Livestock
Local Food Security: Challenges and Opportunity
“If the world is saved it will be saved because the people living in it have a new vision.” –Daniel Quinn No one wants to admit that the food supply we depend on could ever be in jeopardy, or that food prices are not as stable as they once were. We want to take comfort and security in the fact that our grocery store shelves and markets are always stocked with the foods we love, and that year after year, we spend only a small percent of our income on food. A picture is beginning to emerge into mainstream consciousness that could shatter this comfort and security, however. It can be seen in films like Food Inc., recently nominated for an Academy Award, which details the grotesque and completely unsustainable practices of our modern agriculture industry. It can be seen in television specials highlighting the same issues, like David Suzuki’s The Nature of Things two part series on “Corporate Agriculture” and “Alternative Agriculture”. Canadian historian and international affairs writer...
Local Food Security: Challenges and Opportunity
“If the world is saved it will be saved because the people living in it have a new vision.” –Daniel Quinn No one wants to admit that the food supply we depend on could ever be in jeopardy, or that food prices are not as stable as they once were. We want to take...
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How to Raise Chickens Library
Kathy Vothhttps://onpasture.comI am the founder, editor and publisher of On Pasture, now retired. My career spanned 40 years of finding creative solutions to problems, and sharing ideas with people that encouraged them to work together and try new things. From figuring out how to teach livestock to eat weeds, to teaching range management to high schoolers, outdoor ed graduation camping trips with fifty 6th graders at a time, building firebreaks with a 130-goat herd, developing the signs and interpretation for the Storm King Fourteen Memorial trail, receiving the Conservation Service Award for my work building the 150-mile mountain bike trail from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah...well, the list is long so I'll stop with, I've had a great time and I'm very grateful.
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EPIC CROSS COUNTRY ROADTRIP Moving to Our Off Grid Cabin in Alaska
May Calving is Now the Rule for Dickinson Research and Extension Center
The Dickinson Research Extension Center was established in 1905 by the North Dakota legislature to research and report on agriculture methods that are sensible, appear sustainable, and advance stewardship. The Center’s goal is to engage in scientific research that achieves solutions. For the last five years, North Dakota State University’s Dickinson Research and Extension Center has been turning its bulls out in August for May calving. The reasons? May calving weather is nicer, the calves hit the ground to take advantage of the annual plant cycle, and best of all, it’s good for the bottom line. Less Labor, More Money The Center decided to change to May calving back in 2012 because they just didn’t have the staff to keep up with the extra work that March/April calving required. With the change, excessive calving work went away, the long pre-calving worksheets got a lot shorter, and expenses dropped as well.…
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Livestock-Related Research That Makes Our Lives Better
This week’s article collection focuses on interesting research that improves graziers’ lives. Let’s jump right in. Saving on Cattle Feed This long-term study indicates that heifers fed 27% less over the winter months gain weight more efficiently on pasture, are more resilient when forage is marginal or scarce, have pregnancy rates similar to cows fed a typical diet, and wean calves just as big as their well-fed counterparts. Skinny Cows Make Fatter Calves Soil Bacteria named for a Cow Could Reduce Depression It’s reported that farmers and ranchers are more prone to depression than their urban counterparts, so the discovery of what this one soil bacteria can do – from reducing depression to increasing our ability to learn to treating antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis – well, it’s something we should probably pay attention to. Will Eating Dirt Make Us Smarter? Reducing Herd Stress by Understanding How Stress Spreads from Animal to Animal…
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Why Pigs Fall Apart on Pasture
Editors Note: This piece comes to us from David Fogle of Spring Hill Farms in Newark, Ohio. David grew up raising hogs and began raising them on pasture in 1999. He primarily works with Tamworths, selling them director customers and as breeding stock and feeder pigs. You can learn more by downloading his free pig buyer’s guide. Over the years I’ve had pigs fall apart on pasture. By “fall apart” I mean everything from not gain weight nearly as fast as others in the same pasture to the whole lot of them were having trouble thriving. In some cases they have had to be rescued from the pasture and propped up with crutches in order to thrive. What’s the cause of this? It would be nice if I could narrow it down to one particular reason but many times it’s a combination of things that are contributing. Let’s look at a few…
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Bull Body Condition Is Important to Breeding Success
When a cow comes up open in a pregnancy check, we often assume it’s because of some fault with the cow. Maybe she was too thin or not cycling well at breeding time. But maybe it’s not the cow at all. According to Karla Wilke, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Range Management and Cow/Calf Specialist, it could be an issue with the bull’s body condition. Photo by Troy Walz According to Wilke, bulls in a body condition of 5 or 6 have better semen quality than those in a 4 or 7. In addition, they can lose 100 to 200 pounds during breeding season. That’s the equivalent of one to two body condition scores. That means that if your bull isn’t in a BCS of 5.5 to 6.5 now, you have about 90 days to improve his body condition to something that will serve you well during the breeding season. Is…
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How to Get Your Chickens to Make the Best Use of Pasture
Labor cost and feed-conversion efficiencies; these are the two things that determine the profitability of a pastured meat-bird operation. The less you have to work with the birds, the lower your labor costs. But how do you improve the rate that they turn feed into meat? That’s the question that the producers at Pasture Perfect Poultry decided to answer with some on farm research supported by SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education.) It turns out that by paying attention to WHEN you feed the birds, you reduce your labor costs and you increase their feed efficiency. After watching the birds in the Day Range system, they learned that birds foraged most actively during the early morning and the evening hours. That also happened to be the time when they fed they chicks and let them out to forage, or when they put them up in the evening. But what if they fed them once…
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The Economics of Being Earnest About Low Stress Handling
Most people I have met would say they handle their livestock in a low stress manner. What this actually means varies from person to person. To me, if you are a successful handler, you are able to turn your animals to the right, turn them to the left, slow them down, speed them up, and stop them. If you are real good, you can spot them in one place and they will stay. I am still working on being real good! The herd of cows I currently work with will turn both directions and change speed when given the proper signal. Recently the economic benefit of being able to handle a herd in this manner became very apparent. For the last two and a half years I have been working on a ranch where we experience frequent chinooks. I love chinooks because they melt the snow over the grass we…
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