Topics
Grazing management
No matter what species of livestock you have, proper pasture management is
essential for a successful grazing program. Intensively managed grazing goes
beyond what grandpa used to do! Here's a sampling of articles on grazing management
that have appeared in Graze:
Art
Thicke does it his way.
What Jim Gerrish has learned.
Research shows streambank grazing can improve water
quality.
Charlie Opitz on keeping up with spring grass.
Pastures can be managed to improve both bird habitat
and profit.
Solving
the permanent pasture puzzle.
Dairy
No other publication does dairy grazing like Graze! Ideas for grazing
management, pasture systems design, labor saving tips, low-cost milking facilities,
supplementation, breeds and breeding, all of this and more is regularly addressed
in Graze. Several of our regular writers are leading dairy graziers
who tell us what works for them, and what doesn't. Here's a sampling:
AFT's Cove Mountain Dairy successfully using "one-shot"
ration.
A small farm stands tall.
Dan Vosberg saw a 2,000-lb. production jump with
switch to mid-day silage.
Converting your stall barn to a low-cost parlor.
A
start-up dairy model for the future.
No-grain
dairy: potential benefits, but handle with care.
Tips
for getting cows bred.
Beef
Some publications say there's only one way to do beef grazing. We don't believe
it! Different situations and different goals require different tactics, and
many ideas can work. Here's a sampling of Graze articles on grazing-based
beef production and marketing:
Different "grass-fed" beef categories require differing
strategies.
Aerial seeding of corn and other strategies for grazing
year-round in the Corn Belt.
Oddball cowboy practices.
Grass-fed
beef: What's possible, what isn't.
Organic
Access to pasture is required for certified-organic ruminants, and with organic
grain prices going through the roof, it certainly pays to feed less grain
and more forage through improved grazing management. Four of the nation's
leading organic-certified dairy graziers address production questions in our
"Organic forum" and we regularly publish articles on cutting-edge
organic producers and organic industry issues. Here's a samping:
Well
fed, no-grain organic Holsteins.
Organic
forum: What are you doing to reduce supplementation costs?
Organic
needs to do what people think we're doing.
No
grain, no problem.
Sheep
Grazing-related management offers plenty of opportunities to reduce labor
and increase lamb profits. Directing our sheep coverage is Janet McNally,
one of the nation's leading sheep graziers. Janet is always exploring new
ways of doing things, and here are a couple of examples:
Rebuilding ewe condition in the fall.
What to watch for in winter sheep grazing.
Gain
without grain: options for finishing lambs.
Hogs
Joel grew up on a hog farm, and says there's simply nothing wider than the
gap between great-tasting, pasture-raised pork and its mushy, confinement-raised
cousin! Our lead expert on pastured pork is Jim Van Der Pol, who produces
and direct-markets pork from his Minnesota farm. Here are a couple of examples:
Setting up the gestating sow grazing system.
Changing pastured pig behavior through genetics.
Pastured poultry
We're increasing the amount of attention paid to pasture-raised poultry. We
see pastured poultry as offering opportunities as a great sideline for a ruminant
grazing operation.
Mike aims high with pastured poultry.
Marketing
There are lots of opportunities to sell grass-fed meat and milk products.
But be careful—don't buy all of the hype from people with books to sell!
We prefer to deal with realistic stories that dwell on both the opportunities
and the problems involved with different ways of selling your products. Then,
you can decide what's best! A sample article or two:
Fork Farm's experience in following the Salatin direct
marketing model.
Learning in the CLA school of hard knocks.
It all comes down to flavor.
Grass-fed:
with imports coming, it's time to go local.
"Plain and Simple" and "Conversations
with the land"
There's more to grazing than money. Columnists Jim Van Der Pol, David Kline
and Nathan Weaver offer their thoughts on the art and science of grazing,
along with the world at large. Here's one of Jim's thought-provoking pieces:
Musing on Dad's mistakes.
Where
farmers and oil connect.
Our
pursuit of success versus our boys.
Too
much cheaper, not enough better.
The Graze advisors
One of our most popular features. Each issue, our panel of working graziers,
ranging from an organic milk producer to a large stocker beef operator, address
a specific grass, livestock or business management question. Their answers
are often surprising, and always informative.
What's
your flush season grazing plan?
Please check out our Back Issues page for a listing of articles on all of these topics, plus more.