October 23, 2017
What’s Left in Your Pastures Can Tell You What You Might Need to Do Differently
Here’s what you can look for in your pasture to see if your grazing management needs adjustment.
Author: Dave Scott
Dave Scott is a Livestock Specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT). Dave has 30 years experience with intensive grazing, including dairy and sheep. He has also served as a part-time consultant in management-intensive grazing, helping ranchers design and implement grazing systems that increased their stocking rates and net profits. Currently, Dave and his wife, Jenny, operate Montana Highland Lamb, a 200-ewe enterprise that markets over 50% of their grass-based natural lamb directly to the consumers in southwest Montana.
January 16, 2017
How to Tell When Your Lamb/Steer is Finished
This article was originally published on March 31, 2014. We’re sharing it again so all our new readers have a chance to see it. It goes well with this week’s piece about the new ATTRA/NCAT How-To booklet by Dave Scott, “Direct Marketing Lamb – A Pathway.” If you raise cattle instead of lambs, here’s a […]
November 7, 2016
The Lambulator: A Cut-Yield Calculator for the Lamb Direct Marketer
You’ve gone to great effort to raise a nice set of finished lambs and have them processed. Now what? It’s great if you can sell them all as wholes or halves. But maybe you can’t. How do you go about pricing individual cuts for profit? What is the smallest lamb that you should have in […]
March 31, 2014
Laying Hands on Them – How to Tell When Your Lamb is Finished
You’ve got the tools right there are the ends of your arms to help you figure out when your lamb is ready for market. Here NCAT’s Dave Scott tells you how to use them.
November 11, 2013
ATTRA’s Extended Cow Calf Calculator
Dave Scott, of the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) recently completed a series of articles for On Pasture about Intensive Grazing on Irrigated Pastures. In them he mentions the Extended Calf Calculator, and here he shows you how to use it.
October 14, 2013
Intensive Grazing – Putting it All Together, Or “Calling the Dance”
Dave Scott has been taking us through setting up an intensive grazing system that works, especially if you’re working with irrigated pasture. He’s already covered recovery periods and grazing periods, so now he takes us through stocking rates, adjusting for mother nature, and keeping track of where we’ve been.
October 7, 2013
Paddock Grazing Periods – Setting Up an Intensive Grazing System That Works
Dave Scott of ATTRA-NCAT does another great job of outlining how to make intensive grazing work for you in just a few simple steps. Here he covers figuring out grazing periods so you get the most out of your pastures. Enjoy!
October 7, 2013
Legumes and Soil Mycorrhizae
We all appreciate legumes and their marvelous ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and release it into the soil. But what happens after the legume plant releases this ammonium and nitrate? I blithely figured that into the soil they went and the grass roots just picked them up. Hardly so! What I considered the “roots” of […]
September 30, 2013
Setting Up an Intensive Grazing System That Works – Pasture Recovery Periods
Regardless of your irrigation status, you’ll find great tips here on improving spring pastures, getting more forage with less nitrogen, adding legumes and preventing and reducing parasite problems.
September 23, 2013
Intensive Grazing on Irrigated Pastures
Even if you’re not working with irrigation, this article has some great tips for transitioning to intensive grazing, stockpiling pasture, and considering the downsides. This is the first in a series from Dave Scott so stay tuned!