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About

The Cottonwood Field Station was established in 1907 by the Agricultural Experiment Station at South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University. It initially consisted of 640 acres where the station headquarters are located today. The initial focus of the research in 1907 was crops and soils. In 1940 the station was expanded to its current 2,640 acres when it acquired 2,000 acres of federal land. An additional 1,100 acres are utilized during the summer at Fort Meade (near Sturgis, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã).

The vegetation at the Cottonwood Field Station is predominantly native plants, most of which are cool-season grasses. Western wheatgrass is the main species with needle and thread, green needle grass and little bluestem also present. Buffalo grass and blue grama are the main warm-season grasses. Introduced pastures of crested wheatgrass and Russian wild rye are also grazed.

The Cottonwood Field Station maintains a herd of about 150 commercial Angus cows that are utilized for research programs. These cow-calf pairs are summered and bred at Fort Meade. In November after weaning, the cows are brought back to Cottonwood, where they are wintered and calved out beginning in mid- to late April. Another 150 yearling steers are brought to the station each year to continue the 80-plus year stocking rate trials that are used to inform grazing and insurance policies for farmers and ranchers.

The Cottonwood Field Station is currently undergoing a much needed renovation project to replace storm-damaged structures, modernize facilities and enhance research, teaching and outreach efforts.

New facilities include a monoslope feedlot, complete with individual feed intake technology, along with new feed storage. Also included is a new multipurpose building complete with a classroom and updated à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã handling facilities. The multipurpose building also has designated laboratory and conference room spaces.

The project is expected to be completed in the coming year. These new facilities will strengthen efforts to attract and retain world-class faculty, train and educate graduate and undergraduate students, and carry-out renowned research and outreach programs.

Key Research Projects:

• Long-term stocking rate trial.
• Precision livestock weighing.
• Virtual fencing.
• Precision heifer supplementation.
• Precision water monitoring.
• Development of precision data informed virtual fencing rotation grazing models.
• Precision drinking water intake assessment of rangeland beef cattle.
• Rangeland rehab: Extension. Reestablishing natives on weedy pastures.
• Rangeland plant, soil and carbon monitoring on long-term grazing sites.
• Remote sensing assessment of rangeland pastures.
• Remote sensing predictive models for forage quality and quantity.
• Bale grazing using virtual fencing.
• Intensive grazing using virtual fencing.
• Developing a dry matter intake prediction equation using precision technology.
• Riparian restoration using low-cost, low-tech process-based restoration.
• Educating and informing producers about precision ranching technology.
• Graduate student training and education.
• Beginning beef cattle producers – grazing workshop.
• Educating and informing agency personnel about precision ranching technology.