52 How Father/Son Team is Cutting Input Costs and Increasing Yields

Barry and Eli Little are a father and son team farming near Castlewood, SD located in the eastern part of South Dakota. Together, they have close to 1600 acres of cropland, and farm this along with another 1300 acres of Barry’s brother’s land. While cropland is still the centerpiece of their business model, Barry and Eli run close to 500 head of cattle – and though they have 800 acres of dedicated pasture, their operation is designed for the integration of livestock into their operation. While a herd of cattle was on the land when Barry’s father farmed, 2011 was the first time the Littles deliberately planted cover crop with an eye to utilizing the cover for grazing. Their first cover crop, planted behind winter wheat did so well that it encouraged the Littles to double down. In this podcast, Joe Dickie and Buz Kloot hear from Barry and Eli on their livestock integration journey, some of the things they have tried with cover crops, inter-seeding and their pastures. We then move on to talk about some of the economics of cover crops and livestock integration and how, while maintaining and increasing yields, they’ve managed to cut back on inputs. Barry and Eli also talk about the fact that if a decision is motivated with an eye to soil health, decisions become a lot simpler, and intergenerational conflict is lowered. Eli attributes his ability to farm full-time with his dad to soil health (livestock integration has played a huge part of that too). Finally, if you think the Littles have it figured out, Barry’s take on his operation is: “There's been several times in my life when I thought we had it all figured out and then something comes along and we have to change our paradigm one more time. We're on a journey. It gets better every year, but I’m pretty sure that we're not even a quarter of the way there.” Enjoy the show! Videos featuring Barry and Eli: A New Approach to Farming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZsZgMSGLeU&list=PLg6Jx7lcOmB3kQyswC5iP2YuY6rWQfLSP&index=45 Incorporating Diverse Enterprises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RzqzjNtRyY Additional Resources: Stress Reduction through Soil Health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAG2ouCZjFk Follow Barry and Eli's operation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bliouxriverranch/ For more info on regenerative, climate smart ag, get in touch with your local NRCS: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/conservation-by-state/south-dakota