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Sunday, November 1st 1:30- 3:30.
Maine Grass Farmers Network Fall Pasture Walk
Crystal Springs Community Farm 277 Pleasant Hill Road, Brunswick

For more info contact Tom Settlemire at 841-6747

We are grazing winter green manure crops (alfalfa/ grass, oats/ fieldpeas and a 3 1/2 acre plot of perennial rye-grass mixes - we have about 80 ewes and about the same number of lambs are still around- some leaving almost every week. All being managed with electric fence- both permanent and temporary - in an aggressive rotational pattern.

Crystal Spring Farm is a 320-acre farm located in Brunswick owed by the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust. The farm is leased to Seth Kroeck who operates an approximately 20 acre organic vegetable operation which includes one the the largest CSA’s in the state. In addition Seth jointly with Tom Settlemire operates a 80 + Katahdin ewe flock managed under an aggressive rotational grazing program. The farm has over 25 acres of 5 strand New Zealand style electric fence with more being added. Sheep have been on the farm since 2005 and an aggressive pasture improvement program is underway. As part of the program the farm is cooperating with the University of Maine Extension and Penn State University to test four different perennial rye grass mixes for potential use as pasture and stored forage. In addition a range of cover crops used with the vegetable land are grazed and include alfalfa/grass and oat /field pea plantings.

Lambs are marketing as breeding stock and as meat at the local farmers market and local restaurants

The farm is also home base for the Northeast Katahdin Hair Sheep Project. A Project began in 2000 by Richard Brzozowski, University of Maine Extension and Tom Settlemire. The project focuses on identifying and breeding sheep naturally resistant to infection by Haemonchus contortus, the barber pole worm.

2009 MGFN 6^th Annual Grazing Conference

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Kennebec Valley Community College
Fairfield, ME

featuring three keynote speakers: Troy Bishop, Rachel Gilker & Seth Wilner

Each is illustrated below

Can You Hear Me Now?

by Troy Bishop

The “Grass Whisperer”

www.grasswhisperer.com

Low milk prices are once again causing unbearable stress on farm families in my community. This paltry price structure at the farm level with little retail price movement in the grocery store is getting to be unconscionable. I guess I should be used to this by now since it happens about every two years, but I’m not.

I should also be used to the lack of respect about using managed grazing as a cost saving measure in this era of belt-tightening, but I’m not. And in true form, I see numerous articles and conferences from the sergeants of the status quo, talking about increasing production and becoming more efficient. If you’re like me you’ve heard all this before.

However increasing production may have nothing to do with profitability or efficiency. I was taken back by a quote in this paper from Fulton Bank’s Loan Officer, Lowell Fry that read, “the key is milk production and dairyman better have a goal of 80 pounds per cow per day if they want to stay around.” In the same edition, Travis Werley from Fulton Financial said, “farmers should understand the cost of production in order to make good decisions in these turbulent times.” I like this advice much better.

If you want to talk about efficiency and lowering input costs, try beating a solar powered, self-propelled, animal-harvesting machine. I marvel, even today at the lack of discussion about infusing cost effective managed grazing practices into an operation by many a so-called expert. I just read about the top ten strategies for being more profitable and no mention of grazing.

It’s a shame we can’t look beyond the silos, purchased inputs and concrete for something simpler, if even for some part of an operation. And so once again, grazing is cast as a production system of last resort. But hey, I have always liked the underdog role.

If you question my ideas, please visit Cornell’s Dairy Grazing Farm Business Summary for a look at profitability factors surrounding this issue. It will point to cost reduction, rather than increased production, as a key to profitability. This can be a liberating factor when facing this down right rotten milk price debacle.

As this newspaper’s special sections editor, Charlene M. Shupp Espenshade, put it, “sow the seeds of opportunity.”

This opportunity is in looking hard at your pasture resources and how to best use them to help the bottom line. You may find the “green” right in your own neighborhood.

I have advocated for years on developing relationships with owners of fallow or underutilized land that could be used in a grazing system for 6 months. Your neighbor gets a tax benefit, and keeps his fields covered in permanent sod. You get a low cost feed source ($1.00/day/head), labor savings and maybe a new friend to work with.

This idea has merit given the fact that I have heard many top dairy managers say it cost between $1.35 to 2.00/day to keep a dry cow or dairy replacement in a confinement situation. I have also sensed anxiety in them not knowing about pasture management or trusting someone to implement this cost saving strategy. Of course this presents just another opportunity.

I see this farming out of non-production animals during pasture season as a significant change that may effect the “whole” of a dairy operation.

The milking cow side of a profitable pasture equation is pretty much predicated on maximum intake of grass and legume plants in the shortest amount of time and space, so she can lie down, chew her cud and make milk. Sounds simple enough, right? I guess if it were so simple everyone would be doing it. U.S. Census reports that only around 16% are actually implementing rotational grazing practices. So we have room for improvement, that’s for sure.

So what are the limiting factors to help dairy farmers get their cows grazing more and saving some cash? How about a serious, paid mentoring system that defray the costs associated with farmers helping farmers through this incredible learning curve or having access to grazing professionals on a regular basis, especially during the early season?

Can we agree to have some transitional funds available to farms as cows and people learn this new system? I wonder if we could have a cease-fire on pushing unnecessary inputs from over zealous salesman that devalue the system and graziers by saying this will never work.

If you read anything into my opinion, it doesn’t have much to do with the latest or greatest things, just a sense of getting back to a management mindset and looking for any possibilities right near home. The thing I have learned about working with successful, profitable grass-based farmers is they know why, when and where to move a fence and what the cost saving would be.

Whether they use a $ 40 dollar reel of polywire or 14 gauge-wire on a $ 5.00 cordreel is inconsequential as long as it does the job. It’s all about the management of the resources, which makes this type of farming so challenging and misunderstood

When you work with the power of Mother Nature and not machines, she always bats last. That in itself, is why many folks choose a more regimented, structured, predictable system of production. I fear that with this continued milk price travesty, we must all look at different systems to remain viable until common sense prevails.

The best news about me writing or talking about adopting a rotational grazing portfolio is that many farmers, (many more than when I started), are having true successes and are weathering these price storms.

It may be time for you to visit your local grazing neighbor to share some valuable information and find some un-earthed profit centers. As the Farmer Rallies begin, and the editorials get written and we contemplate a future for our young dairy entrepreneurs…

Published in Lancaster Farming 3/14/09

Holistic Management and Grazing

2010 MGFN Grazing conference Preview

by Seth Wilner

Extension Educator, UNH

Seth Wilner has been an extension educator for close to a decade. He has been a county based agricultural educator with the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension service since 2000, and has built a reputation for teaching whole farm planning using the Holistic Management Decision Making Framework®.

Seth Wilner will be presenting an introductory session on how Holistic Management can be applied on your farm to improve your success as a business. Holistic Management is a proven whole farm/whole system management approach, developed by Holistic Management International, that incorporates financial planning, land and grazing planning, and biological monitoring. This process increases soil health, which results in more productive pastures and crops, reduces erosion, improves biodiversity and returns land to productivity. Over 220 farmers in the North East have reported that this system has improved farm efficiency, communication, financial analysis, and the understanding of the impacts of management on their land. Topics that will be covered include how utilizing the Holistic

Management system can:

· Improve decision making for the sustainability of operations

· How Holistic Management can and has been used to transfer assets to future generations,

· How Holistic Management can be used as an assessment tool to evaluate current farming enterprises, and asses at adding new farm enterprises.

· How Holistic Management can be used to improve your bottom line and grazing management

· How to reach the “triple bottom line” of increasing financial returns, forage production and environmental benefits created by your operation.

Soil Quality and Grazing

by Rachel Gilker,

UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Aside from hard work, soil is the foundation of a farm, and soil quality is the measurement of how that soil can support plant and animal production. You can monitor soil quality in pastures and fields when you walk through them; you may see eroded areas, spots that have a lot of weeds, or heavy compaction, all areas of lower soil quality. Or, you may note areas where forage and crop growth always excels – where soil quality is high.

Beyond visual indicators, soil quality is measured with physical, chemical and biological factors. Some of these factors can be measured by hand or in the field, and some are analyzed in a soil testing lab. The resulting information can provide recommendations for improving soil quality and, as a result, yields.

Physical indicators include texture, structure, aggregate stability, and compaction. Soil texture refers to the proportions of sand, silt and clay making up a soil. Structure is the defining term for how those particles “clump” together, and aggregate stability defines how well those “clumps” hold together. Strong aggregate stability allows soils to retain porosity, providing more water infiltration and microbial habitat. Finally, soil compaction is a measurement that affects root penetration.

Chemical indicators are measurements of pH, organic matter, and other nutrients. A soil’s pH is critical to determining nutrient availability. Nutrient availability and most microbial activity are at their peak in the pH range of 6.5-7. Organic matter is a basis to soil quality, and helps provide aggregate stability, food for plants and soil organisms, and a core for most nutrient cycling.

Biological measurements may include different counts of different populations of organisms in the soil. This is not typically part of a soil test, but may be used to research effects of different practices on soil quality.

Taken together, these indicators provide measurements for soil quality that we can use to track changes over time. In my session at the Maine grazing conference, I will provide more information on what we can do to monitor and manage soil quality for farm sustainability.

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Last Modified: 10/27/09
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