Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomePasture HealthForageTransitioning Cropland to Pasture With Cover Crops

Transitioning Cropland to Pasture With Cover Crops

Tim Tobin of Swallow Hill Farm in Woodford, Virginia is following the advice of the Hanover-Caroline Soil and Water Conservation District to use summer annual cover crops as a tool for transitioning formerly cropped lands to pasture. The 7 species mix he used is good forage for his cattle and he’s found it to be a tremendous benefit to his operation.

Typically most of his pastures go dormant in the heat of summer and sometimes he’s even had to feed hay. But with the huge production of summer annuals, he’s been able to graze the annuals while resting his perennial pastures. In this video he describes the different mixes he’ll be using on different parts of the farm. He was going to turn 25 acres into perennial pastures but has decided to make that 10 acres so that he can continue with the summer annuals.

Enjoy this trip to Virginia…and sorry about all the crickets in the sound track. They were pretty enthusiastic about their part in the video!

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Kathy Voth
Kathy Vothhttps://onpasture.com
I am the founder, editor and publisher of On Pasture, now retired. My career spanned 40 years of finding creative solutions to problems, and sharing ideas with people that encouraged them to work together and try new things. From figuring out how to teach livestock to eat weeds, to teaching range management to high schoolers, outdoor ed graduation camping trips with fifty 6th graders at a time, building firebreaks with a 130-goat herd, developing the signs and interpretation for the Storm King Fourteen Memorial trail, receiving the Conservation Service Award for my work building the 150-mile mountain bike trail from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah...well, the list is long so I'll stop with, I've had a great time and I'm very grateful.

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