The Best Job in South Dakota

Send us Fan Mail Our guest meteorologist aced her Christmas forecast.  Now, our Nation’s foremost weather prognosticator forecasts an early spring.  Whether you’re planting 5 sq. ft. or 500 acres, it’s seed selection time for your 2024 crop.  This season’s guests, with their inspiring career choices, seeded inspirational ideas for all of us.  Like the red, red robin, we’ll soon be bob, bob bobbin’...

Send us Fan Mail “My pickup is my office.”  Amy Pravecek's position at global animal health company Zoetis comes with a front row seat of the stunning ranchland topography of South Dakota and Wyoming.  On the job, you’ll find her chute side with ranchers and their cattle.  At home, well, she’s raising cattle with her husband.  And, she's active in more ag groups than you can “cow”nt.

Send us Fan Mail Q:  When is a loaner a keeper? A:  When she’s Justine Rivard, Senior Ag Lender at the Black Hills Federal Credit Union. Bank on it.  Her expertise, compassion, and grit shine through in our conversation.  Saddle up and lend an ear.  Also, is chili soup?

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Year!  Resolve to start garden planning with sage advice from SDSU horticulturalist Dr. Kristine Lang.  Borage?  Add that to the plan.   If you’re not ready to put the holidays behind, she’s an extension specialist with expert tips on extending your poinsettia’s life.  BTW, those aren’t flowers, they’re bracts. Won’t be long before it’s time to hoe, hoe, hoe.

Send us Fan Mail When it comes to dairy scientists, SDSU Associate Professor Dr. Maneesha Mohan is the cream of the crop.  Take her course and you’ll exercise better judgment…of dairy products.    Learn a technique used in dairy and soil judging.  Find out the answer to, “Why is milk white?”  It’s an episode like no udder.

Send us Fan Mail Gwen McCausland’s cemetery walks with her history teacher grandmother were inspirational.  Now, as Director of the SD Agricultural Heritage Museum, Gwen inspires visitors with a passion for the diverse history, culture, and science of agriculture in South Dakota.  ‘Tis the season to visit the museum for great exhibits and seeds of ideas for holiday gifts.

Send us Fan Mail Michelle Grosek and her husband are organic farmers and owners/operators of the community-oriented Bear Butte Gardens. She’ll have you seeing red – red tomatoes, red potatoes, red kuri squash, and Bourbon Red turkeys!  If red isn’t your color, Michelle has a cornucopia of produce spanning the spectrum for you.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Send us Fan Mail Connie Johnson has a Purple Heart and a heart of gold.  As Coordinator for Veterans Affairs Resources at SDSU and purposeful flower farmer of Freedom Acres SD, she is a guardian angel to veterans and their families.  Deservedly, she has her own Angel.  Join us in saluting Connie and all veterans this Veterans Day week. 

Send us Fan Mail Launching weather balloons sure is fun. Ask NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Kelly Serr. Her forecasts help keep us safe. They’re vital to farmers, firefighters, and trick-or-treaters.  Good news for the latter thanks to  El Niño. When it comes to explaining weather phenomena, Kelly is phenomenal!

Send us Fan Mail Top quality produce and nursery needs? See Nicole Krautschun. Pure fun? Visit her Spearfish Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch. Pick from 40 pumpkin varieties, get lost in the stalks, frolic in 12 tons of corn, and spiral down a windmill.  A-MAZE-ING!

Send us Fan Mail Summer break reports and what’s in store for the upcoming, holiday-filled season.  Ring the bell.  Round Two of popping podcast episodes are heading your way.

Send us Fan Mail Phew!  Season One was a tsunami of tales and insight from a baker’s dozen of talented, gracious South Dakota women.  What an ocean of ag-related opportunities our guests identified and seized.  We are awash in admiration of their inner strength to follow a path to their Best Jobs.  So, give a listen, let’s gather our breath, and we’ll convene in October for Season Two.  Phew! 

Send us Fan Mail You can’t go home again?  You can if you have the mustered confidence of Sentel Schreier aka Mr. Kolenkhov.  Just ask the 2500 Targhees she shepherds.  Remember, “Pressure and release.”  She’s never backed down whether loading bulls or taking on Rosie, the evil Shetland pony.  Belle Fourche is lucky to have Sentel back.

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Beth Thompson wins the trifecta. Best Job: SD State Veterinarian Best Location:   Two blocks from Zesto Best Aspiration:   Sled dog vet crew Heads up, this episode is a bit of a scream.

Send us Fan Mail Listen.  Do you want to know a secret?  Grasshoppers, they’re so interesting.  They really are.  Just ask Amy Mesman, USDA’s SD State Plant Health Director.  Thank you to Amy for dedicated service protecting agriculture, grasslands, trees, and all SD flora.  Plus, a nod to the Fab 4-H. 

Send us Fan Mail On the job and in the boardroom, Kelsey Geraets earned her seat at the table. Managing JPJ Enterprises’ feedlot is just one of her talents. You won’t doubt her abilities after this meaty conversation. Don’t fill up on the tacos. Save room for the ribeye. Listen in and get on board(s). 

Send us Fan Mail Naturally, it’s a wild visit with Silka Kempema, South Dakota Game Fish and Parks wildlife biologist.  At one point, she goes overboard.  You otter listen.

Send us Fan Mail Explain South Dakota farming and ranch land terrain? Dr. Laurie Anderson has that covered. She’s a gem. And, she’s Head of the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at South Dakota Mines and Director of the Museum of Geology on campus. Cameos by a triceratops and freshwater dolphins.

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Stephanie Bruggeman created and teaches BIOL 216 – Beer, Bread and Brie: Preserving the Planet. In this Augustana U course, Ag + Microbiology = epicurean delight. Indulge in this episode!

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Waltner runs to hard problems.  An Electrical Engineering degree was her first step in a career that takes her from sugarcane crops in Brazil, to tulips fields in the Netherlands, and delightfully, to South Dakota farmland.  Her reflections instill confidence to dream and achieve.  And, she answers the age-old question, “How smart is a pig?”

Send us Fan Mail Kelsey Scott has her hands full and a full life.  Enhancing Indian resources, managing a herd, supplying beef direct to consumers, rebuilding community through food systems, and providing opportunities for youths.  The joys of ranch life.  Amen. Mitakuye Oyasin.

Send us Fan Mail Aah, the mystery of soil. Who wouldn't fall in love? Oh, and how do you get from Wisconsin to South Dakota? If you follow Rachel Frei's route you'll stop in Rhode Island, Denmark, and Greenland along the way. We should be so adventurous.

Send us Fan Mail Taxes don’t tax Leah Heidler.  She likes numbers and providing her expertise to fellow farmers and ranchers.  Oh, and she likes herding buffaloes, bow hunting, and milking her cow!  Doesn’t compute?  Have a listen, it all adds up.

Send us Fan Mail Climbing steps, flag football, farm-to-table education, community support, royal bloodlines, exquisite photography, leaps of faith, and a strawberry-rhubarb turnover. Press Play for The Abby Bischoff Experience.

Send us Fan Mail Time travel, agritourism, a runaway truck, thoughts of fashion, economics, beef, life on the ranch, patience, and a carousel ride.  Rebecca and Chris welcome Stacy Hadrick for an action-packed, half-hour conversation.