“It’s the herd under the ground that we need to be managing,” says Ken Miller, Fort Rice, N.D., winner of the 2017 North Dakota Leopold Conservation Award.

He’s talking about the organisms that live in soil — earthworms, nematodes, microbes and fungi, to name just a few. Some feed on living roots. Others consume plant residue. Miller believes that the foundation of all success on a ranch depends on the soil.

The Miller ranch lies along the Missouri River, south of Bismarck.  It consists of bottomlands and cutbanks, native rangeland and tame grass pastures, and cropland and irrigated pasture.  Much of his cropland is planted to cover crop mixes, alfalfa and grasses.

Ken and his wife, Bonnie, employ a high stocking density, short duration and long resting period grazing system. They use low disturbance planting methods. They plant full season cover crop mixes for grazing and they manage livestock grazing on cropland to boost soil health.

Over the past 30 years, the Millers have tripled stocking rates while reducing input costs. They have built up their soil so that it takes in water faster and holds more water than ever before. They have almost made their pastures as drought resistant as the native prairie.

The Millers have accomplished a lot, but “you will not meet a more passionate, yet quietly humble farm family,” says Joshua Dukart, executive director of North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition, one of the award’s major sponsors. “Their land and social ethic personifies exactly what the Leopold Conservation Award is all about. It is not only their model of consistency year in and year out, regardless of weather and/or market conditions that sets them apart, but it is their willingness to share and educate others on what they do and more importantly why they do it that truly brings to light their contribution to agriculture and society as a whole. The level of soil health and land resiliency on their ranch is a prime example of what agriculture can be. I am very excited for the Millers to be recognized with this prestigious award and for the rest of North Dakota and beyond to get to know the Millers."

See the video about the Miller Ranch at bit.ly/MillerRanch.

You can also see a video about Blue Bell Ranch, Clear Lake, S.D., the South Dakota Leopold Conservation award winner, at bit.ly/BlueBellRanch.

Hosts and sponsors
The Leopold Conservation Award is a competitive award that recognizes landowner achievement in voluntary conservation. The award includes a $10,000 prize. The Sand County Foundation presents the award in California, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The Leopold Conservation Award in North Dakota is sponsored by the North Dakota Grazing Coalition, North Dakota Stockmen’s Association and the North Dakota Association of Soil Conservation Districts. Additional contributors include Starion Financial, North Dakota Game & Fish Department, Apex Clean Energy, National Audubon Society, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Cow Chip Ranch, Dakota Community Bank & Trust, Delta Waterfowl Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, KEM Electric Cooperative, The Nature Conservancy, North Dakota Department of Health, North Dakota Natural Resources Trust, North Dakota State University Foundation, Roughrider Electric Cooperative, Slope Electric Cooperative, The Wildlife Society North Dakota, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and World Wildlife Fund.

Source: Sand County Foundation