Welcome to On Pasture!

Welcome to On Pasture, an online publication that translates research and experience into grazing practices you can use now. On Pasture is brought to you by many of the same people whose articles you’ve read before or who you’ve seen at grazing conferences. Over the years, because of our work and our travels, we’ve spent time together and our conversations often turn to how to make life easier and better for people raising livestock on pasture. Here’s what we’ve talked about:

One: There’s a lot of information out there to sift through and, without spending time reading and listening to others, it’s hard for a grazier to decide what to do.

Two: Not all the information out there passes the sniff test. Some of it seems designed to sell a product or a practice that might not be worthwhile, but again, without doing a lot of research, it’s hard to be sure what’s good and what’s not.

With On Pasture, we’ve decided to change that. We’re taking on the job of sifting through the piles of research and grazing practices, translating them into ideas that can work for you, and then putting together the simple steps for getting started. We know that scientific research is not everyone’s favorite topic, but used judiciously it can make the difference between wasting your time on something “magical”, or doing something that really works. So we’ll show you what the data means, in language that anyone can understand, and what it means for your day to day life. Likewise, when we share experiences from other farmers and ranchers, we’ll share their data in pictures and/or or their bottom line, so you’ll know that what they’re doing has a solid foundation. And since everyone’s operation is different, we’ll give examples of how you can extrapolate the results of research or what other farmers are doing to your own place. (More on our editorial policy here.)

The editorial staff and authors working on bringing you On Pasture have plenty to do, so we wouldn’t be doing this if potential readers hadn’t already told us it was important to them. When we sent out a survey, respondents told us that, though 98% of them are reading other magazines and newsletters, that same 98% would like to have a publication that translates research and experience into grazing practices they can use right now.

So that’s what you’ll get from us: the best ideas and research, from the people who’ve been successful doing them, documented so you know they work, and translated into steps that you can start using right away.

We look forward to working with you and we encourage you to support the articles  and authors you like, as well as the folks who sponsor us!

Your Editors,

Rachel Gilker and Kathy Voth

This publication is all about you, so let us know if you have something special you’d like us to address.