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Calving goes high tech
This story is reported by , a non-profit news organization. Find more in-depth reporting at . MITCHELL, S.D. (SDNW) – The snow's blowing sideways, the heavy stuff. It's one of the few winter storms this year and it happens to fall on the first days of March, calving season. I arrive at Steve Easton's farm in Hanson County in southeastern South Dakota, prepared, wearing long underwear, snow pants, ski mask. What I was not prepared for was finding Steve, in a T-shirt and jeans sitting at his kitchen table. 'You look like you're dressed for bad weather,' Steve smiles. He has no plans to go outside today. And he doesn't need to. From where he sits, he has a crystal-clear view of those cows that are close to labor on a TV divided into eight smaller screens, one for each camera. One screen shows a cow standing, sometimes slightly swaying looking uncomfortable. Is she due soon? Steve pulls out his smartphone and opens an app connected to the cameras. 'On the phone, you can actually enlarge it.' He zooms in on the ear tag. The number confirms she's the one that's due any day now. I was shocked: 'That is insane.' The last brush I had with calving was in the early '90s at a friend's ranch, where every two hours they rode a four-wheeler through the pasture to check on cows. Record low cattle numbers I had intended to write about hard-working, down-to-earth South Dakotans. Lately, any national news about our state dealt with politics. South Dakota's more than that. It's calving season, so I searched for a rancher. But Steve's calving cameras blew me away — and led me on another journey to understand how science and technology have made calving more efficient. Read: saving money. The number of cattle in the U.S. today is at a record low, numbers not seen since 1951, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Over the years, historic drought conditions left little food for cows in the pasture and forced producers to sell their herds. In 2024, Americans ate around 59 pounds of beef on average, up from the year before, according to the USDA. Short supply and strong demand mean a higher price. Add a recent temporary ban on importing beef from Mexico due to a parasite and USDA estimates that beef prices will hit new highs in 2026. Ranchers are looking for efficiency: How to consistently produce the best beef that consumers want. In South Dakota, it's big business with four times as many cattle as humans. The cost of raising cattle for beef is an investment. Depending on feed costs and operation size, producers can spend hundreds to thousands raising a single animal before it goes to slaughter, confirms Erin DeHaan, South Dakota State University professor and extension beef specialist. Too expensive to just cross their fingers and pray that it all works out. A family affair Easton calves part-time. In search of a larger, full-time calving operation, I traveled just 10 miles from the North Dakota border near Leola to a fourth-generation ranch with around 1,000 head of cattle. Turning off the gravel road, I pass under a 16-foot tall wooden archway with a large sign 'Erdmann Ranch' hanging from the top. A red tractor-trailer is backed up to the cattle corral. A handful of Erdmann family members are loading up their Black Angus heifers — each weighing around 1,100 pounds. These are year-old cows that have yet to get pregnant. 'Hupt! Here we go girls,' commands the matriarch, Anne Jo Erdmann. Anne pronounced Annie, or just call her AJ. 'One of my boys gives me crap. He goes, 'Mom, you're a 56-year-old grandma. You don't need to use initials anymore.'' But AJ is easier than people repeatedly misspelling Anne Jo. 'It pisses me off.' She's easy to spot with her purple snow pants and hot pink hoodie poking through her winter coat. She's joined by her son, husband, his brother, nephew and his wife. They use various commands to get the heifers to move. 'Haaww!' 'Let's go ladies.' There's a lot of whistling and counting. They need to fit 58 on this load. The heifers stomp and moo in protest. The Erdmanns use a cattle prod and paddle to get them moving as they funnel through, single file, up the ramp and into the back of the two-story trailer. In the corral, Anne Jo endearingly calls out 'Hey, Lovey.' Does she call all heifers by that name? No – Lovey, or No. 463, is special. She looks the same as the others with her jet-black hide. But Lovey's calm demeanor makes her stand out as they are loaded onto the tractor-trailer. Lovey came from a very planned pregnancy, an investment aided by technology that started before she was even a twinkle in a bull's eye. The other AI Whether Lovey's life will be a success has been tested for generations by trial and error. 'We're kind of rigorous. We're kind of picky,' says Anne Jo. The Erdmanns prefer cows with structurally correct feet and legs, features that indicate a long lifespan. Angus can live up to 10-15 years. They want cows with nice round udders and good teeth and temperament, indicators of being a nurturing mama. All those features are held by another cow, Queen of Wetonka, named after the tiny town of 16, south of Leola. When a cow has a name, she's a prize, a nice pet deserving of special treatment. Queen of Wetonka has been with the Erdmanns for years and already had birthed three calves by 2023 when they were ready to breed her again. They will use the other AI — artificial insemination. But first they have to choose a bull. The bull: By the numbers It's a family research effort. Anne Jo, her husband, Dan, their son, Royce, and his Uncle Joe all flip through glossy magazines with high-quality profile photos of bulls, complete with bios and stats. Like a dating profile but with more accurate information. They search online profiles and talk to other ranchers about their favorite bulls. Anne Jo is also a sperm dealer. She sells and delivers straws of bull semen to customers. She got an alert about a young bull out of Montana named Spectrum. 'We liked his numbers. We liked his pedigree,' Anne Jo says. One look at his profile page and you can see why. His photo, taken by a professional photographer, shows a side profile of pure black Spectrum standing in fresh hay. This literal stud was born on Valentine's Day in 2020. His bio speaks for itself: 'He is the perfect combination of Cow Sense & Science and will raise the bar for nearly every measurable trait.' Below Spectrum's auspicious birthday is his scrotal circumference: 40 cm, or about 16 inches. The science behind the size shows positive correlation with his daughters maturing early and allowing them to become pregnant sooner. And typically, the bigger the size, the greater the sperm count, which increases the likelihood of pregnancy. But there is such a thing as too big. It's a sign of an injury or a growth, both red flags for fertility. If you click on Spectrum's extended online profile, more than 100 different numbers pop up. The stats show everything from his offsprings' average birth weight to how his daughters perform as first-time moms to the marbling score of his offsprings' beef. It also shows the accuracy of those stats: The more offspring, the greater likelihood a future calf will follow Spectrum results. He's fathered more than a thousand. While those stats configure into Erdmann's decision, what matters most is temperament. 'We don't want anything that's got any kind of a wonky, snarky temperament,' says Anne Jo. And there's a stat for that. Spectrum's docile score shows his offspring are more calm compared to others. Diversify to increase success But numbers aren't everything. Both Anne Jo and Steve Easton tell me some producers have been known to fudge their stats, hiking up the value of their bulls. 'That's why we don't hop in, hog wild, and breed all of our heifers to just one brand new bull. We've seen the next 'Wonder Bull' umpteen times,' Anne Jo says. The Erdmanns diversify, choosing multiple bulls' semen. Beyond the numbers, they also do their own social networking: asking around and finding out how offspring behaved for other ranchers. Spectrum fit the bull bill, so the Erdmanns purchased several straws of his semen and inseminated around 20 cows, including Queen of Wetonka in 2023. To check for a viable pregnancy, they hire a traveling veterinarian from Missouri. With a portable ultrasound machine, he takes just seconds to check if a cow is expecting. The ultrasound image projects on special eye glasses he wears, saving time and effort lugging around a screen. Spectrum's semen took and the Queen is indeed pregnant and will be for nine months. When Queen is close to giving birth, she's moved into one of the barns with cameras to watch over her labor. Cameras were a game-changer This technology was a turning point on the Erdmann ranch. Royce, representing the fourth and youngest generation, tried for years to persuade his dad to add cameras to the farming operation. 'Nope. We don't need it,' Royce remembers Dan's repeated reply. Royce, a board member on the South Dakota Angus Association, heard from other ranchers loving their cameras, wishing they'd installed them sooner. So Royce called the company himself and ordered a camera system at his own expense. 'They installed it. And he said it was stupid,' Royce says. It didn't take long for his dad to jump on board. The cameras mean freedom. Now they can run into town and still check the status of calving on their smartphones, which they can also do from the comfort of bed. It also allows pregnant cows to labor in peace, without disruption. The technology also saves lives, Steve Easton attests. The eight cameras, which cost him around $2,500, enables him to quickly spot a calf in trouble, such as having its cord wrapped around the neck, being born in the gestational sac or rejected by its mama. 'So if you save one calf, it pays for itself in a year,' Steve says. But there's something worth even more than money. 'Our time is so valuable, and I don't think many of us put a dollar value to our time or even to our health, to tell you the truth,' says Robin Salverson, a cow/calf field specialist with South Dakota State University Extension. No. 463 Queen of Wetonka, a veteran mama, had an uneventful labor and gave birth to a healthy female calf, No. 463, on March 6, 2024. Anne Jo rattles off the calf's numbers like it's her own Social Security number. A true heir of her parents, this calf appears to be calm. In every herd, the Erdmanns take two heifers with nice temperaments they can easily break. The nice ones tend to lead the herd and make it easier to corral them. The chosen ones are brought to fairs to be shown. Calf No. 463 shows promise. 'She's just so appreciative of being scratched and brushed and washed and loved. And so we just named her Lovey,' Anne Jo says. Lovey's a pet, a sweetheart, who loves to lick. 'She licks your jeans. She'll lick your arm.' And she shows well, placing second in her class, reserve calf champ at the South Dakota State Fair in Huron. But any rancher's goal is to turn a heifer into a cow that successfully carries a healthy calf. And once they reach a year old, heifers are ready to be bred. Helping nature along The weather is starting to turn on the Erdmann ranch, the April winds picking up and it's starting to spit. The Erdmanns are on their last load and have a herd in the cattle corral. Lovey's easy for Anne Jo to spot. While they all look alike, completely black, Anne Jo knows her prized pet. Lovey's the one with kind, hazel eyes that wiggles her way up to the front of the herd. With Lovey and the other heifers loaded, the tractor-trailer heads 25 miles south to her mother's namesake, Wetonka, the south ranch. There Lovey shares 80 acres of pasture with 39 other heifers. By mid-May, Lovey and the other heifers in the herd are ovulating. On a Friday, the Erdmanns remove their intrauterine device, or IUD, birth control and give each one a hormone shot to get their cycles in sync. Just days later, on a rainy and cold Monday, the Erdmann family gathers to insert straws of semen into the heifers one by one. Anne Jo also discovers her purple snow pants aren't waterproof. 'I got wet all the way down to the skin. Man, we were so cold on Monday.' Lovey is inseminated with a new bull Erdmanns want to test out. A young guy named Grindstone from North Platte, Nebraska. Three weeks later, they'll release the cleanup bulls into the pasture to impregnate any heifer whose AI didn't take. When the veterinarian does ultrasounds in August, he can usually spot the typical 2-pound difference between an AI calf and a cleanup calf conceived three weeks later, which helps identify the father. Cows must carry their weight If Lovey's pregnant and all goes well, with her easy temperament and natural maternal instincts, she can reasonably stay on the Erdmann ranch for years as a breeder. 'So hopefully, she's able to level up and accept the challenge that we set in front of her,' Anne Jo says. They are picky. You have to be when your livelihood is on the line. If Lovey isn't pregnant, 'she goes to town,' sold for slaughter. They've done it before. There was Barbara. 'Barbara was the nicest heifer. Just loved her,' Anne Jo says. You can hear a little sadness in her voice. But ranching is a business. 'And that's where tough love comes into play,' she says. 'Why would you keep a heifer that's not paying her way? Do you want those kind of genetics kept in your herd?' Lovey alive is more valuable to the Erdmanns. She helps lead the herd and could possibly produce several calm offspring like herself. But if this pregnancy doesn't take, prices are high for beef this year and are expected to continue to climb in 2026. But just like any market, there's uncertainty. 'We don't have crystal balls. We pray a lot,' Anne Jo says. And that's something technology just can't do. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Poll: South Dakota Republicans support Trump but policies mixed
This story is reported by , a non-profit news organization. Find more in-depth reporting at . SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (SDNW) — Nearly three-quarters of Republican voters in South Dakota approve of President Donald Trump's leadership in the first 100 days of his second White House stint, but there are pockets of discontent with some of his policies, according to a poll co-sponsored by South Dakota News Watch. The survey of 500 registered GOP voters showed that 73% approve of Trump's presidential leadership so far in 2025, while 25% disapprove. The statewide survey was also co-sponsored by the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota. When asked if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Trump, a question about general political popularity, 68% of Republican voters said favorable, a rating higher than any South Dakota politician. What goes into getting an honorary degree in SD? 'He said what he wanted to get done and he's setting out to do it,' said Lee McInroy, 84, of Dell Rapids, a Trump supporter who attended Republican Jon Hansen's campaign kickoff event for governor on April 24 in Sioux Falls. 'People voted for Trump to get in the White House and do these things (immigration crackdown and tariffs), and now he's doing them and the other party is going after him for it.' Trump's popularity is strongest in South Dakota's rural areas, matching a national trend. Of the state's two highest population centers, Republican voters in the Sioux Falls metro area responded with 64% approval, while West River (Rapid City) was at 62%, both below the national average for Trump's favorability among Republicans. Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy conducted the poll April 9-11, using random selections from a telephone-matched state voter registration list that included both landline and cellphone numbers. The poll also included a survey of South Dakota registered voters regardless of party, with a breakdown of 255 Republicans, 126 Independents and 119 Democrats. Those voters showed mixed support for Trump administration policies, including fewer than half (49%) who approve of the efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut federal spending under the direction of billionaire Elon Musk. The poll showed that 48% of overall South Dakota voters disapprove of the efforts, which have led to cuts in programs involving the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, tribal initiatives, nonprofit organizations and other agencies. There's a stark party breakdown, with 70% of Republican voters supporting the DOGE spending cuts, as opposed to 45% of registered Independents and 7% of Democrats. The poll showed that men (54%) are more supportive than women (44%), which Michael Card, emeritus professor of political science at the University of South Dakota, said could be attributable to DOGE's potential impact on schools and public health. Musk said recently that he'll be spending less time in Washington slashing government costs and more time running Tesla after his electric vehicle company reported a big drop in profits. Trump carried South Dakota with 63% of the vote in the 2024 election, consistent with his 62% showings in 2016 and 2020. But one of the president's signature policies, tariffs, is less popular in a state whose reliance on agricultural trade makes it more susceptible to the risks of trade wars with China, Canada and Mexico. The News Watch poll showed that 50% of South Dakota voters support Trump's tariff policies, compared to 47% who disapprove. The party breakdown of support was 73% Republican, 45% Independent and 6% Democrat. Trump has imposed hundreds of billions of dollars a year in new import taxes — some of them partially suspended — while launching a trade war against China and pledging to wrap up deals with other countries that are temporarily facing tariffs of 10%. Financial markets are swinging with every twist and turn from Trump's tariff pronouncements. 'There's a balance between wanting to negotiate strong trade agreements and asking those countries to come to the table to negotiate in good faith while they're being slapped with tariffs,' DaNita Murray, executive director of South Dakota Corn, told News Watch. Card said much of the unease in South Dakota likely stems from Trump's first term, when China retaliated with a 25% tariff that greatly reduced farm exports to that country. 'If you're in corn, soybeans and hogs, it's very clear because you have a memory from less than a decade ago of what happened to your market,' said Card. 'And even though it's a subsidized industry, those protections are going to be gone unless they get bailed out again, and it's not clear that's going to happen this time around.' When it comes to confidence in elections, Trump's victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in 2024 appears to have changed some perspectives. The News Watch poll showed that 82% of South Dakota voters were confident in the accuracy of the 2024 election vote count, including 55% who said they were very confident. Of Republicans polled, 59% said they were very confident, compared to 56% of Independents and 46% of Democrats. It's a sharp contrast from a November 2023 poll co-sponsored by News Watch and the Chiesman Center, which showed 56% of South Dakotans confident in the accuracy of American elections, including 20% who said they were very confident. Just 7% of Republicans in that poll said they were very confident, and nearly half (49%) said they did not accept the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, when Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. 'There's plenty of recent experience to show that the losing party is sort of inoculated to believe that the elections aren't fair, and vice versa,' said Card. As for general outlook of the country, 68% of overall poll respondents said they were optimistic in the future of the United States, including 22% who were very optimistic. Nearly 9 in 10 Republicans (89%) said they were optimistic, compared to 60% of Independents and 33% of Democrats. Madison rally planners to emphasize due process Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Reversal of US energy agenda sparks friction between states
This story is reported by , a non-profit news organization. Find more in-depth reporting at . SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (SDNW) — Changes to climate policy under President Donald Trump's administration have sharpened Upper Midwest debates about the reliability of renewable energy and the separation of state and federal interests. One point of agreement is that winning the White House means controlling the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a federal regulatory body that maintains and enforces environmental laws. Mega Millions changes start this week Lee Zeldin, Trump's pick to run the EPA, has announced plans to dramatically reduce staff and reverse policies from the Joe Biden administration involving the oversight of coal-fired power plants, oil and gas development and water quality standards. The deregulation is of keen interest to energy officials in Republican-led South Dakota and heavily Democratic Minnesota, where differences in climate policy have sparked border clashes over how pushing clean energy to reduce carbon emissions impacts the electrical grid. The Minnesota Legislature passed a law in 2023 requiring all electric utilities in the state to produce only carbon-free energy by 2040 using sources like solar, wind, hydroelectric and nuclear power. That law was an offshoot of Biden administration EPA rules requiring coal plants operating beyond 2039 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2032, which critics saw as shutting down the industry. Zeldin's agency has rolled back those rules, inspired by Trump's March 17 declaration on social media that he is 'authorizing my Administration to immediately begin producing Energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL.' Chris Nelson, a Republican member of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, said reversing coal plant regulations is good news for South Dakota and other states focused on the sustainability of the electricity grid and avoiding blackouts. 'The math didn't add up with those greenhouse gas limitation rules,' Nelson told News Watch. 'They simply could not replace all of those plants quickly enough (with other energy sources) to maintain reliability of the grid. So the Trump administration rolling back those particularly damaging rules was very helpful.' Not everyone shares that opinion. The EPA's actions face court challenges as clean-energy groups navigate federal and state environmental laws in a changing legal landscape. The U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down the landmark 1984 Chevron 'deference' doctrine, which required courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes. Those interpretations are now up to the courts to decide. Democratic-leaning states are forging ahead with climate-based policies regardless of EPA rollbacks, using utility regulation as a tool to keep energy companies in line. Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, whose 3.7 million electrical customers include about 100,000 South Dakotans, is sticking with a plan to retire its coal-fired power plants by 2030 as part of an integrated resource plan approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in February in accordance with state law. The plan includes replacing coal with 'wind, solar and storage solutions' while also building a new natural gas plant in 2028 as a way to address capacity needs. Natural gas, which replaced coal as the nation's largest energy source in 2016, emits about half as much carbon dioxide as coal, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Xcel announcement came despite criticism from the South Dakota PUC, which questioned the company's ability to pivot from fossil fuels at that pace without compromising reliability and affordability for customers. South Dakota ranks ninth among U.S. states in energy consumption per capita, with 34% of households using electricity to heat their homes during frequently harsh winters. Nearly half (48%) use natural gas, with propane at 14%. The PUC's concerns were laid out in a 2024 letter to Xcel signed by Republican commissioners Nelson, Gary Hanson and Kristie Fiegen. 'Evidence is mounting that the premature closures … will elevate the risk of electricity outages particularly in tight load hours, including hours of extreme cold and extreme heat, as well as those hours when wind generation is low,' the letter stated. 'These events are likely to pose a threat to life and property.' South Dakota is part of the Southwest Power Poll, a nonprofit organization that manages electric transmission for parts of 14 states, and also the 15-state Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). That dual membership helps ensure energy distribution whether a customer uses Xcel, MidAmerican Energy, Black Hills Energy, NorthWestern Energy, Otter Tail or another utility company. Cooperation among these and other regional transmission organizations was critical during a major winter storm in January 2024, which brought brutally cold air and blizzard conditions to much of the Midwest. 'During that storm we got 7,000 megawatts of electricity from the East to help us keep the lights on,' Fiegen told News Watch in 2024. Xcel's decision to close coal plants despite South Dakota PUC warnings shows the challenge of trying to influence policy involving companies under the sway of different state laws and consumer interests. 'One of the difficulties we have is that South Dakota represents 5% to 6% of Xcel's entire system,' said Nelson. 'We are literally the tail trying to wag the dog on some of these decisions.' Some utility companies are advocating a more measured pace on clean energy. Minnesota's PUC clashed with Otter Tail Power over its decision to amend its long-range plan to push back closures of coal plants – including Big Stone near Milbank, in northeast South Dakota – until at least 2040. The Minnesota PUC approved Otter Tail's resource plan last summer after concessions that included the company no longer using its North Dakota-based Coyote Station plant for Minnesota customers beyond 2031. Otter Tail's most recent modeling projects a retirement date of 2046 for South Dakota-based Big Stone, which started operation in 1975 and burns coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin. The plant received a $384 million air quality control system upgrade in 2015 following complaints from environmental groups that its lack of pollution controls violated the Clean Air Act. 'We don't have any concerns about the Big Stone plant,' said Nelson. 'They put pollution control equipment in that plant with the anticipation that they would be able to run it for a whole lot of years yet, and that is certainly our anticipation.' Despite leaning on fossil fuels to keep the lights on in extreme conditions, South Dakota has harnessed the state's wind power as an alternative energy source. In 2023, South Dakota's wind energy production accounted for more than half (55%) of the state's in-state net power generation, a larger share than in all other states except Iowa, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The state's other primary power sources include hydroelectric (21%), natural gas (14%) and coal (9%). Solar was less than 1% of the power generated (0.3%). Increased wind energy production nationally runs counter to the direction of the EPA and Trump, who has criticized the efficiency of turbines and told supporters that 'we're not going to do the wind thing' at a rally shortly after taking office. So far, the administration's actions are aimed at offshore wind development, which rely on access to federal waters. It's not clear how the EPA's actions will impact South Dakota's 24 active wind farms, which provide tax revenue and job creation for local communities. In fiscal year 2022, 21 school districts received a total of $4.5 million in tax revenue from wind farms in South Dakota, led by Deubrook ($662,527), Deuel ($591,319), Waverly ($467,034) and Highmore-Harrold ($421,590). 'The actions that we've seen the administration take thus far as it relates to wind have been exclusively related to offshore wind projects,' said Nelson. 'We've not seen any indication that there's going to be any activity for turbines that might be located in South Dakota.' One uncertainty is whether the Department of Energy's recent cost-cutting efforts and cancellation of clean energy grants could impact federal tax credits and other incentives meant to spur installation of renewable energy projects such as wind farms. 'At this point, I think that's probably an unanswerable question,' Nelson said. Another reversal in federal climate policy involves the extent to which the government regulates lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act, signed into law in 1972. The Trump administration, emboldened by a friendly 2023 Supreme Court ruling, is working under the philosophy that federal regulations have protected too many wetlands and improperly limited private property rights. With South Dakota's traditionally lax approach to state regulations, the lack of federal oversight has some environmental groups concerned that water quality in the Big Sioux River, for example, could go from bad to worse. Testing has shown high levels of E. coli bacteria in the tributary that weaves through eastern South Dakota, mostly from upstream agricultural operations, livestock manure and stormwater runoff. The Big Sioux's watershed encompasses about 7,280 square miles in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. Also heavily scrutinized is Sioux Falls-based Smithfield Foods, a pork processing plant that ranked seventh nationally among non-poultry animal slaughtering facilities in 2022 for the amount of nitrate compounds released into the Big Sioux. Smithfield went operational with a new $45 million wastewater treatment facility in May 2023, reducing the amount of nitrate released. But that action was attributed partly to pressure from federal regulators. 'If there's an environmental pollutant that isn't managed by the feds, South Dakota could set its own standard, but that's highly unlikely,' said Jay Gilbertson, manager for the East Dakota Water Development District, which promotes conservation and proper management of water resources. 'Basically, we do what we have to do in South Dakota from a regulatory standpoint. So if the people who decide what we have to do are saying we should do less, it's going to make life more difficult.' Some of the strategy to reduce pollutants involves incentives, such as payments to landowners to build buffer strips along the river. But those programs could be in jeopardy if federal grants and staffing are reduced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies, putting more responsibility on private organizations to urge protections. States such as neighboring Minnesota are taking notice, mindful of the axiom that pollution knows no borders. 'We're at the mercy of the political will of neighbors to stop burning coal or emitting other harmful pollutants that travel into our state,' Leigh Currie of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy told Minnesota Public Radio. 'We might not have, going forward, the help from the federal government that we've had in the past.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
South Dakota schools hit hard by infectious diseases
This story is reported by , a non-profit news organization. Find more in-depth reporting at . SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (SDNW) — In what is likely to be a record year for influenza cases and hospitalizations in South Dakota, schools have been hit particularly hard by illnesses this winter. When several students fell ill and then a few teachers also became sick in late January, Menno schools superintendent Kory Foss made the decision to shut down the district for a day. During one peak period for flu cases statewide, Foss thought closing schools on a Friday would give the sick students and staff a long weekend to recover. 'We cleared out the buildings to give everybody a chance to go home and get healthy,' said Foss, whose district of 45 employees and about 260 students is located in Hutchinson County, about 30 miles north of Yankton. 'Our whole area around that time, there was a number of schools that were hit hard.' Data from the state Department of Health confirm that the winter of 2024-25 has seen a higher-than-usual number of infectious diseases cases around the state. At the two-third mark of the annual nine-month flu season, South Dakota in 2024-25 has seen 19,600 cases, 1,079 hospitalizations and 28 deaths from influenza. The state is on pace to set a record for cases and is already at a historic high in hospitalizations from influenza. South Dakota state epidemiologist Joshua Clayton told News Watch in an interview that the state has seen a somewhat unusual mix of illnesses this year, including COVID-19, influenza, norovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and pertussis, or whooping cough. 'I won't say that it's kind of a perfect storm, but I just know there is a lot of respiratory disease happening in South Dakota right now,' he said. Schools are often an ideal breeding ground for contagious diseases because hundreds of adults and children congregate together for long periods of time, especially when cold weather prevents them from going outside. The cold snaps in January and February were also marked by extremely dry air, which allows viruses to remain in the air longer and possibly spread more easily, Clayton said. SDSU runs past North Dakota into Summit title game As of Feb. 11, the state had tallied 2,450 cases of COVID and 56 cases of pertussis, which is more dangerous in children. The state does not report numbers of cases of RSV or norovirus on the DOH website. The measles virus has caused infections in nine states this year, led by Texas where one child has died. South Dakota has not had a measles case in 2025, Clayton said. 'It appears COVID cases peaked in early January, but I can't say that we've peaked yet for influenza because we're at a very high level right now,' he said. 'And then on top of that you have pertussis and a lot of other respiratory viral infections.' The state population might be less prepared to fight viruses than in the past as flu vaccinations have fallen in recent years. In the flu season of 2021-22, about 283,000 doses of influenza vaccine were administered compared to 233,000 this season, an 18% decline during a time the state population rose by 3.2%. Vaccination rates are typically highest among older residents and lowest among those ages 6 months to 4 years, an age range where vaccine rates have slowed the most in the past few years. The high rates of infectious diseases in South Dakota come at the same time as the appointment of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who has expressed anti-vaccination views in the past. Clayton said the good news for South Dakotans is that the same tactics they can use to battle the flu also work to combat other infectious diseases. Clayton recommended that people obtain available vaccinations, stay home if they are ill, cough or sneeze into an elbow or shirt sleeve, wash hands frequently and keep hands away from the nose and mouth. 'The one positive piece here is that a lot of the same actions can help prevent illness for a lot of those different pathogens,' he said. Lance Witte, superintendent of the Lower Brule schools, said the district on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation in central South Dakota had so many student illnesses that a scheduled basketball game had to be cancelled. 'On one of our teams, we had too many kids that were out sick, and our numbers weren't going to be enough to play the game,' he said. While Lower Brule schools have seen a variety of infectious disease cases this year, the primary cause of illness has been the influenza A virus, Witte said. So far, none of the cases has been severe, he said. 'It's kind of like cold symptoms, so the kids stay home or go to the clinic for treatment,' he said. The district did extra cleaning during the high point of flu season and has since seen student illnesses subside since the winter cold snap in mid-February eased, Witte said. The Chamberlain School District saw an uptick in student absences due to illness in January but has seen sicknesses taper off since then, said superintendent Justin Zajic. The district saw several cases of influenza and the typical winter colds but had not reported a case of COVID-19 or whooping cough as of late February, he said. 'It caught our attention,' Zajic said. 'But there's a lot of little things we can do to stay ahead of it.' That includes more frequent cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces in classrooms, gymnasiums and in activity rooms where students congregate, he said. The district can also adjust the air intake on its heating system to introduce more outside air into classrooms to keep the air fresh and clean, he said. Zajic said that many teachers and other staff members have children of their own, so when the flu or other diseases hit, it can force some employees to stay home to care for their own children. When a child is out sick for a short or extended time frame, the district has systems in place to ensure learning continues. Nearly every middle or high school student in the district, he said, has a laptop they can use to review lessons at home. Students can also be tutored in study halls or after school so they don't fall behind, he said. Elementary children who miss class time meet with a specialist to determine if they fell behind and determine how they can quickly catch up, he said. 'We don't ever want to leave a child behind, and we're willing to put in the extra work to help them,' Zajic said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
International educators help alleviate South Dakota teacher shortage
This story is reported by , a non-profit news organization. Find more in-depth reporting at . STEPHAN, S.D. (SDNW) – 'Three, two, one. OK, in your seats.' Just as she did as a teacher in her native Philippines, Madgelie Camba uses a countdown method to gain the attention of the gaggle of second-graders she now teaches at the Crow Creek Tribal School in central South Dakota. Her diminutive stature and slight Filipino accent create no barriers to effectively managing and teaching the students, who on a recent day were in their seats with pencils ready by the time Camba's countdown reached its end. 'I have to be strict with my kids, very consistent, so they get used to a routine,' said Camba, who has 24 years of teaching experience. 'After that, they will be more motivated to learn.' Camba is part of a growing trend in which South Dakota school districts are increasingly hiring international teachers on visa programs to fill open classroom positions. In all, 446 international teachers hold active certificates to teach in South Dakota schools, said Mary Stadick Smith, deputy secretary for the South Dakota Department of Education. The number of certificates issued to international teachers peaked in the 2023-24 school year, when 138 new certificates were issued, she said. About 50 public school districts, roughly 25% of the state total, had foreign teachers on staff in 2024, the DOE said. The top three countries of origin are the Philippines, Columbia and Spain. The DOE said the foreign instructors teach a variety of subjects and grade levels, and all must have valid visas and state certification as required by law. South Dakota, like nearly every other U.S. state, struggles with a shortage of teachers, making international educators a hot prospect for desperate administrators. As of January, the Associated School Boards of South Dakota had 366 openings listed on its statewide education job board, though that included some non-teaching positions. In early February, the Sioux Falls School District listed 37 teacher openings, and the Rapid City Area Schools had 45 openings. An aging workforce and high level of retirements, low pay compared to other states and increased political tension in the classroom are creating the teacher shortage, according to prior reporting by News Watch. Across the country in 2022, there were 36,000 teacher vacancies and about 163,000 educators teaching classes they were not certified or trained in, according to the Annenberg EdExchange at Brown University. South Dakota Education Secretary Joseph Graves said in an email to News Watch that the state supports the use of international teachers. 'This has proved to be an effective strategy in remote areas of the state where schools have an especially difficult time finding qualified teachers,' Graves wrote. 'While DOE is not involved in local hiring decisions, we are supportive of districts' efforts to use qualified international teachers as one strategy for addressing teacher shortages.' Schools adapt to teacher vacancies in several ways, including doubling class sizes, obtaining a state waiver to employ a long-term substitute or using computers to access virtual teaching. But for Rob Coverdale, superintendent of Crow Creek Tribal School district in Stephan, those options were unacceptable because student learning could be negatively affected. Instead, Coverdale has led an effort to recruit more international teachers to the district, which now employs 22 teachers from the Philippines, making up roughly half its certified teaching staff. 'It's hard to get teachers anywhere, but out here in Stephan, it's even harder,' he said of the tiny community that is about an hour drive from Pierre or Chamberlain. 'So having 100% certified teachers on staff, it's a nice place to be.' Hiring international teachers is time-consuming and expensive, costing about $5,000 to $8,000 per employee, Coverdale said. The costs, sometimes paid to companies that arrange for teacher hirings, go for documentation to clear customs, obtain a visa, complete a background check and earn state certification. Teachers come to Crow Creek either on a J-1 non-immigrant visa, which is aimed at cultural exchanges, or an H-1B non-immigrant visa that is for individuals working in specialized, high-need fields of employment. J-1 visas are easier to obtain but last only two to five years, while H-1B visas can last up to six years, Coverdale said. The teachers who come to South Dakota and other U.S. states tend to have several years of classroom experience and advanced college degrees, Coverdale said. So far, Coverdale said he has been highly impressed with their prowess in teaching and ability to connect with students. 'It's quite a process, but the end result is you get great, experienced teachers,' he said. 'From top to bottom, I've been very pleased with their attitudes and the results.' Coverdale said all of his international teachers are bilingual and speak very strong English, and they bring a refreshing dose of multiculturalism to the schools, the students and their parents and the local community. The international teachers live in on-campus housing and some have brought their children to learn in local schools and a few brought spouses, including some who also work as teachers or in other positions within the school district. The Filipino teachers have created a collegial atmosphere on the campus, helping each other and often traveling together to Pierre to go shopping or to Huron, where they are able to find Asian foods. Coverdale said the international teachers are paid on the same scale as other district teachers, with a starting annual salary of $47,000 that rises with experience and education level. 'It's an awesome professional and financial opportunity for them,' he said. 'Their earning power, especially when it comes to the money value back home, it's substantial.' Camba, 45, lives in a rental home on the Crow Creek school campus with her husband, who also teaches at the school, and their teenage daughter, who attends high school in nearby Highmore. Earning two salaries in the U.S. has allowed the couple to build a home and buy a farm in the Philippines, and to help support her parents and nine siblings back home. Camba said the children she teaches at Crow Creek are similar to students she taught in the Philippines and in Bahrain, though she sees less parental involvement among some American parents, especially those who struggle financially, she said. Camba said she enjoys the quiet, safe and isolated nature of living in Stephan on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, though after a couple years, she has soured on the cold weather. 'At first, I was excited by snow and the winters, but now I'm tired of it,' she said. However, between her love for her students and the welcoming nature of the Crow Creek school and local community, Camba said she has become more comfortable in her surroundings. 'I'm starting to feel that South Dakota is my home,' she said. Ronneil Vergara is a native of the Philippines who has taught in several foreign countries, including at Crow Creek Tribal School, where he arrived last fall. Vergara teaches special education – one of the high-need fields in South Dakota schools – and works to improve reading, language and math skills for students with physical or learning disabilities. He has a master's degree and two doctoral degrees in education and curriculum. The transition to teaching in the U.S. is fairly easy for many Philippine teachers because the schools there are based on the principles of the American education system and English is the primary language. Vergara said his salary in the U.S., which is three or four times what he would earn as a teacher in the Philippines, allows him to send money back home, in particular to care for his brother who suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident. 'My job here sustains him,' he said. Vergara, 37, is on an H-1B work visa, which is for three years but allows for another three years if renewed. Vergara is also not a big fan of winter weather and can get depressed. But he has found enjoyment in getting his driver's license, buying a used Ford Explorer and traveling around the state and greater Midwest. So far, he has been pleased by his decision to teach in South Dakota and feels it has helped him grow as a person and as an educator. 'Some of the parents of my students here have treated me like I was part of their family,' Vergara said. 'I have been warmly welcomed, and it has been a pleasure to be of service here in the school. And I hope they are enjoying our presence here.' The Sioux Falls School District employs a few international teachers but only in its Spanish language immersion program, said district spokeswoman DeeAnn Konrad. 'In our schools, it is for a specific skill set that they're coming here with and that's to speak and teach in their native language of Spanish,' Konrad said. George Shipley, superintendent of the Bison School District in remote northwestern South Dakota, first learned of the concept of recruiting foreign teachers when he was an administrator for the McLaughlin School District. When he took the job in Bison, the district already employed teachers from the Philippines, and Shipley has gladly continued the effort. 'These are highly qualified teachers, and on average, we're getting teachers from the Philippines with 10 years of experience and advanced degrees,' Shipley said. 'They are awesome teachers who usually breeze through the certification process of the South Dakota Department of Education.' The Bison schools have integrated some of the Filipino culture into its schools as a way to educate students and staff and broaden cultural awareness in the community, Shipley said. The school cook has implemented some Filipino dishes into the student menu along with other non-traditional student meals. When a student tries a new dish, they get a sticker to wear home so their parents know they experienced something new, Shipley said. 'It's a bigger tapestry at our school that allows us to explore new ideas, and these (international) teachers are part of that,' he said. While he continues to support the district's foreign teachers and promotes their value inside and outside the school system, Shipley said the biggest incentive to bring them to Bison is to alleviate the ongoing teacher shortage. 'The bottom line is this: 'Do you want a teacher in the classroom or do you want your kids to learn virtually through a video screen?'' he said. The Bison schools contract with a firm called Teach Quest, which works with schools across the country by handling the teacher recruitment and immigration paperwork. Shipley said the Bison community has embraced the foreign teachers, with one resident making available a three-bedroom home that is rented by a small group of teachers who live together. During summers, some Filipino teachers have toured Yellowstone National Park or visited relatives in New Jersey or other states, Shipley said. A couple of Filipino teachers have obtained a driver's license and a car, which they can sell to new Filipino teachers who come to Bison to teach, he said. Shipley said he has great respect and a deep appreciation for the guts it takes for Filipino teachers to come to Bison. 'I'm very honored and appreciative of what these folks are doing because it's a huge culture shock for them,' he said. 'You leave a tropical island, you've never seen snow in your life, and now you live in northern South Dakota in December? My goodness.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
