Tag: Winter grazing

Help us welcome a new author: Victor Shelton, NRCS State Agronomist and Grazing Specialist in Indiana.

We began using MG way back in the early 90′s during the winter with stockpiled fescue on rented farms. Each year we came to trust more and more what we were doing until we eventually sold all of our hay equipment – one of the best decision we’ve ever made. It was the key to […]

The Lost Rivers Grazing Academy is a 4-day hands-on workshop for livestock operators and their advisers and consults that want to harvest and sell more of the sun’s energy through grazing, improve soil health, reduce erosion, and reduce costs, primarily on irrigated pastures. The Academy was first held in 1994 in the Lost River Valley, […]

Even though it’s only early August, we’re all thinking about what our fall and winter grazing and feeding is going to look like. One option is swath grazing, where instead of baling the cut forage, it’s left in the field in swaths. As Dr. Vernon Brown of Agriculture and AgriFood Canada says in this video, […]

Last fall, I hosted Victor Shelton at my farm. Victor is Indiana’s NRCS Grazing Specialist, a beef farmer, and the author of “Grazing Bites,” and lots of great articles in On Pasture. During our pasture walk, Victor and I discussed the effects of “Perpetual Novembers,” when the ground doesn’t freeze, killing frosts happen later, and […]

Thanks to the Beef Cattle Research Council of Canada for this article. It includes a lot of examples of how one producer is solving the problem of keeping his herd grazing through the season through rain, mud, snow and ice. You’ll also find ideas on weaning, handling and culling. Enjoy! Variable weather is something Dean […]

Ian Mitchell-Innes has been practicing Holistic Management for 20 years on his ranch in South Africa. He has made mistakes and wishes to share with Ranchers and Farmers how to avoid these costly mistakes He teaches Farmers and Ranchers how to FEED the whole – Grass,Animal,Soil surface,Sub soil,using animals at High and Ultra High Stock […]

We first shared this video from the Capital Resource Conservation District’s “Soil Health Project,” in July of 2015. In it, Russ Wilson talks about the challenges he faced when he bought a former crop farm that he wanted to use for multi-species grazing. With poor soil, he could barely grow feed for his livestock. But […]

Last week we started a series of articles about Cody and Deanna Sand and how the changes they’ve made since 2011 have gotten them out of debt (think $20,000 in carry over bills after all their calves were sold) to owing nothing AND having a lot more fun ranching. They started by changing their grazing […]

American economist and professor at the Harvard Business School, Theodore Levitt, said, “Creativity is thinking up new things; innovation is about doing new things”.  As a thinker and doer, Organic Dairyman Tom McGrath resembles this remark when it comes to out-wintering dairy cows and enhancing the bottom line.  What’s this fresh strategy revolutionizing the way […]

Did your small grain forages get away from you during the fall? It’s been a common problem this winter. Snow mold from overgrown winter annual forage is certainly a risk, but we still don’t recommend cutting or grazing in the middle of winter. You probably did your best with the information at hand. Much of […]

It’s been a pretty mild winter for most of the U.S. and Canada. With that in mind, here are two perspectives on what’s up with your pastures, and the management implications.

Using a well designed grazing cell & the right portable fence tools, I can generally feed the herd in about 25-30 minutes even with the ground frozen. No expensive machinery, No diesel fuel, No engines to start. Here I am with 400-some cows looking for breakfast on a beautiful crisp winter morning in the Pahsimeroi. […]

Hay feeding still ranks as one of the top costs of being in the cow-calf business in the U.S. The good news is we do see more and more livestock producers ‘Kicking the Hay Habit’ with each passing year. There is much more to kicking the habit than just deciding one day that you’re not […]

Want to make a quick dollar? “Stockpile grass!” says Dave Scott of Montana Highland Lamb and ATTRA’s National Center for Appropriate Technology. It’s half the cost of hay, doesn’t require a tractor or fuel, and frees up a lot of your time. As an added bonus, stockpiling can improve soil health indicators related to nutrient […]