Author: Karen Hoffman

Karen has a B.S. in Animal Science from Cornell with an emphasis on dairy cattle management and nutrition and an MS from Penn State where her thesis project investigated various grain feeding strategies to high producing dairy cows on a rotational grazing system. She spent 6 years with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango County, NY as a dairy management educator for 6 years. She now serves as Resource Conservationist - Animal Science for the USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service, where she has been for 15+ years. Karen's expertise is feeding management that keeps costs of production low. She also troubleshoots nutrition and management problems when needed, and provides educational presentations on grazing and feeding. She is co-author of the publications “Prescribed Grazing and Feeding Management for Lactating Dairy Cows” and NOFA-NY’s “Transitioning to Organic Dairy Self-Assessment Workbook” and “The Organic Dairy Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Transition and Beyond”. She also writes for Graze magazine addressing feeding questions, and participates in grazing research projects with Universities and USDA-Agricultural Research Service. Karen and her family run a grass-based farm Chenango County, NY raising polled Dorset sheep, heritage breed turkeys, laying hens, and a registered Holstein calf. She has a small number of milking Holsteins on a friend’s grass-based dairy farm as well.

June 19, 2017

Get a Better Grip on Soil Health in Just 5 Minutes

This article, along with the “Soil Health in a Minute” videos, was first published in June of 2014. We know you’ll enjoy them! As an animal science major at Cornell in the 1980’s, I took a course in soils. I’m not sure if it was the subject matter or the professor, but I just couldn’t […]

June 12, 2017

Graze or DIE!

Karen Hoffman of the Natural Resources Conservation Service shared this article with us in June of 2015. We’re pretty sure change is as hard as it ever was. Here’s why, and some additional thoughts about how you can get yourself to change. Over a year ago, a friend of mine who is interested in health […]

October 12, 2015

Prepping Livestock for Winter Feed

Help your livestock maintain health and productivity by thinking about their rumen microbes and what they need when they change to new feed sources.

June 22, 2015

Graze Or DIE

Over a year ago, a friend of mine who is interested in health and nutrition gave me an article entitled “Change or die”. Originally published in the May 2005 issue of Fast Company magazine, it was authored by Alan Deutschman, who has since written a book with the same title. The article was focused on […]

June 16, 2014

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.

September 23, 2013

Transitioning Dairy Cows From Pasture to Winter Feed

One of the many challenges you probably face with grazing is how to help the cows adjust to a new feed source in the fall. Changing from high-quality pasture to lower-quality stored forages is much like changing silos. If the change is made too quickly, milk production drops until the cows and the rumen microbes […]