Principles of Organic Livestock Management on Pasture
About this Event
Join us at PrairieSun Organics near Vermillion, SD for an afternoon focused on keeping livestock healthy and compliant under organic management. This is a small-scale field day, working with a small beef herd and a modest laying and meat bird flock, where the emphasis is on preventive health practices and the recordkeeping that certification requires.
Organic certification limits many of the treatment tools conventional producers rely on, which makes prevention the whole game. We’ll cover the NOP livestock health care standard directly, including which materials are allowed, which are restricted, and the requirement that a sick animal must be treated even when that means removing it from organic status.
We’ll also spend real time on the paperwork side - the Organic System Plan for livestock, origin-of-livestock and slaughter stock rules, the 30% dry matter intake and 120-day grazing season requirements, organic feed documentation, treatment and health records, audit trails from purchase to sale, and what an inspector actually asks to see. Participants will look at sample forms and record templates they can adapt.
The poultry portion addresses flock health at this scale: brooder management, litter and bedding, biosecurity, mites and lice, and outdoor access requirements. We’ll close with an on-farm processing discussion and plant tour framed around sanitation, food safety, and the South Dakota exemptions that allow small producers to process and sell birds legally.
Small-scale producers have a real advantage — you can observe every animal every day. This field day is about turning that observation into a working health program and a defensible paper trail.
Free to attend. Dress for pasture conditions. Refreshments provided.
Directions: SD Hwy 50 to Crawford Road, turn north and continue for 1.5 miles and turn east on 316th St.
This program has been funded under a Conservation Collaboration Cooperative Agreement NR246740XXXXC008 between the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and South Dakota Specialty Producers Association (SDSPA), to promote sustainable agriculture practices and environmental stewardship. This event is also co-hosted by Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP). TOPP is a program of the USDA Organic Transition Initiative and is administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP).
Agenda
🕑: 01:00 PM - 01:10 PM
Welcome & Farm Overview Introductions
Info: Introductions and how livestock fit into a diversified small-scale organic operation.
🕑: 01:10 PM - 02:00 PM
Organic Cattle Health: Prevention First
Info: The NOP livestock health care standard — allowed, restricted, and prohibited materials
Parasite management through grazing rotation
Fecal egg counts and body condition scoring
Mineral supplementation and nutrition as the foundation of immunity
Calf health: colostrum, scours prevention, weaning stress
Vaccination, approved treatments, and the obligation to treat a sick animal
🕑: 02:00 PM - 02:40 PM
Certification Rules & Livestock Paperwork
Info: The livestock Organic System Plan: what it must contain and how to update it
Origin of livestock, slaughter stock, and the last-third-of-gestation rule
Grazing season and 30% dry matter intake — how to calculate and document it
Organic feed sourcing, feed receipts, and split-operation concerns
Required records: health treatments, mortality, purchases, sales, and audit trails
Sample forms and templates to take home
What the inspector asks for and common findings at small-scale operations
🕑: 02:40 PM - 03:15 PM
Pastured Poultry Flock Health
Info: Brooder setup, temperature, and early chick losses
Coccidiosis prevention without ionophores
Litter, bedding, and ventilation management
Biosecurity, mites and lice, and predator stress as a health factor
Outdoor access and poultry-specific certification requirements
🕑: 03:15 PM - 03:25 PM
Break & Refreshments
🕑: 03:25 PM - 03:45 PM
On-Farm Processing Discussion
Info: On-Farm Processing Discussion with tour of Processing sequence from cone to chill, sanitation and food safety, small-scale equipment options, and South Dakota’s producer-processor exemptions and labeling requirements. This will not be a live demo of the K*ll process.
🕑: 03:45 PM - 04:00 PM
Q&A, Resources & Wrap-Up
Info: Approved materials lists, certifier contacts, EQIP and cost-share programs, and technical assistance.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00
