South Dakota Farm & Ranch December 2022

Mikkel Pates / Agweek

Samantha “Sam” LaMont, 31, grew up on a farm and has always liked animals, but she trained as a dental hygienist. She now manages a wean-to-finish barn that holds up to 2,400 hogs that are contract-fed for Windy Oak Farms, of Iowa.

Augustana tech team wins top prize at 2022 Call for Code Global Challenge

Mitchell Republic

SIOUX FALLS — Four Augustana Univeristy students were named the grand prize winners of the 2022 Call for Code Global Challenge at an award ceremony on Tuesday, Dec. 6, in New York, New York.

The Call for Code Global Challenge calls on teams of “developers and problem solvers to leverage open innovation and develop technology solutions that address specific global sustainability problems in unique, clearly demonstrable ways.”

locally, it’s actually doing something good, so I’m really excited about that.”

The students will take home $200,000 to advance their app, along with solution implementation support from IBM and the Call for Code ecosystem to make an impact for communities in need.

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Augustana international students Abemelech Mesfin Belachew ‘24, of Ethiopia, Deepak Krishnaa Govindarajan ‘25 and Prana Mohanty ‘25, of India, and Manusmriti Budhathoki ‘24, of Nepal, developed an app or marketplace that connects gardeners who have excess produce with people in need of food. The app also provides gardeners and small farms access to information on sustainable gardening practices.

“Winning (is) a game changer for the app,” Belachew said. “The next step is incorporating machine learning and AI (artificial intelligence). Then, we can get more people working on the project. If this project goes worldwide, or even

“If we can all come together as a society, we can definitely solve this generation’s issues, like global warming,” Govindarajan said. “I feel like Call for Code is making that happen. All the participants — not just the finalists — did something to help sustainability, and that’s what matters.”

This is the fifth Call for Code Global Challenge and second consecutive year that an Augustana team has made it to a final round.

Last year, students Onajite Taire ‘22 and Gedion Alemayehu ‘22 were a part of a team that was named a global finalist for the 2021 Call for Code University Challenge. The same year Augustana was recognized with the 2021 Call for Code Engagement Award for exhibiting a deep commitment to the Call for Code event. ◀

Photo courtesy of Augustana University Augustana students (from right to left) Abemelech Mesfin Belachew, Manusmriti Budhathoki, Deepak Kirshnaa Govindarajan and Prana Mohanty were named the winners of the 2022 Call for Code Global Challenge on Tuesday, Dec. 6, in New York, New York.

SD pig barn part of livestock

‘uptick’ in Clark County

Samantha “Sam” LaMont, 31, and her husband, Taylon, 35, at the TSL Inc. hog barn in Carpenter. An Iowa-based family owns the pigs. Sam manages the farm a mile from their farmstead, adding equity and manure nutrients for crops.

By Mikkel Pates Agweek

CARPENTER, S.D. — Samantha “Sam” LaMont, 31, and her husband, Taylon, 35, of Carpenter, South Dakota, are newbies in the hog business, but the couple is emblematic of a strong “uptick” in livestock in Clark County.

Sam and Taylon built a 2,400-head finishing barn for about $850,000, less than a mile from home, and with support of their in-laws, Doug and Shawn LaMont, and lenders. Sam tends to her two young children in the morning and then spends an average of about two hours a day in the barns.

The enterprise is called TSL Inc. (for Taylon and Samantha LaMont).

The LaMonts started construction in March 2020 and placed their first pigs in September 2020. They raise the pigs on a 10-year contract with Windy Oak Farms LLC, based in Iowa.

Concentric connections

Sam is the lead person in raising the pigs, but the first job every day is caring for her daughters and husband. Blakely, 7, hops on the school bus at 7:30 a.m. Chace, 4, goes a mile to the in-laws’, and then carpools to preschool. Sam appreciates the flexibility to fit some tasks around her other family responsibilities.

Taylon goes to work on the family farm, headed by his parents, Doug and Shawn. The LaMonts have been here since the 1800s, and

Craig Dodds

Kari Fagerhaug

Mikkel Pates / Agweek

SAM LAMONT

raise corn, soybeans and some small grains on some 4,000 acres. They run a substantial beef cow herd and in 2008 added a 2,400-head cattle feedlot.

Taylon and Samantha graduated from Willow Lake High School, in 2006 and 2009, respectively. They started dating in 2008. Taylon went to Lake Area Technical in diesel mechanics. Sam also went to Lake Area, to become a dental assistant. Sam graduated from tech school in 2010 and worked for two years before they started a family.

Getting into pork production meant the couple committed to buying a $850,000 barn complex, in a 10-year contract from Windy Oak Farms, of Iowa. They financed the operation on a 10-year deal through a bank in Huron and a lease-to-own arrangement through Farm Credit Services of America in Watertown, South Dakota.

Doing the chores

Sam describes herself as an animal lover, but caring for this kind of operation has been a giant leap. She’s guided by a “blue book” of protocols, provided by Windy Oak, as well as visits from supervisors and veterinary oversight from Pipestone System of Pipestone, Minnesota.

Windy Oak delivers animals at 16 to 17 pounds. Sam spreads feed on mats to help the young pigs find it. In the first week, she also mixes feed with water in “gruel pans.” The work takes three to four hours, twice a day, seven days a week. Eventually, the process cuts back to an hour and a half a day, seven days a week.

When the pigs are 25 pounds, she shifts to “finish” rations. She monitors the animals for lameness or behaviors that indicate sickness. She treats matters when needed. She decides when to order feed, which these days comes from Howard, South Dakota, Farmers Co-op Association, about 50 miles to the south.

Sam is responsible for “marketing,” which means visually estimating market weight of each pig to determine if a bunch is ready to sell. The day before trucks arrive, she walks through the pens and marks animals that have reached the target weight.

PIGS: Page 6

Mikkel Pates / Agweek Pig barn co-owner/manager Sam LaMont of Carpenter, jots data into a blue binder that includes instructions and records needed by Windy Oak Farms, an Iowa hog owner.

When we get together, we talk about pigs.

Photos by Mikkel Pates / Agweek Sam LaMont manages a contract-feeding wean-to-finish hog barn a mile from her country home near Carpenter, South Dakota.

PIGS

From Page 5

When trucks arrive, other LaMont family members help load them — about 175 animals in a semitrailer. A second truck is usually just arriving when the first one takes off.

The LaMonts hire a professional cleaning company to pressure-wash and sanitize the emptied barn. In about two weeks, the process starts over again.

Manure nutrients are a welcome byproduct. The manure pits under the barn hold about 18 months of “poop,” Sam said. The LaMonts hire a Minnesota company to pump it out. A tractor pulls a “drag line” through an adjoining field and knifes it into the soil on a quarter-section of land, owned by Doug LaMont’s farm.

Doug, who has long experience using hog manure fertilizer from an earlier family hog deal, purchases the manure from TSL. A single pumping fertilizes about 80 to 100 acres. Doug estimates the manure cost is about half to two-thirds what it costs to use synthetic fertilizer and adds several bushels of yield per acre.

Ag is our choice

The couple doesn’t get away from the farm much, but feel fortunate to have neighbors, relatives and

other friends to help when that’s necessary.

Sam said she enjoys the fact that several neighbors in the area have pigs — including others with Windy Oak.

“When we get together, we talk about pigs,” she said. It’s especially helpful to learn how to size and sort them.

Technology in the barns sends phone alarms to Sam, Taylon and three others if something is out of tolerance.

“It’ll just keep calling until somebody picks up and enters a code,” Sam said.

The LaMonts have a dieselpowered, backup electrical generator.

After their first building was built, Windy Oak asked the couple about whether they’d care to put in a second, 2,400-capacity barn. Sam said they thought about it, but prices of building materials skyrocketed, so they’re in a holding pattern.

Sam sees the hog business is a future for her family, she said.

The girls are young but interact with alpacas, llamas, goats and chickens back at the farmstead. Sometimes they go to the hog barn with her.

“Blakely is already talking about 4-H,” she said. “I don’t know what she wants to show yet, but I’m sure a cow will be in there. And, hopefully … a pig.” ◀

Photos by Mikkel Pates / Agweek Taylon and Samantha “Sam” LaMont paid about $850,000 to build a 2,400-head wean-to-finish pig barn in Carpenter. They filled for the first time in September 2020. They would build another, but building costs have gone up too far, too fast

Top: Taylon LaMont augers corn from the combine into a grain cart Oct. 26, in the Carpenter/Willow Lake area in South Dakota. Manure from his family’s hog production is strengthening yields at half- to two-thirds the cost of synthetic fertilizer.

Bottom: Pigs cared for by Sam Lamont at TSL Inc. in Carpenter are owned by Windy Oak Farms, of Mechanicsville, Iowa. The pigs eat feed mixes milled at Howard Farmers Co-op of Howard, South Dakota.

• Cuts clean and saves time, the QuickMax knife system is standard equipment.

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Mitchell Tech drone program helping students take flight

By Erik Kaufman Mitchell Republic

MITCHELL — For generations, the only way for farmers to check the condition and progress of their crops was on the ground. Now, with the modern technology available in 2022, they have another option.

They can take to the skies.

That’s what students at Mitchell Technical College are studying as part of the school’s geospatial technologies and precision ag programs, where they are learning the ins and outs of drone flight and operation as part of their curriculum.

“It’s a cool technology that increases your efficiency. It’s the future, and we wanted to be ahead of the curve or on it,” said Devon Russell, the program manager and

instructor in the Mitchell Technical College precision ag program who spearheaded the creation of one of the state’s first drone programs.

Over the years, drones evolved from a technological curiosity to a toy of hobbyists. Today, they have become a crucial part of industrial infrastructure, helping farmers survey their operations and crops with high-resolution imagery detailed enough to distinguish between particular types of insect damage from high above. Or in the mining industry, where they can efficiently evaluate environmental impact on the landscape while peering down from the sky.

Drones are helping improve operations in many industries. Russell, a Pierre native who has

been with Mitchell Tech since 2013, said Mitchell Tech wanted to be at the forefront of the technology that makes those drones tick. Under Russell’s leadership, the school launched the geospatial technologies program in 2015, and drones have become a big part of that and the ag program in the subsequent years.

To use drones, you need pilots.

“We saw drones are the up-andcoming thing, and growers were getting them but not knowing what to do with them, and they ended up on a shelf. What’s the return on investment? How can they help the ag industry?” said Russell.

They can help with scouting crop yield, agronomy and imagery. An experienced drone operator can guide a drone to determine the

health of a plant and differentiate between weed and insect damage.

Drones can provide a wealth of data to a producer, and data is power in the increasingly high-tech world of agriculture, Russell said.

Outside the agriculture industry, which is the realm of the geospatial program, drones can be used for powerline inspection and in mining operations, which uses drones for surveying and dust control.

“The drone has really increased efficiency,” Russell said.

Establishing a drone presence at Mitchell Tech became easier in 2016, when the Federal Aviation Administration relaxed rules that opened the door wider for potential

Adam Thury / Mitchell Republic

From left to right Devon Russell and his students Chase Pritchett, Jonah Wiersma and Marcus Harkless stand outside of the Mitchell Technical College Nordby Trades Center with their drones on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022.

DRONES

From Page 11

commercial drone use. Now with easier access to licenses, students had better opportunities to get on board and get started with the equipment.

The programs are not exclusively centered around drone flight, but drones are an important part. Instruction focuses on operation and safety, as well as an understanding of the data being collected and the best way to operate the drone to gather it.

“We want them to provide those deliverable products. And when they know that side, the back half of the workflow, it makes them focus on how they fly the mission. It makes them a lot more efficient, especially when you cover the picture and videography side. They know they

just can’t fly around and have the camera jerking everywhere. They have to really smooth it out,” Russell said.

Now several years in, the programs have an enrollment of about 36 students between the two and are enjoying a 100% placement rate for jobs. Russell said that Taranis, a drone company with a presence in Sioux Falls, is looking for 256 pilots this summer.

The FFA also released a report indicating that, over the next five years, officials expect a drone operator shortage numbering 350,000.

“We have a lot more jobs than graduates. It’s not just one company looking for pilots,” Russell said.

“And that’s with an average median salary of $80,000. So it’s definitely a good field to go into.”

Flying 71K acres

Drew Robinson is one Mitchell Tech graduate who has entered the

drone pilot field after graduation. A Mitchell native, he is working for Taranis, and has been flying drones over fields throughout southeastern and northern South Dakota over the summer.

He originally attended Mitchell Tech for the powerline program, but eventually found his way to the geospatial program and embraced it.

“Originally when I applied to Mitchell Tech I started with the powerline program, but it wasn’t really for me. I have a buddy who went for geospatial tech, too, and he talked to me about it, and that piqued my interest,” Robinson said. “I thought it would be something cool to get into, and it’s up and coming and a lot of different jobs are coming up for it. I figured I’d get my foot in the door.”

He estimates he has overflown more than 71,000 acres during his summer with Taranis. As a drone operator for the company,

his daily duties include flying over fields during a specific date range, performing stand counts and looking for crop diseases, growth difficulties and insect damage. A field will typically require about five flights to gather the needed data.

He was busy, to be sure, but he enjoyed it and the work took him as far south as Yankton and north to Jamestown, N.D. There are job opportunities all over the country, but for now he’s happy to be sticking with Taranis and is even keeping his eye out for potential advancement.

He credits those opportunities to Mitchell Tech and the guidance it gave him in entering the field, especially the hands-on flying experience.

“The number one thing I benefited from is getting all the flight experience I had beforehand. When we had orientation, a lot of people

Page 13

DRONES:

It’s a cool technology that increases your efficiency. It’s the future, and we wanted to be ahead of the curve or on it.

DEVON RUSSELL

were pretty timid when it came to flying the drones. It’s a big, expensive piece of machinery, and they were worried about crashing,” Robinson

said. “I had that experience. I knew how to safely operate it.”

‘Anyone can get into it’

Of course, accidents will happen, and occasionally a drone will end up unexpectedly on the ground. Robinson said he was proud to

report he was the only one of his crew who did not crash a drone this year. Russell said that’s the kind of performance record the Mitchell Tech programs hope to cultivate in all its graduates.

As the program grows, it is looking to promote what the courses entail, noting that many potential students are unfamiliar with terms like geospatial technologies. Then there is the ever-evolving technology, which is expensive to keep up with but crucial to keeping students on the cutting edge. In that vein, the school is looking to acquire a new spraying drone in the future.

The programs have also made inroads with area schools, offering a drone check-out program to introduce new flyers to the technology and hopefully increase interest in the career path.

Russell said that the demand for operators is there, and potential students should consider the program, even if it was something that was not necessarily on their

radar prior to enrolling. Important characteristics for a good pilot include a willingness to learn and someone who likes the outdoors. There are even aspects of drone operation and flight that may appeal to fans of video games.

“Anyone can get into it. You’re not limited,” Russell said.

Robinson agreed. He wasn’t completely sure the program was for him, but it turned out to be just the thing.

“I’d say, for the most part, I was one of those people. I thought I needed to go to school to prove something to myself, and I just looked around and it piqued my interest. I did not know what to expect, but I thought it would be cool to have a job where I could fly drones and get information for farmers and coops,” Robinson said. “I found myself in that position. I got the job and love it every day. It’s probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.” ◀

Adam Thury / Mitchell Republic

Mitchell Technical College drone instructor Devon Russell assists Chase Pritchett in calibrating his drone before take off on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022

“I had so much going on, but I knew at the time if somebody didn’t get the wrestling program going, my boys would never have the chance to wrestle,” said Craig, who would get up to feed his cattle at 2 a.m. so he could wrap up chores in time to coach – the bus left for tournaments at 6 a.m.

There are many reasons Craig wanted his children and other White Lake youth to have the opportunity to wrestle.

“Wrestling teaches you so much about life. If you put the hard work in, in the practice room, you will have success wrestling,” Craig explained. “As a coach, I always tell the wrestlers, ‘You won’t win every match, but you will learn more from your losses than your wins.’”

Wins and losses on the wrestling mat have a lot to do with who Craig is today. The tenacity he developed through wrestling, proved valuable when it came to taking over his family’s farm. When Craig was only 24, his dad, Lyle, died unexpectedly of a heart attack.

Like the role of coach, Craig had no intention of becoming a farmer. In fact, just a few years earlier, he had told his parents as much. “Because of college financial aid forms, I knew my folks were losing $10,000 to $20,000 a year. To me, personally, I saw no future in farming. I had a future as a mechanic,” Craig said. “I had my future figured out. I’d given Sandy her engagement ring two days before Dad died.”

Craig’s mom, Ruth, wanted to keep the farm and she needed her only son to help her. It was 1984 and interest rates were at 20 percent. “Here I am 24 and I have the responsibility of a quarter million dollars in debt.”

The Nightingales had been farming in Aurora County since they homesteaded in 1883 and Ruth’s family had been farming about as many generations. Craig accepted the responsibility to

carry on his family’s farming tradition. From the start, he eagerly sought advice. He attended every Extension workshop he could and began to make decisions based on what he learned.

He sold the farm’s dairy herd through the Whole Herd Dairy Buyout Program and invested in a farrowing barn. He let co-op agronomists test out no-till farming on his land because they covered the expenses on those acres. Craig saw the benefits and continues the management practice on all his acres today.

“Surviving was all about being as frugal as possible and living as cheaply as possible and working hard. I worked from daylight to dark,” Craig explained.

He said because his older sisters and their children chipped in, he didn’t have to hire help in the early years.

Craig also credits Sandy with her role in keeping the farm afloat. “I didn’t have take-home pay so to speak, so Sandy’s teaching salary paid the bills. I’ve got to hand it to Sandy. She worked full time and raised our kids.”

Although her parents were dairy farmers when she was young, Sandy says when Craig’s career changed, she was a bit apprehensive. “I didn’t really know much about the farm until we got married. It was hard for me at first because Craig would be out in the field baling late at night. I remember waking up a few times and driving down the road to see if the tractor was still moving – to make sure he was OK.”

Reflecting on where they raised their children, she said she would not do it any different.

“The mom and teacher in me learned to appreciate farm life over the years because there was always something for the kids to do and something to learn,” she said.

In addition to Levi, Craig and Sandy’s grown

children are: Ethan (Kalli), Jennalee (Beau) Olsen, Zane (Kayla), Maria (Matthew) Sandmeier and Kathryn. The couple have eight grandchildren.

She added that the farm also provided their children with the opportunity to be involved in 4-H and Farmers Union youth programing. All of their children are Torchbearers; Maria, Kathryn and Levi all served in leadership positions as members of the Junior Advisory Council, Senior Advisory Council or National Youth Advisory Council.

Working on the farm also taught the Nightingale kids responsibility and instilled in them a strong work ethic, added middle son, Zane.

“It’s a lot of hard work, but there’s always something going on, and it teaches you a lot of life lessons,” Zane said.

Before returning to farm with Craig, Zane spent a decade working full time for the Air National Guard.

“I had a good job and a nice house, but I didn’t have the satisfaction at the end of each day like I do now,” Zane said. “When we started having kids, I wanted to come back to the farm because my wife and I want to raise our kids the way we were raised. Kayla grew up on a farm too.”

Zane works full time for his parents and he and Kayla also have a small cattle herd that they run with Craig’s cow/calf herd. They recently began leasing a small parcel of land.

When Zane talks about returning home to continue his family’s farming legacy, he refers to farming as an opportunity, not a job.

“I owe it to the generations before me who kept this farm together. Right now, I’m in the combine sitting on a hilltop and I can point out quarters left and right of family farms that don’t exist anymore because the farm was given up during the ’80s,” Zane said.

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