 We're about 30 miles north of Belfoose. We've been here since 1978. We bought the place then The landscape is kind of rolling and it's all gumbo country We run cattle and sheep And Cindy's the main main help. We don't have any other help It's not real good farm ground. It's mostly just it's producing all it can just growing grass It's a harsh climate. We get pretty hot in the summer normally and Winters can get kind of long and hard Bureau land management land is intermingled with the deeded land and You use Bureau land management lands right along with your own We try to Leave as much grass as we can. I don't know. It's kind of the old rule Take half and leave half and we try to follow that The wildlife we have were quite a few antelope and there's a few white-tailed deer around there used to be new deer But they've left and we have some sage grouse They flourish because we try to leave little grass for them something to eat We have quite a little sage around for their natural habitat so sage grouse in South Dakota here we're on the eastern edge of their habitat and They really rely on big sagebrush. They'll use silver sagebrush areas as well But sage grouse are a very unique bird and they'll be able to gain weight in the winter time as long as they have Good access to Wyoming big sagebrush here so it's very high in protein and they eat the leaves and seeds and They have adapted very well in order to thrive on that as well as pronghorn sage grouse are unique upland grouse species They're the largest grouse species in North America and they actually Do not have a hard-gizzard like other upland birds so they're able to easily digest plant material and aren't able to take advantage of Other seeds that other upland birds are able to Through the sage grouse initiative It's it's a lot of work of partnerships working with US Fish and Wildlife Service partners for fish and wildlife as well as the state agencies such as South Dakota Game Fish and Parks here in South Dakota. They have a private lands biologist that I work closely with along with partners for fish and wildlife By teaming up we can make our dollars stretch further and picking those areas and being selective of where we put our dollars of Putting the right Practices in the right place at the right time and really benefit again sage grouse and all wildlife species some of the things that we see on Dan Conner's Rangeland is it's very productive. It's resilient with drought and it's very diverse to and it's plant species composition And he also has an excellent big sagebrush plant community here Which is what sage grouse really need and in South Dakota. We're right on the very eastern edge of sage grouse habitat So this is a really a pretty special place. His riparian areas, especially along Antelope Creek Are in fantastic shape great condition bank conditions are great. They're diverse. They're green throughout the year they pond water and that's just a testament to his management and Also just the care that he takes you know to leave grass behind at the end of every year Dan runs a rotational grazing system here where he has a rest rotation type management system and It's a system that's very beneficial to the grassland and shrubland resource here But one of the issues is water reliability in this part of the country and it's usually poor a lot of stock dams Are what we rely on and if you're going to have a planned grazing system with planned livestock movements and periods of use You have to have reliable livestock water to make that work And so that's something that we really worked with Dan a lot on to be able to continue that grazing management that he's He's accomplished here on the place and and be able to provide him that reliability was really big for us And I hope for Dan too. I think the thing I enjoy most is watching the livestock You don't see how they produce Watching the calves in the spring being born and just kind of like everything's being regenerated in the spring It's It's enjoyable Everybody worries about the livestock welfare and stuff and Just about everybody if they have livestock they take care of them, you know, they like them They're kind of like their family. So they take care of them and take care of them well And kind of liked everybody to know that Dan's addressed a lot of threats to sage grouse here provided a lot of great a great habitat for sage grouse and You know, he's done everything from removing high gate posts to deter avian predators Marking fence where there's a high collision risk near a lack So so Dan has done a lot and that in combination with his grazing management has really made this ranch Great for sage grouse habitat great for sheep habitat great for cattle habitat too So he's really been able to pull it all together and it's kind of a testament to Strong work ethic and strong land ethic