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 | 5 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 »