By Lee Rinehart, NCAT Agriculture Specialist Resilient farms are based on diversity of life, and while much of the focus of agricultural sustainability of late has been on diversity of crops, forages, and soil microbial populations, not much has been said about the diversity of grazing species. Multispecies grazing takes…
By Kevin Schilthuis • Lovell, Wyoming We are farming irrigated entisols, which are known to have high mineral content but little biological activity. We would much rather be farming the more productive mollisol soils, but since you play the hand that you were dealt, we have developed a “mollisolve cocktail”…
Grasses are king when it comes to growing cover crops for supplemental grazing. In addition to being the highest yielding family of cover crops, they are vital in reaching other cover cropping goals such as reducing erosion, building organic matter, and suppressing weeds. Warm-season C4 plants such as sorghum sudan…
When people think of grazing forages, they often think of fencing the whole field with one location for water and mineral and continuously grazing the whole herd until all the forage is eaten. This type of grazing can be destructive to soil health and productivity as it leads to compaction,…
One of the most widely reaped benefits of cover crops is providing valuable supplemental forage to grazing animals. Well-planned annual cover crop mixes can provide highly nutritious available forage when perennial grass pastures are either unproductive, poor in quality, or in need of rest. The most critical period for perennial…
By Tim Goodnight • Pharo Cattle Company The Program: In early 2018, Tyson Foods approached Cactus Feeders about developing a grassfed beef program due to growing retail demand. Cactus quickly realized that to produce premium grassfed beef they were going to have to select the best genetics available, improve soil…
When people hear of grazing forages, they often think of fencing the whole field with one location for water and mineral and continuously grazing the whole herd until all the forage is eaten. This type of grazing can be destructive to soil health and productivity as it leads to compaction,…
Livestock Grazing & Stocking Rates With an array of highly palatable forage species in our arsenal, we can design a mixture that will provide premium quality forage to your animals throughout year. To best determine the quantity and quality of the forage, we suggest taking a forage sample. We have…
If you want to cut your crop input costs, build your soils in a hurry, diversify your crop rotation, and not be subject to low commodity prices, you might consider converting some of your marginal crop acres to a full season grazing program. There are many options for doing this…
Improving Pasture Health: Bring back Dung Beetles! By Brett Peshek Range and pasture land make up around 27% of all the acres in the lower 48 states. Typically in the Midwest, rangeland only exists because the topography is too steep or rough to farm. It’s also safe to say that…
