Peter Gaul and family are making a go of it on the second try

Benton, Missouri — It was April 2008. The midwestern heavens were unleashing torrents in record volumes, and Peter Gaul’s newly constructed dairy barn in the Bootheel of southeastern Missouri had become an island in the flooded Mississippi River. Hundreds of acres of recently seeded pasture were underwater for 35 days. Easy access to water may have been a primary reason Peter and his family moved to this locale from New Zealand to graze dairy cows, but this was a bit much.

Way too much. The flood, along with the ensuing dairy crash of ‘09, brought an abrupt end to an investor-owned venture that was dealing with a host of other problems. When the foreclosure came, the Gauls lost their entire investment and had to scramble to stay afloat. They made plans to concede defeat and head home, where Peter had developed a well-respected demonstration dairy at Lincoln University. Just another Kiwi who learned the hard lesson that the U.S. is an entirely different grazing world. Continue reading “A grass dairy rises from the ashes”

By Jon Bansen

Monmouth, Oregon—At the latest American Forage and Grasslands Council meeting, the buzz was about increasing profitability by extending the grazing season. Although one piece of the puzzle, it’s also true that increased days on pasture can come at a high price if soils and plant health are degraded.

In reality, the true profits lie with optimizing a farm’s total feed production, with an eye on putting as much forage as possible into the animal through managed grazing. There are no instructions for putting this puzzle together, as each of our farms is unique in its soil types, weather patterns, topography, irrigation potential and land base. Continue reading “The profit key: working within your farm”

Goal: grain feeding as punishment

by Nathan Weaver

Canastota, NY—We have long hoped to have a no-grain milking herd, and we have geared the herd and our farm toward that conclusion. We stopped our original no-grain effort shortly after moving to this farm several years ago, as the land was not yet able to produce enough quality feed to allow for success.

But we decided to try again in 2012. We have not fed grain to our spring-seasonally calved dairy herd since mid-May of last year. I will try to write about our experiences. Continue reading “A report from our return trip to no grain”

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”