We spotted an owl in our windbreak the other day.
We have seen this bird of prey for several days, along with an increasing amount of bald eagles. There are a couple of thoughts to this. One, our certified organic farm that is geared to increase biodiversity is achieving that goal and two, the presence of [...]

Filed under: Animals, Uncategorized on March 7th, 2013 | No Comments »

If you lived in the Midwest of the United States this year, I’m sure you were very aware of the heat and lack of rain. In a typical year July would be very hot and humid with regular thunderstorms. August would also be hot, but at some point a change would come and the heat/humidity [...]

Filed under: Grazing/Pasture, Organic News, Uncategorized on October 30th, 2012 | No Comments »

One of the most difficult aspects of commodity farming is dealing with the fact that the price for the crops or livestock produced by farmers  are by in large dictated  by someone else.  The markets for corn, soybeans, wheat, barley and conventional milk are good examples of  pricing structures that have nothing to do with [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized on February 14th, 2012 | No Comments »

I’m sure those south of us will laugh at my title. That would include those folks in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and every state to the south east. That said, it was a very hot, humid and surprisingly dry summer in Iowa. It sure didn’t start out that way, with torrential rains in June, [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized on December 8th, 2011 | No Comments »

The weather is beautiful out here in Iowa right now. We just had a spell of rain, and where that is not good for the corn/soybean farmers it is very good for the graziers. I’m still out grazing cows and sheep, and can now start to really look back on the season and see the [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 29th, 2010 | No Comments »

I use a planning system on the farm that was developed initially by Allan Savory, who labeled his method Holistic Resource Management (now is renamed Holistic Management). This method has grown into a international movement, with certified instructors and teachers, books, workbooks, seminars, and other affiliated businesses.  The website that one can visit is www.holisticmanagement.org.
I can’t say [...]

Filed under: Farm Planning, Uncategorized on September 21st, 2010 | No Comments »

Sheep and cows together are a good thing. I’m currently grazing cattle in a planned rotation, moving them daily. I also have a herd of St. Croix hair sheep, which I allow them to graze at will. Couple of comments about this arrangement and my thinking behind it:
1. In nature the overriding principle is diversity [...]

Filed under: Grazing/Pasture, Organic Dairy, Uncategorized, sheep on July 28th, 2010 | No Comments »

So far, so good. I’m coming up on my one year anniversary on this project. I got the sheep in August of 2009 as ewe lambs  from a cutting-edge breeder down in southern Missouri. One note of importance is the critical issue for any 100% grassfed program is to MAKE SURE your genetics are right. [...]

Filed under: Animals, Grazing/Pasture, Uncategorized, sheep on July 20th, 2010 | 8 Comments »

Amongst many things I do on this farm, I have a custom grazing service for the Amish/Mennonite dairy farmers in the area. Due to the new organic  pasture rule that has just passed through the USDA, organic dairy farms must graze their animals (except for their bulls) in such a way that  a minimum of [...]

Filed under: Grazing/Pasture, Organic Dairy, Organic News, Uncategorized on April 21st, 2010 | 1 Comment »

The following is an excerpt from several sources found in various publications on the Internet. What do I think about it? More reason to know your source, buy organic (at the very least), and to evaluate with extreme skepticism any rhetoric put out by the various vested interests of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Filed under: Organic News, Uncategorized on January 17th, 2008 | No Comments »