Natural land care gaining popularity

By Janet McNally
One path to making a living with livestock is to be paid to graze other people’s properties. This month I’ll feature two graziers in very different parts of the country who employ goats in custom-grazing businesses.

Why goats? They are known for their ability to eat browse and weeds that cattle will not touch, and they are better browsers than sheep. Goats can be used to suppress noxious weeds and woody plants without competing directly with cattle for pasture.

Continue reading “Getting paid to graze”

Recent trials show it boosts production and aids health

by Allen Williams, Ph.D.

The vast majority of established pastures in the U.S. are dominated by what I would term a “near monoculture”, meaning that most of the forage yield, or biomass production, is obtained through two to three primary forages in the mix.

Natural prairies are a different story, as we see literally scores of plant species in mixes consisting of grasses, legumes and forbs. I have been on “species counts” in native prairie where experts identified more than 150 different plants, sometimes more than 200. Continue reading “Does pasture diversity matter?”

By Daniel Olson

Lena, Wisconsin—The benefits of annual cover crops, such as increased organic matter, soil porosity, and nitrogen creation, are well known. Over the past few years, pioneers in this field have championed “cocktail” mixes of a wide range of species, and they have achieved amazing results.

Maybe it’s my inner researcher here, but something about cocktails has always bothered me. I think it’s the idea that it seems too easy. We plant a bunch of different things with the knowledge that something will grow and quite possibly thrive. Continue reading “Putting some numbers to cover crop benefits”

The ‘principle of disruption’ can keep your pastures improving

by Allen Williams, Ph.D.

Progress can be a frustrating thing.

In our search for improved soil health and forage productivity, we look to certain grazing “systems” as the key to improvement. Many of you have implemented some form of intensive grazing — management-intensive grazing (MiG), rotational grazing, mob grazing or even adaptive multi-paddock grazing — in an effort to make progress in building soil health and increasing forage productivity. Continue reading “Shake up your grazing!”

What is your neighbor doing that you aren’t?

By Daniel Olson

Lena, Wisconsin — I know this is just a figure of speech, but there are times when your neighbor’s pastures look greener than yours. Or at least they seem to be substantially better. We all know that he isn’t smarter than you (he probably doesn’t even subscribe to this magazine) and he doesn’t work any harder (his barn lights don’t go on until 5:45 in the morning).

But there, on the other side of the fence, are some wonderfully beautiful pastures. Not only is this contrast embarrassing, it is expensive. If you are wondering how that neighbor got his pastures to grow so well, the following may include a few of his secrets. Continue reading “Why you might be green with envy”