Huron, SD, April 17, 2025 – South Dakota (SD) grasslands continue to face dry conditions as illustrated in the mid-April SD Grassland Productivity Map on the SD Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) website under Range and Pasture. As a product of the SD Drought Tool, these maps utilize a two-year weighted average of precipitation data to determine a percent of normal production calculation incorporating historical clipping data from across the state.
State rangeland specialist, Emily Rohrer, shared that forage maps relate to grassland forage production and not cropland as the maps will not predict forage quality. Producers utilizing this tool should consider local conditions when making decisions as a dry fall and even drier winter have set much of the state up for dry conditions going into the spring, however, the most significant months for precipitation in our region are April, May, and June.
What can a producer do? State Conservationist, Tony Sunseri states, “Rainfall cannot be controlled, but being proactive and creating a drought plan is controllable. Visit the SD NRCS webpage to locate online tools and an office nearest you.” When planning, consider management adjustments to your grazing operation, review which pastures you grazed last year, and consider alternating start times which give native plants differing rest periods to help build resiliency. Combining herds and speeding up rotation through pastures to give additional rest time for forage plants during the growing season is beneficial as well.
For additional recommendations, visit with a local NRCS conservationist, South Dakota State University extension specialist, or consider asking a mentor through the SD Soil Health Coalition’s mentoring app Growing Connections or seek out the SD Grassland Coalition’s mentoring network.
The following resources are also available:
SD NRCS Range and Drought page: bit.ly/Range_Pasture
South Dakota Grassland Coalition Drought Planning website: sddroughtplan.org/
National Drought Mitigation Center: drought.unl.edu/ranchplan/Monitor.aspx
National Integrated Drought Information System: drought.gov/
U.S. Drought Monitor: droughtmonitor.unl.edu
South Dakota State University Extension Drought Resources: extension.sdstate.edu/drought
SD Growing Resilience Web page: www.growingresiliencesd.com
SD Grazing Exchange: www.sdgrazingexchange.com/
Source : usda.gov