South Dakota Farming Through the Lens of Corey Gross
Having open conversations about food and farming with South Dakotans and the farmers who grow it is what we do. In fact, that’s what Hungry for Truth is all about. We had an exciting opportunity to connect local photographer, Corey Gross, with Kevin Deinert, a fourth-generation farmer from Mount Vernon, S.D., to chat about cattle farming, the meaningful work farmers do, and much more. Below, Corey shares his learnings from his farm visit.
Recently I was lucky enough to spend a day on the Deinert family-owned and operated cattle farm in Mount Vernon, South Dakota through the Hungry for Truth Ambassador Program. Kevin Deinert, my host, allowed me to experience what a day in the life was like working on a family-owned farm here in South Dakota.
Kevin is a 4th generation farmer. His great-grandfather was living in Seward, Nebraska, and had visited South Dakota when he decided to settle on the land, and Kevin’s family has been farming it ever since.
Along with his father and brother, Kevin farms corn, soybeans, and alfalfa and manages around 1,000 head cattle lot on their 3,000 acres of farm land.
It was really interesting to learn that they create their own cattle feed, consisting of grains and wheat and high quality alfalfa.
After walking around the farmstead and learning more about their land, Kevin and I jumped in the tractor and drove out to the field to feed some of his cattle. While driving to the cattle we talked about some of the instruments in the tractor and all their functionalities. One of the instruments was a GPS manufactured by a local company in Sioux Falls, where one of his brothers is an engineer at. While Kevin and his brother are working in two completely different industries, it was cool to hear about their ties and how they still work together.
Once we arrived at the field with the cattle, Kevin let me hop in the driver seat and drive the tractor while feeding the cattle. This was such a cool first time experience for me and unlike anything I’ve ever done before. Kevin mentioned how just this one field of cattle (of his many) uses around 5,500 pounds of feed twice a day. It’s truly incredible to see the amount of preparation and care that goes into caring for these animals.
Our last (and favorite) stop of the day was to go check on some baby calves. While we were there, there were three baby calves, all of which Kevin mentioned were born within the last day or two. For the calves’ health and safety, they are isolated them from the main herd in a separate barn so they can relax, sleep, and of course feed with their mothers. Kevin explained that baby calves typically stand up within the first 30 minutes and feed in the first 1-6 hours of birth. He also shared that it is extremely important for the calves to nurse right away in order to absorb the correct proteins essential to development.
Kevin was beyond gracious for allowing me to join him during his day’s work, and I had such a good time touring the farm and learning about the hard work farmers put in every day. This experience further solidified to me that family owned farms like The Deinerts are truly one of the pillars of our great state of South Dakota.
