About SD Agriculture

Our Agricultural State:
Farming and ranching have been the cornerstone of South Dakota's economy since the earliest days of statehood. We rely more heavily on agriculture than any other state. Sales of our agricultural commodities amount to nearly $3 billion each year.

South Dakota ranks among the top ten states nationally in producing corn, wheat, barley, rye, flaxseed, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seeds, honey, cattle, sheep, and hogs. The rugged rangeland of western South Dakota is home to millions of beef cattle and sheep. The majority of crops are grown in the fertile farmland of eastern South Dakota.

But agriculture in South Dakota is much more than traditional crops and livestock. The timber industry in the state is one of the largest year-around employers in the Black Hills. The horticulture business is a $55 million industry. Agricultural processing adds nearly $500 million to the value of raw commodities harvested from the state's farms and ranches.

South Dakota agriculture is constantly changing to keep pace with the world economy and changes in consumer demand. Modern farmers and ranchers need a wide array of business skills to prosper in today's economy. Many use computers as management tools.

Farmers and ranchers adjust their management practices to produce the type of crop or livestock wanted by consumers. For example, as consumers began demanding leaner meat, South Dakota producers used careful genetic selection and management to produce leaner cattle and hogs.

Commodity groups in the state work continually to develo new markets for South Dakota wheat, corn, soybeans, oilseeds, meat, and dairy products.

Farmers and ranchers provide the food we eat and many of the clothes we wear. Multitudes of products contain items that are derived from agricultural commodities -- everything from toothpaste to automobile tires, shampoo to shoes. Every day, agriculture touches all of us.

Beef: Some of the finest beef in the world originates on South Dakota farms and ranches, and cattle production is the biggest single segment of agriculture in South Dakota. Nearly 40 percent of the total cash received by farmers and ranchers comes from the sale of cattle and calves.

Many beef cattle and calves are raised on ranches in western South Dakota. Most beef cattle are "crossbred" -- they are not one specific breed, but have more than one breed in their bloodline. Cattle herds will total approximately three-and-one-half million head each year before spring calving. Years of high demand have seen herds total as many as five million head in South Dakota.

Calves are generally weaned in the fall and sent to a feedlot for "finishing" - a period where they are fed a ration of grain to make them ready for processing to steaks, roasts, and other beef cuts. While some calves are sent to feedlots across South Dakota, many are sent to feedlots located outside the state. South Dakota is home of the nation's largest stockyards, in Sioux Falls, and has a number of meat processing plants.

Consumers today prefer much leaner beef than 20 years ago, and cattle producers have foll9wed suit, raising cattle to yield leaner, lower fat finished products.

Pork: South Dakota produces four percent of all the pork consumed in the United state marketing nearly three million hogs a year. The most common breeds raised in South Dakota are Yorkshire, Hampshire, Duroc, and Chester White.

Sows typically farrow (have baby pigs) two times a year, in spring and fall, with litters of seven to eight piglets. most hogs are raised on family farms in the eastern part of the state. Some are raised in "farrow to finish" operations which means the pits are born, raised, and fed to slaughter weight all within the same facility. Farrow-to-farrow managers are very diligent in keeping their facilities clean, to protect pigs against possible diseases.

Hogs are slaughtered when they weight between 240 to 260 pounds. They are then processed into ham, pork chops, bacon and many by-products, including pharmaceuticals used for human health.

Sheep and Wool: The nation's largest shipping point for fine wool is located at Belle Fourche in western South Dakota. The 600,000 head of sheep and lambs in South Dakota make up five percent of the United States total. Sheep are noted for providing two crops -- the lambs and the wool. East of the Missouri River sheep are raised mainly for meat, while west of the river sheep are raised for both meat and wool.

The number one wool breed in South Dakota is the Rambouillet, followed by the Targhee and Columbia. The rambouillet is a large, rugged, fast grown sheep which adapts well to a variety of climatic and forage conditions and produces an excellent quality, fine wool fleece. Each sheep produces about nine pounds of wool per year. The number one meat breed in the state is the Suffolk which has an excellent growth rate and high quality meat.

Poultry: Chickens, geese, and turkeys, in the millions, are grown in South Dakota. Young chickens which produce eggs are called pullets and older egg-layers are hens, while chickens raised for meat are broilers. South Dakota has about one-and-one half million laying chickens, with each producing about 250 eggs a year. More than two million turkeys are raised for meat each year in this state.

Dairy: Dairy herds in South Dakota have totaled more than 125,000 cows annually in recent years. That number is considerably lower than it was decades ago, but milk production per cow -- more than 12,000 pounds a year -- is far higher. The Holstein breed is the most common dairy cow. South Dakota cheese processors produce about 150 million pounds of American, cheddar, colby, jack, and other types of cheeses each year.

Honey: With more than 200,000 honeybee colonies, South Dakota is one of the nation's top honey states, producing about 30 million pounds a year. Hone from South Dakota is a highly desirable, mild-flavored and light-colored alfalfa-sweetclover blend. Honeybees are also useful as pollinators. In most areas of South Dakota there is at least one bee yard within flight range of any field crop.

Wheat: South Dakota produces three different types of wheat: hard red winter, hard red spring, and durum. Hard red winter wheat is planted in the fall and is harvested in mid-summer. Hard red spring and durum wheats are planted in the spring and harvested in late summer to early fall.

The hard wheats grown is South Dakota make some of the world's best bread-baking flour because they are high in protein. Wheat protein combines with liquid to form gluten, which provides the structure for baked products. South Dakota is one of six states to grow durum wheat, which is the type used to make pasta.

In an average year, more than three-and-one-half million acres will be planted to wheat of one type or another in South Dakota.

Corn: Corn is the food of the Americas. Ancient Central American Indian civilizations were the first to cultivate corn. In the United States it is the major foodstuff and the major agricultural export.

In a normal year, more than two-and-one-half million acres in South Dakota are planted to corn, yielding a grain harvest of more than 200 million bushels.

Corn is vital to our diet. You will find refined corn products used in nearly 4,000 food items today. Corn syrups provide the major source of sweeteners in food. In addition, corn has hundreds of industrial uses, from plastics to alcohol additives in motor fuel.

In South Dakota corn is grown primarily east of the Missouri River, with the most corn being grown in southeast South Dakota. Corn is also our most frequently irrigated crop.

Soybeans: When farmers talk about "beans" they mean soybeans. South Dakota-grown soybeans are processed for protein meal and oil. A 60-pound bushel of soybeans will yield 48 pounds of meal and 11 pounds of oil, with uses as diverse as animal feed, bakery products, shortening and printing ink.

Short-season soybean varieties are grown here because they mature in climates with shorter nights, like the summer nights in South Dakota's northern latitudes. Soybeans are often planted in rotation with corn, and sometimes intercropped with a winter small grain. Farmers plant soybeans in the late spring , and begin harvesting in the early fall.

In recent years soybeans have gained popularity with South Dakota farmers. Nearly two million acres are now planted to beans annually, producing close to 40 million bushels. Beans are grown primarily in eastern and southeastern counties.

Sunflowers: South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota produce 95 percent of the nation's sunflowers. On a summer drive you can easily recognize the fields of bright yellow sunflowers. You may also notice that in late summer sunflower heads no longer "follow the sun" as it moves across the sky. domestic sunflowers have been bred to develop large heads, which get too heavy to follow the sun.

Two types of sunflowers are cultivated in South Dakota. The oilseed varieties are grown as a source of oil and meal. Confectionery, or non-oil, varieties are grown for human consumption and birdseed.

Other Grains: South Dakota ranks among the top ten producing states in a variety of small grains. Our state frequently harvests more than 50 million bushels of oats in a year. This grain used to be grown primarily for livestock feed, but has enjoyed a renewed popularity in recent years as part of a healthy diet. Barley is another small grain produced in quantity; recent years have seen 30 million bushel harvests. Our state usually harvests close to five million bushels of rye, and has had yields of more than 10 million bushels, easily enough to make us the nation's leading producer of rye. Over the past decade, South Dakota has also been a major producer of flaxseed, with some harvests topping one million bushels.

For livestock feed, our state harvests up to 15 million bushels of grain sorghum and another six million tons of sorghum for silage per year. South Dakota produces significant amounts of hay. Alfalfa is the most popular, with annual cuttings amounting to more than 75 million tons.

Horticulture & Seed: The South Dakota horticulture industry includes one of the nation's three largest mail-order nurseries. Nursery stock grown in the state includes trees, shrubs, sod, even Christmas trees. The state also makes its contribution to agriculture companies which condition and sell all types of field seeds, while specialty seed companies here breed and sell hybrids, such as corn, adapted to a particular locale.

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Since 90 percent of the state's forest land is in the Black Hills, the South Dakota timber industry is concentrated there. Ponderosa pine is the predominant species harvested. Eighty percent of all timber harvested is used for sawlogs, with the remainder utilized as fuel wood, wood pulp, posts and poles and other minor uses. A number of saw mills operate in the Black Hills.

Environment:
Farmers and Ranchers shoulder the job of feeding a growing world population while at the same time working to protect the soil, range, water and other natural resources which provide the inputs for agriculture. while population grows, the amount of land available for producing food and fiber decreases. This means that farmers and ranchers must produce more on each available acre. doing this sometimes involves use of chemical inputs such as fertilizers or pesticides.

Farmers and ranchers are often the most cautious stewards of the land. Through experience and research, they have learned how to manage soil and water resources to protect them against erosion, contamination, or other effects. They have learned how to manage their land to provide habitat for wildlife.

Farmer, ranchers, and agricultural researchers continually work on ways to ensure the highest possible quality and quantity of food with the least impact on the environment.

South Dakota's Rank in United States Agriculture

South Dakota's Rank in US Agriculture 2004	Second	Third
South Dakota's Rank in US Agriculture 2004	Sunflower Seed Production Oat Production Proso Millet Production Honey Production	Lambs Born Alfalfa Hay Production Flaxseed Production Rye Production
Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
Other Spring Wheat Production All Sheep & Lambs	Durum Wheat Production Beef Cows that have Calved All Hay Production Market Sheep & Lambs	All Wheat Production Corn For Grain Production All Cattle and Calves Calves Born :Land in Farms and Ranches Heifers 500 lbs and Over
Seventh	Eighth	Ninth
Sorghum for Grain Production Steers 500 lbs and Over Cattle and Calves on Feed--all Feedlots	Harvested Acreage, Principal Crops Soybean Production Winter Wheat Production

*Information for this page taken from the South Dakota Dept of Agriculture brochure South Dakota Agriculture: Farming and Ranching.
*Statistical rank information provided through the USDA www.usda.gov/nass/ and South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service
For more South Dakota information, visit the South Dakota Dept of Ag at www.state.sd.us/doa/doa.html
Check the South Dakota ag info page at NCBA.