As weather changes, so must we

Riskier weather requires spreading risk

by Dan Vosberg

South Wayne, WI—Scientists are showing some pretty strong evidence that the climate is changing here in Wisconsin. According to their data, we will experience hotter summers, longer growing seasons, warmer winters and more dry spells and droughts. Storms will be more violent, with more downpours and fewer gentle rains. It’s hard to argue against their predictions when the weather we’ve been receiving lately seems to support them.

2012 is over, thank goodness, but it will probably be remembered as the year that forced us to look at doing some things differently. Continue reading “As weather changes, so must we”

January 1, 2013July 24, 2020

Fodder interest sprouting all over

But sprouting carries plenty of costs, complications and labor

Whitesville, NY—For centuries farmers around the world have been sprouting grains and feeding the green material to their stock, usually with spotty success. The 1959 edition of Frank B. Morrison’s venerable publication Feeds and Feeding referred to “clever promoters” making “extravagant claims” about the benefits of various hydroponic systems for growing green fodder from seeds. U.S. livestock nutrition experts are generally skeptical about the potential benefits of sprouted fodder, although most withhold official judgment because almost no studies have been done here due to its rarity.

Mat of sprouted barley. — Photos: A. Fay Benson. A mat of sprouted barley, ready to be tossed in a mixer or torn up for feeding.

Or at least until now it was rare. The onset of high grain and forage prices and growing interest in no-grain feeding programs has produced at least a mini-boom of interest in producing green fodder from the seeds of small grains. Articles about farmers employing fodder systems to produce greenery for everything from chickens and geese to beef steers and dairy cows are showing up in alternative agricultural outlets — often with accompanying advertising from companies selling such systems. Some farmers have reported spending a few hundred bucks to provide greens to their poultry, while others have paid six figures for commercial fodder production systems capable of producing much bigger volumes for larger dairy herds. Continue reading “Fodder interest sprouting all over”

August 1, 2012April 18, 2020

A story about the real meaning of real food

By Jim Van Der Pol

Kerkhoven, Minnesota — There is a trendy new “Foodie” culture, of which we are a part. We sell into it. We also never gave up cooking in our house. The Foodies often point out a generational difference in this way:

Your mother or grandmother, they say, might ask you after eating if you got enough, thus linking the provision of food with the concept of food as fuel. Your wife (husband?), lover, or live-in who cooks is more likely to ask if it was good, putting food and eating into the vicinity of sex, where the sensation is at least as important as the result. Foodie culture blames the first comment for all manner of modern ills, such as overeating and the consumption of bad food. And while it admires your grandmother for knowing the uses of a pot, it tut-tuts over her idea of a human as a hole to be filled. Continue reading “A story about the real meaning of real food”

August 1, 2012April 18, 2020

One out of three ain’t bad

Onan’s irrigation system pays its way even if wet years outnumber dry ones

Amherst Junction, Wisconsin — Most of Paul Onan’s milking cows are contentedly grazing lush pasture at high noon with the mercury heading toward the upper-90s. It is a scene many a midwestern dairy grazier would pay a lot to duplicate in this terrible summer of 2012.

And Paul has paid more than a little. More than $12,000 for a well and a 10-horsepower submersible pump. Equipment valued at more than $10,000, although most of that cost was covered by a government grant. About $500 worth of electricity used during a period of four weeks, with much more to come should the dry weather continue. Close to an hour’s worth of daily labor to move equipment, plus the usual hassles involved in fixing the broken parts that come with anything mechanical. Continue reading “One out of three ain’t bad”

July 1, 2012April 18, 2020

Big frames, big grass-finished flavor

Baldwin Charolais beef doesn’t require fat to produce quality

by Mike Hillerbrand
Yanceyville, North Carolina — Most of the buzz in grass-finished beef circles today is about the benefits of small frame sizes, English genetics and marbling ability. This, it is said, is the sort of beef genetics required to produce profits straight from pasture.

Meanwhile, Baldwin Family Farms is producing lean, large (frame score 7-8) Charolais cattle on grass and selling critically acclaimed beef to loyal retail and wholesale customers. Continue reading “Big frames, big grass-finished flavor”

February 1, 2012April 18, 2020

What we’re learning about dairy mobbing

By Cheyenne Christianson

Chetek, Wisconsin—As most of you know from my previous articles, over the past two years I have taken steps toward “mob” grazing — especially with the non-milking cattle. We went through a multi-year drought and, as I analyzed my farm, its growth patterns and fertility levels, I realized we needed to take some steps to offset the next drought. With our sandy loam topsoils and pure sand subsoils, we were drying out too fast.

I felt we needed to do something to capture more of those big dumps that seemed to be the source of most of the rain we did get — things like trampling more organic material to provide a soil mat that would retain more moisture, and feeding the soil life that builds humus and organic matter, became top priorities. I am intrigued by the concept of soil biology releasing tied-up nutrients in the soil. Over the years I have applied some trace minerals, rock phosphate and high-calcium lime, and have done some foliar feeding. However, a truly sustainable/organic farming system should be pretty much self-sufficient, and it appears that mobbing may make that goal more possible. Continue reading “What we’re learning about dairy mobbing”