Switch to multi-species grazing providing a better quality of life By Martha Hoffman Kerestes Greenville, West Virginia — Starting their own grass dairy from scratch was a dream come true for Aaron and Tara Helmick. But the dairy became a burden despite a decade of economic success. The problem was a lack of quality of life. Aaron says he has very few memories of his second and third children before they were four years old because he was working so much that he was barely in the house. Aaron and Tara started the low-input dairy as newlyweds in 2010 with an FSA loan and a 10-year lease on 470 ..read more

By Joel McNair Organic and grassfed production practices have done great things for thousands of farmers and ranchers. Millions of consumers have benefited, too. But looking at this from a broader perspective — and I think most organic and grassfed people do look at things this way — there’s a big problem here: Very few acres are being farmed and ranched as organic and/or grassfed. The things we want to achieve in terms of bettering people and the planet aren’t getting done. Indeed, by most reports the overall picture here is getting darker by the day. I can barely hazard a guess as to how man ..read more

Seasonality important to Jako Farm By Martha Hoffman Kerestes Hutchinson, Kansas — Quality of life is a major focus for the King family as they direct market a variety of grassfed meat and dairy products in central Kansas. “The farm is here to work for us and not us for the farm,” explains Daniel King, who manages Jako Farm with his wife, Robyn. They took over the business from Daniel’s parents Ken and Judy in 2015. To that end, Daniel and Robyn implement an array of time- and labor-saving measures started by his parents that include a seasonal milking schedule and once-a-day milking, nurse co ..read more

Steps to consider when damp weather is causing problems By Janet McNally If you live in a damp climate, or even if you mainly deal with the seasonally heavy rain, you probably already know that wet weather can be a significant barrier to raising sheep on pasture. Here are some common challenges, and how to cope with them. Lambing Cold, wet weather can be a significant killer of newborn lambs. How deadly an all-day rain is depends on the temperature and wind speed. To see this article in full, order the specific back issue you are interested in. This article appeared in the February 2022 issue ..read more

Neither animals nor soils will benefit from the practice By Janet McNally Recently I heard a fellow grazier advocating that we should be grazing the stems of pasture forages. His reasoning is that with the leaves gone, the stems pull energy from the roots. With no photosynthesis from the leaves, the plant cannot replace that energy. So the plant is better off with the stems gone. He admitted he was in the minority with that opinion. I feel that consuming the stems harms animal and pasture performance. His response is that we often focus on animal performance to the detriment of the environment ..read more

By Janet McNally Hinckley, Minnesota—Years ago I was interested in trying mob-stock grazing that uses higher stocking densities and daily moves. What held me back was knowing that at some point in early June we would face a tremendous amount of rank growth going to seed and no longer nutritious. My approach at the time was to have sheep covering every acre in late-May/early-June, biting each plant in an effort to control growth and seedheads. While this did help keep the plants vegetative and more nutritious, it left my sheep vulnerable to parasites and depredation losses. At the time I did no ..read more

By Janet McNally Hinckley, Minnesota—Much of the Midwest received an extraordinary amount of rainfall this fall. In Minnesota, meteorologist Paul Douglass reported that most of the state had 10 to 20 inches more precipitation than normal in 2019 through October 25, making this the sixth wettest year on record. Other states also saw huge volumes of rain this year. While the sheep in these places were knee deep in beautiful green grass, some of you might have noticed the lambs were in very lean condition and not attaining the finish required for slaughter. To see this article in full, order the ..read more

By Janet McNally Hinckley, Minnesota — There is no denying that producing a grassfed lamb requires skill and know-how. Grazing is about replacing purchased inputs with knowledge inputs. Unlike grains and stored forages that can be tested and formulated into a ration with a predictable result, green and growing forages are constantly changing. Therefore it is impossible to offer a cookbook for producing grassfed lambs and expect everyone, everywhere, to achieve the same result. A lot of education is required. Most importantly, the grazier needs to train his or her eye to observe forages and ani ..read more

By Janet McNally Hinckley, Minnesota—While doing research on diet and health, I found an article describing lamb as “land salmon.” The author claimed this title was earned because the omega-6:omega-3 ratio of lamb is closer to salmon than any other domestic meat. Photo: Janet McNally Lambs finished on a brassica mix produced very high omega-3 numbers. Both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are important to our health. But modern diets tend to be too high in the omega-6 fatty acids, which can promote inflammation of tissues and lead to serious health problems. Many nuts, grains and vegetable oils ..read more

By Janet McNally Hinckley, Minnesota—In past articles I’ve described how much more productive my managed pastures have been compared to the continuously grazed pasture right across the fence line. I’ve also told how much more productive and drought-tolerant my pastures have become since I moved toward a mob-grazing system with more frequent moves and longer (six- to eight-week) rest periods. I always attributed the improvement to deeper roots and better plant vigor, both of which tend to be true when plants have longer rest periods. But just this year I’ve learned that something else is going ..read more