Dirt Rich

64: Grazing Tech - PaddockTrac

Organic dairy grazier Angie Walter shares her experience using PaddockTrac, a grazing tool being developed by the University of Missouri. Angie's family runs a 100-cow organic dairy in Villard, Minn., grazing 80-100 acres at any given time. Theirs and 12 other Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship farms are piloting the PaddockTrac through an NRCS cooperative agreement.

The PaddockTrac device, which is in the prototype phase, mounts to the front of a UTV or 4-wheeler and uses sonar waves to measure forage height in pastures. Once the data is saved and uploaded, its app generates a grazing wedge.

The Walters drive their pastures weekly, using their eyes and the data from the grazing wedge to get a fuller picture to base their grazing management decisions from. As organic producers, it also aids in necessary record keeping for quantifying what the cows are eating.

PaddockTrac could hit the market in early 2024. Read more about the DGA/PaddockTrac project here.

 

Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead

Angie Walter, Central Minnesota Education Coordinator, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship

 

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.

If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.

 

63: Business Management at Cedar Crate Farm

We're back! Dirt Rich kicks off its fourth season with the second part of Jared Luhman's interview with Dan Zimmerli (check out part one here). The two get into the business management side of the farm -- employees, task tracking, data management and record keeping -- and how the Zimmerlis have leveraged it all to improve efficiency, profitability, and quality of life for them and their staff.

Dan and his wife operate Cedar Crate Farm southeast of Mankato, growing produce for their CSA members. He also works for SFA as a soil health educator for fruit and vegetable producers.

Resources mentioned: Lean Farm, Harvie, Microsoft To Do, Cornell Small Farms online courses

 

Schedule update: Dirt Rich is moving to a monthly release schedule. We will continue to release on Wednesdays.

 

Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead

Dan Zimmerli, SFA Community Organizer and Outreach Coordinator, Cedar Crate Farm. Contact at dan@cedarcratefarm.com or dan@sfa-mn.org 

 

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.

If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.

62: From Planting to Pack Shed at Cedar Crate Farm

This will be the last episode of season 3, and 2022! Thanks for listening, and we'll see you back in 2023 with another episode on vegetable production with Dan, conversations on new grazing technology, and other great interviews!

Jared Luhman and Dan Zimmerli in conversation about vegetable production logistics from planting to harvest on Cedar Crate Farm. They discuss equipment, planning tools, pack shed layout, seed bed prep, food safety considerations, Lean Farm techniques and more. You just might get ideas for the next growing season!

Dan and his wife operate Cedar Crate Farm southeast of Mankato, growing produce for their CSA members. He also works for SFA as a soil health educator for fruit and vegetable producers.

Check out our first episode with Dan Zimmerli, Episode 33: Growing a CSA from 8 to 80, here.

What’s a finger weeder?

 

Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead

Dan Zimmerli, SFA Community Organizer and Outreach Coordinator, Cedar Crate Farm

 

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.

If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.

61: What’s on your mind?

Jared Luhman, Doug Voss, Kent Solberg, and Jonathan Kilpatrick discuss what's on their mind in the ag world at this point in the season.

As we approach winter in the Midwest, folks are looking ahead and planning for next year. The team highlights the many opportunities for making changes on the farm in the next season guided by the principles of soil health.

 

Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead

Doug Voss, SFA Grazing Lead

Kent Solberg, SFA Senior Technical Advisor

Jonathan Kilpatrick, SFA Soil Health Specialist

 

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.

If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.

60: Consults & Conferences

Katie Feterl and Jared Luhman discuss SFA's on-farm consulting offering, how you can support our work, and highlight two big upcoming events: Annual Conference and Midwest Soil Health Summit.

• Contact Jared Luhman about consulting at jared@sfa-mn.org. You can also visit our Staff Page.

 

• Give to the Max: November 17, 2022 (Giving open through the end of November). You can also support by giving through the SFA website or becoming a member at any time.

 

• SFA Annual Conference: February 11, 2023 in St. Joseph, MN. Visit the webpage to learn more, register, and see exhibitor and sponsor information.

 

• Midwest Soil Health Summit: March 8-9, 2023 in Alexandria, MN. Visit the webpage to learn more, register, and see exhibitor and sponsor information.

 

Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead

Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director

 

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.

If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.

Revisited: Wintering Cattle Roundtable

Originally released November 16, 2020.

Winter can be the most expensive time to own a cow in the Midwest. As the season changes, five of our staff who also raise beef and dairy cows gathered to share the ways that they’ve found to reduce the cost (and labor) of wintering cattle on their unique operations. All five live in different parts of Minnesota and run pasture-based farms, some raising organic dairy, some grass-fed or grass-finished beef.

While there’s no one-size fits all management style to wintering livestock, the team discusses a variety of practices that have worked for them, including bale grazing, stockpiling perennial pasture to extend the grazing season, and the timing of calving. They’ve also found benefits extending beyond the cost savings of quality winter feed: Doug Voss finds that by bale grazing, he also saves on labor and improves the health of his herd. And farmers certainly don’t need to outwinter their cattle 100% of the time to start seeing the benefits--just making a few changes can show cost savings, a boost to herd health, and improvements in soil biology.

 

Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead

Angie Walter, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Central Minnesota Education Coordinator

Doug Voss, SFA Grazing Lead

Tyler Carlson, SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry Lead

Kent Solberg, SFA Senior Technical Advisor

 

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.

If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.

59: Enchanted Meadows - In Transition

Chad Crowley firmly believes that for those who want to get into dairy or farming in general, grazing is the way to go.

That route has certainly gone well for him. He was told many times that he couldn’t find success in farming because he didn’t grow up on one, but today he and his wife Melissa farm in southeast Minnesota as part of Enchanted Meadows Farms.

Enchanted Meadows is an organic, pasture-based dairy in La Crescent. The Crowleys were hired by owners Art and Jean Thicke in the early 2000’s. After prior experience working at a high-production dairy, the grazing dairy model allowed for the lifestyle that Chad and Melissa were looking for. They stayed on for several years, and the Thickes began gifting them calves to “build sweat equity” in the farm business. If they ever left Enchanted Meadows, their growing herd could move on with them.

Twelve years in, the Thickes concretely initiated a farm transition, selling the Crowleys one of the farms and splitting ownership of the herd. “Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do it,” says Chad. The four continue farming together, and good communication and planning has helped the partners through inevitable times of disagreements.

Listen in as Chad Crowley offers a candid conversation on getting into farming and non-family farm transitions in this episode with Jared Luhman.

 

 

Chad Crowley, Enchanted Meadows Farms

Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, SFA

 

If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please consider supporting Dirt Rich and SFA's work by donating or becoming a member at www.sfa-mn.org.

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.

58: Old Farm, New Visions

Scott Haase farms in Blue Earth, Minnesota, raising crops with his brother Brent and raising pasture and woodland pork under Blue Dirt Farm. Their German ancestors “walked here from Wisconsin back in the 1860’s,” and they still farm some of the land where those ancestors homesteaded.

Like most in the area, the Haase family farm is still a fairly conventional corn and soybeans farm. They have made some changes, including going completely no-till on their soybeans and reducing tillage overall, and adding cover crops to their management. The soil in the region feels difficult to manage for most, but Scott thinks “tillage here just begets more tillage” and the transition has been worth it.

In his conversation with host Jared Luhman, Scott discusses the challenges and joys of raising Mangalitsa pigs on pasture, including pasture rotation, marketing, inventory management, processing, and fencing technology. He has long range goals for the land, and is mindful of the risk of burnout. “It’s very hard and you need support from customers and the community at large” he says, reflecting on the value of farmer-to-farmer relationships and knowledge that he’s built through SFA and other networks.

His passion and self-admitted stubbornness keep him moving forward: “I really want to make an impact on more land than just my own farm…I’ve really gotten excited about finding things that work on the land and sharing those with people and providing really high-quality products.”

 

Scott Haase, Blue Dirt Farm

Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, SFA

 

Cannon Valley Butcher's Block

The Meatery

 

If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please consider supporting Dirt Rich and SFA's work by donating or becoming a member at www.sfa-mn.org.

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.

Revisited: AMPed for Grazing

Following Dirt Rich's previous episode, 57: Fundamentals of Adaptive Grazing with Jonathan Kilpatrick, we thought it would be a great time to revisit our conversation on Adaptive Multi-Paddock grazing with Jared Luhman and Doug Voss.

 

If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.

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Over the years of establishing and fine-tuning their management systems, grazing has become absolutely key in both Luhman’s and Voss’ cattle and dairy operations. Beyond rotational grazing, Adaptive Multi-Paddock grazing (or AMP) has improved the ecology of their farms--not to mention saved the time, energy, and expense of hauling around feed and other off-farm inputs--by modeling their grazing systems after the natural movement of wildlife across landscapes. “There’s no substitute for what comes out the back of a cow or small ruminant,” Doug jokes.

Doug hasn’t used any off-farm inputs for years, and yet his yields continue to increase. The adaptive part of AMP is quintessential: not only is a successful grazing plan going to be unique and flexible to the context of a piece of land, but to the conditions that may come to pass during the season, be it a change in rainfall or a family wedding you need a couple days to travel to.

The number of variables to consider may be daunting, but as Doug reminds us, creating an adaptive grazing plan is more of a journey than a destination. In the interview, he shares some advice for those looking to start to graze as well as those looking to improve their management, covering fencing, watering systems, rest periods, and examples from Voss Farms.

The payoff is worth it. AMP grazing has brought Doug great peace of mind and more predictable income: “I have far fewer challenges where I’m not going to be productive or profitable on an acre of ground than I’ve ever had before.” 

Whether you own a herd or land, there are a lot of good resources to help you get livestock applied appropriately to your land:

• SFA Soil Health resources
• SFA Silvopasture resources
• Technical Assistance Program for Graziers
• Nourishment by Fred Provenza 
• SFA also offers technical assistance to farmers, with priority given to SFA members.

Doug Voss, Grazing Lead, Sustainable Farming Association, doug@sfa-mn.org
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, Sustainable Farming Association, jared@sfa-mn.org

 

Originally released March 17, 2021

 

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.

57: Fundamentals of Adaptive Grazing

Today, a presentation that our Soil Health Specialist Jonathan Kilpatrick gave on adaptive grazing at a recent field day. He’ll bring you through the fundamentals, always keeping in mind the importance of context in grazing management. Jonathan believes that grazing is one of  the most powerful forces we can have to regenerate our soils. A topic overview:

• Why we adaptively graze
• How adaptive grazing plays a role in building soil health and resilience in our eco-systems
• Stocking density
• Measuring forage stand density and dry matter/acre
• Calculating herd needs
• BRIX

If you have any questions for Jonathan or other SFA team members, you can always reach out to us. Find our contact details on our staff page at www.sfa-mn.org. We’re all happy to help.

 

Jonathan Kilpatrick, Soil Health Specialist, SFA

 

If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please consider supporting Dirt Rich and SFA's work by donating or becoming a member at www.sfa-mn.org.

The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.

Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.