Consider This

A few weeks ago we introduced Robert E. Williams and Part 1 of his article in the Journal of Range Management about best grazing management practices. Though “Modern Methods of Getting Uniform Use of Ranges” was written 68 years ago, the principles he includes still hold true today. In fact, much of what he writes […]

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 […]

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!

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.

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

This research covers implications for the pasture “crops” we raise to feed our livestock.

Thanks to the University of Texas at Austin for this article. A new type of soil created by engineers at The University of Texas at Austin can pull water from the air and distribute it to plants, potentially expanding the map of farmable land around the globe to previously inhospitable places and reducing water use […]

There are lots of reasons for adding livestock to landscapes. Grazing crop residue and cover crops is a low-cost way to recycle nutrients back into the soil and increase crop production. It’s also an easy way to reduce residue for more successful no-till seeding. Land managers can use livestock to manage weeds, improve water quality, […]

A year ago I listened to an interview with author David Weinberger on CBC radio. The host was asking questions about Weinberger’s book ‘Too Big To Know.’ Weinberger posed the question, “Who is the smartest person in the room?” His answer….the room! In the book, the author talked about how the internet and our access […]

Oregon Forage and Grassland Council’s free Zoom series “Lunch With Forages” kicked off last week with a look at a potential new revenue stream for graziers: trading good grazing practices for cash. Debbie Reed, the Executive Director of Ecosystem Services Marketing Consortium, was the featured speaker and she described the carbon market and making it […]

I was sitting here thinking about how I’m glad I don’t wear my mistakes on my person. Like many of my farming kin, I have done some really thoughtless things on the farm. It seems that the end of a long day, under the sun, with deadlines looming, animals needing to be fed, and bills […]

Last spring we shared a series of stories from the American Solar Grazing Association on the increase in solar developments, and how sheep grazing is becoming an important part of managing vegetation so solar panels work most effectively. The first in the series described the opportunities and potential income for sheep graziers. In Part 2, […]