Can you make a living raising pastured poultry on a large scale? “Yes, but talk to farmers who’ll give you their whole story, including their failures, before you begin,” one producer participating in a 2000 Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) survey advises.

To take maximum advantage of pasture growth, dairy farmers using rotational grazing often have a short (less than 3 month) spring calving window as a goal. But this is difficult to achieve. CIAS-supported research on a Wisconsin grazing farm shows that the Ovsynch breeding program, while successful on confinement dairy farms, can be problematic on grazing dairy farms.

Is kura clover a good legume choice in rotationally grazed pastures? A study conducted at the UW Lancaster Agricultural Research Station says yes, with excellent beef production on kura clover/grass pastures. Kura’s persistence and leafy growth led to higher Holstein steer growth rates on kura/grass pastures than red clover/grass pastures.

New dairy farmers often face high start-up costs for land, equipment and facilities. Volatile milk prices, long hours and hard work reduce the appeal of […]

A common way to raise pastured poultry involves putting 75 to 100 three- to four-week old meat chickens in movable pens during the growing season. These floorless 10′ by 12′ by 2′ pens are moved daily by sliding them along the ground, providing fresh pasture. Chickens also receive a grain-based ration. At 8-14 weeks, the chickens are butchered and sold to consumers or restaurants.

You don’t need to take over a family farm, or even grow up on a farm, to be a successful dairy farmer in Wisconsin. You […]

Dairy farmers can reduce their purchased inputs without cutting into their profits. An ongoing twelve-year study of two forage rotations similar to those found on […]

Switchgrass offers a wide range of environmental benefits as an alternative energy crop. Switchgrass can reduce soil erosion and provide warm season pasture for most […]

An ongoing financial study of farms that use management intensive rotational grazing (MIRG) shows that generation of income is the main factor separating the farms […]

Grazing networks have played an important role in the adoption of grass farming in Wisconsin. A grazing network is a group of people, usually within […]