In 1940, my great-grandfather, Joe Mendel, started the Mendel family farm, located outside of Doland, South Dakota. What started as a diversified farm with beef, hogs and small grains is today an operation focused on corn, soybeans, wheat and sunflowers, as well as a 1,000-head feedlot and 600-head cow-calf operation.

Winter grazing isn’t just a cost-saver – it’s a smart strategy for livestock health and performance.

Cowboys and farmers tend to emphasize the differences between pasture and range, but when we bring it back to the plant level, there are more similarities than differences.

Ranchers rely on equal parts faith and science to have adequate grass to maintain their cow herd and ensure quality calves for beef. Faith comes through praying for the right growing conditions, while science implements good land and resource management to enhance the soil, grass types, moisture levels and more to get the most grass from each acre for as long as possible.

If I asked 10 different producers, “How good of quality do you think your CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) forage is for grazing?” I would expect that nine would respond with something to the extent of “Not much better than trees.”

Leave the land better than you found it. That’s the charge given to the ranchers who are members of Country Natural Beef.

Mindy Anderson spoke at the America’s Grasslands Conference in Kearney, Nebraska, about the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation's efforts to start a conservation easement program.

Taking care of the land doesn’t just happen. It takes patience, planning and a willingness to adapt to change as it happens.

The greater sage grouse has become a poster child for a keystone species in decline across the West: a symbol of the sagebrush steppe being converted, degraded and fragmented. “When I was a kid, I remember seeing a lot more of them,” says rancher Richard Ward of Malta.