South Dakota Farm & Ranch - August 2016

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AUGUST 2 016

RODEOS

HAVE BECOME A WAY OF LIFE FOR THE GLAUS FAMILY

15

Finding cattle feed with less

PASTURE 4

First-ever iLead event includes youth with special needs 6 A hard life of training 10

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE On the cover 15 Rodeos have become a way of life for the Glaus family

Jim Glaus guides the cows up to the chute as Savanna, left, and Moriah, second from left, ride back to the box after corralling the cows at the family’s practice arena back in May near Chamberlain.

Features 4

Finding cattle feed with less pasture

6

First-ever iLead event includes youth with special needs

10 A hard life of training

Publisher RORY PA L M

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Editor L U KE H A G E N Advertising Director L ORIE H A N S E N South Dakota Farm & Ranch is a monthly agricultural publication dedicated to informing South Dakota area farmers and ranchers about current topics, news and the future of agriculture. This publication fits the

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niche of our unique farmers and ranchers of SD, and the diverseness we have in our state. Although the Missouri River divides our state, we are all South Dakotans and thank the land for supporting us each and every day.

You, our readers, may be livestock ranchers, or row crop farmers, and everywhere in between, however, we all have a common goal in mind. We feed and support the growing population, and want the next generation to find that same love, dedication, and support that agriculture can offer.

We’re all South Dakota Farmers and Ranchers, and with this publication we want to showcase your successes, new technology, upcoming events, FFA and 4-H club news and much more.

To subscribe to this FREE publication contact South Dakota Farm & Ranch.

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Finding cattle feed with less pasture Grazing programs key with evolving landscapes

BY ERIN BECK South Dakota Farm & Ranch PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN BECK

I

t’s the Cain and Abel conflict of agriculture: you farm or you ranch. Very few do both.

But with the push for more sustainable farming practices, livestock’s potential in impacting soil health and benefiting cropland is becoming a topic of interest. Beef extension specialist Julie Walker believes it’s time to reunite the two practices into one.

“It’s about creating a holistic system,” Walker said. “Cattle and crops work together instead of being two separate enterprises.”

In an evolving landscape that has seen many acres of grassland converted into cropland, livestock producers are required to find different ways to feed cattle with less pasture. Producers already have an abundance of crop residue available for stubble grazing. Walker says that producers also have the opportunity to pack high-quality nutrients into a grazing program as cover crops gain momentum across the Midwest. Just because grassland is

disappearing from agriculture doesn’t mean that grazing has to subside as well.

“I watched fences go out, and now we’re seeing a need for them to go back in,” Walker said. “That ground can have potential multi-uses.”

Jim Kopriva runs registered Angus cattle and manages a small grains operation near Raymond.

As a winner of the South Dakota 2012 Leopold Conservation Award, Kopriva is committed to being a steward of both his land and livestock.

“People assume either you farm or you ranch,” Kopriva said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Kopriva has been diligent in learning how his cattle have impacted his soil and crops. By grazing cover crops Kopriva has been able to rest his pastures and create a dual-purpose role for his cropland. He’s noted that the manure has acted as a catalyst for microbial activity around plant roots.

“Roots fed with synthetic fertilizers are a lot less

developed than roots fed with organic matter,” Kopriva said.

From Kopriva’s experience, manure is an effective long-term fertilizer. Although the breakdown of nutrients isn’t immediate, it has long-term benefits for soil health as nutrients slowly become available for plant uptake.

Rangeland extension specialist Sandy Smart also points out that with cattle grazing crop ground, farmers save some of the expense of spreading manure or fertilizer when grazing is managed properly. Cattle cycle the nutrients from stubble and cover crops without farmers having to bale off excess residue.

Many farmers are skeptical of the impacts that livestock grazing will have on crop ground, especially where compaction and subsequent yields are concerned. Smart admits that more research needs to be done to understand how cover crop Continued on page 8

An evolving aspect of soil health is partnering livestock grazing with cropland. In order to bring diversity back into the farming landscape and also capitalize on feed resources, some producers are bringing their cattle back onto crop ground to graze cover crops and corn residue.

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First-ever iLead event includes youth with special needs

BY SELENA YAKABE South Dakota Farm & Ranch PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH BARCLAY South Dakota Farm & Ranch

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red, the Duroc pig, steadily wandered around the arena surrounded by a huddle of three children in green shirts.

“Tap him right here,” Quinton Berg said to Gunnar Yeo, a 12-year-old boy from Alexandria.

And with a tap of the soft whip, Fred moved in the desired direction.

“I got him to go the way I wanted,” Yeo said with a smile.

Berg, 10, along with Lane Jorgensen, 17, were Yeo’s “show buddies” during the 4-H/FFA iLead event on July 13. The event paired youth with special needs Below: Tessa Zens, far left, Christina Fuoss-Dickson, second left, Matthew Freeman, second right, and Logan Tlam, far right, talk while watching the goats between livestock shows during the iLead event on Wednesday, July 13 at the Davison County Fairgrounds in Mitchell.

6 SOUTH DAKOTA FARM & RANCH AUGUST 2016

with two 4-H or FFA show buddies to learn about different livestock and how to show them. Though the 4-H and FFA members were from Davison, Hanson, Aurora, Jerauld, Buffalo and Sanborn counties, the event was open to children with special needs across the state, and about 40 youth total participated in the event. Each group was assigned either a hog, sheep or goat, some of which were provided by the 4-H children and others were provided by Audra Scheel.

Amber Erickson and Scheel, both 4-H youth program advisers, worked together to bring the event to South Dakota.

Erickson said she had the idea to put on the iLead workshop after seeing something on Facebook about a similar event in Texas.

“To my knowledge it hasn’t been done in South Dakota before,” Erickson said.

Continued on page 7

Continued from page 6

Top Left: Gunnar Yeo, right, shows a pig with the help of his show buddies Lane Jorgensen, back, and Quinton Berg, left, during the iLead event. Below: Taya Zens, center, holds a sheep while her showbuddies Rayless Fagerhaug, left, and Jazymn Brinkman-Wall, right, do the final checks on the animal before they go into the show arena during the iLead event. Bottom Left: Jeff Peterson, right, Vanessa Hofer, center, and Carissa Scheel, left, walk their goat past the judges’ table before the livestock shows.

Continued on page 13

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Left: Jim Kopriva of Raymond plants cover crops following his small grains to stimulate soil life activity and extend his number of grazing days. Kopriva uses a mix of sudan grass, turnips and radishes and has been satisfied with the forage that it provides. Below: Jim Kopriva examines his cover crop stand as it emerges from r ye stubble. Even though he has no-tilled his soils for 20 years now, Kopriva has not had issues with heavy residues creating yield drags in his crops.

Continued from page 4 water and nutrient budgets, soil type, organic matter processes, and grazing affect these issues.

“We’re trying to find the win-win,” Smart said.

Although not a scientist, Kopriva has seen the benefits from grazing livestock on his crop ground, and he believes it has positive impacts on his soil. The hoof action and grazing influence activate the plant roots to release exudates into the soil that stimulate further soil activity. And by moving the cattle periodically to prevent them from creating paths, Kopriva has had very few issues with compaction in his fields. With cattle managed properly on no-till fields, he sees less compaction compared to semis and tractors packing down conventionally-tilled soil.

“Compaction is an issue we need to debunk,” Kopriva said.

NRCS resource conservationist Jason Hermann has worked with Kopriva to develop more sustainable practices in his farming and ranching operation.

Hermann stresses the importance in developing diversity within the farming landscape. He believes that cover crops and livestock are a couple methods that can mimic nature’s original system.

“We can still make a profit and still do the right thing,” Hermann said.

Kopriva and Hermann both agree that a diversified, low-input farming system will generate a more sustainable income than conventional crop farming. Kopriva doesn’t see the benefits of gaining a top dollar net income when it’s fueled by top dollar expenses. However, he admits that creating a diversified system by integrating livestock into a farming operation is labor intensive. Kopriva sees the need for the younger generation to become more involved in agriculture to resolve the labor issue. Walker points out that trying to connect the two worlds of agronomy and animal science will not happen overnight.

“It’s really difficult to be an expert in both areas,” Walker said.

Walker doesn’t think that producers need to become well-versed across all spectrums of agriculture. She’s a proponent of bringing farmers and ranchers together to discuss working towards more sustainable farming goals together.

“The number one thing is education and awareness,” Walker said. “We need to focus on the benefits to both the soil and livestock.”

In Kopriva’s opinion, it is vital to find ways to encourage producers to bring cattle back to the land. With the conversion of grassland to cropland, Kopriva sees cover crops as a way to keep cattle in South Dakota.

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Chelsie Cunningham rides nine-year-old Ellie working on barrels back in July at the outside arena at the Dallas Cunningham Performance Horses ranch.

A hard life of training

Cunninghams specialize in training horses with family business

BY SELENA YAKABE South Dakota Farm & Ranch PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT GADE South Dakota Farm & Ranch

T

he Charolais cattle moved nervously up and down the side of the arena as Dallas Cunningham and Catman, a horse trained to work with cattle, directed

them.

Catman responded to Dallas Cunningham’s every cue with swift, strong movements.

“Catman is more his horse than mine, and he knows it,” said Clinton Olinger, the owner of Catman.

Cunningham has been working with Catman since Olinger bought him about a year ago. He was with Olinger in Texas when purchasing Catman.

After a half-hour was up, Cunningham traded one horse for another and was right back to the arena.

Just another day at the office for Dallas Cunningham.

Dallas and Chelsie Cunningham, along with their 2-year-old daughter Sage, are the people behind Dallas Cunningham Performance Horses. The Cunninghams specialize in training horses in different areas, including reining, cow horses, barrel horses and more aged-event horses like futurities, derbies and non-pros.

Dallas has been in the horse business since before high school, but has professionally been training horses since after he graduated college in 2009. In total, he has trained “customer horses” for about 15 years.

“You go to a barrel race and you can’t ride 10 feet without seeing a horse we’ve rode,” Dallas Cunningham said. “You could probably easily say I’ve rode for 100 and some people from South Dakota or both of us put together (have).”

The Cunninghams have about 20 clients who come from Georgia to California and anywhere in between. This client base was started all by word of mouth, and many have stayed with Dallas since he started.

“It’s nationwide,” Dallas Cunningham said. “And, I have not advertised probably twice in my life.”

raises crops and runs 30 head of cattle.

Getting started “I don’t like pigs,” Dallas Cunningham said with a laugh. “Growing up we had cattle, chickens, hogs and quite a few horses … if you wanted to get out of working hogs, you could ride horses.”

As Dallas tells it, it all started with $50 “kill horses.”

“You’d have to rope ’em on another horse because you couldn’t hold ’em,” Dallas Cunningham said. “The first horse I took for a guy, first real customer horse I took, I was probably 14. It had put four or five people in the hospital, and the guy never told me.”

After successfully breaking the horse, the guy brought him 10 more.

His career grew from there.

Dallas estimates he’s ridden thousands of horses.

“I’ve broke about 28 bones,” Dallas Cunningham said. “I’ve see some bad ones, starting out.”

Riding the bad horses has taught him just as much as riding the good ones, Dallas Cunningham said.

“They teach you … maybe not the things you want to learn, but the things that are good to know,” Dallas Cunningham said.

Back then, Dallas said he would keep riding the bad ones until he made them better because he was stubborn. And, he still hasn’t met a horse that is more stubborn than him.

But now, he says he’s honest with the customer about whether the horse works well with a specific training program since it can get expensive. Neither Dallas nor Chelsie can afford to get hurt, and they aren’t about to waste their customer’s money.

Dallas Cunningham said he rides 13 or 14 horses a day, and Chelsie sets her limit

“Some customers get upset because it’s their baby,” Dallas Cunningham said. “Not

at 10. Their entire operation could comfortably hold 35 horses, but they try not to

that I’m always right, but you know, we just try to help people out just ’cause the

overload since it wouldn’t allow them to dedicate as much time to each horse.

business can be a little crooked. Trainers just take peoples’ money and then kind of

They have a 60-day minimum stay, Chelsie Cunningham said.

“That helps us put a better product out to the public to keep our reputation,” Chelsie Cunningham said.

But, keeping up a reputation requires a degree of perfectionism.

get a bad name for it.”

Dallas Cunningham said when he first started out, the turnover rate of horses in their training program was high because he wasn’t training higher-end show horses.

They trained the horses for 30 to 60 days as compared to up to about 2 years now.

“I’m not the easiest guy to work for,” Dallas Cunningham said. “Just ’cause I like

“Now it’s specializing, we’re training ’em and showing ’em,” Dallas Cunningham

everything walking out the door with our name on it perfect. If it ain’t perfect, I ain’t

said. “We get better quality of horses all the time. It’s unbelievable how we’ve come

happy.”

in the last three to four years as far as quality of horses.”

Since they don’t advertise, Chelsie Cunningham said they need to be perfect so word of mouth travels.

DC Performance Horses was officially started in 2009, and Dallas and Chelsie Cunningham have lived in Mitchell since 2012. The couple owns 25 acres and also

10 SOUTH DAKOTA FARM & RANCH AUGUST 2016

Chelsie agrees they have come a long way from Dallas riding kill horses and her riding race horses that would run off with her.

“Mine stop now, and yours don’t try to kill you,” Chelsie Cunningham said.

Continued on page 11

Continued from page 10

Moving pieces For Dallas and Chelsie, there is not a slow time.

“Fall is very crazy because it’s one futurity (horse show) after another,” Dallas Cunningham said.

This means both Chelsie and Dallas are on the road frequently.

The way the Cunninghams make it through being on the road to different shows all the time is through “good help” because the training doesn’t stop when they hit the road.

“It’s really tough, when you’re on the road a lot. Sometimes we take young horses with us if we have room,” Dallas Cunningham said. “So then, the up-and-coming are still getting rode like they need to be.”

Back in Mitchell, they have hired help who take care of the horses that weren’t able to go on the trip.

Both Dallas and Chelsie offer their show services, where people will pay them to train and show their horse to try and win more money from the show.

“The goal is to make your horse worth a lot of money or … make their offspring worth more,” Dallas Cunningham said.

They also do non-pro training, where the horse’s owner is the one showing. The business of training horses is seven days a week, and it’s not “9 to 5.”

“It’s not a job,” Dallas Cunningham said. “It’s a life.”

And because of this, Chelsie and Dallas are frequently in different states.

“He’ll be in Oklahoma and I’ll be out West somewhere,” Chelsie Cunningham said.

“He takes one pickup and trailer one way, and I go the other way.”

Chelsie said she’s usually gone for three days, at the most, but Dallas is gone longer.

For smaller shows, Dallas Cunningham said he’s probably gone four or five days.

“The Big shows like Vegas and Oklahoma and Texas, you know, you’ll be gone for 10 days, two weeks pretty easy,” Dallas Cunningham said. “If you go to the world show in November, then you go to the futurity, I mean you can be gone for a month.”

With their busy schedule, they rely on day care, Chelsie’s mother and those around the farm to look after their daughter, Sage. But, everyone is more than willing to help out.

“I feel like you have to make an appointment just to see her,” Olinger said.

Though showing horses keeps Dallas Cunningham away from home, home is still where his heart is.

“I don’t like to be (gone),” Dallas Cunningham said. “I’d rather be home training horses.”

Pretty doesn’t always cut it The love of horse training goes hand in hand with a love of competition for Dallas.

“Competition is probably the biggest thing for me,” Dallas Cunningham said.

“The thrill of always getting better. It just drives you motivates you to get up every morning and work your butt off.”

And for Chelsie Cunningham, her reasons for staying in the horse business are similar.

“Not all the time is it an instant reward, but you can just see your work progress,” Chelsie Cunningham said. “That’s what makes you keep going every day. But the

Continued on page 19 horses are very humbling … you feel like you’re on top of the world, and the next weekend you’re six foot under.”

The Cunninghams agree a horse might show well one weekend and do poorly the next. So, working with horses requires patience, Chelsie said. They are “just like kids,” especially with futurity horses because of their young age.

“One day you might have a kid that’s really concentrating and wants to learn, and then, the next day they just want to go outside and play with their friends,” Chelsie Cunningham said. “Or, you might have a kid that can concentrate for an hour, and horses are the same way. Some may concentrate for an hour and the others will give you all day.”

And sometimes, horses just aren’t “cut out” to be trained in certain ways.

“We really take a lot of pride into taking care of our customers, as far as being up front and telling ’em whether the horse will make it or not, because it’s a very, very expensive hobby or sport or whatever you want to call it,” Dallas Cunningham said.

“You can get buried under a horse very fast if you just keep training it, and it’s not

Top: Dallas Cunningham and his wife Chelsie look at horse they’ve been tr ying to get back to full speed back in July at their ranch in Southeast Davison County. Dallas Cunningham has been training horses since he was in high school and moved to the Mitchell area back in 2012 with his wife Chelsie, who grew up in Ethan. Bottom: Dallas Cunningham rides Catman working with cattle in the inside arena at their ranch.

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Continued from page 7 “I contacted my fellow co-worker Audra Scheel and asked if she would be willing to help take on this endeavor, and she was more than willing. It’s kind of been an exciting journey since then.”

Erickson said an event like this allows opportunity for all of the youth involved to have a voice for agriculture, to learn about how to show and care for livestock as well as form friendships among team mates.

“I think the greatest thing is all the youth involved have the opportunity to learn and grow,” Erickson said. “They not only develop leadership skills, but they get to learn about the industry and advocate for the industry.”

Animals with names like Lady Gaga, Sheila Opal, Emma and Fred filled the show arena as the show buddies helped their teammate and Erin Yost acted as judge.

Yost is an agriculture loan officer from First Dakota National Bank in Kimball and became involved with the event through her friendship with Scheel.

“I commend 4-H for running such a great event,” Yost said. “I never had anything like this growing up, and all the kids are doing a great job.

And, it seems like everyone is having a positive experience.”

The first round of animals were pigs. Then came the sheep and goats. Yeo, Berg and Jorgensen entered the ring with their Duroc where they stayed for several minutes as Yost evaluated their performance.

“You had a smile on your face, you knew exactly where I was and you knew exactly where your pig was,” Yost said to Yeo. Afterward, Yost made a point to tell everyone in the show arena area that there is more to showing livestock than leading them around the show ring.

“It doesn’t end when you leave the ring, you’ve got to take care of them after,” Yost said.

For the rest of the time, the kids ran around playing and visiting educational booths in a separate area. The topics included labeling different cuts of beef, a special olympics booth about “spreading the word to end the word,” a nutritional booth about different fats, pork products, a table on sheep and goats and “grow your pig” where they learned that putting more money into taking care of a hog, or any animal, results in more pay off in the end.

Erickson and Scheel feel that the first-ever iLead event was a success because of “the smile on all of their faces.”

“We’re hoping it kind of takes off,” Erickson said. “We’re excited for the turnout this first year and hope it continues to grow and carries on year to year.”

Their goal of a fun and educational event was met, and some children went away with new friends.

“I can tell Quinton (had) a lot of fun with with Gunnar,” Heidi Berg said. “He’s been asking if we can have Gunnar come over for a playdate.” 

They not only develop leadership skills, but they get to learn about the industry and advocate for the industry.

— Amber Erickson

Top Left: Kaitlyn Putnam, far right, Hannah Miller, center, and Lucas Wall, left, lead their sheep into the show arena during the event. Top Right: Angie Semmler, left, chats with Erin Yost, right, before the livestock shows. Bottom Right: Livestock show participants chat around the animal pens between shows.

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Rodeos have become a way of life for the Glaus family Savanna Glaus, left, and her sister Moriah practice their team roping on one of their calves at the family's practice arena back in May near Chamberlain.

BY MATT GADE South Dakota Farm & Ranch PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT GADE South Dakota Farm & Ranch

C

HAMBERLAIN — Before they could even walk, Jim and Sholi Glauses’ four children have been on horses and they’ve rarely gotten off.

Tate, 23; Teil, 22; Savanna, 21; and Moriah, 20; are the fourth generation of the Glaus family to grow up on its angus ranch, located just south of Chamberlain.

And for as long as they can remember, they’ve been riding and competing in rodeos.

While Tate has declared himself “retired” from competing in rodeos, his other three siblings are still going strong and don’t have plans of slowing down.

All four attended South Dakota State University and been members of the SDSU Rodeo Team. While Tate and Teil have graduated, Savanna and Moriah having one and two years left until graduation.

‘It started with mom and dad’ Growing up on the family’s ranch, Jim was the only boy of four kids. He found a passion for roping during his time at SDSU, but it wasn’t until afterward he really got into the sport.

“There was actually nobody in my family that rodeoed before,” he said. “Went to college, worked for a guy, they had a barn and they trained rope horses.

Got to the point where I’d rope a little, got better over the four years of college up there and started doing it.”

For Jim’s dad, John, competing in rodeos didn’t make sense but that probably came from growing up in a different time.

Jim said technological improvements, including tractor combines, made it easier for him to find the time compete in the rodeos.

Though, there is always work to be done.

He typically competed close to home and was back to work the first thing in the morning. But when he

traveled longer distances, he recalled days when he got only two to three hours of sleep to be back to work.

For Jim, roping made the most sense as he didn’t want to beat up his body trying something like bringing down a steer or riding a bucking horse or bull.

“Oh, heck no. If it was dangerous, I just didn’t do it,” he said Jim competed in rodeos for several organizations including the South Dakota Rodeo Association, Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, Mid-States Rodeo Association and many jackpots.

Sholi grew up just a mile up the road from Jim. Sholi was the only one of her siblings to compete in rodeos, doing barrel races and goat tying. For the rest of her family, they were more into showing horses.

While after high school Sholi attended SDSU and was on the rodeo team, she didn’t expect to come back to Chamberlain.

“I wanted to go somewhere where it was really warm. When I left home, I was never coming back and I got one mile from my mailbox,” she said about marrying Jim. Once they started having children, Sholi gave up competing in rodeos, but she still competed in jackpots, or barrel racing events, around the area.

“I loved watching them compete,” she said, referring to her children. “I’d much rather watch them compete.

That’s kind of why I stopped, didn’t rodeo. It was more fun to haul them and watch them. For a lot of years, I’d joke I’d only go to 4 or 5 barrel races a year, but you ride all the time.”

‘The kids grow up’ For as long as the kids can remember, they have been riding horses.

“They started riding probably before they were 1 in front of the saddle with us. Then by the time they could sit on the horse by themselves, they were around 2.

Then we’d lead them. Then by the time they were 3, they were kind of riding by themselves,” Sholi said.

Comfort was the most important consideration to riding early, Sholi said.

They all started out in youth rodeos and competing in mutton bustin’ before moving up to 4-H rodeos then onto the junior high rodeos and high school.

Jim and Sholi served as the kids’ primary coaches growing up, with Jim teaching the roping part and Sholi teaching the girls about the barrels and goat tying.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen my mom swing a rope ever,” Teil said during an afternoon lunch at the family’s ranch. “I don’t think I’ve seen her pick one up.”

“Oh, I pick them up all the time,” Sholi responded with a laugh. “But I don’t swing them.”

At the junior high level, Tate, Teil and Moriah all qualified for nationals in Gallup, New Mexico.

While not getting to compete, Savanna said it made her want to improve in rodeo for the future. During the trip, she enjoyed meeting people and especially leaving South Dakota.

“It was pretty fun getting to meet people from all over the world. We never got to leave the state.” she said.

A sentiment Moriah shares.

“Made a lot of our friends that we probably wouldn’t have known without that,” she said.

In junior high, Tate and Teil started “chute dogging,” each winning the event at the state junior high rodeo.

Continued on page 17 AUGUST 2016 SOUTH DAKOTA FARM & RANCH 15

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Continued from page 15 Chute dogging is similar to steer wrestling, but the competitor starts the event in a chute with the steer as opposed to on horseback.

In high school, Tate and Teil started steer wrestling and Teil also did some bull riding before deciding to focus just on the steer wrestling.

“Got hurt enough times, I got smart and quit,” Teil said. “I’ve got hurt enough times ‘bulldogging’ (steer wrestling) too, but I think I might keep doing that one.”

Even the whole time the kids were competing in rodeos, they all played sports in school and balanced work on the ranch along with their schoolwork.

Sholi described herself as the kids’ personal athletic director.

Eventually the girls grew out of the goat tying event at rodeos, even though it was mom’s favorite event.

Savanna suffered an ankle injury before her senior year and eventually found out she had torn every ligament in her ankle, which ended her goat-tying days. Moriah just really disliked the event.

“I told her to finish out the year and she ended up finishing one place out of making state, and while most kids want to make state she was scared she almost did,” Sholi said. “That’s how much she didn’t like it.”

No matter the event in rodeos, injuries come with the territory, something the Glaus family doesn’t worry about.

From broken bones, torn ligaments and even animals stepping on them.

For Teil especially, he’s had his share of injuries from a bull stepping on his foot and needing stitches, to a bull’s horn in his arm.

‘The sport’ A rodeo consists of multiple events that typically include bull riding, steer wrestling, a variety of roping both individual and teams, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, goat tying and barrel racing.

No matter what the event is, the Glauses say the biggest key is not overthinking.

“A lot of it’s mental,” Jim said. “I keep telling the kids, once you get up to the collegiate level, an awful lot of it’s mental. They don’t agree with me I know, they can talk themselves into or out of a good run. All of a sudden they don’t have a good run, and holy buckets you can’t do this anymore.”

While they may not admit it to dad, the kids agree.

In team events, they can’t be too critical when one has a bad run.

“All you can do is your part. As long as you’re doing your part, you feel bad when you mess up but the header catches or the header misses, hey that happens. But you feel just as bad if you miss when you’re healing,” Jim said. “Nobody ever’s going to miss on purpose.”

In steer wrestling that partner is called “the hazer,” a rider who guides the cow in a straight line after being pushed out from the chute. You don’t want come out to fast and break the box or over run the cow, and you don’t want to come out too slow and not be able to catch it.

“That’s a lot of it. If the steer isn’t running straight that person isn’t going to have a good go,” Teil said. “That’s pretty important to have a good hazer and I’ve been pretty lucky, I’ve always had a really good hazer to rely on in college.”

‘Not slowing down’ To close out his collegiate career, Teil enjoyed what he loves most, competing in rodeo, this one held in Dickinson, N.D. The rodeo landed on the same day of SDSU’s graduation commencement ceremony, which Teil isn’t too upset about missing.

“It’s all right. I would’ve rather been at a rodeo than having to sit through all of that anyway,” he said.

“I wanted him to walk, though,” Sholi responded with a smile.

Continued on page 18

Top Left: Moriah Glaus competes in the ladies breakaway atop her horse Lily at the Crooks Rodeo on Saturday, June 4 in Crooks. Top Center: Sholi Glaus competes in the barrel races at the Winner Elks Benefit Rodeo on Saturday, July 23 in Winner. This year is the first time in 25 years Sholi has competed in a rodeo. Top Right: Teil Glaus loses his hat while sliding off his horse Woody onto a steer during the steer wrestling portion of the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo on Sunday, July 17 at Horseman’s Sports Arena in Mitchell. Bottom Left: Moriah Glaus takes off out of the box on her horse Patrone at the family’s practice arena. Bottom Right: Savanna Glaus, left, and her brother Teil practice their team roping on one of their calves at the family’s practice arena back in May. AUGUST 2016 SOUTH DAKOTA FARM & RANCH 17

Continued from page 17 While trying to balance school work, social life and rodeos in college, Teil, Savanna and Moriah are quick to say everything else takes a back seat to the rodeos.

“All the time you’ve got to put in. You have to say no to a lot of things in order to be able to do it,” Savanna said.

While competing in South Dakota has racked up miles, in college they travel across much of the north central part of the country from Montana to Kansas to Wisconsin for collegiate rodeos.

“We’re going all over the place,” Teil said. “Just for college rodeo, I think it’s about 10,000 miles a year.”

Teil said the highlight of his collegiate career came when he won his final steer wrestling competition in April at home in Brookings.

During the summer, Savanna and Moriah have been competing in SDRA rodeos alongside Teil, while Teil has also made the move up to the PRCA level with rodeos that included Mitchell’s Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo in July.

“It seems like I should be able to go to more, especially in the winter time, now that I don’t have any college rodeos,” Teil said, who’s returned home to work on the ranch since graduating.

Following graduation, Moriah and Savanna both said they both plan on competing after college.

“First of all I’ve got to see where I can get a job,” said Savanna who’s majoring in animal science like her brothers did. “Most likely I’ll come back here. I hope to (keep competing), I’ve got plenty of horses to keep using.”

During their time at SDSU, the Glauses have found a wealth of knowledge from their teammates and coaches.

“Obviously our dad has taught us a lot of things growing up, but I also like having

other riders and coaches who might see things or notice things that dad might not,” said Moriah, who plans on becoming a teacher after college.

“The ones I really learned from when I got to college, there were a bunch of steer wrestlers that were all older me so they really helped me out,” Teil said. “They did a lot better than me and I always want to do really well. So that was really awesome, was always grateful for those guys.”

For Savanna while she’s still looking to move up in the standings and make a run for the SDRA finals, her biggest challenge this summer is trying to convince her dad to come out of retirement and do mixed team roping with her.

“God, I want him to,” Savanna said. “I wish he would. He says he’s retired, so I guess not.”

“Nah, probably not,” Jim replied when asked about competing again. “Never say never, though.”

The kids were able to convince Sholi to start competing in rodeos again.

“I just said I was going to come back since it had been a quarter of century since I had entered a rodeo,” said Sholi, who had still competed in jackpots through the South Dakota Barrel and National Barrel Horse Association. “Competing with the kids, it was kind of fun.”

Moriah signed her up without telling her.

“She needs to be going out there. She’s got good horses, rides all the time and just needs to be out there. So I just took the initiative.

“We all thought it was pretty awesome. She was pretty nervous, but it was cool to watch,” Moriah said.

Now, signing up dad without telling him is something nobody thinks would be a good idea. 

Bottom Left: Sholi Glaus helps her son Teil pin his number onto the back of his shirt before the start of the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo on Thursday, July 14 at Horseman’s Sports Arena in Mitchell. Bottom Right: Jim Glaus watches as Teil pulls out his rope form his bag before the Winner Elks Benefit Rodeo on Saturday, July 23 in Winner.

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Continued from page 11 going to turn out for the reining or cow horse or even the barrels.”

But, Chelsie said if they don’t make it for reining, sometimes they will be good barrel or roping horses.

“The way we do things, our horses (are) just very, very broke and willing, so they work for a lot of things,” Dallas Cunningham said. “To me, the reining and and the cow horse are probably the toughest events you can do, so it takes a pretty special horse. And they’re not all going to make it.”

Chelsie said that by using the term “broke” they don’t mean the horses are broken to go down the road or go trail riding. Instead, the horses know how to move their shoulders and hips and are “soft” while doing so.

Dallas Cunningham said they can tell within 90 days whether a horse has potential with a particular training program.

“The most athletic horse with a bad mind will be hard to make it,” Dallas Cunningham said.

There are several things to look for in a show horse, but part of it is if the horse is conformationally correct, Chelsie Cunningham said.

“Pretty doesn’t mean they’re gonna make it at all,” Dallas Cunningham said.

“In what I’m doing, pretty is a big deal to start out with, because they sell better, but good-minded is … the biggest thing.”

Breeding has become very specialized, Dallas Cunningham said. But, even then, it’s not guaranteed the horse will live up to the standards.

“They can be bred phenomenal,” Chelsie Cunningham said. “And they make a good trail horse.” 

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