Starting a grass dairy in corn and hog country

Love of grazing led to launch of new venture

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Paullina, Iowa – Torray and Erin Wilson lost their organic route before they could even start dairying, but that didn’t stop them.

The couple persisted past many other bumps in the road, and today milk 120 organic, fall-seasonal cows in northwestern Iowa. The dairy fits well into the familyís farm system as a whole, and creativity has made it sustainable.

For decades the farm had been a 600-acre grain and 300-litter farrow-to-finish outdoor hog operation. It was fully certified organic in 2011.

The family decreased the hogs to 40 litters a year in 2002 and continued selling hogs to Niman Ranch. They did some ewe and cow/calf custom grazing, but were looking for a ruminant venture with higher profit potential and organic premiums. This venture was needed to utilize the forage produced in the organic crop rotation and possibly walk some grain off the farm, too.

That desire started the ball rolling toward dairy, even though it’s a major counter-cultural move to establish a new grazing dairy and seed pastures in a place surrounded by hog CAFOs, 5,000-cow dairies, and row crop ground selling for $14,000-$20,000/acre.

March 29, 2024

A Kernza research update

Grain and grazing combo a work in progress

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Kernza continues to gain traction as a perennial grain crop, with about 2,400 acres grown in the U.S. today. Kernza is the trademark owned by The Land Institute for intermediate wheatgrass varieties (IWGs) developed for grain harvest.

But long before it was selected for that use, IWGs were being used as forages. A number of studies have been done recently on utilizing Kernza both ways. Since the last article in Graze (February 2020), more data has become available on the topic.

One such trial was conducted by Alan Kraus of Clean River Partners in cooperation with Jacob Jungers and others at the University of Minnesota, along with southeastern Minnesota farmers Kaleb Anderson and Dan Honken.”

February 28, 2024

Filling a meat processing niche

Siverlings decide on-farm plant makes sense

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Bloomer, Wisconsin — When the butcher shop that had been processing all of their pastured beef closed, Jared Siverling and his wife, Vanessa Klemish, had two options. One was trying to squeeze the 30 steers they annually finish into slots at the remaining two small facilities in the area.

The other was to start doing their own processing.

Jared and Vanessa chose the latter, in part because they wanted more control over the quality of the processing and packaging they feel is an important part of delivering the best meats to their customers.

“One of the biggest frustrations is to take a beautiful animal raised with a lot of love and care and some really good, high-quality feed, and then not control the vital processing step,” Jared explains. “Every farmer is fighting for processing slots, and opening a processing plant is a way to grow an additional revenue stream while adding value to the community.”

January 31, 2024

A grassfed dairy dream come true

Bachmans making good progress on expensive land

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Rittman, Ohio — In this day when a lot of people have given up on the idea, Greg Bachman might offer inspiration to those who want to start dairy farming without access to a family farm or lots of money.

Greg didn’t grow up on a dairy farm. But early on he decided he wanted to dairy as he watched his grandfather and then his uncle milk cows on a small farm that was eventually certified organic.

He thought the barn door might be closed when his uncle retired and sold the property. Yet even without access to a family farm, and in the face of high-dollar land — prices are $15,000 to $20,000/acre these days in this populated area of Ohio — Greg didn’t give up on his dairy dream.

Four years of employment in the construction business confirmed to Greg that working for someone else wasn’t a good fit for his personality.

January 3, 2024

A wholesale option for marketers

Bone-In Food aims to get good food to more people

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Hillsborough Twnshp, New Jersey – Demand for alternative foods may be growing rapidly, but not all producers of such foods are capable of selling everything they produce on their own.

For those sorts of people in this part of the world, Bone-In Food is providing a premium wholesale outlet. Farmer and direct-marketer John Lima sells up to 10% of his production through Bone-In.

“I think what they’re doing is great,” John says. “They’re reaching out to a lot more people who normally wouldn’t come to our place. For instance, a lot of older people who don’t have the ways and means to come to our store.”

For founder Ron Mirante, Bone-In Food is a way of fulfilling his long-term goal of getting wholesome food into the hands of busy people who want to eat well. For some 40 farmers, Bone-In offers another market opportunity outside of current direct or wholesale channels at better-than-wholesale prices.

“I’ve always wanted to contribute,” Ron explains. “I had a hard time working just to make money. I wanted to be more involved in the growth and progression of a better future.”

All Bone-In suppliers follow “organic-like” practices, although some are not certified. All animals for meat, dairy and eggs are pastured, and most beef and dairy cattle are 100% grassfed.

November 24, 2023January 31, 2024

Cutting back, but making more

de Jongs changed their lives with grassfed and branding their milk

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Slocomb, Alabama — Jan and Rinske de Jong did large-scale conventional dairy, and it didn’t go well. They’ve gladly traded it for their life today on a smaller certified organic grassfed herd milked once a day for the farm’s Working Cows Dairy brand.

Jan and Rinske bootstrapped their conventional dairy in southeastern Alabama, starting with just $5,000 in 1985 when they emigrated from The Netherlands.

By the turn of the century they’d grown to 750 confinement cows milked three times a day on 600 purchased acres. But the farm was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the constant workload was unsustainable.

It wasn’t working
Something needed to change. The de Jongs chose to go smaller and find a niche market for their production. Milking about 250 cows for Horizon Organic beginning in 2009, things looked better.

But Horizon terminated the contract two years later, saying there weren’t enough other organic dairies in the area to make it a viable route.

Jan and Rinske had three options: stop dairying, go back to conventional, or start bottling milk. The latter looked like the best choice.