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South Dakota cattle producer says snow has been a welcome sight this winter

A South Dakota cattleman has renewed optimism for 2023. 

Todd Wilkinson, a commercial cow-calf operator in De Smet, South Dakota says the snowfall this winter is bringing much-needed precipitation. “There’s going to be some runoff coming from this snow,” he says.  “And hopefully it is going to fill in some dugouts and get some sloughs back with some water in them. We desperately need that.”

He tells Brownfield the snowfall has impacted their operation – in a good way.  “We’re looking at maybe picking up a few more heifers as a result of it,” he says.  “We just wondered what our stocking density would be and we were a little concerned with that. There appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  And, you know, that the whole market dynamic looks good for the cow-calf producer going forward.”

Wilkinson says if the precipitation continues into the spring, it may move up his plans for expansion to capture some of the uptick in the cattle markets.

Wilkinson also serves as president-elect of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.