Drought affects pasture as well as crops. During these dry times, what are the considerations that graziers need to keep in mind to optimize forage, and what are the advantages that a rotationally grazed system gives us when we’re short on water? We talk with Mary C Anderson, Wisconsin DNR Grazing Specialist, retired dairy farmer, […]
Rotational Grazing in Drought
Media Type: Podcast
Ag, Water, and Processing Vegetables
Guolong Liang, outreach specialist for the Agriculture Water Quality Program of Extension in the Central Sands of Wisconsin, guest hosts this episode of Field Notes. Guolong talks with UW-Madison Horticulture Professor and Extension Specialist Jed Colquhoun about the use of cover crops to reduce nutrient runoff in canning and processing vegetables. For the farmer perspective, […]
Evaluating Soil Health
Everyone is talking about soil health, so we thought we should too. We chat a bit about what exactly is soil health with Jamie Patton of UW-Madison’s Nutrient and Pest Management program and Brendon Blank, a farmer and Byron Seeds rep from Ixonia, WI, and most importantly, how do you measure progress?
Introduction to Bale Grazing
With winter on the horizon, ensuring that your bags, bunkers, and silos are full to brim is a ready solution for easing worries about winter feed supply. But, for some farmers, the solution to winter feeding and storage is out in the field. We talk bale grazing with Jason Cavadini who, in addition to being […]
Bale Grazing, Featuring Erin and Drew Gaugler
Hannah and Lindy sat down with Drew and Erin Gaugler to discuss the SARE Farmer Rancher Grant and their experience with bale grazing in Grant County ND. “Bale grazing involves setting a large number of feed bales out in the fall and regulating the cows’ feed intake using electric fencing. Producers move cows to a […]
On-Farm, Episode 020: John Rock
In this episode, we talk with John Rock, who raises cattle and row crops in northwest Iowa near near the picturesque Little Sioux River. We chat about his experience grazing cattle on neighboring land owned by The Nature Conservancy and cedar tree removal and native prairie restoration on his own farm.
On-Farm, Episode 018: Dick Sloan
In this episode, we talk prairie strips with northeast Iowa farmer Dick Sloan. We talk about why Dick decided to plant prairie strips, what they are, and what it takes to install and manage them.
Dairy partnership utilizes subsurface manure drip irrigation
One of the 2020 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award winners is proof that organizations from different sectors can work together to improve complex sustainability challenges. Dairy Stream host Mike Austin talks with Ryan Flaherty, director of business partnerships at Sustainable Conservation, Richie Mayo, farm manager at De Jager Farms and Domonic Rossini, agronomic relationship manager at […]
Understanding the basics and challenges of cover crops
Cover crops are making a difference to improve soil health and water quality. Dairy Stream host Mike Austin talks with Jim Isermann, Illinois and Wisconsin field manager of the Soil Health Partnership, and Ken Rosenow, owner of Cedar Home Farms about the cover crop benefits, recommendations for beginners, challenges and more.