Finding The Stockman Grass Farmer Periodical - Rawl Was Right, I Was Wrong

Somewhere in the mid-90's, I came across a farmsy sort of publication called, The Stockman Grass Farmer.  At that point in time, one of the basic lures used to reel people in was the notion that a farmer could graze animals during the Spring through Fall, then take the winter off to vacation, yet still make more money than a farmer who cared for his/her animals year around.  Since my dairy farmer boss, Rawl, used grazing as a method to feed his cows, and he had received an award for it, my interest was piqued.

I recall as a relatively well-read teenager that I questioned Rawls methods.  I thought his cows were underperforming to their potential.  At the time, his herd average annual production was about 14,500 pounds of milk.  Other Holstein herds had production rates in the 17,000 to 18,000 pounds per year at that time.  In my naivette, I was ignoring several critical factors.  The first was cost.  Rawl told me that he made almost all of his money during the grazing season and broke even during the non-grazing season.  He didn't have to pay anyone for the grass that the cows harvested themselves.  He didn't have to hire labor to have his cows graze his grass.  His machinery investment was nominal related to managing his pastures.  Grazing was just plain cost-effective.

Second, Rawl's cows did not get burned out from being pushed to produce fantastical amounts of milk.  His cows lived longer.  His cows lived better.  Because his cows lived longer, he could occassionally sell excess replacement heifers (young cows who have not yet had a calf) to other dairy farmers.  Other dairy farmers were always buying heifers because their cows were being burned out, getting sick, could not rebreed, or dying.  Grazing provided the perfect feed for cows and gave the cows exercise that they critically needed.  Confinement cows receive almost no exercise and are fed on stored feeds year around.  Grazing was just plain healthier for the cows.

Third, since grass is that natural food for cattle, the milk produced by cows on grass was nutritionally superior to cows fed heavily on silage and grain.  This milk, as well as other animal products, is nutritionally superior for both the calves and for the humans that consume dairy products produced by the cows grazing the grass.  More on this in the next blog post.

Stockman Grass Farmer lead me to sources and taught me about the art of Management Intensive Grazing.  (I still have much to learn)  Rawl already understood it, and I observed much of the art without actually understanding the whole of what I was seeing.  When thinking of the idea of management intensive grazing, let's think about the buffalo of the Great Plains.  The buffalo and the grasslands of the Great Plains had a symbiotic relationship.  The buffalo required the grass and the grass required the buffalo. They both helped each other.  Predators also helped to shape the behavior of the buffalo in ways also aided the symbiosis between the buffalo and the grass.

Buffalo would move across the plains in tightly bunched herds and eat two to three feet tall grass down to six inches, then move to the next spot to each the next bunch of grass.  Predators, like wolves and humans, helped to create the tight bunching behavior of the buffalo herd.  While the buffalo were grazing, they also did as all animals do and they pooped ant pee'd on the grass, then they moved on.  They would not return to the same place for several weeks, maybe even a couple of months.  What was happening here?

The buffalo eating the grass, stalled the grass going to seed and encouraged it to create new succelant growth.  When the buffalo ate the grass, part of the roots sloughed off, adding to the organic matter content of the underlying soil.  Worms and other macro and micro biotic life consumed the roots, manure, and urine, increasing the soil fertility.  The buffalo got the perfect food for them, and by constantly moving they did not destroy the grass.  They set the stage for the grass to regrow and for fertility to constantly increase in the soil.  This is why the Great Plains had topsoil that was four to eight feet deep when people started plowing it.  Now the topsoil that remains is just a few inches deep.  Management intensive rotational grazing mimics the action of the buffalo and builds soils.  Standard farming practices deplete soils.

In addition to ruminants like cows, sheep, and goats, I also learned about the benefits of pasture for poultry and hogs.  While grass is not the perfect food for poultry and hogs, it can provide up to about 15% of nutrient needs and also provides the environment to harvest other nutrients like bugs, worms, minerals, etc.

In management intensive grazing, the grazing stock represent the buffalo.  An electric fence represents the predators, keeping the animals tightly bunched.  The grass is the grass.  The farmer's job is to make sure that the cows are moved frequently enough so they do not damage the grass and that they are kept away from the grass until the grass recovers adequately to be grazed again.

The Stockman Grass Farmer taught me important lessons about raising livestock in a healthy and humane way that provided superior nutrition to people who ate the livestock products, and building healthier, more fertile and productive soils at the same time.  I'm still reading it.  I received my February issue yesterday, and started reading it at the end of the day.