The Scoop View All →
Where to get good grazing advice
As we near the start of the Spring grazing season, more folks have questions about setting up their grazing, watering, and fencing systems. I know, because I see those questions popping up on Facebook groups I follow. Loads of answers follow, but as one person wrote, those answers don’t necessarily fit for everyone or every […]
Read More →Learning to speak another language is good for graziers
This week we’ve got three articles about communicating in another language. First, Greg Judy talks to us about fence chargers, using a language put together by electrical engineers. If you don’t know what a volt or a joule is or why we care, I translate this language into something more useful for the every day […]
Read More →Remembering Chip Hines
I recently learned that Arlen Chip Hines passed away last fall after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. And while this comes some months late, I don’t want to let his passing go without acknowledging the contribution he made to my life and to the lives of so many others. Chip was born and raised on […]
Read More →Coming in March: Online Grazing Program Focused on Dairy Herds
Survey respondents asked for more information on dairy grazing. I’m working on it, but in the meantime, here’s a really great alternative! Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Regional Dairy Specialists are presenting a six-webinar series covering the ins and outs of grazing. You’ll get tips for improving the health and productivity of your herd and pastures […]
Read More →Google Translates On Pasture
To the reader who responded to our survey asking if I could add a Google Translate button, thank you so much for your suggestion. Yes! It turns out I can install a button! In fact it only took me about ten minutes to figure out what I needed to do and get the button installed. […]
Read More →Fertility Matters
Since soil fertility is a hot topic, this week we’ve got three articles to help you out. First, we take a look at the history of synthetic fertilizer and bust a myth going around about its impact on soil microbes. Then we look at compost tea and whether or not farmers have success with it […]
Read More →Putting Your Grazing Jigsaw Puzzle Together
The holiday season is traditionally a time when my Mom and I do jigsaw puzzles together, and this year, it’s extended into January. We’ve done some old ones, some new ones, and exchanged some with a friend up the street from my folks’ house too. And that’s how we found our favorite kind. They’re made […]
Read More →Giving Graziers What They Want
As you’ll see from the Working Cows Podcast we’re sharing this week, providing the right information at the right time is a tricky business. You have to know what graziers want, how much time they have for reading or listening, and then do all the work to put together the information in a format that […]
Read More →Grazing Management View All →
Modern Methods of Getting Uniform Use of Rangeland – Part 1
In the paper he presented at the Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Society of Range Management, in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1953, Robert E. Williams said, “Getting uniform use of ranges is a problem that has existed since the range was first stocked with domestic animals. It is still one of the most important […]
Read More →Greg Judy has answers for your fence charger questions!
As we’re heading into grazing season, fence chargers are on our minds. So, here’s Greg Judy with a video on fence chargers and how he chooses them, and how he makes sure he’s got good ground going to them. I’ve added a slightly edited transcript below, for those who prefer to read instead of watch. […]
Read More →Plant growth under rotational grazing
ALERT: A little more science, but this time we take it to the next step – using science as background for creating a grazing plan that is sustainable for the pasture plants and our livestock.
Read More →Collect More Sunshine to Grow More Grass
ALERT: It’s science time again and we’re going to show you what you need to know to use your livestock to manage your pasture solar collectors so they’re always catching the maximum amount of sunlight.
Read More →Turn Sunshine Into $ by Understanding How Plants Grow
In preparation for the 2021 grazing season, let’s go over a little science about how your pasture plants grow. It’s something every grazier should know and we’ve added some ideas about how you can use this information to get more out of your grazing program.
Read More →Fran Fritz on Trying Things and Choosing How To Do Them
Listening to Fran Fritz, it’s clear her motto is, “Try.” And so she does, even when it means she’s the only one trying something. It’s a motto that’s good for all of us to hear, and maybe take on as our own. Fran was born and raised in Iroquois, South Dakota. After high school she […]
Read More →As Little as One Week’s Work a Year Can Significantly Improve Riparian Health
Riparian areas are those narrow strips of vegetation that surround creeks, streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. They’re very productive areas, and important wildlife habitat. Healthy riparian areas mean good water quality for everyone downstream too. They’re also easy to damage with bad grazing management. That’s why, in recent years, we’ve seen an uptick in regulations […]
Read More →Does Cattle Grazing Reduce Fire Fuels and Fire Danger?
The last few fire seasons have clearly demonstrated that fires are coming more frequently and at sizes that challenge our ability to fight and/or control them. While grazing has been considered and even sometimes used as a fire prevention tool, the actual success and impact have not been clearly documented. This research is another step […]
Read More →Pasture Health View All →
Honey locust pods as part of a complete (livestock) breakfast
“And all trees bear an awful big crop which the stock like so well that they will break down the fence to get them.” -J Russell Smith, Tree Crops (1929) If you’re a grazier in all but the most frozen regions of the country, or perhaps the most sweltering parts of Florida, the honey locust […]
Read More →When your plants talk, listen!
“Ouch,” says the once tall range plant that was just bitten off for the fifteenth time. It says, “If you don’t stop, I’m going to die.” Interesting, plants don’t talk with words, but they do communicate just by their appearance. After all, don’t people also communicate with body language? This plant talk thing is a […]
Read More →How much feed can Honey Locust add to your stockpile?
“The tree grows in a Bermuda pasture and is always loaded in the fall with luscious fruit. The cows and hogs stand under it, always ready to devour every pod that falls. The tree is very large and very, very beautiful. The cows improve in milk and the hogs in weight when the locusts ripen, […]
Read More →Impacts of Fall and Winter Grazing on Spring Regrowth
It might be early February, but I’m already thinking about new spring forage growth and I guarantee the livestock are too. In the past, we’ve discussed the impact of fall management on the next spring growth and production, but how much impact does it really have? There are a lot of factors that influence spring […]
Read More →Collect More Sunshine to Grow More Grass
ALERT: It’s science time again and we’re going to show you what you need to know to use your livestock to manage your pasture solar collectors so they’re always catching the maximum amount of sunlight.
Read More →Is Compost Tea a Good Way to Add Nutrients and Microbes to Soil?
Last week’s article on the results of on-farm research about the value of compost tea raised some questions from readers. To answer them, I’ve brought in Robert Pavlis. Robert has a background in chemistry and biochemistry, is a Master Gardener, and author of the book, Soil Science for Gardeners, an easy-to-read, practical guide to the […]
Read More →Synthetic Fertilizer – Where it Comes From and What it Does and Doesn’t Do
This week John Marble writes about the economics of adding fertilizer to pastures, so we thought it was a good time to take a closer look at nitrogen and fertilizer. This piece was inspired by some info John provided about nitrogen and it’s potential impacts. A Little Background In his 1898 inaugural address as president […]
Read More →It’s Time to Start Thinking About Frost-Seeding Legumes
This is especially for the readers who responded to the survey saying they’d like to know how to introduce legumes into pasture. Enjoy! (And if you haven’t filled out the survey yet, here’s your chance!) Frost seeding is one of the least expensive ways to enhance the stand of legumes in your pastures. It is […]
Read More →Livestock View All →
Are parasites a limiting factor in your flock/herd?
The parasites that infest sheep can be an enormous drag on sheep production. Year in and year out, they probably cause more death and disease in some producers’ lamb crops than any other single factor, including predators. The days when the answer to parasite management was to drench all the sheep every month are behind […]
Read More →May/June calving is better for the bottom line
Listen to the seven ranchers in this video and you’ll hear the same reason for calving in May/June: Profit, Profit, Profit. Their gross margins are better because they don’t have to spend money on infrastructure to support wintery calving conditions. As Keith Reuer says, if you’re building a barn because calving in a blizzard is […]
Read More →What does the cow say?
Alexandra Green sees the humor in her work when she declares that someday she hopes to be a “cowmoonicator.” Green has been studying the vocal behavior of dairy cattle. Her work has shown that individuals have distinct voices, and that there are specific “moos” that communicate information. Working with a herd of 18 Holstein-Friesian heifers […]
Read More →Practical Advice For Growing a Parasite Resistant Herd
Some time back, I wrote about grazing management to reduce parasites, and in particular liver flukes. These modest management changes appears to be a simple way to reduce parasite populations and help us when parasites have developed resistance to the wormers we relied on in the past. To refresh your memory, here are the practices […]
Read More →Moving Bulls Safely
Thanks to the Beef Quality Assurance program for this helpful video about how to be safe around bulls. For those of you who have slow internet speeds, or who prefer reading to watching, I put together a transcript for you, below. Enjoy! Handling bulls is a really different situation and each bull’s going to be […]
Read More →Goat Kidding Tips – And an Idea for Timing Births That Works No Matter What You Raise
Back in 1998, when I was two years into my research project looking at the best ways to manage goats to build firebreaks and manage vegetation, a fellow Utah State University researcher gave me 35 does because he was done with his own research. To my project partner and I it seemed like the next […]
Read More →Newborn Resuscitation Dos and Don’ts
This article comes to us from the Beef Cattle Research Council of Canada. We’ll be including future articles in this series that include newborn calf management practices and intervention strategies to help producers create positive calving outcomes. For those of you raising small ruminants, check out these resuscitation tips and then check the link for […]
Read More →Baby It’s Cold Outside! Watch Out For Livestock
The Polar Vortex is headed our way, potentially bringing very cold weather. Here’s what you need to know.
Read More →Money Matters View All →
May/June calving is better for the bottom line
Listen to the seven ranchers in this video and you’ll hear the same reason for calving in May/June: Profit, Profit, Profit. Their gross margins are better because they don’t have to spend money on infrastructure to support wintery calving conditions. As Keith Reuer says, if you’re building a barn because calving in a blizzard is […]
Read More →Business Planning Made Less Painful
If you’re dreaming of starting a grazing operation, if you’ve ever asked “what kind of animals should I raise?” if you’re considering adding a new enterprise, or would like to get a loan to expand, a business plan is in your future. Why? Business planning helps you ask questions that clarify where you want to […]
Read More →Here’s the One Number That Correlates Directly to Profitability
Dallas Mount has a question: “If you could only show me one number on your ranch that directly correlated to the profitability of your cow-calf operation, what would that number be?” He says that traditionally folks assume the answer is weaning weight or price received for calves. But it turns out they’re wrong. The answer […]
Read More →Do You Know Who Your Market Is?
Marketing is the life blood of any farming enterprise. As cattle producers we have sold most of our stuff at the sale barn. We have sold some on a couple of video sales but were not even a little satisfied. Last year we sold some calves to a young couple who are just starting to […]
Read More →Grazing Business Instructions for the New Year
As you opened gifts this Christmas, some may have included instruction manuals, often full of ridiculous legal jargon. Those manuals aren’t very useful and tend to get thrown out with the used wrapping paper and boxes. But what if you got an instruction manual that was actually useful to your grazing operation? I’m not talking […]
Read More →New Ideas to Solve Old Problems
John Marble focuses on helping us take a new look at things we might take for granted. Examples include his thoughts on paddock design and moving livestock, and his article “From Minimal To Mob – Lifestyle and Economic Considerations for Designing your Grazing Program” where he gets us to think about how many times a […]
Read More →Farm Data: A Little Can go a Long Way to Making Good Decisions
We all know that the explosion of big data retention and analysis is affecting our daily lives, but can your farm data help you with your business? YUP. As the brilliant Doc. Brown stated in the documentary Back to the Future, “you don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been.” […]
Read More →Record Keeping and the Importance of Journaling
In keeping with the spirit of the Thanksgiving week, here’s a little something about how record keeping can make us remember the past and be grateful. There have been, over the years, many discussions of the importance of records in the livestock business. There are production records. There are breeding and birthing records. There are […]
Read More →Consider This View All →
Free Grazing 101 ebook and online courses coming soon!
This spring, beginning graziers will have a new, free resource to help them get started on the right foot. The National Grazing Lands Coalition, On Pasture and Yvette Gibson are working together to bring you an ebook and two online courses. Online Course Yvette Gibson is a pioneer in teaching field-based science online, and has […]
Read More →Baby jumping spiders suckle milk from their moms
No, I don’t expect we’ll be milking spiders in the future. But it’s fun to I learn something new and surprising about life on this planet!
Read More →A Writer’s Ripening – and answers to a conservation planning survey
Writers are a funny lot. We’re driven to put thoughts down on paper and we each develop our own techniques for inviting in the muse and then working with her. Troy Bishopp is at his desk in the middle of the night – ripening, and answering questions, whether it’s a conservation planning feedback survey, or the question of how he even writes at 4 am. I hope you’ll enjoy seeing his process, and take a moment to think about his answers to the survey.
Read More →Is Increased Production Worth the Cost of the Fertilizer?
I recently had the pleasure of hosting a pasture walk for a group of University students, young people who wanted to chat about plants, animals, grazing, fencing, water…in other words, all the things I am constantly talking about. Our conversation included bits of philosophy too, and some thoughts about the direction of our industry. Somewhere […]
Read More →Working Cows Podcast With Clay Conry, Kathy Voth and Tip Hudson
Have you ever wanted to see behind the scenes of the publications or podcasts that you listen to? Well here’s your chance! Back in November of 2020, I spent an hour with Clay Conry and Tip Hudson talking about the work we do to provide information and support to the grazing community. Clay is the […]
Read More →Thoughts and Lessons From Decades of Farming
I met Don and Betty Ashford in September of 2014 when I went to Louisiana to talk about how to train cows to eat weeds. Betty made Monkey Bread for me, I fed her and all the pasture walk participants cricket brownies and fried larvae, and the cows learned to eat horse nettle, teaweed/prickly sida, […]
Read More →You Never Know How Things Will Work Out – But They Usually Do
These stories from Don Ashford remind us all that life is a winding road, and as the scenery changes, we change with it. It’s a good reminder that resilience lives in us, helping us move on and keep going. Karen, our daughter, was born in Sept. of 1959 and we moved to the Dixon place […]
Read More →30 Years of Experiments Predict Crop Response to Rising Atmospheric Carbon
This research covers implications for the pasture “crops” we raise to feed our livestock.
Read More →The Classic by NatGLC View All →
Make calving more fun and less work
This week we share some of the economic reasons for moving calving time to May. But John Marble has noticed that talking about economics – a discussion of costs, inputs, margins, and all that other stuff that either: 1) Puts people to sleep, or 2) Makes them mad as hell. So he’s come up with […]
Read More →Can grazing be a low-input pasture renovation tool?
I’ve seen questions lately about how to revive old, worn fields. So, from March 2015, here’s the results of one woman’s research on using her herd to bring back an old pasture. In 2009, Jane Hansen received a North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant to see if she could renovate a long […]
Read More →Are you choosing the right females for your herd?
This article comes to us from March of 2017. While Steve Freeman focuses on cattle, the principles he’s using can be adapted to other livestock as well. Two of my favorite subjects are cattle and baseball. Two of my favorite books on these subjectsare “The Lasater Philosophy of Cattle Raising” by Laurie Lasater and “MoneyBall” […]
Read More →The Benefits of Calving on Grass in Pasture
From our friends in Alberta Agriculture in Canada, here’s a 5-minute video of ranchers describing why they prefer May calving on grass. Jess Hudson of Hudson Ranch in Bashaw, Alberta describes it like this: “The grass system for me, with good weather, works really well. The cows will spread all out, have their calf, mother […]
Read More →Here’s What Would Happen if We Got Rid of All Livestock in the U.S.
From our 2018 archives, here’s what the research tells us. What if we got rid of all livestock? Would that reduce greenhouse gases? And what would we eat instead? Those are some of the questions that authors Robin White and Mary Beth Hall tried to answer. To see what would happen they modeled a United […]
Read More →Is Compost Tea Good for Soil Health?
This article is a condensed version of a series of a two article series from January of 2016. (Here is Part 1 and Part 2.) The results of this on-farm research are similar to the result Greg Judy described to me when he worked with Elaine Ingham on a trial of compost tea on his […]
Read More →Riparian Grazing – Why don’t we do the right thing?
From March of 2018, Troy Bishopp takes a look at growing concerns over riparian management and its effect on water quality, farmers and ranchers are facing tightening regulations and restrictions on grazing next to streams and water bodies. Here, Troy wonders if we, as graziers, are doing all we can to protect water quality and […]
Read More →Orchestrating a Diversified Livestock Operation
Another request from readers was to talk some more about diversified or multi-species grazing operations. This article from Sandra Miller is the first we’ll share this year. Stay tuned for more! On old MacDonald’s Farm, there were all types of animals—here a moo, there an oink and over there a cluck, cluck—but managing multiple species […]
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