Rotational grazing methods boost this ranch's forage production by 400% (2024)

QUINN, S.D. — Pat Guptill’s family has been ranching the same 7,000 acres near Quinn, South Dakota, for the past two generations. Originally, around 90% of the ground was farmed, but for over 20 years the family has worked to turn the operation back into grassland.

“We basically just started planting grass seed — any grass seed that I could find — and just getting it in the ground and just turning it back to grass,” Guptill said. “Some of it is western and a lot of it was tame grass.”

Over the years, the ranch’s forage base has increased by 400%, without increasing the amount of land. Guptill explains that it's as if they bought three more ranches.

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Their goal through this transition was to make the land healthier.

“We are saving our soil. Our soil does not run off like it did in the farm ground that was here,” he explained.

The area has highly erodible soil, but now Guptill says they are better capturing rainwater.

“Our rainfall that falls on our place, we catch about 99% of it. We do not run very much water off,” he said. “In the past, I would say five years, we have had no runoff. Our dams don’t even get full in the spring, but they fill up throughout the summer from the percolation through the soil.”

Now they practice rotational grazing on the land.

“It’s a short grazing season, but we have used a high stock density rotation, and we move our cattle every three days to utilize the poorer grasses to the best ability that we can use them,” Guptill said.

The grazing plan changes depending on conditions and the time of year. Right now, he has been grazing 600 head of yearlings on 3.6 acres of grass a day.

“We are leaving a lot of soil behind, which builds soil health,” Guptill said. “That same bunch of yearlings in August was on 24 acres a day. So, we can adapt to whatever the nutrition value is of our grass and how much we have.”

Guptill says rotational grazing works no matter what the drought conditions are like in a given year.

“I’ve been here with two weeks of green grass in a 24-month period, and we can still graze it because with this intensive grazing that we do, we know exactly how much is there and how much we are going to take off before we turn the cattle in there,” he said. “We always check and see what we have behind us. We want the armor on the ground, we want no bare spots, which we are still getting there.”

Ariana Schumacher / Agweek

The cattle also graze the ground over the winter months.

“People say you can’t do that here. You cannot do that here unless you have cattle to do it. You have to change the genetics on your cattle jut a little bit. But we still run Red Angus and Black Angus cattle and we have been able to graze through almost every year through the winter,” Guptill said. “Sometimes we’ve got to feed them for two weeks when the weather gets really cold or the ice comes out, but God put this grass out here for animals to graze; quit wrapping it up and hauling it off. Just let the cows have it.”

Guptill also believes that chemicals are only needed for emergency situations on his operation.

“We haven’t used chemicals on our cattle for 23 years, and we have no more problem than anybody else with parasites,” he said. “There are alternative ways to make a ranch work.”

With his grass finished cattle that could finish anytime in the summer, Guptill was having a hard time finding a place to butcher his livestock.

“There are so many people now butchering their own beef, but they don’t have the facilities. So, it’s a year out to find a place to butcher,” Guptill said.

So, the family took matters into their own hands and built a packing plant for themselves to butcher their cattle for personal use only.

Guptill built it as cheaply as he could using a 48-foot trailer and purchasing mostly used equipment. It took about six months to build the slaughterhouse. The front half of the facility is the cooler, and the back half is the workspace. They can process a maximum of three cattle at a time.

Ariana Schumacher / Agweek

“It keeps our family supplied with beef. I’ve got five kids and they come home and help butcher, so they get a share in the beef,” Guptill said.

In the two years that they have had the trailer, they have processed 26 head of cattle themselves, which means the trailer has now paid for itself.

“It was costing us $1,000 a head to have the local butcher butcher an animal,” Guptill said. “Last time I checked, we had $25,000 into this trailer.”

For those looking to build their own butcher trailers, Guptill encourages them to do their research and reach out to him with questions.

“It’s not hard to do, but after building one, talk to me,” he said. “I can give you some tweaks on it to make it a little more efficient and a little bit better.”

Even if you don’t currently know how to butcher your own animals, there are ways to learn.

“Don’t be afraid to do something like this. There are people out there that will help you learn how to butcher,” Guptill said. “There is YouTube videos, but stick with one, don’t see a whole bunch of them. Stick with one and learn one method.”