SD Agricultural Heritage Museum Blog

Interseeding is a practice used on pastures or idle fields that yields a mixture of grasses and legumes that benefit livestock and wildlife.

• Throwback Thursday

Separating cows from calves is called weaning. Even though weaning is a stressful event, it helps the calf mature and gets them ready for a grain-based diet while allowing the cow to rest and regain energy for the new calf she may already be carrying.

• What's New Wednesday

Little International, or “Little I” is the largest student run agricultural exposition in the country. It provides the opportunity for 4-H, FFA and college students to compete in judging contests, showmanship events and fitting challenges. The Little International Exposition has been held every year since 1921.

• Throwback Thursday

Th Grange actively lobbied Congress and state legislatures to pass laws favorable to farmers, to put a cap on railroad freight rates and grain warehouse rates. Over the years they also lobbied for rural free delivery from the US Postal Service, endorsed temperance, direct election of Senators and women’s suffrage.

• What's New Wednesday

In 1948, the Machinery Exhibit was added to Little International. In this photograph from 1950, you can see an Oliver Cletrac HG with a front mount cultivator in the center of the photo and a John Deere MC Crawler behind it. In the background, a Massey Harris 26 Combine and other parts of equipment.

• Throwback Thursday

During the 1930s Depression, due to the drop in value of commodities and wages, farm families may have had food but often lacked the cash for fuel, repairs of machinery and household items. Using a horse and wagon for travel became popular again.

• What's New Wednesday

The young man has a sheep on a fitting stand and is holding shearing blades. There are sheep in the background. The photograph was taken in the Stock Judging Pavilion. Description from donor "One picture is from 1964 when I was freshman getting my ram lamb ready for competition when president of SDSU, Hilton Briggs stopped by. What a great opportunity for a photo shoot and I was happy to oblige."

• Throwback Thursday

This fancy rosette ribbon with gold fringe and trim an award at the 1987 64th Little International Agricultural and Home Economics Show for the Most Educational Booth. The rosette center has an image of the Little I barn and the date. It is unknown which booth won this impressive pink, purple and white ribbon. The ribbon measures 29 inches long and the rosette is 7 ½ inches in diameter.

• What's New Wednesday

When Little I began in 1921 it was strictly a livestock exhibition. It was patterned after the Chicago International Livestock Exhibition. The purpose of the South Dakota State College Little I was to offer students experience with fitting, training and showing livestock. In the following years more exhibits, booths and categories of competition were added, such as horticulture, fruit, meat, dairy and in 1949 the home economics.

• Throwback Thursday

Drought has plagued the Great Plains for centuries. The 1930s was the driest in recorded history. Plowed prairie dried up and blew into strong dust storms giving the term the Dirty Thirties.
Drought began in South Dakota in the 1920s and continued until 1941. Annual rainfall declined by 75%. It affected the Great Plains from Canada to Mexico. The Upper Great Plains had the worst drought conditions compared to the South. However, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas received more national attention.
In an effort to combat the soil erosion caused by the drought, wind and obsolete farming practices, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on April 27, 1935, signed the Soil Conservation Act. This bill established the Soil Conservation Service and provided the funds and expertise to begin restoring the land.
This diazo copy of the bill has the USDA Logo at the center bottom and the text is in Old German typeface. It reads:
" An Act of Congress, April 27, 1935. To provide for the protection of land erosion and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled that it is hereby recognized that the wastage of soil and moisture resources of farm grazing and forest lands of the Nation resulting from soil erosion a menace to the national welfare and that it is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress to provide permanently for the control and prevention of soil erosion and thereby to preserve natural resources, control floods, prevent impairment of reservoirs and maintain the navigability of rivers and harbors, protect public health, public land and relieve unemployment, and the Secretary of Agriculture, from now on, shall coordinate and direct all activities with relation to soil erosion and in order to effectuate this policy is hereby authorized from time to time..."
The exhibit Drowning in Dirt: Joseph Hutton and the Dust Bowl is opening at the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum on February 27, 2023. Come visit the Museum and learn more about Professor Hutton’s work, the 1930s Dust Bowl and its effects on South Dakota.
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• What's New Wednesday