Dairy Cattle

Harvesting, processing and packaging your product is different than what is typically done for other meat you harvest. With this article, Sandra points out the challenges and then how to be successful.

Contrary to what you’ve been told, leafy spurge does not cause harm to cattle, and with a little training, they can and will eat it. So why not turn that pest into forage? Here Kathy shares what she’s learned about getting cattle to eat leafy spurge over her decade of teaching cows to eat weeds.

This is the third of a five-part of posts regarding veal production for small-scale farms and why educated eaters dedicated to local foods and sustainable agriculture should be eating veal as well as beef. Here Sandra covers the care and feeding of calves.

This is the second of a five-part series on veal production for small-scale farms and why educated eaters dedicated to local foods and sustainable agriculture should be eating veal as well as beef. Here Sandra covers veal-raising facilities and equipment, where to get your calves, and how to feed and transport them.

This is the first in a series of posts regarding veal production for small-scale farms and why educated eaters dedicated to local foods and sustainable agriculture should be eating veal more than beef.

We want to know what you think of this practice, and what you do in your dairy, so be sure to check out the survey at the end of the article!

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 […]

Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus can cause early embryonic death, congential defects and abortion in pregnant cattle, and fever, diarrhea, mouth blisters, and weight loss in infected herd members. APHIS has estimated that it can cost producers $400 per cow if it infects a herd. Here’s one farmer’s story about surviving its impact.

While this video targets dairy graziers, anyone raising livestock on pasure can benefit from spending 5 minutes with this video. You’ll learn how to do the quick and easy math to figure out how big your pastures should be to meet your animals’ needs, factoring in fast or slow regrowth through the grazing season.