 It's late afternoon and the cattle are on the move at Co-Priva Angus. This commercial and registered Angus operation is located in northeast South Dakota on the edge of the James River Valley. Jim and Karen Co-Priva founded the ranch and raised their son Lee and daughter Angela here. Today Jim and Lee work every day to care for nearly 400 cows on 2700 acres. My wife and I bought this place here in 91. She is originally from this area and so it's her family. They've been here for 125 years. We started with seven cows in 1984 and we've grown since then. I'm the fifth generation. My dad and mom are the fourth generation. It is a family operation. Dad and I exchange labor back and forth and work together and make management decisions together. Like many of their neighbors, the Co-Privas were initially grain farmers. However, while much of the land in their area has been converted to crops, the Co-Privas have bucked the trend and planted the majority of their acres back to native grasses. There's cattle around but we see an awful lot of ground being took out of the CRP and put back into crop production. We see native land being broken and put into crop production. It's painful to see it happen. We realize that it's not the best suit for the land and the resources that we have available to farm it. I think over the long term it's really been beneficial to have grassland and have established grass on crop land. It seems to be the best fit for our mindset and what we want to do and how we want to manage our resources and land base. Rotational grazing has been key to maximizing production at Co-Priva Angus. The Co-Privas worked with NRCS to install over 20,000 feet of cross fencing, which has allowed them to increase their cattle numbers. The main part of our grazing scheme is to always have acres of the operation resting, not getting grazed. So if you have the ability through fencing and water development to focus a group of cows in an area of the pasture and then graze it and then move them to another area and rest the area that you had prior grazed, that really is beneficial. It's pretty amazing to talk to neighbors that were here in the area before we started to have them say how many had a cattle were on a certain area of grass. And now today we can have about three or four times that many just by simply managing the resources, by fencing off areas, rotating the area that they're grazing and being able to just manage those resources. We actually improved the grass and improved our income off of that land. And so we've been very impressed with it. It takes a little bit of management, a little bit of materials, but the payoff is far greater and it's well worth it. The Co-Privas know another key to a successful grazing system is access to water. They've built a renovated 35 dams and dugouts to improve grazing distribution. So whether it be from the cattle side to the pasture side, the grass that will then become hay or alfalfa, water is necessary. It's absolutely the main thing that we need to be able to have everything going on. We've learned to be better and better managers of water. We've also learned that a dugout or a dam is a very good investment. They are extremely open to new possibilities and to new ideas as far as conservation is concerned. They've taken a look at not only what it will do for them in the short term, but what it will do in the long term as well. The Co-Privas have learned over the years that success is not always measured in dollars. They've seen firsthand how their efforts are helping to expand wildlife diversity by providing invaluable habitat. It's fun to see all the different wildlife and I think that shows that it's good for the ecosystem and everything else just being able to see that it's healthy and that's where wildlife want to be, is where the healthy land is and the healthy resources as well. At Co-Priva Angus, they've made conservation a family tradition and they're committed to creating a sustainable operation for future generations. I hope that it continues to grow. I hope that we continue to learn from our environmental decisions, our stewardship decisions. We've seen so many people abuse the resources with apparently with no feelings of remorse. They're absolutely looking for the shiniest nickel they can find. And it pleases me that our management allows me to do what I know is right and protect the grass and take care of it and manage it and use it and still have the lifestyle I desire. I think it's our duty here on earth to take care of the resources that we're given and I really think that being a good steward is just part of life. It doesn't need to be anything fancy. If you can use the resources you have and take care of them, things will work out and you'll be working with mother nature instead of working against her.