The Scoop View All →
Uh Oh! Plan B!
What happens when life comes up against a business plan? You develop flexibility!
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If You’re Reading This, You Have 142 People to Thank
Those are the people who have joined the On Pasture Community in the last 16 months. Some did it by signing up for a monthly payment of $5. Others signed up for the support level that suited them best and in return we sent them a picture of Kathy riding a cow, or a bumpersticker […]
Read More →We’re really biased
When you read something in the news, or watch a newscast on TV, or hear something from a friend, what you take from it depends on how much you trust that particular source. Your trust can be influenced by what you know about the source’s bias. Here at On Pasture, your trust in us is […]
Read More →People and Traffic and Bobcats, Oh My!
When the movers came to pack up our stuff so that we could move to Tucson, one of them tucked his pants into his socks. He was afraid of the spiders in the garage and that they might crawl up his pants legs. Another said, “Aren’t you afraid living here?” “Afraid?” I said, “What would […]
Read More →Bits of Your Heart
Sometimes, bits of my heart, often scattered across the country and around the world, come visit. Those moments when friends and family arrive are the joy of the bits of heart reuniting. This week we got to reunite with some friends who traveled through the area and stayed the night. Zip lines, four square, and […]
Read More →Since Chemo Ended
It’s been five months since chemo ended, and I don’t miss it one bit. Since chemo ended: I haven’t had to change a single diaper, because our youngest quit using them. Not missing them either. Our son lost his first tooth. And then his second. We planted our gardens, volunteered in the school garden, and […]
Read More →The Last Lawn-Mowing
In this week’s “Consider This” Kimberly Hagen asks a good question: “Why do humans love a well-manicured lawn?” Here’s Kathy’s answer based on her own obsession with mowing the lawn at the house she and her husband just left in Colorado.
Read More →Grazing Management View All →
Rehabilitating Degraded Rangelands With Managed Grazing
This article is from the SARE website and provides great information on how grazing can improve rangelands for the benefit of wildlife, visitors and ranchers alike.
Read More →Stockpiling Tall Fescue
With proper grazing management and well-timed fertilizer applications, stockpiling fescue can be a good way to get more forage and keep costs down.
Read More →Dealing With Summer Grazing Stress
Whether this is year one or twenty-one for your grazing system, this time of year provides serious management challenges. The days are HOT, the flies are getting cranked up, and the livestock are ducking for cover by 10 am. Eyes are watering, sides are heaving, there’s not much grazing happening. The humidity is an added […]
Read More →Using the Sun to Get Your Water – Easy Installation Ideas
It’s mid-summer, it’s hot, and that sun is bearing down on you. So why not turn all that energy into a way to keep your stock watered while reducing your work load?
Read More →Day Range Pastured Poultry – An Alternative to Chicken Tractors
Lots of producers use chicken tractors. The concept was popularized by Joel Salatin and the structure size and shape has been modified by many people. I used my own version when raising meat chickens in my backyard. It’s basically an open-floored enclosure that is moved once or twice a day around a pasture. Birds live […]
Read More →UH-OH! I’m running out of grass! What should I do?
First off, let’s not panic. You have options for stretching your forage supply. One or a combination of the options below could improve forage utilization and our production. While these suggestions are best for folks in my neck of the woods (Tennessee) by contacting your local NRCS or Conservation District, or your extension agent, you’ll be able […]
Read More →Flerds: Sheep and Cattle Grazing Together for Predator Control and Pasture Management
Multi-species grazing isn’t just about diversifying your operation and making good use of your pastures. It can also be a way to protect small ruminants from predation!
Read More →Should I Irrigate My Pastures?
Water can make more forage, but what’s the cost? Here are some tips to help you decide if you want to irrigate so that you can prep for this summer’s heat.
Read More →Pasture Health View All →
Today has been brought to you by the letter P: Planting peas in pasture
The puny pea can pack a powerful punch when it comes to nitrogen fixing in your pastures. Jeff Rasawehr of Center Seeds talks about peas and planting procedures for pasture productivity and profit.
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Using the Sun to Get Your Water – Easy Installation Ideas
It’s mid-summer, it’s hot, and that sun is bearing down on you. So why not turn all that energy into a way to keep your stock watered while reducing your work load?
Read More →Science backs profits from grazing cover crops
Cover crop profits range from $200-400/acre, depending on the crop Jeff Rasawehr plants. When he grazes those cover crops, he makes even bigger profits, and some scientists in Georgia back that up. Jeff has some suggestions for them, too!
Read More →The $200 Cover Crop Bump
Jeff Rasawehr (pronounced “Raise -a- veer”) farms 1500 acres in West Central Ohio, raising corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, and some beef. His goal is to produce beef in an ecologically sustainable way, and, of course, to be financially viable. His path towards that goal involves cover crops that improve his soil and become forage for his cattle. […]
Read More →Soil Balancing: Mistaken Conclusions That Seem Scientific
This is an article that is going to raise some folks’ blood pressure. Soil balancing, or BCSR, and William Albrecht have a big following, and you’d think that that many people couldn’t be wrong. But turns out, this theory just doesn’t hold up and is costing folks time and money they could better use elsewhere.
Read More →Five Minutes to a Better Understanding of Soil
We all know soil is important, but understanding it can take a lifetime. Here’s five minutes of video that will get you a good ways down the road.
Read More →Using Wood Ash to Improve Pasture Soils and Forages
Graziers in many parts of the country often deal with acidic soils that are low in several nutrients. Potassium is one of the soil nutrients that’s often present in amounts that limit pasture yield. In many parts of the United States and Canada, farmers could improve their pastures by occasionally applying wood ash. Wood ash […]
Read More →Livestock View All →
Carrot or Stick – What’s the Best Way to Get Your Livestock to Do Something?
The other day I was talking to a friend who was trying to figure out how to get her kid to quit yelling in the house. One idea was to tell him that if he yelled he would lose Gamebox time. But then, if he started out the day yelling, and he lost his game […]
Read More →7 Habits of Highly Effective Stock Handlers
Dr. Ryan Reuter of The Noble Foundation shares what you can do to become a good stock handler.
Read More →How to Get Your Chickens to Make the Best Use of Pasture
Changing the time when you feed your birds can increase their foraging, potentially increase weight gain, and reduce labor costs.
Read More →Breeding Matters
Like many of us in the business of grass-farming for livestock production, I have been preoccupied by a persistent question; Nature vs. Nurture, Breeding vs. Management, Genetics vs. Environment, all takes on the same dichotomy. Of course the answer is unequivocally, “YES.” The functionality of an animal for our particular purposes is absolutely the sum […]
Read More →Day Range Pastured Poultry – An Alternative to Chicken Tractors
Lots of producers use chicken tractors. The concept was popularized by Joel Salatin and the structure size and shape has been modified by many people. I used my own version when raising meat chickens in my backyard. It’s basically an open-floored enclosure that is moved once or twice a day around a pasture. Birds live […]
Read More →How to Install an Electric Poultry Fence
It’s quick and easy and protects your poultry from predators. Here’s how to put up an electric fence for poultry, and how to test to make sure it’s working. The same technique works for goat/sheep netting, so check it out even if you don’t want to fence in chickens.
Read More →Livestock Foraging Behavior: It may not be what you think!
Understanding how animals choose what to eat, based on learning and how their bodies work, will help you see why your animals are eating what they’re eating and give you a leg up on figuring out how to help them do more for you.
Read More →Flerds: Sheep and Cattle Grazing Together for Predator Control and Pasture Management
Multi-species grazing isn’t just about diversifying your operation and making good use of your pastures. It can also be a way to protect small ruminants from predation!
Read More →Money Matters View All →
Compost Powered Heat: A New And Proven Form of Renewable Energy
If you’ve got livestock, you’ve got manure and other compostables. Here’s another way to take advantage of this great resource.
Read More →Grass for Gas: Bioenergy in your tank
Are you a “Grass Farmer?” Well here’s a look at a way you can add new meaning to that term.
Read More →Getting That Local Food Into Town
This isn’t really a how to. It’s a how not. Sometimes we need those too. It helps us think about solutions that will work for us all.
Read More →3 Secrets of Free-Range Farms
If you’re writing an equation to determine whether or not a farmer will succeed, you might include these three things.
Read More →Why Our Incredibly Popular Farmers Market Food Truck Failed
Forrest says, “We need a word for: ‘Giving a dream a try, realizing it isn’t the right fit, and gracefully stopping before the dream explodes.’ Here he describes a venture that made him realize just because it’s successful, doesn’t mean you’re doing what you should be doing.
Read More →The Case of the Missing Corn Plant(s)
It costs a lot to get your crops in the ground. So when they don’t come up in uniform, tidy rows, it’s not just an issue of good-looking fields, it’s a money matter. Here are some ideas about what may have gone wrong.
Read More →How To Direct Market Your Beef
If you’ve been thinking about direct marketing your beef, here’s a great resource written by an Arizona rancher that will give you what you need to get started.
Read More →Sweet Swine Success
As farmers and direct marketers, the Nottermans of Snug Valley Farm have expanded their existing pork production and marketing by 900% in the last three years. They are now marketing pasture-raised heritage pork to customers and restaurants from Hardwick to Burlington, VT. Their expectation is that within the next two years, they will increase their […]
Read More →Consider This View All →
Don’t Feed 9 Billion People. Feed the Soil.
Tired of all that pressure? Here’s a solution that will take some of the load off, and still feed 9 Billion people.
Read More →Home Grown Fuel and Feed
Last year, Roger Rainville fueled all his equipment with biodiesel from oilseed crops grown on his farm. Even more exciting to him than being 100% self-sufficient is that all that fuel only cost $1.71 per gallon.
Read More →Help Save This Ranching Family
At the end of the month, the National Park Service at Point Reyes National Seashore will close down Drakes Bay Oyster Farm which has operated in Drakes Bay for almost 100 years. This comes in spite of the fact that 85% of the community wants to keep the farm and that all of the claims that the […]
Read More →Low Impact Milk
Cashew shells and oregano to reduce the carbon footprint of milk? Really?
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You Can Leave the Rototiller in the Barn Next Spring If You Start Planning Now
Whether you’re planting for customers, or just for you and your family, here’s how you can get the soil benefits of growing no-till veggies.
Read More →Once Bitten
Lyme disease – It’s a scary thing! Here’s a cautionary tale from the Grass Whisperer about his tick encounter, along with information about how ticks manage to dig themselves in, and how quickly you need to remove ticks to reduce your chances of getting diseases from them. You’ll also find out if it works to trade grazing information to cover your tick health care costs.
Read More →Pastoral Icon or Wooly Menace? Are Sheep Destroying the Planet?
In a recent Opinion piece in the New YorkTimes (Pastoral Icon or Wooly Menace), author Richard Conniff describes British environmentalist George Monbiot’s problem with sheep. According to Monbiot, because of overgrazing by sheep, the deforested uplands, including a national park, looked “like the aftermath of a nuclear winter.” Monbiot’s self-described “unhealthy obsession with sheep” has […]
Read More →The Funnies View All →
Cowaramarup in Cow Suits
I don’t know which is funnier: the name of this town, Cowaramarup, Australia, or that 1,352 people who live there dressed up in cow suits to achieve a new Guinness World Record. Sadly for those in Northern Virginia, this far outpaces their previous record of 470. And the folks in Simcoe, Ontario who set the original […]
Read More →Our Alter Egos
We like being On Pasture when we go online. Who do you turn into when you visit the internet? If you’re on a tablet, here’s the link.
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Date Night Anyone?
We’re all so busy this time of year. It’s important to make time for that special someone.
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Recipes for What Everyone Says They Want For Dinner
I know! Don’t you wish these recipes existed?! And of course the leftovers from these dishes are so delicious too! By Hilary Price, Rhymes With Orange Seriously, we know you’re running around like crazy with all the chores you have this time of year. So here’s an article we did earlier this year that talks about […]
Read More →Jazz For Cows
The New Hot 5, a U.S.-based jazz band is also popular with cows! And here’s the link for tablet users.
Read More →Do You Have to Be Naked to Be the Boss?
This Dad is re-enacting conversations he has with his 2 year old daughter, with the help of a grown man. It makes for some pretty silly stuff. Enjoy! Here’s the link for those folks using tablets.
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