By Daniel Olson Lena, Wisconsin — Most of you have seen those “growing curves” for perennial, cool-season grasses. The curves spike in mid-spring, crash in the summer heat and revive in time for the early-fall grazing period. The biology of this is that a perennial can’t afford to put all of its energy into production, [...]

By Cheyenne Christianson Chetek, Wisconsin—As most of you know from my previous articles, over the past two years I have taken steps toward “mob” grazing — especially with the non-milking cattle. We went through a multi-year drought and, as I analyzed my farm, its growth patterns and fertility levels, I realized we needed to take [...]

Steve Guell would rather graze than feed more grain and hay Waupun, Wisconsin—How much should a small-scale dairy grazier with limited acreage spend to ensure that his cows have full grazing through all those dry spells? If you have just 30 cows and maybe 40 or 50 acres of pasture, what would it be worth [...]

Sixty-five cows, 100 acres and no input purchases required By Nathan Weaver, Canastota, New York — If you read Joel McNair’s column last month, you are expecting this article. I do not greatly disagree with the presentation on heavy supplemental feeding, and the numbers presented from the featured farms are impressive. I do not expect [...]

Charles Fletcher uses pasture probe to improve bottom line Purdy, Missouri — Especially when you’re feeding the stuff, most of you closely monitor the bunker, silo, bin, mow, bag, baleage line or whatever else holds the stored feed. Probably you aren’t quite as intense in keeping track of your inventory of growing pasture. With any [...]

This month’s question: What’s your flush-season grazing plan? Jon Bansen- The period of spring flush is probably by far the most important to manage correctly for a successful grazing season. An error we made the first couple of years grazing was always chasing over-mature grass. This led to a loss in milk production and a [...]

By Nathan Weaver, Canastota, New York — Slowly the puzzle of proper grass production from semi-permanent pastures appears to be pieced together. In the last decade we removed our farm from a forage/grain operation to a forage-only farm. We placed a heavy emphasis on forage harvestable by grazing cows. Initially we looked at the new [...]

Spring pasture management may be the most difficult task in farming. The weather is so variable that a management tactic based on calendar dates and specific strategies that worked last year may fail miserably this year. Grass availability can turn from shortage to surplus in the space of a few days, and it can rain [...]