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Reclaiming and Establishing Pastures and Hayfields
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In part five of our series, Where’s the Grass?, we share there are many ways to establish and improve grazing lands and hayfields. People often ask me how they should go about improving their pasturelands and hayfields. The devil, as they say, is in the details. This all depends on what class of livestock you…
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How Not to Graze
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In the third installment of our new series, Where’s the Grass?, we share that there are many poor management practices seen in the grazing world. Here’s how to ensure you do the right things for good results! This is the third installment in our series “Where’s the Grass?” in which we try to elaborate on…
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The Slow and Furtive Nature of Pasture Soil Compaction: Project Develops Ratio to Monitor Impact
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Dairy farmer and Cooperative Extension Educator Fay Benson shares the results of a three-year study testing his Pasture Compaction Ratio hypothesis. He describes best management practices and how to measure compaction on the farm. In my work, first as a grazing dairy farmer and now as a Cornell University Cooperative Extension educator working with graziers…
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When Is a Weed a Weed?
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Determining which pasture weeds are nutritious additions and which are undesirable. Weeds are called weeds because we named them that way. The word “weed” suggests they are undesirable. However, not all weeds are created equal. This article addresses that. Perennial pasture never contains just the planted and desirable forage species like the grass species and the legumes that…
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Faces of Solar Grazing
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In part three of our “Solar Grazing“ series, meet some graziers and learn about their operations. In this article, we will look at how each solar grazier has organized their operation and how they have benefited from membership in the American Solar Grazing Association (ASGA). Lewis Fox, Julie Bishop, and Carolina Solar Services were all kind enough to share their knowledge and experience of solar grazing…
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Will Dry Weather Create Forage Shortages This Winter?
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Farmers can take action now to adequately prepare for the winter months. We have seen quite dry conditions in much of our region and much of the state this past spring and into early summer. There has been some recent rain. However, it has been sporadic in nature. Some locations have seen a fair amount…
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Watering the Flock
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How to provide drinking water for sheep. If you have sought any sort of consultation in how to set up a grazing system for sheep, you will likely have been advised to lay waterlines to provide drinking water to the flock. In this article, I will lay out an alternative way to accomplish the same without going…
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There are Many Ways to Solar Graze
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In part two of our “Solar Grazing“ series, learn more about the different options for solar grazing and its potential profitability. Our last article offered a definition of solar grazing and a basic outline of what’s involved. Now we’ll cover a little more detail about different ways to get into solar grazing, including as an independent contractor, leasing…
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Solar Grazing: Livestock as Landscapers at Utility-Scale Solar Arrays
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Solar grazing is the use of livestock to maintain vegetation under solar panels. Utility-scale solar arrays may cover 3 million acres across the US by 2030, according to the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). This is causing tension with farmers and farmland advocates, as the panels are often sited on good ag land, displacing…
pasture management
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