 So, we're here with Bailey Lucanen who is a technician with the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition. We talk soil health regardless of conditions on grasslands, but it's especially important in the context of now it seems like we maybe hopefully have turned the corner. I wouldn't advocate that the drought is busted by any means in at least a third or two-thirds of the state, but there's green grass. There's a reason for hope for those ranchers with livestock to graze this summer, but yet we're not out of the woods Bailey. I think you'd probably agree. The green is simply a sign of hope, but for those that maybe still have more livestock than their land is capable of carrying, if things don't change significantly in the next few weeks, I heard there's a resource called the South Dakota Grazing Exchange that you might be able to fill us in on. Absolutely. So it's going to be more important than ever to not be overgrazing in our pastures, and it's always important, but especially in a drought season. So if we can find people near us who might have ground that they're not utilizing livestock for livestock grazing, and we can kind of build that relationship and make that partnership that's really beneficial for everybody. So the South Dakota Grazing Exchange, which is at South DakotaGrazingExchange.com, is a website where we can come together. So what essentially what you do is you go onto the website, you create a pin, whether you have livestock that you're looking to place or land that you're looking to get livestock on. You create a pin and then everybody else can see that pin and they can make that connection. So I just looked this morning, there was about 30 pins in the state of South Dakota and only six of them were land available. So it is more important than ever for people who might have ground available for grazing to create a pin on there. Now you can create like a grassland pin. You could also create crop residue or cover crops. So it might be an opportunity to get out on some farm ground and graze livestock this year and just make that connection. We do have other resources on there as well, different examples of contracts, the branding laws, things like that. So just feel free to click around and play and see what you find. You will see that a lot of other states surrounding us are developing a grazing exchange as well and their pins will also show up on that map. So it's interactive, feel free to click around and see what you find. Now Bailey, these pins are there, is there a name and telephone number associated or what kind of data is put out there for either a landowner or someone who's looking for grazing? Yeah, so you kind of choose what information you want put out there. You can just put your name and email address if you want. You can put your name, email address, and phone number. You don't have to put your home address or anything like that. And it places the pin near where you choose to put it, but they're not given an exact address of where that is located until that connection is made and actually conversed. Super, very good. Now you mentioned something that hadn't even come to my mind for those that are near the river or are willing to put wheels under livestock for longer distances across the Missouri River. I take for granted living as far west rivers I do that brand inspection laws apply when you cross that river. So very good resources there too if this is maybe an adventure that somebody has not undertaken before. Yes, absolutely. And we just want everyone to be aware of those laws. If you are put in a scenario where they really come into play, certainly don't want anyone to get in trouble or anything like that. For sure. And a wonderful resource that the connection was able to be made with our Soil Health Coalition to the neighboring states that are developing grazing exchange as well that could prove really important for those that lived near a border. Yes, absolutely. The closest resource may indeed be just across the state line instead of right here at home in South Dakota. Yeah, and where I am I looked this morning and there was a couple of pins in Minnesota and you know that's really not too far for me and the same would be for the western side of the state if you wanted to kind of venture into Wyoming, Montana, those areas. So how best do we spread the word? We being the larger audience that maybe just is learning about the grazing exchange for the very first time when they watch this video? I think being interactive on social media and sharing posts about the grazing exchange but also just those conversations that happen you know in the coffee shop at the elevator wherever it may be the sale barn, just getting the word out there about this resource and this website and hopefully getting more people to get on there and get interactive, especially those that have land available. In my situation this summer I found a small pasture that I wouldn't have found if it wasn't for just in-person conversations and I can guarantee that there's a lot of landowners that just simply don't know about it and if they did know about it they would be using this resource. Is there a cost for using the grazing exchange? No, it is absolutely 100% free to the user. Great, boy that should cover it. Can you cover the web address again Bailey? Yes, so that is sdgrazingexchange.com and like I said you will see some of the other states on there but you can toggle around on the map and it's interactive so. Okay, wonderful resource for landowners and livestock owners alike. I could see a number of applications for this not only for that direct communication if we don't have somebody on the line but you know somebody who just inherited some land and doesn't have those connections in the local neighborhood. This might be a way for them to get it out there. If there's a lot of new landowners in South Dakota that maybe haven't made all the neighborhood connections so this might be a way for our local residents to get in contact with some of those folks and I understand that there is an app in development but that's not yet released. Is that true? There is a mentor app that is going to be coming out. It's called growing connections and that'll be on the you know an app on phone. There will be Apple and Android. We're getting close as far as I understand kind of in the finish age stages so we will be sharing more about that very soon. Okay and that just goes right alongside of you know building relationships and being on somebody else's land. What better way to build a lasting relationship than to treat that land well and the mentor network could be one of those tools that helps us step up our management game. Absolutely, absolutely. Just to ask those questions see what other people are doing in your area, people that you might not even know and just see what they're doing and see if it would work on your operation or how you could tailor it to your operation and make those management changes. Sure. What are the resources does the South Coast Oil Health Coalition offer that might be good for landowners that courtesy of the circumstances they're faced with right now? You know maybe there's time in the calendar this summer where there hasn't been in the past to to advance their learning. Absolutely. So we really work hard to host different events throughout the summer throughout the entire year really. We have some smaller sit downs throughout the state throughout the year but our main event that I would really encourage producers to get signed up for is our soil health school which takes place at the end of August every year. It is a very hands-on intense two and a half to three days of learning. There is some classroom setting, some field setting and it is the best of the best that you are learning from. Scientists and researchers from all over but specifically the best in South Dakota. They have a lot of South Dakota based knowledge which is really important for our producers. The number of registrations is very limited. We try to keep the class small so that we have those good connections and we can just really come together and learn together. So I would encourage you to get signed up quickly because I think they are about half full already for this year. So you can find that application on our website the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition website and get registered there. To the rancher who maybe has a diversified farm slash ranch that thinks well I'm mostly a cow guy. I don't need to go to soil health school. How would you respond to him or her? I would tell him that we have cows and we will have sheep this year as well and there is a large focus on grazing at the soil health school. We have livestock there. We help you lay out a small patch and see how much they've grazed and do all of your grazing calculations. There are a lot of breakout sessions that are livestock oriented which is really really cool. So I think it's for everybody. I don't think that it is just for the crop producers. I think it is definitely for the livestock producers as well. As I said we're going to have sheep this year which is going to be new and I'm really really excited about that because we're always talking about diversity and so this really just pulls it all together. There's no more appropriate place than talking with the representative of the Soil Health Coalition to breeze through those five principles of soil health. So of course first we've got to keep it covered. We've got to minimize or eliminate disturbance. We've got to have living roots in the soil for as many days of the year as possible. Bailey already mentioned improving diversity and she also already mentioned incorporating livestock. These principles apply regardless of land use so viewers or listeners we hope that regardless of your particular operations land use base that you're implementing these principles to the degree possible and improving your land while doing so. So Bailey I really thank you for your time. Folks can connect with you either through the website South Dakota Soil Health Coalition or the sdgreasingexchange.com correct? Absolutely you can find my contact info I think on both of those sites for sure the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition site and we do have another Soil Health Technician in the southern part of this state. So you know wherever you're located whoever you want to contact and we would be happy to talk with you and direct you to different resources that we have or just help you through different scenarios. For sure and we don't want to forget the one if our viewers are mostly West River that we've got Dave O'Neill as well. Now he's not full time like Bailey and Austin is but just the same he is an important resource and one that a lot of folks recognize his name from from his previous occupations as well. So an excellent resource for you guys out there. Wonderful well thank you for your time Bailey we hope that this is valuable and and give him a content I think it sure will be. So thanks.