jeff and Scott Hamilton in Beadle County, South Dakota, providing a practical, on-the-ground look at how salinity can be managed on a real farm. Buz Kloot narrates the video, which gives insight into the Hamilton brothers' journey of tackling salinity's impact on their land. Through their experimentation with annual and perennial vegetation, especially the “Hamilton Blend”, and changes to their farming practices, they've found ways to improve the productivity of previously unproductive land. 1:04 CHAPTER 1: WHEN THE SALTS CAME TO STAY 2:52 CHAPTER 2: TIPPING POINT: SALINITY, STRUGGLES, SURPRISES, SOLUTIONS 8:29 CHAPTER 3: MINDSET MAKEOVER: CUTOFF, KOCIA, COWS 12:09 CHAPTER 5: BEYOND THE BENEFITS: FINDING JOY IN THE JOURNEY The video is enhanced with imagery from the past, provided by Jeff Hamilton, which illustrates the gradual and sometimes dramatic changes in their land. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. #regenerativeagriculture #soilhealth #agriculture Play Video Play Video 17:24 Growing Together: How Farmers/Ranchers And USDA-NRCS Are Teaming Up For A Regenerative Future Join Mitch Faulkner, Area Rangeland Specialist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Craig Gardener, a retired wildlife biologist turned rancher, as they delve into their collaborative efforts for conservation and regenerative agriculture. In this enlightening discussion, they explore the challenges and opportunities of managing native rangeland, combating invasive species, and optimizing grazing practices for ecological health. Craig shares his journey of transitioning into ranching and the invaluable insights gained from working alongside Mitch to develop sustainable land management strategies. Together, they emphasize the importance of preserving biodiversity, implementing grazing plans, and embracing continuous learning to cultivate resilient landscapes. Discover how farmers, ranchers, and conservationists are teaming up with organizations like USDA-NRCS to foster a harmonious relationship between land stewardship and agricultural production. Join the movement toward a greener, healthier future by witnessing firsthand the power of collaboration and growing regenerative agriculture--together. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. #regenerativeagriculture #agriculture #soilhealth #usda Play Video Play Video 14:33 Farmer's Top Advice for Cropland Grazing Success 'The biggest regret I have is not jumping on this sooner.' 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. For more, visit us at: growingresiliencesd.com/videos USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. #grazing #farming #farmingvideos #cattle #soilhealth Featured Videos Under Cover Farmers (2012) captured the early days of multispecies cover crops. Today, farmer confidence is up, soils are healthier, and diversity is growing. Thanks to USDA/NRCS for helping us share these stories. Play Video Play Video 19:30 Two Regenerative Ranchers Share Shocking Soil Health Discovery Soil health principles are a great guide... But they're no replacement for direct experience. In this feature video, South Dakota ranchers Candice Mizera and Justin Thompson share with us the surprising benefit of hoof action when it comes to grassland diversity, health and management. For more free resources, visit: https://growingresiliencesd.com USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. #ranching #soilhealth #grasslands #regenerativeagriculture Play Video Play Video 13:29 Year Round Grazing: A Change to Believe In South Dakota ranchers Pat Guptill and Bart Carmichael, pioneers of year round grazing, share their journeys into the practice along with the top obstacles and insights gleaned along the way. 1:03 Bart and Pat's Stories 2:50 Make or Break: The Essentials for Year-Round Grazing Success 9:12 Costs to Wean a Calf and Winter Feed 12:08: Mentors and Resources USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 10:30 Calving on Grass: SD Ranchers on the Benefits of Alternative Calving Dates In a recent podcast with Jenita Qualm, she touched on the subject of traditionalism in ranching which may not always serv the rancher well, e.g., “it’s November, therefore, it’s time to feed hay”, or “we’ve always calved in February”. So, why consider calving in late April/May instead of February, or put another way, why calve on grass instead of the traditional barn? Many ranchers/farmers have grown tired of the increasing animal (and financial) losses and the associated human stress caused by calving during more extreme February and March weather. Calving on grass has become the management tool of choice for many ranchers in South Dakota. This video features Mike Blaalid (Micthell, SD), Candice Olson Mizera (McLaughlin SD) and Larry Wagner (Chamberlain/Pukwana, SD) discussing the advantages of calving on grass, why they changed calving dates, a few pointers to success on calving on grass, cattle traits for grass calving, calf health, reductions in costs (also reductions in capital for infrastructure ), and the knock on effect in terms of reduced labor and human animal stress. This short video (10 ½ minutes) is really a small sample of the benefits of calving on grass. There is an excellent 25-video series that can be found on the SD Grassland coalition web page called Alternative Calving Dates. We have also produced a Q&A and quick fact sheet based on the SD Grassland Series that can be found at https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/articles or bit.ly/GrowingResilience , or if you are from South Dakota, these will be available through the NRCS offices. One final question: what does calving on grass have to do with soil health and healthy rangeland. One of the biggest threats to rangeland in South Dakota is conversion to cropland and this land use change is especially tempting when corn prices are higher. May calving allows (1) folks like Larry Wagner to stay in the cow business and (2) reduces the barriers to entry for new producers to come into the cow business because of lower infrastructure costs (covered in the final section of how calving on grass can work for you) – in short, keeping the prairies in ranching and recruiting more folks into ranching allows us to keep the grass green side up, allows us to preserve the prairie, a national treasure and finally, allows us to preserve a way of life. For more info on alternative calving dates, please visit: sdgrass.org/calving-considerations/ USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:46 SD Grazing Stick What is the South Dakota 'Grazing Stick'? Why is it Important? How is it used? Find out these answers and more in this video with Rangeland Management Specialist Mitch Faulkner of the Natural Resources Conservation Service. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:48 Drought Management Plan (Jim Kopriva) In this short exchange between Casey Wenzlaff, Natural Resources Conservation Soil Conservationist and Producer Jim Kopriva (Raymond, SD) Jim provides a quick overview of the elements of a drought plan and a few tips on how to preserve the grass under varying rainfall conditions. At the time of this video’s release (March 2021), it looks like this growing season will be a dry one. Now is the best time to begin to think about drought planning to begin the process of building resilience on your operation – visit https://bit.ly/GrowingResilience for more information on drought planning. Remember the R’s for Rangeland Resilience: Rotate, Rest, Recovery USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 00:59 Remember the R's: Rotate (Drew Anderson) Rancher, Drew Anderson doesn’t have uniformly sized pastures, but he is rotating as much as possible to allow for rest and then full recovery for his pastures. At 0:30 in this video, Drew says “It take the livestock to make a full recovery”. The grasslands were meant to be grazed and Anderson is a big believer in the 5th principle of soil health, namely the benefit of livestock on the land. He and his neighbors have seen land flourish under Rotation, Rest and Recovery. At the time of this video’s release (March 2021), it looks like this growing season will be a dry one. Now is the best time to begin to think about drought planning to begin the process of building resilience on your operation – visit https://bit.ly/GrowingResilience for more information on drought planning. Remember the R’s for Rangeland Resilience: Rotate, Rest, Recovery USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 00:46 Remember the R's: Rest (Dan Anderson) Rancher, Dan Anderson (faith, SD) is a big believer in Rest and how it affects both aboveground Recovery and Root growth and his ranch’s Resilience. Dan recently wrote to us and said: “On our operation it has actually allowed our daughter to come home and be part or the day-to-day operating of this ranch since we are now running from 80% to 100% more livestock than we did in the past.” At the time of this video’s release (March 2021), it looks like this growing season will be a dry one. Now is the best time to begin to think about drought planning to begin the process of building resilience on your operation – visit https://bit.ly/GrowingResilience for more information on drought planning. Remember the R’s for Rangeland Resilience: Rotate, Rest, Recover USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:05 Remember the R's: Recover (Bart Carmichael) Rancher, Bart Carmichael (Faith, SD) always aims at grazing year-round, he often achieves 11 months. In this video, Bart talks about Recovery of his grass after grazing and then a Rest that often, in his dry conditions, lasts over a year. In this way, Bart has managed to use Rotation, and Rest to give his grass time to Recover to grow resilience in his soils. At the time of this video’s release (March 2021), it looks like this growing season will be a dry one. Now is the best time to begin to think about drought planning to begin the process of building resilience on your operation – visit https://bit.ly/GrowingResilience for more information on drought planning. Remember the R’s for Rangeland Resilience: Rotate, Rest, Recover USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:18 Remember the R's: Recover (Van Mansheim) Van Masheim Producer, Van Mansheim (Colome, SD) is in his second year of rotational grazing. Van has been watching his pasture, formerly predominantly smooth brome, transform and increase in the number of native species over time. In this video, Van talks of his experience of noticing the regrowth just 10 days after he grazed and removed his animals from the land. The regrowth has led to recovery of his grass, and the opening of the canopy of brome has also allowed native species to appear. At the time of this video’s release (March 2021), it looks like this growing season will be a dry one. Now is the best time to begin to think about drought planning to begin the process of building resilience on your operation – visit https://bit.ly/GrowingResilience for more information on drought planning. Remember the R’s for Rangeland Resilience: Rotate, Rest, Recover USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:06 South Dakota Drought Tool In this short video, Emily Helms, State Rangeland management Specialist, provides a short overview of how to locate the South Dakota Drought tool, and briefly what it does. The Drought Tool is an Excel spreadsheet that is downloadable from the SD NRCS website. To find it search “south Dakota drought tool”. The tool is designed to be extremely easy to use (basically a 4-click system). For more details on the drought tool, visit: https://tinyurl.com/3ny3sj8c where we have a PowerPoint presentation called 'DroughtManagementPlanning' that gives step by step instructions on how to use the drought tool and additional information and options for drought management planning. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. SD DROUGHT AND LAND MANAGEMENT TOOLS Play Video Play Video 09:57 Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning issue Eastern red cedar trees have invaded as much as 30 percent of the grassland along the Missouri River in southern South Dakota, and are slowly invading grasslands to the north. This is not unique to the Missouri and we are seeing similar encroachment in other river valleys in South Dakota, including the James River. Fire is an ecological process and recognized control method, but many ranchers are hesitant to use it because of the fear of a runaway fire. As a result, the conversion of grassland to forest is equal in scale to the loss of grassland to row cropping. In this video, we visit with Rod Voss (NRCS), Sean Kelly (SDSU) and Ranchers Rich Grim (Gregory Co., SD) and Doug Feltman (Brule Co., SD) to talk about the eastern red cedar and the use of fire to restore rangeland. In this video we summarize the spread of the tree in the last 40-50 years and what it has cost us in terms of grazing, we talk about the role of fire in natural prairie systems, fear versus respect of fire, creating a burn plan, the Mid Missouri River prescribed Burn Association (MMRPBA) - the only one of its kind in South Dakota, and its role in helping producers prepare and execute burn plan, how to prepare the land for a fire including mechanical treatments, ensuring a good fuel load, in small situations where trees are small or large. Finally, we discuss fire return interval as it relates to the eastern red cedar and why it is important to begin addressing this problem now. In addition to this summary video, we provide more detailed videos (1-2 minutes) that address specific subjects including why we need action now, the role of fire and why mechanical treatment is not enough, more on the burn plan, more on the MMRPBA, more on land preparation fuel loads and ladder fuel, and the concept of a fire return interval. Also, we provide a small case study and the Feltman ranch that demonstrates some of the practical aspects of the burn. Lastly, we take a deep dive through podcast interviews with Rod Voss who helps us look at the issue from a 30,000 ft level. We also talk about the nuts and bolts of the burn plan and safety with Sean Kelly who is an SDSU Extension agent, is on the MMRPBA board and is a volunteer in the Gregory Count (SD) fire department. The Voss podcast will be available after June 21 2021 and the Kelly podcast will be available after July 5, 2021 at https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/podcasts or if you’d like to subscribe on your mobile phone to the Soil Health Labs podcast series under Apple Podcasts. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:54 Invasion of the Green Glacier If you haven’t viewed our composite video (Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning Issue), we recommend you do so before diving into this one. The Composite video can be found at the top of this playlist! In this video, we visit with Rod Voss (NRCS), Sean Kelly (SDSU) and Ranchers Rich Grim (Gregory Co., SD) and Doug Feltman (Brule Co., SD) to take a more detailed look at the eastern red cedar and it’s inexorable march northwards, and why it is called the Green Glacier. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:10 What We've Lost to Red Cedar If you haven’t viewed our composite video (Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning Issue), we recommend you do so before diving into this one. The Composite video can be found at the top of this playlist! In this video, we visit with Sean Kelly (SDSU) and Ranchers Rich Grim (Gregory Co., SD) and Doug Feltman (Brule Co., SD) who take a more detailed look at what has been lost (especially rangeland) to the red cedar. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:29 The Role of Fire in the Prairie If you haven’t viewed our composite video (Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning Issue), we recommend you do so before diving into this one. The Composite video can be found at the top of this playlist! In this video, we visit with Rod Voss (NRCS), Sean Kelly (SDSU) and Ranchers Rich Grim (Gregory Co., SD) and Doug Feltman (Brule Co., SD) who take a more detailed look at the role of fire in the prairie, how it has been used in other southern plain states (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska) and why we need to overcome our fear, yet respect fire so we can address this issue in South Dakota. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:31 Making a Burn Plan If you haven’t viewed our composite video (Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning Issue), we recommend you do so before diving into this one. The Composite video can be found at the top of this playlist! In this video, we visit with Rod Voss (NRCS), Sean Kelly (SDSU) and Ranchers Rich Grim (Gregory Co., SD) and Doug Feltman (Brule Co., SD) who take a more detailed look at a burn plan. The burn plan seen in this video is adapted from other prescribed fire associations, but standard for the Mid Missouri River Prescribed Burn Association. While there is always a risk to fire, a well written burn plan, executed properly, will reduce risk of the fire getting away. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:43 Mid Missouri River Prescribed Burn Association If you haven’t viewed our composite video (Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning Issue), we recommend you do so before diving into this one. The Composite video can be found at the top of this playlist! In this video, we visit with Rod Voss (NRCS), Sean Kelly (SDSU) and Ranchers Rich Grim (Gregory Co., SD) and Doug Feltman (Brule Co., SD) who take a more detailed look at the Mid Missouri River prescribed Burn Association (MMRPBA) and how they help in the planning and preparation for the burn as well as how they help on the day of the burn where the plan is executed. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:15 Preparing Your Land for a Burn If you haven’t viewed our composite video (Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning Issue), we recommend you do so before diving into this one. The Composite video can be found at the top of this playlist! In this video, we visit with Rod Voss (NRCS), Sean Kelly (SDSU) and Ranchers Rich Grim (Gregory Co., SD) and Doug Feltman (Brule Co., SD) who take a more detailed look at how to prepare your land for a burn. We look at fuel load from forage (and grazing deferment) and also discuss the use of mechanical treatments to create ladder fuel when the trees get too tall and the forests get too thick to allow grass underneath. In addition we discuss the use of grazing or mowing to create “soft” fire breaks that allow a black line on the day of the burn. As always, the Mid Missouri River prescribed Burn Association (MMRPBA) assists in terms of planning and executing the prescribed fire. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:30 Fire Return Interval If you haven’t viewed our composite video (Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning Issue), we recommend you do so before diving into this one. The Composite video can be found at the top of this playlist! In this video, we visit with Rod Voss (NRCS), Sean Kelly (SDSU) and Ranchers Rich Grim (Gregory Co., SD) and Doug Feltman (Brule Co., SD) who take a more detailed look at the concept of the fire return interval. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:02 The Time is Now If you haven’t viewed our composite video (Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning Issue), we recommend you do so before diving into this one. The Composite video can be found at the top of this playlist! In this video, we visit with Rod Voss (NRCS), Sean Kelly (SDSU) and Ranchers Rich Grim (Gregory Co., SD) and Doug Feltman (Brule Co., SD) who take a more detailed look at the concept of the fire return interval and why it is always more economical and less dangerous to burn trees when they are smaller rather than when they get larger and turn into thick forests. The video ends with rancher Doug Feltman calling ranchers to action to take a “calculated risk and do everything to mitigate the danger of it [the fire] getting away and then then to go ahead and do it”. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:37 Feltman Case Study If you haven’t viewed our composite video (Eastern Red Cedar: A Burning Issue), we recommend you do so before diving into this one. The Composite video can be found at the top of this playlist! In this video, Doug Feltman (Rancher in Brule Co., SD and also member of the MMRPBA) discusses the prescribed fire he conducted on his land and some of the decisions he had to make because of suboptimal conditions. Doug highlights the fact that when variables like weather and other people are involved, one sometimes needs to move forward even if conditions are not optimal (however, always working on the safe side). USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 07:24 April 2024 - Our Amazing Grasslands - Prescribed Burns Individuals may consider burning when facing issues like overgrowth of cedar trees impacting the landscape, reducing wildlife habitat, and limiting the carrying capacity for livestock. Factors such as involvement in conservation initiatives, collaboration with relevant groups, and having a well-structured burn plan are keys to initiating successful burns. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. PRESCRIBED BURN Play Video Play Video 03:44 Introducing the Soil Health Revolution "Merit or Myth" This is the exclusive trailer for "Merit or Myth"; a soil health project that seeks to engage the South Dakota Farming Community in the pursuit of healthy, functioning soils. Featuring soil scientist Dr. Ray Weil along with South Dakota NRCS State Conservationist Jeff Zimprich, this piece gives a quick glance at the goals, methods, and mediums through which Merit or Myth will engage the SD farmer. Please join us in this exciting journey and follow along on our website (www.meritormyth.com), Facebook (www.facebook.com/meritormyth) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/meritormyth) as we determine once and for all what farming practices have "merit" and which are merely that of "myth". USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:13 Residue is Your Friend - Dwayne Beck Residue is Your Friend - Dwayne Beck This video is part of a series in the "Merit or Myth" South Dakota Soil Health Education Efforts. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:10 Ralph Holzwarth - Building Your Organic Base with Residue In this three minute video, we discuss the idea of residue with long term no-till farmer, Ralph Holzwarth who farms near Gettysburg South Dakota. While residue is considered a problem to many farmers, something that has to be plowed under, Ralph considers residue friend. Ralph also alludes to the growing season, and while in the early part of the season his corn may be behind, residue shines in the latter part of the season when water Is the most limiting factor to plant growth. Ralph discusses the long-0term benefit of residue that he has experience over the last 26 years and alludes to the soil’s increased available water capacity (typically about 19,000 gal per acre per % increase) that increased soil organic matter brings. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:48 Soil Microbes Consuming Residue – Al Miron With a PhD in ruminant nutrition, Al Miron knows that his littlest workers, the soil microbes, are always at work, like those in the rumen of a cow, consuming his residue. Al noticed a few years into his no-till journey that his residue was being consumed, leaving issue like planter plugging a distant memory. With the soil biology on Al’s farm as active as it is, he finds that its often difficult to retain residue through the entire growing season! www.meritormyth.com USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:16 Why Beat My Head Against the Wall to Fight Residue? - Chris Nissen Dick Nissen and his son Chris farm in Clay County, SD and encounter some of the typical east River conditions many farmers face especially in the spring. It turns out that Chris Nissen is a passionate soil health guy sometimes struggling to see why his neighbors spend as much as they do on inputs (including time for tillage) to raise the same crops and Chris and his dad do. Listen to Chris’s story and insights! www.meritormyth.com USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:04 Dr. Peter Sexton – Considering the Change to No-Till In this video, Dr. Pete Sexton, SDSU farm manager at the Southeastern Research Station Beresford, SD discusses the pros and cons of no-till versus conventional till. Based on the data, it appears that over a several years average yields between the two systems are no different from each other and swings are often dependent on weather. What remains consistent is that costs for no-till production are always lower. This video will be followed by Dr. Sexton speaking about some of the nuts and bolts of a transition to no-till. Learn more about managing soil at www.MeritorMyth.com or visit the USDA Soil Information Center: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:24 Dr. Peter Sexton – What can we expect when we change to No-Till In this second video of our time Dr. Pete Sexton, SDSU farm manager at the Southeastern Research Station Beresford, SD, Dr. Sexton walks us through some of the broad brush strokes of a change to no-till. While the overall cost of no-till is lower, the immediate impact being a reduction in tillage expens, there are things that one needs to pay attention to. Let’s face it, a change to no-till is not trivial! Dr. Sexton wants new no-tillers to learn from the experience they have had in Beresford namely: (1) a small increase in nitrogen demand as the soils adjust to no-till (more microbes in the soils), (2) a changed weed regime, and the importance of a good burn-down at or before planting. (3) ensuring that the combine is distributing residue properly and not leaving windrows and (4) ensuring the planter is set up for the no-till conditions. One somewhat less talked about benefit of no-till is this idea of trafficability – the experience in Beresford is that they are able to get in their no-till plots (right next to the tilled plots) sooner for field operations. An extreme example is the clip of Dick Nissen (Vermillion, SD) in his field (planted with soybeans) and a neighbor’s field. The neighbor was forced to prevent-plant because of a wet spring. Learn more about managing soil at www.MeritorMyth.com or visit the USDA Soil Information Center: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/.... USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:17 Ollila says there's more to No-till than buying equipment A decade or two ago, a saying went: “no-till, no yield”. Today, Dave Ollila, ag producer and SDSU Extension Sheep Field Specialist, says “no-till, no brainer” and that’s especially true for him where every drop of moisture counts. No-till allows Dave to keep undisturbed the root system he has worked so hard to develop below ground in his diversified operation. More roots, and always an above ground cover of either residue or a live plant canopy protects his soil, increases trafficability, reduces ponding, and ensures that every precious drop of rain falling goes into his soil. The take-home from this video is that while you need a sprayer and a drill to do no-till, no-till is not about the equipment, it’s about the mindset. While this video may not provide answers to “tell me what I need to do”, we’d like you to think on the mindset part and walk with us through the videos in this series and especially the next three where Dr. Randy Anderson walks us through the nuts and bolts of soil dynamics and how no-till systems can be the first step to regenerating soils. How about that for good news? Visit www.meritormyth.com or the NRCS Soil Health Information Center at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:12 Dave Ollila on soil health, quality of life and the next 600 Years We often find that producers who really “get” soil health have something in common, namely vision that seems to be intergenerational (see also our "One Minute with Dan Forgey” Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvri-LBQ1O4&t=10s). While out in the field, we captured this gem as Dave, relaxed after an afternoon of shooting, just shared why he does what he does. Enjoy. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:03 Dr. Randy Andersons Spiral of Regeneration, Part 1. This is the first part of a three part series in Dr. Anderson’s 10-minute talk on his spiral of regeneration. Dr. Randy Anderson, Research Agronomist with the USDA-ARS in Brookings, SD, shares with us his spiral of soil regeneration. The concept of the spiral had its genesis in Dr. Anderson’s work in no-till where he observed a number of interactive biological effects at work. We hope this and the next two videos in the series give you a much better grasp of what happens when you begin to disturb your soils less! USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 05:35 Dr. Randy Andersons Spiral of Regeneration, Part 2. This is the second part of a three part series in Dr. Anderson’s 10-minute talk on his spiral of regeneration. Dr. Randy Anderson, Research Agronomist with the USDA-ARS in Brookings, SD, shares with us his spiral of soil regeneration. The concept of the spiral had its genesis in Dr. Anderson’s work in no-till where he observed a number of interactive biological effects at work. In this second video, Dr. Anderson walks us through the benefits to the farmer of regeneration that include better soil hydrology, better yields, better weed tolerance in crop plants and healthier plants. We hope this and the next two videos in the series give you a much better grasp of what happens when you begin to disturb your soils less! USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:33 Dr. Randy Andersons Spiral of Regeneration, Part 3 of 3. This is the third part of a three part series in Dr. Anderson’s 10-minute talk on his spiral of regeneration. Dr. Randy Anderson, Research Agronomist with the USDA-ARS in Brookings, SD, shares with us his spiral of soil regeneration. The concept of the spiral had its genesis in Dr. Anderson’s work in no-till where he observed a number of interactive biological effects at work. In this third video, Dr. Anderson provides a real-life example of two winter wheat scenarios based on tillage and crop rotation. It’s often that the farmer’s eye test is all that needs to be done to see where the advantage is, no degree in agronomy required! We hope this and the next two videos in the series give you a much better grasp of what happens when you begin to disturb your soils less! Learn more about managing soil at www.MeritorMyth.com or visit the USDA Soil Information Center: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/.... USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:10 Residue Recap ~ Merit or Myth? In this video, we recap the last 11 videos on our Merit or Myth Series that deal with residue and tillage. We sum up the information provided by our farmers and researchers, from West River to East River of South Dakota. As we consider the statement: “Farming without tillage and with surface residue is not only possible, it works!” we have to ask “Merit or Myth?”. It’s up to the viewer to decide. Learn more about managing soil at www.MeritorMyth.com or visit the USDA Soil Health Information Center: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 05:02 Dr. Tom Schumacher Discusses Soil Architecture While soils are made up of solid materials (sand, silt, clay and organic materials), Dr. Tom Schumacher, SDSU (retired) shows us how important soil structure or soil architecture is for soil hydrologic function, i.e., making water infiltrate andkeeping water for the next crop. Natural soils have an architecture that includes a diversity of interconnected macropores, mesopores and micropores, when soil architecture is destroyed by tillage this is equivalent to a wrecking ball to a building, so while all of the components of the building/soil remain, it no longer functions as it was originally designed. Dr. Dwayne Beck finishes off the video by emphasizing that in natural systems, TILLAGE IS A CATASTROPHIC EVENT!. While in nature, we do see catastrophic events from time to time, tillage once or twice a year is catastrophic and will serve to continually degrade the very resource the farmer depends on. From a purely technical standpoint, Dr. Tom adds the following: “I was working on something that required a quantitative look at pore sizes and I noticed that I took liberties with my pore classification terminology used in the video. The point that I wanted to make is still valid that pores of different sizes are important for different functions. However I do not want to get you in trouble with “pore size taxonomists”. There are several classification systems for mesopores and micropores. To make a point I used my own classification tht does not match the commonly used Luxmore, 1981 classification of greater than 1 mm (1000 um) macropores; 10-1000 um mesopores; less than 10 um micorpores. Pores greater than 1 mm drain quickly, pores between 1000 um and 30 um drain more slowly but are usually empty at field capacity (around 3 days after being saturated), pores between either 30 and 10 um (depending on if sand or clay) and 3 um hold water that is easily available to crops, pores between 3 and 0.6 um hold water that is less available to the crop slowing growth, pores 0.6 to o.3 um hold water that is more difficult for plants likely resulting in stress, pores 0.3 to 0.2 um hold water that is difficult for crops to extract and will likely result in significant wilting but recovery at night under low transpiration., pores less than 0.2 um in diameter hold water unavailable to most crops, they wilt and do not recover. As you can see I oversimplified the terminology to make a point, and you may wish to clarify.” Learn more about Soil Health Merit or Myths at: www.meritormyth.com Facebook www.facebook.com/meritormyth Twitter www.twitter.com/meritormyth USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 05:00 Water Movement Through Soil Profiles Under Three Different Farming Systems (Part 1) Dr. Tom Schumacher, Retired, SDSU, walks us through the experimental setup he used with large rainfall simulators, the type developed for the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), on three different farming systems. The data Dr. Tom discusses is based on experimental runs conducted four years after this land was taken out of CRP and then continuously treated with a moldboard plow, a chisel plow and no-till. With the use of TDR probes that sense moisture at 10 cm (4inches) and 40 cm (16 inches), Dr. Tom shows what happens to soil moisture at 4 and 16 inches in the moldboard plow treatment and what the runoff consequences are and he briefly compares them to the other two treatments. In the next video we will continue as Dr. Tom walks us through the no-till and chisel plow treatments. References to this work can be found at: Lindstrom, M. J., Schumacher, T. E., & Blecha, M. L. (1994). Management considerations for returning CRP lands to crop production. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 49(5), 420-425. Schumacher, T., Lindstrom, M., Blecha, M., Cogo, N., Clay, D., & Bleakley, B. (1995). Soil management after CRP contracts expire. In Clean Water Clean Environment 21st Century Conference Proceedings. Lindstrom, M. J., Schumacher, T. E., Cogo, N. P., & Blecha, M. L. (1998). Tillage effects on water runoff and soil erosion after sod. Journal of soil and water conservation, 53(1), 59-63. Dr. Schumacher is working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service on South Dakota's Merit or Myth. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:19 Water Movement Through Soil Profiles Under Three Different Farming Systems (Part 2) Dr. Tom Schumacher, SDSU, (Retired) walks us through the experimental setup he used with large rainfall simulators, the type developed for the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), on three different tillage systems. The data Dr. Tom discusses is based on experimental runs conducted four years after this land was taken out of CRP and then continuously treated with a moldboard plow, a chisel plow and no-till. With the use of TDR probes that sense moisture at 10 cm (4inches) and 40 cm (16 inches). In this video, Dr. Tom discusses how much quicker water infiltrates into the no-till system and explains why that is. The chisel plw treatment discussed at the end is somewhat in between the no-till and moldboard plow treatments – notice the chisel plow surface still gets saturated and water has a tough time getting into the soil profile at 16” showing a 50-minute delay. References to this work can be found at: Lindstrom, M. J., Schumacher, T. E., & Blecha, M. L. (1994). Management considerations for returning CRP lands to crop production. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 49(5), 420-425. Schumacher, T., Lindstrom, M., Blecha, M., Cogo, N., Clay, D., & Bleakley, B. (1995). Soil management after CRP contracts expire. In Clean Water Clean Environment 21st Century Conference Proceedings. Lindstrom, M. J., Schumacher, T. E., Cogo, N. P., & Blecha, M. L. (1998). Tillage effects on water runoff and soil erosion after sod. Journal of soil and water conservation, 53(1), 59-63. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 09:24 Influence of Tillage, Cover Crops and Manure on Infiltration with Al Miron and Anthony Bly Influence of Tillage, Cover Crops and Manure on Infiltration with Al Miron and Anthony Bly When SDSU Extension’s Anthony Bly and farmer, or shall we say citizen scientist, Al Miron get together, you can be sure good things will happen. This spring (2017) Al and Anthony looked at the influence of tillage, cover crops and manure on infiltration in a number of fields in Minnehaha County, SD. They compared soils in two long term (9 year) no-till fields, two conventionally tilled fields that had not been tilled for a year and one field that was deep tilled in the fall and then again tilled with a field cultivator in the spring. Al and Anthony did 4 repetitions at each site and came up with some interesting results as concerns the effect of cover crops and tillage. The “aha” moment experienced by the grower who loaned the team some tilled land to do the study on is important as his paradigm was “more tillage = less infiltration”. As this farmer saw the results, especially of the 5th (double-tilled) field, he was sold on the idea of changing his farming system pretty quickly! USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 04:14 Managing Water in Soils, What Do South Dakotans Say While research showing that tillage actually reduces infiltration into the soil, and that cover crops actually enhance infiltration is proven, the refrain of “it won’t work here” is nevertheless often heard when it comes to applying soil health principles. This is not unique to South Dakota, soil health, nor to farming, but this phenomenon is common. In Merit or Myth’s final video on soil water movement, we are giving a perspective from three producers, one from way East River, one from the center of the state and one from way West River. Our point is: these principles work across landscapes and indeed across the state of South Dakota. As Doug Sieck says in the video, “we need to stop making excuses for why it won’t work here” and rather say “how can we make it work here”? Join the revolution! www.meritormyth.com USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:06 Weeds: A Chemical or an Ecological Problem? We introduce the idea of weeds, and touch on how the production agricultural model views weeds. As the first in the Merit or Myth series on weeds, we’d like to introduce an alternative way of viewing weeds namely, to understand their ecological role as the “scabs” or “ambulance workers” of the land. The natural job of a weed is to cover disturbed soils and through tillage and monocultures, we create ideal environments for weeds. With the ecological way of thinking of weeds and by using a systems approach to our farming systems we can, according to Dr. Dwayne Beck, outsmart them. Rather than wage a full-on chemical warfare with weeds (and do everything the same) we can use natural systems to perform a little ecological ju-jitsu on weeds and not only reduce their populations but save on herbicide costs. Take a peek at this 2 minute video that sets us up for a three part series with the ARS’s (Brookings, SD) Dr. Randy Anderson. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:34 Fate of the Weed Seed in Conventional and NoTill Soils In a world where technology offers a quick fix to our weed problems, but inevitably leaves us with unintended consequences, the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Brookings, SD, Dr. Randy Anderson offers an approach to weed science that says "wait a minute", what are we doing? in our systems to encourage or reduce weed proliferation before we consider which herbicide to use? To begin to grapple with this question, we have to understand the fate of the weed seed. Dr. Anderson considers weed seed when on the surface of the soil and when buried. Join us in this, the first of three discussions as Dr. Anderson shows us how we can use natural systems to reduce weed populations and save on herbicides. As Dr. Anderson says, "A key point is when you leave the weed seeds on the soil surface you enhance these fates [predation, environmental exposure, natural death]. in other words, predation is much greater if insects can reach the seeds -if they are buried in the soil, the insects do not process the soil looking for weed seeds so therefore tillage actually protects seeds. Almost all studies with weeds seeds have shown that when you bury them in soil the weed seeds live longer and survive longer." USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 04:08 Weed Seedling Emergence in Conventional and No-Till Fields In our previous video, Dr. Randy Anderson walked us through the various fates of the weed seed in conventional and no-till fields. In this video, the theory comes alive as he discusses the results of a three year study he did in comparing conventional and no-till weed seedling emergence. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:25 Tapping into Time with Rotations with Dr Anderson, USDA ARS, Brookings, SD In our previous videos, Dr. Anderson showed us how (1) no-till reduces weed prevalence and (2) how he verified this idea experimentally. In this third video, Dr. Anderson discusses why rotating cool season crops into our warm season rotations are so beneficial to weed control. Dr. Anderson demonstrates how through the synergistic effects of no-till combined with diverse rotations, one can reduce weed pressure by a factor of eight before the first drop of herbicide is used. We recommend you view the first two videos(“Fate of the Weed Seed in Conventional and NoTill Soil” and “Seedling Emergence in Conventional and No-Till Fields” with Dr. Anderson. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:46 Weeds: What SD No-Tillers Say In this, the final video on weeds, we spent a little time with no-tillers Matt Bainbridge, Al Miron and Ralph Holzwarth and got them to tell their stories about how their no-till, diverse rotation systems were doing with weeds, and how this affected some of their costs to cope with weeds. The message we received from them is consistent with our previous videos namely that with low-disturbance (i.e., no-till) systems, especially when combined with diverse rotations, weed control can actually improve and costs for weed control can be lower than in conventional tillage systems. Visit www.meritormyth.com or the NRCS Soil Health Information Center at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:32 Soil Temperature Part 1: Comparing Conventionally Tilled vs. No Tilled Temperatures Summer 2016 Description: In this video, the USDA-NRCS’s (Brookings, SD) Eric Barsness and SDSU’s Anthony Bly discusses and experiment the NRCS conducted in Vermillion SD on a conventionally tilled and a long-term no-tilled field. Eric buried two temperature probes at 2” and the probes were able to record temperatures every 15 minutes over the entire growing season of 2016. This test is a nice example of how no-till and conventional till fields perform side by side and also show that, while there may be differences in the heat units (or growing degree days) at the beginning of the growing season, by the end of the season each crop received the same number of heat units. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:28 Soil Temperature Part 2: How do No-Till temperatures catch up to Conventional Till? In our previous video we saw that by the end of the season, there is no difference in the number of heat units seen by a conventional versus a no-till soil. In fact any differences in cumulative heat units between the two systems disappears by the first week of July. In this video, SDSU’s Anthony Bly explains how that happens by examining the side-by-side temperature comparisons between a no-till, and conventional till system near Vermillion, South Dakota. In the latter part of the season (after July 1), we also see that in no-till soils maximum temperatures are consistently cooler and minimum temperatures are consistently warner than conventional till soils. The NRCS Eric Barsness discusses this and tells us why it’s a good thing. Visit www.meritormyth.com or the National Soil Health Information Center at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:45 Soil Temperature Part 3: What’s the Biggest Driver of Your Heat Units over the Growing Season? The growing season of 2016 was a warm one even though it started out cool and wet, and by the end of the year, the number of heat units or growing degree days for 2016 was 216 above the norm. The take-home from this particular chart was that ambient (or air) temperatures have by a far greater influence on soil temperatures at planting than any other management factor, further rendering the till/no-till issue as it relates to soil temperature at planting a non-issue. In this, the final video on weeds, we spent a little time with no-tillers Matt Bainbridge, Al Miron and Ralph Holzwarth and got them to tell their stories about how their no-till, diverse rotation systems were doing with weeds, and how this affected some of their costs to cope with weeds. The message we received from them is consistent with our previous videos namely that with low-disturbance (i.e., no-till) systems, especially when combined with diverse rotations, weed control can actually improve and costs for weed control can be lower than in conventional tillage systems. Visit www.meritormyth.com or the NRCS Soil Health Information Center at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:33 What are SD No-Tiller saying About Soil Temperatures In the previous three videos we have looked at and discussed some soil temperature data from the 2016 growing season in Vermillion, SD. In this video we speak to some long-term no-till farmers from Crooks in the east to Box Elder in the west of South Dakota and guage their opinions. While all recognize that residue may reduce soil temperatures in the spring, they also recognize that early growth in the spring is not a good yield predictor. As we have heard Al Miron and Ralph Holtzwarth say: “you don’t harvest your corn in June!”. Ultimately one of the main benefits of residue farmers value in the summer is its ability to keep the soil moister for longer. In a dry year, this property is critical. Bottom line is that for these farmers, cooler spring soil temperatures are a non-issue in terms of their yield. Visit www.meritormyth.com or the NRCS Soil Health Information Center at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:53 Economics: Jorgensen Land and Cattle Case Study Part 1 of 5 At Merit or Myth, we have found that getting farmers to talk about money can be tricky, so we were particularly grateful to find that Bryan and Nick Jorgensen were willing to talk dollars and cents with us! This is the first in a 5 part series on the money side of soil health and, as all will understand, the particulars will apply to the Jorgensen Land and Cattle operation while the principles can be applied universally. A generation or two ago, the Jorgensen cropping system was conventional till wheat with summer fallow, clearly this has changed and they grow a diverse rotation that includes corn, soybeans, small grains and multiple species cover crops today. Jorgensen land and Cattle is also diversified and their wildlife/hunting component and livestock/grazing component are intimately connected to their cropping component (see the Jorgensen Land and Cattle Partnership logo at http://www.jorgensenfarms.com/ to see that their diverse land ethic is embedded in the logo!). When discussing economics, it is important to provide context and Bryan provides context to the discussion of the next four videos by allowing us to look into the way he and the folks at Jorgensen Land and cattle think. Bryan describes himself as a market maker and not a market taker, and in this video, Bryan alludes to an excellent teacher and indeed, collaborator in the operation, namely the Native Prairie. Watch this video (just under 3 minutes) where Bryan sets the scene for some of the analyses his son Nick provides us in subsequent videos. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:54 Economics: Jorgensen Land and Cattle Case Study Part 2 of 5 In this video Nick Jorgensen provides a simple calculation related to equipment costs based on what Jorgensen land and cattle may have done 30 years ago in a wheat – fallow system compared to today. By not operating tillage equipment and running a sprayer the Jorgensens are saving between $25 and $45 in reduced equipment costs. Keep in mind that Nick wisely provides a range because even in the case of one operation things change (number of tillage passes, number of spray passes, unit costs for equipment etc.), but the principles don’t change. Your operation may also vary, but the bottom line is that just on equipment costs alone by going no till, your equipment input costs (capital, maintenance, fuel) will go down. While one may argue the amounts and the range, the direction of input costs is pretty certain - they go down. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 04:05 Economics: Jorgensen Land and Cattle Case Study Part 3 of 5 In our previous video of the Jorgensen Land and Cattle Economics Case Study, Nick Jorgensen discussed some of the savings they were able to realize in their long-term, no-till fields where typically Organic Matter measured over three percent. What the Jorgensen land and cattle operation was able to do in this analysis was save about $50 an acre on N and P2O5 fertilizer and exceed the 168 bushel yield goal by 8 bushels. All of this begins with no-till and other tools like diverse rotations, cover crops and in the case of the Jorgensens, the inclusion of grazing livestock into the system as they try as far as possible to imitate some of the processes on the Native Prairie. Keep in mind we are not advocating that viewers go out and immediately cut back on fertilizer, but we do want to open the idea up that when we build our soils, we not only have the potential to save on tillage costs, fertilizer, chemical and other inputs. When we let soils function the way that natural systems do, we save on inputs and in the Jorgensen’s case, they were able to do this without decreasing production. Our next video in this series poses the question “how long can they keep this up?”, the answer would be “longer than you’d think!” USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:25 Economics: Jorgensen Land and Cattle Case Study Part 4 of 5 The standard narrative when one quits the application of synthetic fertilizer is that you would be mining your soils. This may be true for soils that are degraded, probably tilled, and being managed in a undiversified rotation. But what about regenerative soils? Are we still mining them? The Jorgensen Land and Cattle operation went 100% no-till in 1991 and since then, have diversified their rotations and cattle are not only being used for aftermath grazing, but they are also grazing the cover crops. In this episode, Bryan talks about how long they have cut application of dry P to the soil’s surface and what has happened to their soil test P levels as well as what they observe. The idea that plants can access pools of nutrient that cannot be detected by the soil test is not necessarily a new one, but to many with conventional agronomic training, this idea is a little scary, yet this case study is but one situation in South Dakota where farmers are thinking outside the box and saving one inputs, and, oh by the way, improving their environmental performance. Good for the farmer, good for the land, that’s what we love at merit or Myth! Click here to go to the series of Merit or Myth on YouTube. www.FaceBook.com/meritormyth www.twitter.com/meritormyth Learn more about managing soil at http://www.MeritorMyth.com or visit the USDA Soil Health Information Center at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:27 Jorgensen Economics Case Study Part 5 of 5 Click here to go to the series of Merit or Myth on YouTube. www.FaceBook.com/meritormyth www.twitter.com/meritormyth Learn more about managing soil at http://www.MeritorMyth.com or visit the USDA Soil Health Information Center at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/. Economics: Jorgensen Land and Cattle Case Study Part 5 of 5 One may take the view that soils are a static, medium to grow plants and place nutrients. If one holds this static view of soils, what the Jorgensens have been able to achieve would simply not make sense; at best it would appear anomalous. If one holds the view that soils are living, dynamic ecosystems that can improve good management, then what the Jorgensens have seen is consistent with that view of soils. One measure that the Jorgensens have monitored over the last 15 years (they have been full no-tilled since 1991) is soil organic matter and the organic matter of their lands has steadily increased to mimic, and in some cases exceed what they see in the native prairie. And Jorgensen Land and cattle is benefiting in spades in both tangible financial and in intangible ways. Their case is not an anomaly, in other words, the principles that the Jorgensens apply are universal – and wherever you farm in South Dakota, or for that matter, elsewhere, you can build your soils too! If you have not already done so, we invite you to watch all of the Jorgensen Land and Cattle case study videos in the Merit or Myth’s playlist on South Dakota NRCS’s YouTube channel. Principles of soil health are: 1. Limit disturbance (this would include the tool of no-till) 2. Keep the soil covered, either by residue or a canopy 3. Keep a live root in the soil as many days of the year as possible – when you don’t have a cash crop, use a cover crop to maintain that live root 4. Add diversity – this can be done with cash crops (e.g., small grains added to a corn-soybean rotation) and cover crops – if you use a 5 to seven way mix in your cover crop, your diversity inex goes way up. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 14:12 Top Bale Grazing Advice from Dakota Ranchers We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Special thanks to Drew Anderson and Jodie and Harold Gaugler for additional still images and explanations which were so crucial to this story. Points of note in this video: 0:17 – meet Drew Anderson 0:40-meet Bart Carmichael 1:10 – meet the Gauglers 1:35 – Gaugler’s first year – bales, acres and cows 1:40 – change as a constant 2:45 – infrastructure water and fence 3:00 – the finer points of bale grazing – bale placement 3:30 - the finer points of bale grazing – setup 4:05 – what to do when you don’t have your posts out in time or you have too few posts 4:25 – Anderson’s use of metal step-posts instead of plastic posts (note that Gauglers use fiberglass posts) 4:40 – using bales as wind breaks 4:45- bale grazing into the wind in bad weather 5:55 – choice of bale if bale grazing on prairie land to avoid cool season invasive grasses 5:20 -improvements in soils and increased prairie diversity around bales 5:25 – Anderson frequency and convenience of moves with livestock that are accustomed to moving 5:45 – Carmichael moving frequency and time taken to move fence 6:15 – Gaugler cattle behavior in moves year-round 6:40 – common concerns dispelled – Gaugler and livestock abuse 7:35 - common concerns dispelled – Anderson and waste 8:30 – hay as fertilizer 8:45 – question about weeds 9:00 – bale grazing making economic sense of reduced hauling and labor costs when comparing bale grazing to rolling out of hay 10:30 – making sense economically – tractor depreciation 11:55 – a better ranch – improvement in soil and grass regrowth around bales 11:45 – improvement in hay production, manure and urine recycling and improved moisture around impact area 12:35 – increasing animal-days per acre 13:00 – changing perceptions about bale grazing in the last 10 years (since 2010) 13:20 – making bale grazing work for you USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:07 01 Year-Round Grazing (Carmichael) Bart Carmichael from Wedge Tent Ranch near Faith, SD aims at grazing cattle year-round, but keeps his eyes out on the weather. When weather dictates, he moves his livestock into sheltered areas (coulies, draws), and uses his Bale Grazing as plan B. Points of note in this video: 0:33 - Year-round grazing is inexpensive 0:50 - The system is simple 0:55 - Moving fence takes about 9 minutes... a day… 1:33 - Cows can access grass under snow 2:10 – contingencies during bad weather USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:35 02 The Need for a Flexible Grazing Plan (Carmichael) Bart Carmichael from Wedge Tent Ranch near Faith, SD aims at grazing cattle year-round, but in 2020, because of the weather, they bale grazed for sixty days then went back to grazing, however, bale grazing is the backup plan. Points of note in this video: 0:50 – number of bales raised in an 80-acre field and number of bales brought in 1:50 – type of hay fed on prairie bale grazing locations to avoid invasive cool season grasses 1:58 – benefits of bale grazing to soil health and rangeland diversity USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:20 03 Adaptive Management (Carmichael) Bart Carmichael from Wedge Tent Ranch near Faith, SD explains his philosophy of adaptive management; while he is a consummate planner, Carmichael understands that circumstances (weather, animals, forage, economics, people, new information) change and that he needs to adapt whether in the short term or the long term. Points of note in this video: 0:20 – holistic approach 0:37 – planning assumptions 0:45 – adaptive system and fine-tuning 1:00 – watching and working with Mother Nature USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:28 04 Nineteen Minute Work Day (Carmichael) Bart Carmichael from Wedge Tent Ranch near Faith, SD explains how little time it takes to move cows! USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:28 05 Graze First; Bale Graze Second (Anderson) Drew Anderson from Lemmon, SD likes to winter graze as long as possible, but typically bale grazes for some of the winter every year. Points of note in this video: 0:27 – site selection for bale grazing 0:80 – what do the animals do when weather gets bad USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:56 06 Addressing Concerns about Waste Management (Anderson) Drew Anderson from Lemmon, SD discusses one concern (waste) that people express about bale grazing, and his observations. Points of note in this video: 0:20 – management and learning curve on when to move livestock 0:40 – when bale grazing works best 1:08 – what Anderson observes in grass growth around bales in subsequent seasons 1:30 – why Anderson stopped harrowing around the bales USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:52 07 The Nuts and Bolts of Bale Grazing (Anderson) Drew Anderson from Lemmon, SD discusses nuts and bolts about his bale grazing system. Points of note in this video: 0:11 - why Anderson uses sisal twine for his bales. NOTE: this is Anderson’s preference, the Gauglers in this series prefer to use netting. 0:38 – bale placement 0:50 – installing fence in the fall 1:15 – what happens if he doesn’t get to setting up all fencing in he fall 1:40 – reasons for why he uses metal instead of plastic posts 2:02 – use of galvanized aircraft cable 2:16 – frequency of moves USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:21 08 The Cost of Rolling Out Hay vs. Bale Grazing (Anderson) Drew Anderson from Lemmon, SD discusses the marginal cost (mainly labor, and excluding feed costs) of rolling hay out versus bale grazing, based on his draws from personal experience. Points of note in this video: 0:24 – cost of hauling bales to hay yard 0:29 – unrolling bales 0:45 – costs to feed cows per head per day with rolling bales out 0:57 – costs to feed livestock per head per day with bale grazing 1:13 – example of the 2016 blizzard USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:54 09 Added Benefit: Nutrient Cycling (Anderson) Drew Anderson from Lemmon, SD discusses another benefit of bale grazing, namely improved nutrient recycling which has allowed him to increase his production. Points of note in this video: 0:25 – hay does not leave the land with bale grazing 0:52 – effects on lessening deer presence in hay yard 1:10 – cattle grazing habits in the bale graze areas 1:20 – improved animal days per acre on bale grazing lands USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 02:06 10 A Look Back on a Decade of Bale Grazing (Gaugler) Harold and Jodie Gaugler operate out of Grant Co., ND also ranch on land near Thunder Hawk, SD. In this video, Harold Gaugler reflects on ten years of bale grazing, the beginning and some of the changes over time. Points of note in this video: 0:23 – Gaugler’s decision to first try bale grazing 0:32 – number of bales, acres and animals in Year 1 0:45 – rough start and end dates for bale grazing 0:53 – adding bale grazing capacity and rotating bale grazing locations 1:18 – infrastructure 1:28 – adjustments to the amount of fence over time for shorter runs USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:57 11 Factoring in Water and Wind for Winter Setup (Gaugler) Harold and Jodie Gaugler operate out of Grant Co., ND also ranch on land near Thunder Hawk, SD. In this video, Harold Gaugler discusses some of the nuts and bolts of his bale grazing system. Points of note in this video: 0:15 – setup in August/September, preference for fiber glass posts 0:28 – setting bales out after fence posts have been set up 0:40 – the need for water and location of water points 0:55 – bales as wind breaks and cow behavior, use (or non-use) of steel wind breaks 1:20 – design – bale grazing into the wind especially in severe weather USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:38 12 A Guide to Residue Management (Gaugler) Harold and Jodie Gaugler operate out of Grant Co., ND also ranch on land near Thunder Hawk, SD. In this video, Harold Gaugler discusses some of the residue management strategies he uses. Points of note in this video: 0:14 – reasons for original idea of harrowing after bale grazing and why they stopped 0:35 – grass regrowth from bale-grazed areas 0:47 – experiments with flash-grazing the hay land after bale grazing to control residue and weeds USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:36 13 The Need for an Adaptive Approach (Gaugler) Harold and Jodie Gaugler operate out of Grant Co., ND also ranch on land near Thunder Hawk, SD. In this video, Harold Gaugler discusses the need for an adaptive approach to bale grazing. Points of note in this video: 0:15 – design change of setting up bales and posts 0:46 - increase of bale grazing capacity over 10 years 1:00 – number of rotations in bale grazing area 1:05 – late weaning strategy 1:18 – adaptation in response to how cows act USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:47 14 A Guide to Setting Up Your Bales (Gaugler) Harold and Jodie Gaugler operate out of Grant Co., ND also ranch on land near Thunder Hawk, SD. In this video, Harold Gaugler discusses how they place bales and how that has changed. Points of note in this video: 0:15 – setting bales to improve soil conditions 0:40 – change in bale placement approach with hay fields that are back to high production 0:50 – bale placement on rangeland and growth of natives in response to increased moisture and nutrients The USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender Play Video Play Video 02:13 15 Addressing Common Concerns (Gaugler) Harold and Jodie Gaugler operate out of Grant Co., ND also ranch on land near Thunder Hawk, SD. In this video, Harold Gaugler discusses a common concern that was held about bale grazing, namely that they were abusing their animals by leaving them out, and what the Gauglers have observed with their animals since. Points of note in this video: 0:14 – the concern 0:45 – situation in one particularly cold winter blizzard 1:05 – checking cows left on the land after the snowstorm was over USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:58 16 Changing the Bale Grazing Narrative and Perception (Gaugler) Harold and Jodie Gaugler operate out of Grant Co., ND also ranch on land near Thunder Hawk, SD. In this video, Jodie Gaugler discusses the positive changes in perception of bale grazing over time. Points of note in this video: 0:11 – initially people would not ask the Gauglers directly about bale grazing 0:18 – initial bale grazing questions from different people 0:22- the beekeeper 0:53 – wrong conclusions of Gaugler bale operation based on observations from the road 1:02 – examples of people who say “I bale graze now” to the Gauglers 1:25 – make this work for you! USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:55 17 More on the Practicality of Bale Grazing (Gaugler) Harold and Jodie Gaugler operate out of Grant Co., ND also ranch on land near Thunder Hawk, SD. In this video, Harold Gaugler answers some of the common questions that arise from ranchers who want to know more about bale grazing. Points of note in this video: 0:14 – weeds 0:35 – increased production 0:55 – livestock smoothing and trampling areas that were washed out to improve hay making process 1:11 – the ease with which the livestock are moved USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 01:51 18 Why Make the Change to Bale Grazing? (Gaugler) Harold and Jodie Gaugler operate out of Grant Co., ND also ranch on land near Thunder Hawk, SD. In this video, Harold and Jodie Gaugler talk about some of the changes that have made to reduce their own time and effort in labor and how they have used this to advance their goal of breeding grass cattle. Points of note in this video: 0:14 – hauling buckets to weaned calves in the feedlot 0:30 – questioning the status quo – hauling grain to calves when we are trying to develop a grass system for the cows 0:50 – “I only have so many more buckets in me!” 1:00 – strategies for heifers on grass 1:30 – “we want grass cattle" USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. Play Video Play Video 03:48 19 Bale Grazing Contingency Plan (Bachler) In this video with SDSU’s Jessalyn Bachler (Lemmon, SD), we repurposed an excerpt from our Growing Resilience podcast so that Jessalyn could talk about contingency plans. Jessalyn relates her experience from the winter of 2016 at the Streeter, North Dakota, Central Grasslands REC. Points of note in this video: 0:16 – Jessalyn relates what happened in the storm 1:13 – rounding up cows on foot after the blizzard 1:33 – advice for new bale grazers regarding set up and contingencies 1:48 – winter water contingencies 2:54 – awareness that a contingency plan is needed 3:05 – bales that were not fed because of the blizzard USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer and Lender. MERIT OR MYTH - SEASON 1 TOP BALE GRAZING ADVICE FROM DAKOTA RANCHERS THE SCIENCE OF SOIL HEALTH Play Video Play Video 03:08 Chapter 1 – Bringing the Science of Soil Health Home Series host, Buz Kloot, Ph.D., introduces viewers to four key soil health principles which “brings the lessons of science of soil health home” in his five-part, The Science of Soil Health video mini-series. Dr. Kloot outlines the upcoming video chapters and explains how the series will demonstrate the application of four soil health principles applied in three different cropping situations (a row-crop farm, an organic farm and his own 1,000 square foot garden). Watch Chapter 1 Play Video Play Video 04:30 Chapter 2 - Understanding the Basics: Buz's 'Fab-Five Facts of Healthy Soil' In the second chapter of his five-part mini-series, “Bringing the Science of Soil Health Home,” Buz Kloot, Ph.D. tells farmers and gardeners about the five key lessons he’s learned on his episodic soil health trek across the country. Dr. Kloot discusses critical facts about the nature and properties of soils and reminds viewers that: 1. Soils vary a great deal; 2. Soils are three-dimensional (and are deeper than six inches); 3. An acre of healthy soil contains at least a ton of microbes; 4. Fifty percent of a healthy soils volume is void space, or pore space, and 5. Soils can and do change with management. Watch Chapter 2 (4:27). Play Video Play Video 03:49 The Science of Soil Health: Going Deeper Want access to water, nutrients? Look deeper, expert tells farmers The scientist who wrote the book on soils wants farmers to look deeper. Literally. Dr. Ray Weil, author of the 15th edition of The Nature and Property of Soils, wants farmers to consider the soil’s nutrient and water-holding capacity below the top 8-10 inches of soil. Unfortunately, decades of heavy machine traffic on the soil’s surface, combined with tillage, have created nearly impenetrable layers of dense soil called “plow-pans,” which make it difficult (if not impossible) for most crops to reach what Weil describes as a tank of moisture and nutrients below the topsoil. To access those nutrients and moisture, farmers should consider using cover crops to tap into that reservoir with plow-pan-busting roots, he says. Go underground with Dr. Weil in this Science of Soil Health video to learn more (3:48). It’s science you can really dig. Play Video Play Video 03:32 The Science of Soil Health: Mimicking Nature in the Lab Through his observations as a farmer, Rick Haney became a big fan of the way nature does things. As a scientist with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, his entire research program has been modeled on “how does nature do it, and can we mimic it in the lab?” Advances in analysis technologies have allowed Haney to develop a set of soil tests that get a more accurate picture of what plant roots experience—not just in chemical terms but also in biological terms. Play Video Play Video 02:39 The Science of Soil Health: Without Carrot or Stick Planting cover crops enhances the soil’s ability to function as a nutrient recycler. Penn State’s Dr. Sjoerd Dulker talks about how dairy farmers in his state are using cover crops to improve their business – without regulations or subsidies. Dr. Sjoerd Duiker is an Associate Professor of Soil Management and Applied Soil Physics at Penn State University. After studying Tropical Crop Science for his Master's degree at Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands, Dr. Duiker earned his Ph.D. in soil sciences from Ohio State University in 2000. As an agronomist, Dr. Duiker works closely with local farmers to improve the sustainability and yields of their farms through better management practices. One of Dr. Duiker's main research interests is on how the use of no-till agriculture and cover crops improves soil quality on farms. Play Video Play Video 04:33 The Science of Soil Health: Finale, Part 1 NRCS' 'The Science of Soil Health' Bringing the science of soil health home: Mini-series to cap filmmaker’s lessons learned In the introduction to the final segments of NRCS’ “The Science of Soil Health” video series, filmmaker and researcher Buz Kloot revisits his multi-year, multi-interview, country-wide soil health trek and asks Dr. Ray Weil to characterize the forces behind the growing soil health movement. Watch the introduction to the concluding, five-part mini-series (2:50). Play Video Play Video 04:10 The Science of Soil Health: Fighting Plant Disease with Microbes One of the critical functions of healthy soils is that they contain beneficial microbes that can enhance plant defense against disease, and sometimes against insects; our journey took us to Clemson's Dr. Geoff Zehnder to talk about his work. Dr. Geoff Zehnder is a professor of entomology and his primary responsibility is to support the sustainable agriculture program at Clemson University. Dr. Zehnder's other projects include the Clemson Student Organic Farm and Farmer's Market, and the Clemson Heirloom Vegetable Garden. He also supervises graduate work on a host of topics including biological controls, integrated pest management (IPM), fertility in organic farms, composting and soil amendments. Play Video Play Video 03:08 The Science of Soil Health: Systems in Agroecology Regenerative agriculture is rooted in diversity. Healthy food, clean water, living soils and abundant wildlife are outcomes that the Dakota Lakes Research Farm wants to help producers achieve through their regenerative agriculture research. To achieve those outcomes, Dr. Dwayne Beck says it takes a systems approach—where no-till, cover crops and diverse rotations are used together to achieve those outcomes. The systems approach, which relies heavily on diversity, is critical. Beck says that diversity provides a lot of advantages for farmers. Play Video Play Video 03:49 The Science of Soil Health: Precision Cover Cropping When we think about precision farming, we're normally thinking about cash crops. But Dr. Joel Gruver from Western Illinois University is really taking cover crops to a whole new level. Play Video Play Video 03:09 The Science of Soil Health: Using Cover Crops to Soak up Nutrients for the Next Crop No farmer wants to lose precious nutrients in the cool season, but this is exactly what happens when a field is left fallow. We visited with Penn State's Dr. Sjoerd Duiker to talk about how they use cover crops to ensure that those nutrients stay where they belong. Dr. Sjoerd Duiker is an Associate Professor of Soil Management and Applied Soil Physics at Penn State University. After studying Tropical Crop Science for his Master's degree at Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands, Dr. Duiker earned his Ph.D. in soil sciences from Ohio State University in 2000. As an agronomist, Dr. Duiker works closely with local farmers to improve the sustainability and yields of their farms through better management practices. One of Dr. Duiker's main research interests is on how the use of no-till agriculture and cover crops improves soil quality on farms. Play Video Play Video 02:55 The Science of Soil Health: Going Deeper, Part 2 Tapping into Production Potential: In many parts of the country, there’s a reservoir of water and nutrients below our cropland’s “legacy plow-pan.” But that dense layer of soil virtually locks out most cash crops from reaching those resources. So how can farmers tap into that reservoir? Traditionally, plowing deeper was the answer. But plowing is only a temporary fix that requires bigger tractors, more fuel, more time and serves to exacerbate the plow-pan problem over time. Another solution is to tap into nature. Dr. Ray Weil, author of the 15th edition of The Nature and Property of Soils, explains how cover crops can help farmers naturally reach a treasure trove of production resources below the top few inches of soil in this second of a three part video series. It’s science you can really dig! Play Video Play Video 02:53 The Science of Soil Health: Using Insects to Manage Pests Researchers rediscover old ecological principles that give pests the “heebie-jeebies”. If you’re a pest looking for a quick snack, do not—repeat, do NOT—stop at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm. With an estimated 2 billion predator insects per acre, pests looking for lunch are more likely to become lunch, thanks to the ecological principles Dr. Dwayne Beck and his research team are rediscovering and refining. Play Video Play Video 02:03 The Science of Soil Health: A Short Field Trip with Dr. Beck Need moisture? Healthy soil helps you keep what you get Take a two-minute virtual tour and learn why At the Dakota Lakes Research Farm in South Dakota, 20 inches of precipitation would be considered a great water year. But as The Science of Soil Health’s host, Dr. Buz Kloot found out recently, it’s not how much moisture you get—it’s how much moisture you keep—that has the biggest impact on yields. Take a two-minute video field tour with Buz and Dr. Dwayne Beck to learn more about why healthy soil is a farmer’s best hedge against drought. It’s science you can really dig! Play Video Play Video 03:06 The Science of Soil Health: Nightcrawlers and Soil Water Flow When we get to those dry summer months, good soil hydrologic function is critical. We visited with Purdue University's Dr. Eileen Kladivko to talk about the remarkable effect night crawlers have on aiding water flow into and through soils. Dr. Eileen Kladivko is a professor of Agronomy at Purdue University's College of Agriculture in West Lafayette, Indiana. She holds a master's degree in Agronomy from the same school, and a PhD in Soil Science from the University of Wisconsin. She is currently focusing her research work on environmental quality maintenance and agricultural sustainability, and she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in soil physics. Play Video Play Video 03:27 The Science of Soil Health: Cover Crops and Moisture No cropping system is drought proof, but there are things that farmers can do to mitigate the effects of a dry year. North Carolina State University's Dr. Chris Reberg-Horton discusses how cover crops affect water dynamics through the life-cycle of the cash crop. Play Video Play Video 03:10 The Science of Soil Health: Soil Feeds Plants, and Vice Versa In the world of production agriculture our attention is only focused on what plants take out of the soil. But what if that's only half the story? Learn more about the complex relationship between soil and plants. Play Video Play Video 04:27 The Science of Soil Health: Cycle, Re-cycle, Repeat Carbon’s journey through the soil powers life as we know it As global temperatures rise, there’s growing interest in getting carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) out of the atmosphere and getting carbon into the soil. But what form does that carbon take and how, exactly, does the cycling process work? In the first episode of season three’s The Science of Soil Health, Dr. Will Brinton provides a brief, yet holistic explanation about this living and life-giving process. After you watch this four-minute video, you’ll never think of the soil carbon cycle the same way again. Play Video Play Video 03:42 The Science of Soil Health: Simulating Rainfall on Pastures One of the marks of a healthy soil is good hydrologic function. But what does that look like? We joined JB Daniel on a farm in Virginia for an up-close and personal view of good and poor soil hydrologic function. In the Virginia NRCS, JB Daniel, Forage and Grassland Agronomist and Chris Lawrence, Cropland Agronomist make extensive use of the rainfall simulator as a teaching tool. JB and Chris were both key to the making of Virginia NRCS's video series, "gaining Ground" where successful no-till farmers and graziers told their stories. Learn more about soil health: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/ Play Video Play Video 03:27 The Science of Soil Health: Dynamic Cropping Systems In a fix? Dynamic Cropping Systems result in improved yields, better soil health researchers say Fixed crop rotations have many benefits, but is there an even better approach? “Yes,” say scientists at USDA’s Northern Great Plains Research Lab in Mandan, North Dakota. Based on years of research, farmers who harness the benefits of diversity through a Dynamic Cropping System, rather than a fixed rotation, fared better than those who farm using fixed rotations. Find out why a Dynamic Cropping System (verses a fixed rotation system) may work better in the long-term for improving yields and soil health in the latest episode of NRCS’ The Science of Soil Health. Watch the three-minute video. It’s science you can really dig! Play Video Play Video 03:23 The Science of Soil Health video series trailer NRCS and film maker Robin "Buz" Kloot, PhD, have teamed up to develop a series of short videos focusing on the science of soil health. In the fall of 2013 Buz made a cross-country trek to interview some of the nation's leading researchers and experts—in order to more fully understand the science of soil health. This is an introduction to the upcoming "The Science of Soil Health" video series. Learn more about soil health: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/ Play Video Play Video 03:14 The Science of Soil Health: Dynamic Soil Properties Dynamic soil properties offer common ground for growth, understanding, scientist says NRCS Soil Scientist Skye Wills wants farmers to realize their farms’ full production potential by understanding more about the dynamic properties of soil. Reducing and eliminating tillage, cover crops and diverse cropping rotations influence soil properties today, she says, “and soil properties today influence what you’re going to be able to do tomorrow.” Wills says in the context of weather, market and input cost variabilities, farmers have the most opportunities and the best production potential with well-managed soils. Watch the three-minute video. It’s science you can really dig! Play Video Play Video 02:39 The Science of Soil Health: Nature's Way of Extracting Minerals from Soil Breathtaking symbiosis… Through respiration, soil microbes provide key benefit to plants, scientist says Just when you thought soil microbes couldn’t possibly be more helpful, Dr. Will Brinton tells us they provide another, often overlooked benefit to plants. Microbes take in sugars from plant roots and respire carbon dioxide, Dr. Brinton explains, which then combines with the soil water to form a weak solution of carbonic acid. This gentle carbonic acid solution helps further weather minerals and trace elements around the roots, which become available for plants to take up for their growth and health. Watch the video (2:30). It’s science you can really dig. Play Video Play Video 05:50 Chapter 6 - Mix it Up! Managing for Diversity In the series-ending episode of “The Science of Soil Health,” Buz Kloot, Ph.D. highlights the role of species diversity in nature, on the farm and in the garden. Kloot reminds viewers that to maintain a monoculture, growers “will need to spend an increasing amount of time, energy and money.” From cover crops, to crop rotations, to grazing animals, Kloot examines the tools growers have to “Mix it up” and unlock the many benefits of diversity. Play Video Play Video 04:27 The Science of Soil Health: Compaction What's the best way to restore compacted soil? Cover crops. We learn by imitating Mother Nature. Lesson 1: Mother Nature doesn't till. Play Video Play Video 03:45 The Science of Soil Health: Natural Systems and Weeds Using ag technology in a systems approach The key: “Be smarter than a weed or an insect,” top researcher says Technology is a good thing, but according to Dr. Dwayne Beck, researcher and farm manager at Dakota Lakes Research Farm in South Dakota, it’s just another tool –not the only tool in the arsenal when farming with a systems approach. “Technology is there to augment good management, not to replace it.” Play Video Play Video 02:31 The Science of Soil Health: Understanding the Value of Legumes and Nitrogen-Fixing Microbes Legumes in cash crops and cover crops use natural symbiotic relationships with rhizobia to get nitrogen into the soil. North Carolina State University's Dr. Julie Grossman is working to unlock the secrets in the soil and to provide farmers with new insights on how to harness this natural resource. Play Video Play Video 01:22 Researcher’s “soil trek” concludes in final season of The Science of Soil Health When Dr. Buz Kloot began his soil trek for NRCS’ “Unlock the Secrets in the Soil” campaign in September of 2013, he had no idea where his journey would ultimately lead. Hear from Buz, and get a sneak preview of what’s in store for Season Three, in this one-minute video trailer. Play Video Play Video 03:08 The Science of Soil Health: The Weil Brassica Research Team In South America, the no-till revolution had cover crops front and center. Whereas, in the United States the no-till revolution started out with cover crops. If you look at the old extension bulletins from the 70's, cover crops were recommended. But pretty quickly, the no-till revolution of the United States really became about leaving dead crop residue on the surface. When the American scientists and farmers went down and looked at the no-till being practiced in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina they saw that cover crops were really important. It was a key part of how they did their no-till, and they saw lots of brassica cover crops. With that inspiration, Dr. Ray Weil's Brassica Research Team was born. Play Video Play Video 04:42 Chapter 4 - The Great Cover Up: How Nature Protects and Enriches the Soil In the fourth chapter of his five-part mini-series, “Bringing the Science of Soil Health Home,” Buz Kloot, Ph.D. exposes nature’s proclivity for keeping soil covered, and explains the benefits of discovering the cover for farmers and gardeners alike. Dr. Kloot explains how plant canopies or residues from cover crops and previously harvested cash crops provide a layer of “biomass,” which helps reduce weed pressure while lowering soil temperatures and providing the soil with a coat of “armor” to protect it from water and wind erosion. Watch chapter four (4:30). Play Video Play Video 03:05 The Science of Soil Health: Changing The Way We Think About Soil Microbes In our germophobic society today, the role of soil microorganisms is often grossly misunderstood -- to many of us, the only good bug is a dead bug. We join Dr. Kris Nichols in Mandan, North Dakota to talk about why we need change our thinking. Dr. Kristine Nichols is a soil microbiologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Dr. Nichols has long been dedicated to studying arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and its intricate relationship with plants and soil ecology, receiving a Master's in Environmental Microbiology at West Virginia University in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Maryland in 2003. Growing up on a corn-soybean farm in Minnesota, she has long been at home in the agricultural world and continues to be closely involved in research and outreach to study impacts of soil management and conservation. Learn more about soil health: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/ Play Video Play Video 04:25 Chapter 3 - Minimize Disturbance, or "Do Not Disturb!" After the till is gone: Using no-till to improve soil health In the third chapter of his five-part mini-series, “Bringing the Science of Soil Health Home,” Buz Kloot, Ph.D. explores a “disturbing,” but oft-used aspect of soil management: Physical disturbance via tillage. Dr. Kloot reminds us that while farmers have historically used tillage to prepare seed beds and to control weeds, natural systems do not use tillage. Yet in those natural systems water infiltrates into the soil, plants grow and nutrients recycle. Tillage, he says, “destroys biology, exacerbates compaction and burns up organic matter.” But how do we get plants in the ground without tilling? In this chapter, Dr. Kloot explains how it’s done on a row-crop farm, an organic farm and his own 1,000 square foot garden. Watch chapter three (4:20). Play Video Play Video 03:06 The Science of Soil Health: Getting a Handle on Mineralizable N in Soils There's an old adage that says 'what you cannot measure, you cannot manage". For example, what if you could accurately measure all of the nitrogen in your soils? We joined Dr. Rick Haney in Temple, TX to talk about his breakthrough research in this area. Dr. Rick Haney received his PhD in Soil Fertility/Chemistry/Microbial Ecology from Texas A&M University. He has worked as a research scientist for the past 11 years as a Research Soil Scientist for the USDA-ARS, at the Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, Texas. He is responsible for developing research on soil microbial activity, soil testing methodologies, and cropping systems for organic and conventional farming. This research includes the development of methods for evaluation of short-term soil microbial activity as a tool for assessing the nutritive potential of various land management systems and the characterization of the role of various soil organic C and N fractions (i.e., microbial biomass, and mineralizable C, N and P) in nutrient cycling and biophysical alteration of soil. Prior to receiving his PhD, Dr. Haney was employed as a farmer and consultant in western Oklahoma. Learn more about soil health: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/ Play Video Play Video 03:06 The Science of Soil Health: What Happens When You Till? When we use tillage, the soil ecosystem is disturbed on a massive scale. Purdue's Dr. Eileen Kladivko contrasts natural ecosystems with tilled systems and describes what we stand to lose when soils are tilled. Dr. Eileen Kladivko is a professor of Agronomy at Purdue University's College of Agriculture in West Lafayette, Indiana. She holds a master's degree in Agronomy from the same school, and a PhD in Soil Science from the University of Wisconsin. She is currently focusing her research work on environmental quality maintenance and agricultural sustainability, and she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in soil physics. To learn more about soil health: http://ow.ly/uvNvI Play Video Play Video 04:03 Chapter 5 - Keep a Live Root in the Soil, or "A Radicle Idea" In the fifth chapter of his five-part mini-series, “Bringing the Science of Soil Health Home,” Buz Kloot, Ph.D. reminds his viewers that “carbon is the energy currency of the soil.” Carbon feeds the soil microbes, which enable nutrient cycling and other functions critical to plant health. Dr, Kloot explains that through the process of photosynthesis, plants convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates – exuding a sizeable portion of those carbohydrates through the roots to feed microorganisms in the soil. To maximize the benefits of this remarkable symbiotic process, farmers and gardeners should keep a living root in the soil throughout the year to feed those soil microbes, Dr. Kloot says. Featured Videos SD Drought and Land Management Tools Prescribed Burn Top Bale Grazing Advice From Dakota Ranchers Merit or Myth Season 1 The Science of Soil Health