Lower costs and better grazing contributing to improved profitability

By Jon Bansen  Monmouth, Oregon—Many years ago I heard the statement that it takes 20 years to become a good grazier. So as we approached 20 years of intensively managed rotational grazing, the running joke around our farm was that I’m almost a good grazier. I shouldn’t have been so smug: As we start Year 21, I feel I’ve learned more grazing lessons this past year than in any other since the very first one here.

What changed? I decided to eliminate almost all grain and stored forage from the milking herd’s diet during pasture season. We’re now down to feeding two pounds of daily grain/cow and no stored forage during the grazing months. Continue reading “The hidden benefits of feeding less grain”

In Europe, buying raw milk can be as simple as putting some money in a vending machine and filling a bottle.

“In all of Europe you will find some form of milk machine,” said Sylvia Onusic, a nutritionist and food writer. The phenomenon started in Switzerland, and each European country establishes its own rules regarding vending sales. Italy alone has more than 1,300 such machines, she told attendees at the recent International Raw Milk Symposium in Madison, Wisconsin. Continue reading “In Europe, it’s put your money in, get your raw milk out”

Mechanicsville, Iowa— With more than 400 cows to milk and not a lot of labor on hand, Lee Kurtenbach likes things simple, efficient, effective and cheap. That’s why he’s using wire stock panels covered with tarps to house some 90 separate groups of young dairy calves, five to a group.

Lee calves seasonally starting in early March, and keeps his Jersey bulls until they’re actually worth some money. He needs some shelter in his southern Iowa climate and likes portable calf housing, but in Lee’s view fiberglass domes and the like are too expensive and too much work. Continue reading “Calf housing made cheap, easy and efficient”