 The Davis Ranch was started in the 1880's when my great-grandfather homesteaded this area and I'm now the fourth generation to be a part of this. We have the fifth generation that's also around and helps out quite a bit on the ranch. So we raise hay and cattle and crops. Crops tend to be alfalfa. We use some of the river bottom as grass hay and we pasture some of it. And we have other crop ground that we rotate alfalfa and corn. Some small grains starting to bring those back in a little more and make use of cover crops in that type of rotation. I started working with Marship early 2000's when we moved back here. We started looking at making some changes. It was kind of dry during that time and we weren't doing necessarily a rotation and we started looking at that and how to get some water developed on some pieces that we were haying further away from the home place. We were looking at initially how to do some water development. Because he had not been involved in the ranch and was starting to kind of transition and take over things we were able to get Jack funded as a beginning farmer and rancher. That helped us through equip. Using equip we were able to add some water development, put in some cross benches. We did the rotational grazing where we started moving the cattle through the different pastures to give some rest. In the rotation of grazing we try and do it about every two to three weeks depending on the size of the pasture and that has tremendously helped on the grasses. The cattle seem a lot better, they seem healthier, the cows seem healthier. It's been a good thing for us to do. The water and the fences helped us probably reduce the amount of hay that we've had to feed and we've moved to using more grass for feeding and can rotate more and stockpile some for the winter, not put up as much hay. Diversity has really improved since we started making the rotations. You've probably seen more of the natives come back in, more wildlife is showing up. We do run a hunting operation or my folks have run a hunting operation and actually my grandma did it before that. So that was something that was started late 40s, early 50s. We're trying to open up different places for hunting a little bit closer to home to be able to plant our food plot for the hunting but also it benefits the cattle. So when we do that we need to obviously keep them out of there for the growth of it. So with that if we can then use it for a hunting operation and then we'll graze it off and allow the cattle to use it for food and feed. The nesting of pheasants I think has been helped by planting, we've done some winter rye after silage or cereal rye and I think that has helped some of the nesting. And then also next to that move into, if we take a spring green crop off we've got some cover crops so provide some shelter and additional food for them. But also then just the improvement of the rotation and grasses has provided more nesting cover for the pheasants. My day job involves working with SDSU Extension and I'm tied with the Nest School of Management and Economics. So I work on the economics side and my focus is on the crops side. And also then we're doing some research into economics and soil health and the impact that that has on farming profitability. So that's been an interesting study that we're working on here the last few years and it's been challenging because of weather-wise and being able to grab the data that we need. But it's interesting to see the contrast between the tillage operations or the full tillage, conventional tillage and the conservation practices that are put in around the state. The new farming practices have been a big improvement from, primarily from inputs. The cost is greatly reduced and the outputs are probably about the same which makes a better bottom line. There's probably more profit with less inputs. Oh, it's better. It's better. It was kind of a job to get the crop in at all. But now, I mean, with no tillage it makes quite a difference. The workload is greatly decreased. It gives you time to do a few other things like hunt. It would be nice to see family come back and take over and, you know, with the numbers and stuff and we're trying to build it up enough for them to be able to come in and handle it with a one-two-person operation. It's been a wonderful place to live and raise a family. And so our hope for the future is that somebody will want to keep it and want to keep it going. And I think that's a hope of everybody in the family.