The Gregory City Council will hold their Regular Meeting  Monday, June 7,th at 6:00 p.m. at Gregory City Hall which is located at 120 W 6th St.  The Gregory City Council meets the first and third Monday of every month.

PIERRE, SD – What does a pasture have in common with a marathon runner?

According to Natural Resources Conservation Service State Grazing Lands Soil Health Specialist Tanse Herrmann, they both need time to recover.

“A marathon athlete, for instance, doesn’t train the full length of an actual marathon in their practice sessions,” he said. “If that human trained and performed 26 miles day-in and day-out leading up to their actual event, by the time their event rolls around, they might not have the physical capability of performing to their best level because they’ve overdone it. Season-long grazing is potentially the same thing for our plants.”

Just like a runner won’t be able to perform well if they have overexerted themselves in practice, grazing lands won’t be as productive if they have been sequentially grazed closer and closer to the ground through season-long grazing.

That’s where rotational grazing can help. It’s a system in which a producer’s grazing land is divided into smaller pastures. The animals are concentrated in one pasture at a time, allowing the other pastures to put on more growth, develop their root systems and capture carbon.

“Having rotation available to us for livestock grazing enhances plant health and vigor,” Herrmann said. “It improves soil health, water infiltration, the ability of the plant life on the landscape to perform photosynthesis and store carbon in the organic matter of the growing plants and their living roots.”

Water source

Rotational grazing is good for livestock and the landscape, but it does come with its own challenges to consider.

One of those is water.

Figuring out how to supply water for the livestock to each individual pasture is a puzzle that every producer will need to solve.

The first step in designing a rotational grazing water plan is identifying a source, Herrmann said.

“Is there water that can be accessed nearby? Are there dependable surface water structures such as ponds, dugouts, or dams in each pasture? Is there rural water available nearby? Can I drill a well?” he asked. “Is there power available to move that water, or do I need to investigate a solar powered pumping system? If we’re operating from a private well, there’s got to be some mechanism of hydraulically moving that water from Point A to Point B in the form of your water tank or automatic waterer.”

The most economical source over the long term will likely be rural water, Herrmann said.

“The least expensive option is probably going to be – if it’s available to you – rural water, particularly if that access meter is already bought and paid for,” he said. “But if it’s flowing nearby or just across the road and you’re able to purchase a tap, provided there’s volume available for that system to provide service, mostly likely that will be the least-cost option to you over that 20- or 30-year lifespan of the infrastructure, the pipeline and the watering facilities.”

Luke Perman operates Rock Hills Ranch near Lowry, SD, with his wife, Naomi, and his parents, Lyle and Garnet. Their operation has cow-calf, stocker yearling, and custom-grazed sheep enterprises, and they have been using rotational grazing for more than 30 years. Their livestock are moved between pastures every one to seven days depending on the herd, the time of year, and which pasture they’re in.

Perman said that his family’s operation uses a variety of different water sources.

“We’ve got three wells that we use to pipe water that services two-thirds of our ranch, probably,” he said. “That other third is mostly serviced by rural water. We do have some springs that we utilize as well as a trash pump that we use for pumping out of dugouts and dams. Rather than letting the cattle go in and foul up the water, we’ll fence out those water holes, and we’ll just pump out of the dam into a water tank for them.”

Water delivery

Once a water source has been identified, the next step is to figure out how to deliver it to the cattle. Should the pipeline be buried, or will the planned season of use allow the pipeline to remain aboveground or buried shallow?

“The servicing pipeline aboveground often times is going to be just as suitable as buried pipeline for many operations,” Herrmann said.

He pointed out that it’s sometimes easier to get permission to cross a neighbor’s land with aboveground pipe to connect with a water source. When livestock are no longer in that pasture, the producer can pull the pipeline back across the property line.

“In recent years, we have used more and more aboveground pipe,” Perman said. “Sometimes that’s just for summer use, so we don’t really need to have the expense of burying everything. Sometimes it’s because it’s leased ground, and maybe my landlord doesn’t want to invest a lot of money in water infrastructure. So, we just run it aboveground. Sometimes it’s just a matter of ‘We need to get something out there right now.’“

Mobile watering tanks are another way to deliver water to livestock.

“Mobile watering facilities are an excellent idea, particularly for someone who is implementing a fairly intense management scheme, as far as the grazing is concerned,” Herrmann said. “The real value in that is that you might only have to purchase one, two, or three of those setups to service your entire livestock herd and be able to service dozens of pastures with that one or two or three items.”

Perman said that his family has a couple of mobile tanks that they move frequently, sometimes for use with a trash pump, for use with sheep, and to supplement water installations that were designed for a smaller herd than he currently places in a pasture.

Regardless of the type of watering facility in use, the Permans use cellular-enabled game cameras with solar charged battery packs to monitor the water tanks. “They cost a little to get into, but data rates are cheap,” Perman said. “They save us boatloads of time checking water tanks.”

Mistakes to avoid

“One thing I’ve kind of learned is that designing a water system is as much an art as it is a science,” Perman said.  He noted a few things for producers to consider before installing a water supply.

“Always build with the idea that you’re going to expand on the system in 10 years or 5 five years. Some of our early installations are all inch-and-a-half or maybe inch-and-a-quarter waterline with maybe an 8-foot tire tank, and that was fine for 150 cows, but it’s not fine for 300 (cows) or 500 or 600 yearlings,” he said. “Anytime we’re doing any kind of permanent installation at this point, we’re making sure that we have the ability to expand by either adding a second tank at that site or doing an aboveground waterline that we can run from that location a half-mile away.”

Another mistake to avoid, Perman said, is making an installation permanent before it has been tested.

“The main mistake we’ve made is making it permanent, thinking, ‘This is exactly how it needs to be, and it’ll never need to be any different,’” he said. “I feel like the best scenario is you run aboveground pipe with a portable tank, and you put it there for five years, and if you’re happy with it after five years, then you bury it and you make it permanent. Because sometimes you spend all the money to get everything installed permanently, and then six months later you realize, ‘You know, we should have put it over there.’”

Herrmann noted that it’s important to make sure a pasture has enough water sources for its size.

“If I’ve got a 500-acre pasture and only one watering tank out there, that can be a concern if that tank is clear up in the far corner of that pasture and the animals have to walk three-quarters of a mile or more,” he said. “All of sudden we’re giving up gains in performance in those livestock simply because of the amount of exercise they have to put forth to go get a drink of water.”

Perman also said producers should do their homework on what type of valve they should use on their water tank.

“I’ve gone to using just about exclusively these full-flow type valves or diaphragm-type valves because just as soon as that water level drops half an inch, the water is coming in at the full rate rather than the other style where the water has got to drop close to a foot before you’ve got the full flow,” he said. “Well, that’s probably a fourth of your tank capacity sometimes if you’re waiting for it to drop a foot.”

Help available

There are cost share programs available to help producers install water systems to facilitate rotational grazing. Perman said that his family has used cost share programs through NRCS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks.

“There are also multiple conservation entities in the state that offer financial assistance for livestock water, fencing and making livestock use of cropped land a possibility,” Herrmann noted.

“The technical advice that all of them provide is really helpful if you’re not sure what to do or you don’t have experience with designing these systems, especially if you’ve got things to worry about like elevation changes and that sort of thing,” Perman said.

“My best suggestion is visit with your local conservation district or Natural Resources Conservation Service. Visit with SDSU Extension. And a wealth of knowledge often comes in the form of your neighbors’ experience. If you have neighbors that have livestock and already have their pasture system set up, ask them what they’ve done in the past,” Herrmann said. “Take advantage of the lessons that other people have learned rather than making the same mistakes yourself.”

To learn more about rotational grazing and how it can benefit your operation, visit www.sdsoilhealthcoalition.org or contact the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition at 605=280-4190 or sdsoilhealth@gmail.com.

Governor Kristi Noem issued the following statement in response to the District Court decision on her lawsuit against the Biden Administration over their cancellation of the Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration:

“The Biden Administration cancelled South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration on completely arbitrary grounds.  I am disappointed that the court gave cover to this unlawful action with today’s decision. But rest assured, this fight is not over. My legal team will appeal this incorrect decision so that we can return the Fireworks Celebration to Mount Rushmore and celebrate our nation’s birthday at America’s Shrine to Democracy for next year and in the future.”

The Todd County School Board Election will take place Tuesday, June 8th from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at all voting precincts in the Todd County School District 66-1.

Two school board members will be elected for  three year term. Those running include:

Michelle Allen

Troy “Luke” Lunderman

Heather Frederick

Justin Klein

Shelly Means

Linda Bordeaux

The City of Gregory will hold their annual Independence Day celebration from Friday, July 2nd through Sunday, July 4th.  The weekend will include several activities including  a carnival, turtle races, dances, concerts, bingo, baseball, parade, fireworks and more.

U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) will speak at the Memorial Day ribbon cutting ceremony at the newly constructed South Dakota Veterans Cemetery in Sioux Falls at 2 p.m. today and at 7 p.m.  Johnson will speak at the Memorial Day ceremony hosted by the Garretson American Legion.

Since South Dakota State University (SDSU) Extension Range Field Specialist Pete Bauman advises on grassland management for a living, his neighbors often approach him, asking about pasture management and his use of poly wire, grazing, fire and rest. Eventually, he says the conversation shifts from general grassland considerations to managing individual types of plants.

“Grasslands are comprised of individual plants. This sounds obvious, but we often don’t think too deeply about the types of plant categories in a pasture or grassland, such as exotic, cool season, warm season, broadleaf, grasses, sedges, etc.,” says Bauman, who is based out of the Watertown Regional Extension Center. “Nor do we necessarily consider the individual species, such as the brome, big bluestem or sunflower.”

One of Bauman’s neighbors recently commented to him that he has never really thought about “managing” his grass.

“I told him he wasn’t alone, and that most producers often focus attention on their cropland and give little thought to their grassland systems, which are much more complex,” Bauman says. “In a crop field we often focus on helping one plant survive and eliminating the rest. In a grassland, we have dozens of plants to consider, and our management actions can either help or hinder entire plant communities.”

So, where can producers begin the learning process? Baumann says one opportunity is to attend the upcoming “Good, Bad and Invasive Plant Tour.” Hosted by The Nature Conservancy; South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks; South Dakota County Weed and Pest Departments; and SDSU Extension, the annual tour in northeast South Dakota has become a widely-attended event.

“The tour is a one-day, free, public event, where anyone can come and learn about various plants and their function in the system,” Bauman says. “Over the years, the tour has been attended by farmers, ranchers, gardeners, county weed supervisors, agency staff, children and others that are just curious. Tour leaders are very knowledgeable about plants and their value and function, and often there are interesting tidbits about how any particular plant functions in the system for positive or negative impacts to livestock and wildlife.”

This year’s tour will take place on June 3 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (CST) at Sica Hollow State Park near Sisseton. The group will meet in the park’s east picnic area. For directions from Sisseton, attendees should head west on Highway 10 for two miles. Then turn north on 455th Ave. for seven miles. Finally turn west on 112th St. and go west until you reach the park.

RSVPs are required for planning logistics. Contact Joe Blastick at 605-880-6541 or jblastick@tnc.org or Owen McElroy at 605-520-1935 or owen.mcelroy@state.sd.us.

Governor Kristi Noem and five other governors wrote to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), asking them to continue their investigation into anti-competitive practices in the meatpacking industry. The DOJ had originally sent investigative demands to the nation’s four largest meatpackers in May 2020.

“Perhaps no person embodies the independent and untamable spirit of the United States better than the cattle producer,” wrote Governor Noem and the other governors. “But this way of life is under threat. Decades of consolidation in meatpacking has significantly limited the options that producers have to market their cattle and has created a situation where one segment of the beef industry has near total control over the entire market.”

The governors highlighted the threat to consumers as prices of meat at the grocery store continue to rise, all while beef producers are struggling to make ends meet.

“The consistently high prices realized on the boxed beef side are not being reflected on the producer side, forcing consumers to pay a premium for beef while threatening many of our producers with the loss of their business,” wrote the governors.

Governor Noem was joined in signing the letter by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt. You can read the governors’ letter here.

Governor Kristi Noem asked the South Dakota Board of Regents to set policies that preserve honest, patriotic education throughout South Dakota’s institutions of higher learning. You can read the her letter, which was sent to each individual member of the Board, here.

“As governor, I have become increasingly concerned about a growing movement throughout the country to reject patriotic education and downplay the positive revolution in human affairs set in motion by our Founders,” wrote Governor Noem. “Our children and grandchildren should understand the full picture of our nation’s history – our fundamental values, our greatest achievements, and the long struggles to overcome injustice as well.  Our next generation must also learn about our triumphs as well as our mistakes, with those mistakes being examined in context.”

In the letter, Governor Noem urged the Board of Regents to consider:

1. Whether funds are being used to advance or promote the 1619 Project, Critical Race Theory, or any similar theory; or requiring, compelling, or otherwise directing students to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to any such beliefs or tenets;
2. Whether South Dakota’s post-secondary public institutions remain a place of learning, not indoctrination;
3. Whether diversity offices in post-secondary public institutions are still working within the scope of their original mission, or whether they have experienced inappropriate “mission creep.”

“I trust you will agree with me that we need to preserve honest, patriotic education throughout South Dakota – education that that cultivates in our next generation both a profound love of our country and a realistic picture of its virtues and challenges,” continued Governor Noem. “I look forward to working together with the Board of Regents on this goal.”

This past legislative session, Governor Noem advocated for and signed legislation to enhance civics curriculum at the K-12 level. She recently became the first officeholder in America to sign the “1776 Pledge to Save Our Schools.” Last week, Department of Education Secretary Tiffany Sanderson and State Historian Dr. Ben Jones wrote to the Biden Administration to push back on their proposed policies advocating for the teaching of the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory.