Articles – Graze magazine

May 6, 2025

Pushing the boundaries of grazing

Grazing 300-plus days a year in the north

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Loganville, Wisconsin — Darren Yanke and his family graze a grassfed beef herd in the hills of southwestern Wisconsin, and one of the farm’s aims is to feed as little hay as possible.

“My goal is to graze for 360 days a year,” Darren says. “I’m not sure if it’s gonna happen or not.”

Last year was the first 300-day grazing season, and he thinks there’s plenty of upward possibility. Darren guesses that 330 days of grazing would be a reasonable average, since this part of the country usually has a month sometime in the winter where things are iced over and grazing isn’t very feasible. Snowfall is usually moderate and the cows graze through the snow without issues.

Most people in his area feed hay for five or six months over the winter. Darren wants to use the money saved on hay for other pasture expenses including more winter watering spots so more parts of the farm are available for stockpile grazing.

Finding the limits of grazing days per year is just one way the Yankes are experimenting with the grazing operation to find new practices that work for the farm.

“We’re pushing the boundaries all the time,” he says. “I don’t want to be traditional. I want to keep pushing forward, doing what other people aren’t doing, staying in front of the curve.”

March 31, 2025

Building a first-generation dairy

Shipping milk and making cheese are a winning combination for the Webbs

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Enosburg Falls, Vermont — Tyler and Melanie Webb are first-generation dairy farmers. In fact, Tyler hadn’t ever milked a cow when his herd started calving, so he had to ask a neighbor to come over and show him how to use the milker.

But almost two decades into dairying, they are seasoned graziers with a spring-seasonal herd, an Organic Valley market, and an artisan cheese business.

The Webbs steward around 400 acres, with 275 owned and the rest rented. There are 160 acres of pasture and 120 acres for perennial stored forage, and the rest of the land is managed woodland or set aside for riparian, wildlife, and pollinator habitat. There are 70 milking cows here on the farm in northwestern Vermont.

“Efficient grazing machines”

The farm consists of mostly silt loams. Rocks abound (hence the name Stony Pond Farm), so sward change happens through frost seeding improved red and white clovers, not tillage and reseeding. Management is part of it too.

“Our main route for improving pastures is through stocking density and frequency of moves,” Tyler explains.

March 12, 2025March 12, 2025

Setting up for growth in grassfed

Changes to management and infrastructure are key for the Hershbergers

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Editor’s note: Graze likes to check in with previously featured farmers. Here’s an update from a northeastern Ohio grassfed dairy producer (Graze March 2020).

Fredericksburg, Ohio — Infrastructure and management changes have set the stage for David and Emily Hershberger’s dairy to grow.

The main goal is to open the door for the next generation.

“Our son got married, and he’d like to come home and farm,” David explains.

A new parlor, groundwork for freestall expansion, and management changes like fall-seasonal calving and nurse cows are part of pursuing that goal.

And since the couple and their 12-year-old daughter Eve are the only labor right now, those changes also make things more manageable from a labor standpoint.

February 7, 2025February 7, 2025

From once- to twice-daily milking

The Murrays spent their time on OAD on projects to make life easier

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Truxton, New York — Time is a limited commodity, and that’s one of the reasons some dairy farmers, including Ryan and Annie Murray (Graze January 2021), choose to milk once a day (OAD). With more cows than their 80-cow tie stall milking setup could hold in one batch, it was the most workable choice given their labor constraints back in 2020.

But instead of being a long-term fit, OAD milking ended up being a stepping stone back to more efficient twice-daily (TAD) milking with their expanding herd.

The Murrays had talked with a number of OAD graziers who told them that the key to success is good management of the additional time from milking less.

“It’s all about what you do with your time,” Annie says. “Lots of people use that time to make money. We didn’t earn money, but we spent time on projects that made twice-a-day milking easier.”

January 6, 2025February 7, 2025

Grazing success on a large scale

Jordan Settlage has found creative ways to make it work

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

St. Mary’s, Ohio — A decade ago Jordan Settlage started a dairy with seven cows. Today he’s milking 350 head on 400 acres with 270-300 days on pasture each year. Grazing has been key to profitability every step of the way.

Even back in elementary school, Jordan was sure that he wanted to be a dairy farmer. His father, John, grew up milking cows and wanted to make sure his son knew what he was getting into, so Jordan started helping out on a neighbor’s conventional dairy when he was 14.

He worked off and on at the dairy for a dozen years with a few years away for an Army tour of Iraq and college, and it confirmed for him that he wanted to milk cows and that he didn’t want to do it in confinement.

So Jordan dove into creating a grass dairy. He had a leg up, since there was a family farm to come home to and some existing infrastructure — his grandpa and uncle had milked until the late 80s on this farm before John took over the farm and did crops and pastured livestock.

The 1986-built milking parlor was still there, although the equipment had been gutted and sold. For just under $50,000, Jordan, with help from John, made the parlor usable again, including pouring the deck higher since the pit was too shallow.

December 6, 2024

Surprising growth with herdshares

Creambrook Farm has navigated growing pains and successes

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Middlebrook, Virginia — Five years ago, Ben and Kristen Beichler (Graze February 2020) were milking 32 cows once a day for a slowly growing raw milk herdshare called Creambrook farm, serving 470 families weekly about three years into their business venture. Today there are 3,400 families a week getting milk from 120 cows milked twice daily.

They’d just hired their first part-time employee back then, and today there are 14 on payroll, mostly full time, including Ben and Kristen.

“Kristen and I were laughing thinking over what’s changed,” Ben says. “In the last five years we’ve probably lived more life than any other five-year span.”

The Covid-19 pandemic produced the first big bump in sales.

“Demand absolutely exploded overnight,” Ben says. “We had already planned 2020 to be a growth year with new cows and equipment investments, so we were in a position to take advantage when the first waves came in, but interest was so strong it quickly overran us in terms of production and capabilities.”