TBF 013 :: Building Marketing Relationships, Rotational Grazing, and a Hard Lesson Learned

Just because another farmer in your area sells many of the same products as your farm and farms in a way that is similar to yours does not mean that you need to look at them as competition. What would happen though if instead of seeing those farms as "competition" we saw them as partners in farming, marketing, and our community? On our farm and in our community we have experienced a lot of benefits from building relationships with other farms in our area ... even if we could be considered "direct competitors" with them.

On todays show I share five reasons why I believe it is important to build those relationships and how they can benefit all of the farmers in your community. I would love to hear about how you have built relationships with your farm neighbors and what the benefits have been. Join the discussion and leave a comment below!

Five Reasons to Build Marketing Relationships

1. There is Room in the Market :: It is my belief that the local food movement is a market that is still growing, so there is room for more great farms to become involved in their community.
2. Learning is Important :: The knowledge that farmers in the same area can share is so much better than things you can read in a book because you are farming with similar variables.
3. Cooperation Can Bring Growth :: When a group of farms in an area join forces they can have an impact that is larger than any one of them could have done on their own. (Check out our Farm Crawl)
4. Marketing Friendships Have Benefits :: Having other farmers at a market pointing potential customers your way is about the best advertising you can have.
5. Your Tummy Can Benefit :: Farmers that raise great tasting food sometimes share that food! And really is that type of community one of the values of most small-scale farms?

In fact I'm so thankful for our farm friends I want to give a shout out to them today!

• Ebersole Cattle Company
• Blue Gate Farm
• Reichert's Dairy Air
• Cleverley Farms
• Coyote Run Farm
• Dan-D Farms

In the farm update section of this episode I spend some time talking about the rotational grazing going on at Crooked Gap Farm right now. The cows are moving everyday ... the sheep are moving everyday ... the chickens are moving everyday ... the rabbits are moving everyday. It is great to see the livestock moving across the pasture grazing, fertilizing, and generally being happy cows, sheep, chickens, and bunnies. 

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! 

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ... 

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

TBF Show 013 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

**Special Note :: Because iTunes and Blogger were not playing nicely I now have a different feed for the podcast episodes. You can find a The Beginning Farmer Show specific feed at this link if you use an rss reader. I hope this also helps with some download problems others had been having as well.**

(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records) 

Stay Off the Grass!

Here we are on May 14th, 2013 and, as you can see from the picture above, the only animals on my farm enjoying the bounty of the pasture are the chickens and the rabbits. In fact it is all that I can do to stop myself from turning the cows and sheep out on the pasture ... especially since I'm purchasing small square bales of hay about every 10 or 12 days! But, I know that it is for the best because my pastures are just not to the point they need to be for them to be grazed.

I believe there are a combination of factors that have my pastures lagging behind a little bit this spring. First of all it has been a cool spring (we had 9 inches of snow on May 4th). That has kept everybody's pastures growing slowly, but especially mine that still have a large amount of warm season grasses as the main forage (even after 4 years of intensive rotational grazing). On top of the cool spring combined with the warm season grasses there is the whole issue of the drought of 2012. I ran my pastures pretty hard last year, and if I am going to be truthful with myself I used them up a little more than I should have. So, even though as you can see from the picture below that we are statistically out of the drought I'm still paying the price.

All of this has led to me having to make the painfully tough choice of keeping my cattle and sheep off the pastures and up at the house still eating hay. Each day as I drive to town for work I see what seems like every other farmers cattle out grazing while mine are still eating expensive (still have drought prices here) hay. And, each time I see those cows grazing I try to tell myself that I could put them out on the pasture and just give them bigger paddocks while feeding a little hay still. In my "want to get grazing" mind that seems like the perfect solution, but in my "need to do what is best for the longevity of the pastures" mind I know that I need to just hold off and let them heal as we keep getting some decent moisture this spring.

How are your pastures? Has the cool spring kept them from taking off? Did you do a better job managing them last summer than I did (most likely you did)? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Reversing Desertification

Yesterday Crooked Gap Farm was slammed into the 21st Century when we hooked up somewhat high speed DSL (6 Mbps) internet. I commissioned the new internet connection by watching this TEDtalk with Allan Savory of Holistic Management fame (and much other work). I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there who will come up with a list of reasons that everything Mr. Savory says is wrong, but as I saw the images showing the differences they are making with their planned grazing in desert areas I thought it was pretty cool. Plus, when he says "desertification" it sounds like "dessertification" to me and that just makes me hungry for sweets!

If you have twenty-two minutes and a fast enough internet connection ... I would suggest you check out this video. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts!

The One Bad Thing...

As I mentioned earlier I am using the five young heifer calves as a mower behind the house where we are going to construct the shed. I'm really having them gnaw it down to the nubs and attack the bushes and then I'll go through with the mower afterwards to get what is left (which will be shrub stems). It is going really well and it is fun to watch them attack the fresh grass each day. I also like the fact that I can look out our bedroom window in the morning and see them laying down or grazing away!

Except there is one downside ... since they are so close to the house they wake me up every time they moo! Normally the just get going in the morning or when they want some more grass, but last night they really started into it at two in the morning. This made me worried because I assumed it meant something was out there ... and by something I mainly mean Mr. Bull (who also got out yesterday morning).

So, I peered out into the dark night that was also heavily covered by fog and I saw a lumbering mass next to their fence. I wasn't sure what it was, but I just assumed it was the bull. So, I grabbed a flashlight and pulled on my boots ready to try and corral a bull at 2:00 AM. Luckily when I got out there I found it was just the haybine! My mind does play tricks on me in the middle of the night...

Just another one of the joys of our beginning farm.

What to Do, What to Do...

Yesterday evening I drove the tractor out to the farm and pulled out the hay rake because I was getting tired of people commenting about the fact that I had a tractor in town! No, really I took the stuff out there so I would be able to get to work. But, while we were out there we decided to take a walk across our 26 acres of soon to be pasture ground and again the wheels in my mind started to turn. In the past I have considered mowing, baling, or burning, but none of that has happened for various reasons. First of all I don't have a bush hog, secondly it probably wouldn't work to well to mow with our haybine because of the anthills and brush, and finally they haven't made it to my name on the burn list yet (Have I mentioned it has been very wet).

So, as I was walking through the pasture-to-be yesterday I began to think about a fourth option (one of the comments mentioned this) which is just sticking the herd out there and trying to graze it down. There is quite a bit of green grass coming up between the matted down tall switch grass and if they were given enough area they would have plenty of food. Also, I was thinking/wondering if their hooves tramping around the pasture would break down the old switchgrass?

Of course this would be the most inexpensive way to begin conditioning the pasture and it is beginning to feel like it would also be the fastest. With the late planting season this year it has been difficult to borrow/hire/work with other farmers. They just are so focused on their planting right now it is impossible for them to get the old bush hog out of the shed or do baling in May.

So, what do you think? The downside is that I probably wouldn't be able to get as much hay off the ground this year as I had thought was possible. I may be able to scrounge up a pull behind mower in the next week or so and then maybe I would just mow it all, but maybe doing some mildly high intensity grazing along with spots of mowing would be the best bet. Also, Dexters do have a reputation for browsing ... that would help with some of the brush that has sprung up in a few areas.

I look forward to hearing what others think on this subject. Click on the picture above to see a bigger picture of what the pasture looks like.

Grass-Fed Cattle :: Chapter 1 Book Report

Finally, in the midst of all the craziness, I was able to pick up Julius Ruechel's book, "Grass-Fed Beef" and make it through chapter one. The first chapter, titled "The Great Herds and Their Grasslands", acts as an introduction to the idea of herd grazing and the impact on the microbes, soil, and grasses (along with the animals itself). Mr. Ruechel opens with an account of the "evolution" of ruminant grazers and their places in the millions and millions of years that the earth has "existed". Personally, I could have done without that section and all the points that were made about the "evolution" of these animals really made me feel even more secure in the truth of creation. But, I also probably would be "Expelled" if I were to state my opinions (check out the link).

What did come out loud and clear as the the great herds did a wonderful job of taking care of the grasslands and themselves and we can learn a lot from that fact. They were able to work in conjunction with the soil microbes to break down grass residue and replenish the organic matter in the soil. That organic matter has many ... MANY benefits and they are all to often overlooked because of new "advancements" in farming.

After the opening sections (which I didn't care for) Mr. Ruechel does go into an interesting discussion of what exactly we can learn from the herds and how we can duplicate the benefits of the herd impact. Basically, we need to recreate the herds on our own farms by using fencing (acting like predators) to keep the animals close together and also to force them to move in a "migratory" pattern just as the wild herds used to be able to do. The thing that really comes out in this idea is the importance of management ... managing the impact that our "herds" have on an area and moving them at the right times.

One last thing that I found interesting (mainly because of some of the Western arid region ranchers that comment from time to time) was the importance of herds and herd impaction for those arid regions of the country. Mr. Ruechel contends that without that those areas will lose the good and sometimes lush pastures they are capable of having. Food for thought anyways.

All in all an interesting chapter, but I expect I will enjoy the following chapters much more.

Thinking About Fencing...

Lately I have been thinking about fencing. Despite all of the snow on the ground I know that spring is going to be coming soon and with it there will be some opportunities to do some fencing projects that are needing to be done. But, in the world of fencing there are so many options that sometimes I'm not even sure of where I need to begin and what I need to be looking at. I thought I would just open it up for discussion and see what a variety of people think.

Basically our fencing needs will break down into two categories. First of all we need to do some permanent perimeter fencing. This will be a combination of replacing some old fence between us and a neighbor and putting up some new fence along the road. The second fencing need will be interior fencing for Management Intensive Grazing (electric and easy to move).

When it comes to the perimeter fencing the choices range from 4 or 5 strands of barbed wire, to woven wire, to woven wire with 1 or 2 barbed wires on top, and even to 2 or three strands of electric (I saw that on a pasture walk last year). One thing that we have to keep in mind is the variety of livestock that we will be running on the farm. Anything from our Dexters, my families horses, sheep, goats, or pigs could be on the farm so we need something that will work for all of the above. Also, cost always needs to be considered in these types of situations ... what gives you the most bang for the buck?

For the interior electric fencing the options really break down into posts and wire. There are so many posts out there from fiberglass ones with 3 or more wire hooks, to step in re-bar posts with plastic insulators, and even steel step in posts with a pig tail on the top for the wire. Obviously we need something that goes in and out easily, but also works for our short cattle (Dexters). Also, does it matter if the calf can walk under the wire? What type of wire is also an issue. We could use the inexpensive steel, the slightly more expensive aluminum, or the most expensive poly-rope or wire. Here price is a factor, but ease of moving and longevity is also very important.

So, what are you using? What works for you? I would love to hear from anyone who is doing MiG about their interior fencing. I would love to hear from people that are just thinking about it, but have ideas! Basically I'm putting out an appeal for help :)

Worms...

Okay, not just any worms but rather internal parasite worms. Pretty fun subject huh? Well, yesterday I received my December issue of "The Stockman Grassfarmer" in the mail and somehow after flipping through the pages the first article I read was about worms a.k.a. internal parasites. The article is by Allan Nation and talks about pasture-rotation system that was started on research farms in New Zealand back in the early 1940's. It is part informational article about the benefits of pasture rotation for controlling parasites in young calves and part, "this is how management intensive grazing really got started," article.

Research at the Ruarkura Animal Research Station in Hamilton, New Zealand led to a rotational leader/follower system in order to help control the parasites that were killing many of the countries dairy calves. Despite the use of wormers the calves were having problems both in the short term, and in the long term because they were not building resistance to the worms. One of the researchers, Dr. C.P. McMeekan, says that internal parasites are a normal part of a pastured animal's life and that they can develop resistance to them if they are constantly challenged by them. The problem was that either the calves were dying because of overload or the were having problems in the future as the parasites became resistant to the wormers and the cattle hadn't built up the strength to combat them.

Their dairy calves were allowed access to pasture early and could even be weaned on to grass as early as eight weeks according to Mr. Nation's article. Once on the grass the rotational system began. The researchers found that parasites live on the bottom two inches of the plants in the pasture so the obvious solution to them was to not let the calves graze at that level. In order to accomplish this they divided the pasture in to paddocks (here is the history part) so that the baby calves could graze ahead of the cows. Once they had that separation accomplished the next step was the rotation. To keep the calves from hitting that bottom two inches they would rotate them daily ... and daily or at most every other day ... is the key.

They found out that their research and system worked. The calves still had a parasite load, but they could deal with it partly because they system fought them and partly because they were eating such high quality forages. Thus, rotational grazing was born ... or something like that.

The pasture rotations will also combat parasites if you are running different types of livestock through the pastures because that helps break the cycle also. It is a pretty fascinating topic because really what it all goes back to is how the animals were created to function. Now we are just trying to capture what they did on their own and do it in a controlled environment.

More Ultra High Density Grazing...

After I my post on Ultra High Density Grazing a couple weeks ago I noticed by way of e-mails and such that quite a few people were stumbling on to this blog while searching for information about the topic. This may be the "next big thing" in grazing ... or maybe it is the "big thing" right now. I am not an insider in the grazing circles yet so I don't know where it stands as far as wide spread acceptance. But, I do know there are quite a few people out there looking for information and I know that I have had a tough time find a lot of information about it. So, I though I would blog again about Ultra High Density Grazing and see if the community of people that read or stumble onto this blog could give some more insight into the subject.

Krystle commented on my first post and mentioned that Greg Judy (author of "No Risk Ranching") is switching to Ultra High Density from Management Intensive Grazing and because of that switch the are becoming more profitable. Also, someone else commented or e-mailed clarifying my understanding of the subject. It is interaction like this that makes learning about grazing so much easier!

Basically, if I understand correctly, Ultra High Density Grazing is placing a high number of cattle on a small space so that they eat down the grass fairly quickly (maybe leaving around 30% forage?) then moving them to the next paddock. I believe we are talking about two or three paddock moves a day because of the high stocking density. Sometimes is this also called "mob grazing". It seems like the basis for this practice comes from imitating the large herds of American Bison on the plains of the Midwest and West. Those large herds would move through an area eat it down quickly and then just keep moving. If only paddock switches were that easy!

I think it is a very interesting idea. Those that are doing it are falling in love with it, from what I understand, and they are really increasing the carrying capacity of their land. After reading a little about Ultra High Density Grazing a few thoughts and questions do pop into my mind. First of all, I think if you are really going to take advantage of this method you will need to have a good source to sell your beef to. If you are selling directly to the consumer I could see easily over producing for your market and then having to dump some animals (unless maybe you are doing something along the stocker lines?). Also, I think I would have to experience and learn from doing MiG grazing before I tackled something like this. Another question that pops into my mind is what about dry seasons. If you have a much higher amount of cattle than your normal MiG or continuous grazing stocking numbers what happens when you have a dry summer? Do you have to dump cattle, should you be irrigating anyways, are you going to have to feed stored forage? That also brings up another question ... what about winter? Is this a better system for stocker cattle on large ranches or can it work on smallish farms also?

Ultra High Stock Density Grazing is a very interesting topic and I would look forward to learning more about it. If you have anything to add, correct, or discuss please make sure you leave a comment ... also, if you have some good links or books make sure you let everyone know about those!

Corn and Grassfed...

From time to time I have eluded to the fact that my Dad and I don't always see eye-to-eye on how we envision the farm being run. My Dad grew up on the farm and while he agrees that we need to market our own beef, pork, or whatever he is having a hard time imagining farming with out planters, plows, combines, and grains. Plus some tractor seat time just for good measure.

Well, I may have found the answer. When reading through Allan Nation's BLOG this morning I came across a post titled, "A Corn Plant for Grassfed Beef". You will have to scroll past the first couple of articles to get to it, but it was an interesting read for me because I could see its usefulness in our part of the country.

Here is the main idea from the article,

"Illinois research has found that when tropical varieties of corn are grown in the Midwest, the corn plant does not normally flower or produce grain. Instead, the plant concentrates sugars such as sucrose, fructose and glucose in its stalk and leaves."

The University Illinois is researching this plant for its ethanol applications, but it could have a couple of large impacts on the grassfed grazing community also.

Number one, it would be a great source for finishing grassfed steers in the summer. It would give them plenty of growth nutrition to add the weight at a high enough rate for finishing, and according to USDA rules the cattle would still be grassfed because they ate the corn before grain was produced.

And, secondly it would work wonderfully as a winter stockpiled forage. In the tests the plant grew as tall as 16 feet. I think there would be plenty above the snow for grazing in the Midwest! This winter feeding ability could lead to raising completely grassfed grazing beef year around. Cutting out the hay is a major labor saver and if my Dad got to plant a little corn in the meantime it would just be a bonus.

This is just in the research phase right now, but it would be worth following. If you have any experience with cattle grazing corn stalks before it goes to grain I would be interested in hearing from you.

A Break From Your Regularly Scheduled Blogging

I would like to take this time to take a break from my regularly scheduled blogging. Most of the time I post about recent articles, books, or periodicals that I am reading dealing with pastoral farming (grassfed animals, sustainable agriculture, etc.). From time to time I also post happenings from our beginning farm ... things like trips to work with the cattle, the happenings of our backyard chickens, or contemplations on alternative farming in general. But, today I would like to take a break from all of that and talk about good 'ol commodity farming!

Yesterday my family (wife, son, and daughter) and I were all invited to join a friend from church for a few rounds in his diesel guzzling, corn acres eating, commodity crop combine. It was a John Deere if you are scoring at home. We made three rounds through his field averaging about 160 bushels or so per acre with most of the corn coming in around 16% moisture (I know that because of the little computer screen). My little boy (3 1/2 years old) absolutely loved every minute of it ... especially when he got the opportunity to drive.

And, I have to admit that I loved it also. I know that on one level it is a flawed system. I know that I desire to become a full-time farmer and there would be no way for me to play the rules of the commodity farming game unless a bunch of money dropped in my lap. But, there is just something completely rural Iowan about riding in a combine on a crisp fall day with you son and watching the rows of tall corn disappear before you. There is just something comforting to my soul watching the grain pour out of the combine auger and dump into the wagon only to make it's way to an auger and up into a brand new shiny bin. I love the sound of the tractor, the smell of the crop being harvested, the enjoyment of watching a farmer bring in his harvest at the end of a season, and the crisp beauty in the air. There is just something about it...

But, even though I love all of that I couldn't help but think how this farmers life would be different if he didn't live the commodity farming lifestyle. Sure he has some great new equipment. Farms about 400 acres of row crop land. Bales large round bales and runs a 100 head cow/calf herd. But, he as to do that in between shifts at the police department where he is a full-time officer. What if he was grazing all of those acres and cutting hay and silage instead? What if he was using a management intensive grazing program for his cattle? What if he only had those two old Oliver 1655 tractors instead of the new green machines (or maybe just the new 4wd John Deere with the loader)? Would he have to be holding down a town job just so he could farm?

Thanks for indulging me for a day. I promise that tomorrow I will jump off the commodity farming wagon and post cows eating grass or pigs rooting up small trees in a pasture or sheep following after cows ... you know, something unconventional!

Ultra High Stock Density Grazing

Check out this POST from a couple days ago on the Homesteading Today site. It relates to the Small Farm conference in Columbia, Mo. I had really wanted to attend this event, but because of a youth conference, I was in a hotel with a ton of teenagers-not farmers! The original said that it was a wonderful conference, but the follow-up posts brought up a pretty cool topic that I haven't heard very much about ... Ultra High Stock Density Grazing!

There were two main speakers there talking about grazing. One was Jim Gerrish (of Management Intensive Grazing fame) and the other was Greg Judy (someone that I don't know much about now, but I'm sure I'll learn more). From reading the posts, it sounds like Mr. Gerrish talked a lot about year-round grazing and using stock-piled tall fescue as a winter forage (gotta find out more, because we have a lot stock-piled now) because of it's cold season nutritional value ... plus they say it can support between 2,000 and 8,000 pounds per acre when managed with rotational grazing. That means we are talking about grazing somewhere between 3 and 10 or so Dexters! Hmm... I think that would make me consider swapping out the corn for grazing.

But, 2,000 to 8,000 pounds per acre of winter grazing is nothing compared to what Mr. Judy does. He practices Ultra High Stock Density Grazing and grazes around 500,000 pounds of beef per acre! Okay, I don't know if I can even imagine that, but he is not the only one doing it so it must be working! If this is possible (and I'm sure it takes a ton of inputs) I don't see why more people aren't doing it ... well, I guess I know why they aren't ... but it is pretty cool. Of course, if you have density this high you are going to be moving them more than once a day.

This is pretty cool stuff and speaks to the possibilities of what we could do without that 70% of our corn crop that is used to feed cattle. It should be noted that according to the poster, Mr. Gerrish is running between 50,000 and 100,000 pounds of beef per acre on his farm. One of the posters said they asked Mr. Gerrish if he was opposed to Ultra High Stock Density Grazing. He said that he wasn't opposed to it, he was just lazy. Mr. Gerrish only moves his cattle once a day at the most so there is a bit less work involved, but he still gets very high yields from his pastures.

I would be interested in reading more about this if anyone has comments, link suggestions, or knows of books relating to the topic!

Cross Fencing and Pasture Management

I read an article last night in the Stockman Grass Farmer magazine from their "Develop Your Grazing Skills" column titled, "More on Cross Fencing." It came from the August, 2005 issue of the magazine and was a very interesting read. The article is not about how to put up cross fencing as much as it is about why we need to have cross fencing. In the first few paragraphs the author of the article asks two questions ... Why cross fence? And, what is the purpose of multiple pastures? Here are his answers:

"To create multiple pastures ... to optimize the production from your forage and the persistence of desirable plants by encouraging their health and growth."

After all of the discussion on the post about the documentary "King Corn", I thought about this article more in philsophical sense than the practical sense. In my family and in my part of the Midwest, management intensive grazing is not really the thing to do. We have around 70 to 80 acres of pasture land on our farm and 13 cows. I want to begin MIG grazing even though we have few enough animals and plenty of land just to throw them out there and let them have at it. But, it just doesn't resonate with a farmer who has grown up continually grazing during the growing months, supplementing with grain, and driving gas guzzling machinery in order to feed them year round.

In the article Mickey Steward, the author, suggests that if he were allowed only three tools to manage his pastures they would be, "a calendar, an organic matter sample, and a camera." The calendar would be his tool to record when he put animals in and out of a particular pasture, the organic matter sample would provide information about the health of the soil, and the camera would help him keep track of ground cover density. That is a very interesting list to a Midwesterner. Around these parts the list may have included a tractor and baler, chemical sprayer, a four wheeler, or even a plow/disc/harrow/planter/sprayer/combine or any combination of those so we can ditch the stinking pasture and grow a real crop ... CORN!

There are a couple of action points that I am going to take away from this article. Number one, I am going to take some pictures of our pastures. This way we can get an idea of what we are starting with and see if there are any changes once we start a MIG system. And number two, I am going to begin getting more materials to begin cross fencing when spring hits. I believe that it is important to get started on MIG even if we are doing it on a small scale with 13 little Dexters.

Here are a few practical quotes that I gleaned from the article:

• "So, another 'rule to live by' is never let your forage get too tall. How tall is too tall? It depends where you are, but over six inches is over the optimum, and over 12 inches is a real obstacle to grazing and air flow. Air flow may not seem important, but if you are a big fat cow standing in grass up to your belly on a 100 degree day with no wind, forage height is of real concern to you."
  
• "And when is the time to enter a pasture? During the growing season, it is when three solid leaves of growth have developed on most of the forage plants and after at least 21 days of rest."
  
• "The single best thing I learned in Range Ecology was that your livestock will continue to look good long after your pasture has been seriously damaged by over-grazing. DO NOT use livestock condition as a pasture management tool."
  

Quality Pasture :: Chapter 13 Book Report

I have to say, this chapter and the final chapter were probably my favorite of the entire book. The other chapters were full of interesting information, pasture ideas, and grazing plans, but the final two really hit at the heart of where I see our farming ideas going. Chapter 13 in Allan Nation's book, "Quality Pasture," is titled, "Multiple Species Grazing." Although the chapter is short it gives a nice overview of possible polyculture grazing and it's benefits.

The first option he writes about is sheep. I found this section especially interesting because my dad and I had just been talking about the possibility of bringing some sheep to the farm to do some clean up on old fence rows that need to be taken out or replaced. We were talking about the possible benefits of using sheep as our brush hog and workers and providing a bit of income also. But, Allan Nation mentions some other benefits of adding sheep to a rotational cattle grazing operation. Combining cattle with sheep cuts down on predator problems associated with sheep, they break each others parasite cycles, and there have been studies that show adding the two together increases the performance of both ewe and lamb weight gain while only slightly decreasing calf weight gain. This was encouraging for me and practically makes me want to jump in the truck and head up to the Colfax sale barn! (One other thing he mentions is the option to graze wool wethers, no need to go for weight gain)

Next he brings up the idea of pigs in the pasture. If you have read much of my blog lately you know that I'm extremely interested in this idea. One cool thing I found out from reading this chapter is that cow manure provides an excellent source of vitamin and mineral for pigs. It won't be the only source needed, but it is perfect because that will mean the pigs will be breaking up the cow pies and helping stop the parasite spread and speeding up the breakdown of the manure. There is a lot of great information about pastured pigs in this chapter (the Kerr Foundation research details being one), but since I have talked about pigs a lot lately I won't bore you with repeat information. I will say, that it is almost worth the price of the book for a beginner to be exposed to the ideas in this chapter. It just makes all the great pasture management information bonus!

The last animal he brings up is chickens. It is just a small section and he basically pats Joel Salatin on the back for the work he has done in this realm. I will say that reading it again from another source has practically sealed the deal for me. I now know that I'm going to be getting chickens for the farm next year whether my dad wants them there or not! I think the just add something to valuable to not have them (breaking up cow pies and eating the bugs), so I'll get some laying hens and just feed them a minimal ration ... no fancy laying ration. He'll get a few eggs if he wants, and I'll know that we are helping our pastures!

I believe combining animals so they work together for the pastures and the pocketbook is the only way to go. I realize right now we only have cattle, and chickens 60 miles from the cattle, but I also know that when we make the move to the farm we will start out diversified from the beginning. It may be diversified on a small scale, but it will be diverse so we can really learn what works best and see on a small farm can work! If you can't tell, this chapter really got me excited...

Quality Pasture :: Chapter 12 Book Report

I'll be hitting the blog with a few days of my chapter by chapter book review of Allan Nation's book, "Quality Pasture," because I finished up this week. Chapter 12 is specifically about pasture beef production. This was a fairly good chapter, but again it did seem to focus a bit on larger scale production instead small farms providing food for their area.

One of my favorite quotes from this chapter comes towards the beginning of the chapter. Mr. Nation says, "All pasture management starts with getting your breeding season in sync with your pasture." I think this is one thing that really resonates with me and just plain makes sense. We need to make sure we are following the system that God set up for the animals. God didn't create livestock or wildlife to have their babies in January in Iowa. It is cold, it is snowy, it can be muddy, and there is no growing forages that can give the mother and the baby the energy that they need. Also, when the calving season gets in sync, then everything thing else falls in sync. The cows are dry when the timing is right, the calves are weaned when the timing is right, everything can just fall in place with God's creation.


In this chapter Mr. Nation also outlines a few other business plans for grazing beef cattle. He suggests things like grazing cull cows (you can put some easy weight on them for the burger market and usually 50% are bred), raising stocker cattle on pasture, and finishing cattle on grass. He also mentions some systems of pasture beef management used in other parts of the world. It is interesting to see how few other places insist on feeding corn to their cattle in order to finish them. I think we are missing the boat and spending too much money on corn production for our cattle. God did make the digestive system of cattle different for a reason, and I for one am not ready to try and change God's system!

This chapter was a good overview beef production on pasture, especially at a larger scale. It provided lots of information on different systems and management ideas for beef production. I do enjoy contrasting this with other books I have read, I feel like it just broadens my knowledge base ... if just by a little bit!

So, Does Anyone Know What They Are Talking About?

I mentioned in the post below that we fenced in a new area for our Dexters, but we didn't put them in there yet because we needed a few more fence insulators and because we weren't 100% sure what the grass was in that pasture. The area that we fenced in just recently came out of CRP (Crop Reduction Program) and is almost completely covered with our unknown (to us) grass. Before I left the farm I grabbed a clump and yesterday morning I took it out to the extension office to see if they could identify it.

The believe that it is fescue. I know that horse breeders run as far and as fast as they can from fescue, and I have read information stating that the endophites in tall fescue are toxic and can cause problems with lactating animals, rate of growth, hide condition and other things so I started to do a little research. And, I must say after a little bit of research I am just as confused on the problems or un-problems associated with fescue. One thing I do know for sure is that the endophyte in fescue is what helps it stay growing longer in hot and dry conditions, but that endophyte is also the cause for concern to some people.

The first source I checked out was my book shelf. I remembered there was a small section about tall fescue in "All Flesh Is Grass" by Gene Logsdon. The first sentence of the section reads, "Fescue is a controversial forage plant in grass farming." No kidding! Here are a few other passages from that section that I found especially interesting ... or at least confusing!


"If it is clipped twice to keep it from going to seed and to keep it short and tender, it holds up better than any other cool-season grass for grazing in hot, dry summer, too."

"The livestock never prefer it to bluegrass or ryegrass, but they will eat it unless it gets long and wiry. In winter, they nose down through the snow to eat it. I'm told fescue is rough and tough to the animal's tongue and mouth when it is growing fast in June, but cold weather tenderizes the plant. Clipping must do the same"

"The main management step to avoid endophyte problems is to make sure that your livestock always have access to other grasses and legumes and not just infected fescue exclusively."

After I read that chapter I posted a question on a couple internet forums that I check out from time to time. On the Homesteading Today Forum I started this THREAD asking about people's thoughts on grazing fescue. You can check out the response for yourself, but they were somewhat favorable.

Next I checked out a few other websites after searching for information on grazing tall fescue on Google. Here are a few articles that I came across. They all seem to list some positive and negatives of grazing tall fescue, but I'm not sure if I have come to any conclusion. Of note, the third link below specifically talks about tall fescue in Southern Iowa (the area of our farm).

"Friendly Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue for Livestock Production. This is a short article from the University of Arkansas.

A Tall Fescue Fact Sheet from the University of Georgia.

And finally, there is a short article from the Iowa State Extension titled, "Clip tall fescue seedhead in early June".

So, there is just a sampling of some of my research. I might remind you that my research has not lead to any sort of understanding yet ... so, I would appreciate any thoughts you have on the subject of tall fescue!

Quality Pasture :: Chapter 9 Book Report

This chapter is titled, "Stored Forages", but it easily could have been called, "A Little Information About Nasty Hay, and an Intense Look at Silage." But, I guess that title would have been too long! Really, it was an interesting chapter, but I was surprised how quickly Allan Nation, the author, dismissed baled hay. He believes that hay is a good option in more arid climates (West?), while it may be a poor choice in moist or humid climates that receive decent amounts of rain.

I don't know if it is a little bit of, "conventional Iowa farmer", in me or what, but I don't know if I would write off hay so quickly. That being said, I do understand the benefits of silage, and if you are set up for that it can be slightly easier to harvest and store (although I absolutely love making hay, not that that is a good reason to keep doing it). Approximately two pages are dedicated to hay in this chapter, and the rest is dedicated to silage.

The conclusion that kept coming to my mind is that if I was doing a grassfed dairy on any scale or if I was keeping large herds with lots of land and capital, I might investigate silage more. But, in my part of Iowa we can get a decent small square baler, mower, and rack for a reasonable amount of money. Granted you will need a building to store the hay in, but in reality those buildings don't have to be anything overly special.

One interesting point that he mentions a few times in this chapter is that it would probably be more cost effective to have a contractor do all of your silage making rather than owning your own equipment. This will be an interesting thing to pencil out in the coming months and years, but I do see some benefit for this type of thinking.

So, does anyone have any thoughts or experience with silage? This really is something new to me, so I would like to learn and understand as much as I can.

Quality Pasture :: Chapter 8 Book Report

Yesterday I finished reading chapter eight of "Quality Pasture" by Allan Nation. This chapter was entitled Climate and it's Effect. It was a pretty interesting chapter dealing with temperature, precipitation, and more. As with other chapters it spent a decent amount of time discussing applications with grass based dairy operations, but I also noticed a slight focus on the southern part of the United States which makes sense because I believe he is based in Mississippi.

One thing that I found especially interesting in this chapter was his discussion of shade. Mr. Nation's contention was that shade is not always needed. He spoke about the ability of cattle to adjust to climates when they are given time and the fact that it is still the same temperature under the shade as in the sun. He believes that you either need to have plenty of spreed out shade for your entire herd or none at all. Another thing he points out is that if you are going to use trees as shade devices they should have all branches trimmed twenty feet up. This will make the shade move quite a bit during the day and will force the cattle to spread out during their day. Another interesting idea he gave was to give cattle multiple small breaks of grass during hot days. His contention is that cattle will forget about the heat if they have enough tasty food.

He also gave a lot of great tips for drought management. The thing about a drought is the question isn't if, but rather when it will happen. He writes about needing to have a drought plan in place early on in your Management Intensive Grazing progression. It is important that you begin building up a stockpile of stored forages right away because feeding hay in a drought instead of letting them to continue to eat down your suffering pastures will help those pastures bounce back so much more quickly when you finally do get rain.

I'm looking forward to the last few chapters of this book. I have continued debating in my mind the differences between Mr. Nation's high input methods and the lower input method of Joel Salatin. The more I read the more I appreciate the ideas of Mr. Salatin and I can't wait to put them to work and see some of the results with my own eyes ... that being said, I think my dad will be putting some lime down this fall or winter in order to jump start some pastures for the animals and for our hay. We will see how that goes for our farm.

Quality Pasture :: Chapter 7 Book Report

Yesterday I finished chapter seven, 'The Competitive Edge -- MIG', in Allan Nation's book "Quality Pasture". I found this chapter very interesting and informative and will probably have to reread it multiple times so I can digest all the great stuff! I'll just run down some of the highlights of this chapter.

Mr. Nation begins the chapter talking about some of the benefits of Management Intensive Grazing. Of course one of the biggest benefits is the higher stocking rate and pasture gain that you can get from having a MIG system in place. But, he also quoted Keith Milligan, of New Zealand, on his list of benefits. Mr. Milligan adds that MIG produces, "a better return on total investment, a lower labor input, a general conservation of the environment, and a much increased sense of peace of mind for the grazier." I think everyone will find these benefits appealing! Just so you know the experts believe MIG could raise your per acre production by 20% to 40% or higher if you can be flexible with your stocking rates according to the season.


He mentions some of the critical things for MIG: subdividing you pastures by geography, having access to clean water, using portable electric fencing, stockpiling forages for late fall/winter/early spring grazing, and spring pasture management to reduce damage to the pastures. He admits that this is a very rough and quick overview of MIG, but it is a great starting point to some of the more technical aspects. I think one of the things I learned in this chapter is that MIG is more than just moving your cows from chunk of grass to chunk of grass.

I'll leave you with this little chart from page 128 of Mr. Nation's book Quality Pasture. This list gives some different enterprises and average returns per acre. Very interesting stuff and made me think about my possible center piece operation.

Goats :: $50-200
Beef cow/calf :: $50-200
Pigs :: $150
Beef stocker :: $150+
Beef finishing :: $200+
Ewe lamb :: $400+
Dairy sheep :: $500+
Lamb finishing :: $1000+
Dairy beef :: $1000+
Pastured poultry--
eggs :: $30-50
meat :: $1000+
Seasonal grass dairy :: $900-2000

So, there is some food for thought! I do like the last three sentences of the chapter, "As Burt Smith said, 'The best way to learn to swim is to get in the water and start splashing around. Nobody ever learned to swim by just reading a book about it.' Are you reading to make some waves?"

Hmm... am I ready to make some waves? I think I am, but what will my next step be?

Quality Pasture :: Chapter 5 Book Report

The title of this chapter is, "Quality Pasture For Warm-Temperate And Subtropical Climates". The title kind of sums up the lack of real practical application information I found in this chapter. I don' think you could call Southern Iowa "Warm-Temperate" or "Subtropical" unless you were comparing it to Northern Iowa!

But, there was still plenty of information for me in this chapter. One of the more interesting things that had me thinking was the section of this chapter that discussed the profitability of a seasonal dairy. This was interesting not because I'm interested in starting a seasonal dairy, but because the article that I linked to a few days ago about the farmer quitting mentioned that in order to survive you will need to have a year round dairy. Now, Allan Nation was speaking of seasonal dairies in the south and the author of the previous article was in the north, but it is still an interesting counterpoint. Most pastured dairy information I have read focused on the benefits and profitability of a seasonal dairy. I think the biggest problem with the farmer that was having to shut down is that he took himself so far into debt to get his operation up and running quickly. Maybe if he had taken more steps his end would not have come.

Much of the rest of the chapter deals with different pasture forages that can be used in the south for year round grazing, but it does emphasize that you will still need to have mechanically harvested forages even in the south. Even though the weather is warmer down there you still will have a fall slump before the winter cool season forages get going.

I am thoroughly enjoying this book mostly because it is increasing my knowledge (little by little) and it is giving me a sense of what is possible on a farm ... specifically on a smaller farm. I think there are great opportunities in Iowa for someone who is willing to study their pastures and and really become grass farmers instead of the old standard row crop farmers!

The next chapter is on pasture irrigation. It will be interesting to see what that is all about, but what I'm really looking forward to is chapter 7 about Management Intensive Grazing. Stay tuned!