Thanks to NRCS (National Resource Conservation Service), the EQIP (Environmental Quality Improvement Program) contract for our managed grazing system has been extended several years. EQIP work has progressed slowly. The 2006 drought forced additional perimeter fencing taking time away from fencing our planned grazing paddocks and watering system. This year, if the good Lord is willing, we’ll finish the northern paddocks and begin the initial water pipe layout.  Thanks to friends and neighbors, we’ll have an additional pasture for rotation. That will give us about 100 acres pastured. However, open optimum pasture is only about 35 acres. This year, in addition to completing our contract fencing, we’ll be investing in interseeding legumes and grasses to improve the pastures we do have. Soil testing and approved organic fertilizers along with our own compost will also be used. A sustain

Managed Grazing 

able farmer must first be a grass farmer, using livestock to appropriately harvest the grasses and legumes. As I look around the county, it’s clear to me that the drought resulted in a lot of overgrazed pastures, ours included.  Pastures recover more slowly in the spring when there’s insufficient stored carbohydrates for the next growing season. The only solution is to either add pasture land or destock. With intensively managed grazing, the farmer is able to better control the height of the graze, preserve the pasture’s optimum growth, and ensure the best nutritive value of the pasture crop. On the lighter side, I’ve STILL got one too many buck goats who do an excellent job of trimming unwanted forbes (“weeds”) as well as pine and fir trees.