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New service brings livestock to farmers for grazing opportunities

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Written by Jonathan Eisenthal

Providing low-cost feed for the cattle while enriching soil, grazing is one of the five principles of crop land soil health. But for farmers who have the right operation to utilize grazing, just finding livestock producers who are willing and able to transport their herds can be tricky.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Cropland Grazing Exchange has just marked its first year of helping approximately 100 livestock farmers and row crop farmers make that connection by serving as matchmaker between the two.

The cornerstone of the Cropland Grazing Exchange is a map of Minnesota with hotlinks. Click on the pins and you will see livestock operations who want to find grazing opportunities and row crop farmers who have land to graze.

While grazing is not applicable to all farm operations, particularly those that use herbicides with long residual effect, it can be effective for soil health under the right conditions, according to Kelly Anderson, who is an official in the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s ag marketing and development office.

“Getting livestock on the land is really a key piece (of soil health)—it builds up soil organic matter and gets some of those micronutrients back in the soil,” said Anderson, who designed the web application and is also an owner of 128 cow-calf pairs on her farm in Pope County.

But for crop farmers who have not used grazing, questions arise like how will they contain and water the herd.

“Basically, the number one thing the row crop producer needs is a willingness to integrate livestock into their system. That’s paramount. Everything else is secondary,” said Kent Solberg, the grazing specialist at Sustainable Farming Association. Row crop farmers who use the grazing exchange will sometimes be asked if they are willing to install a fence and develop water systems, but often the livestock producer handles those responsibilities.

Modern fencing technology is highly mobile, according to Solberg, and often the livestock producer prefers to use their own system. Cattlemen can also bring their own watering systems that work even in subzero temperatures.

Anderson said many farmers who use the Cropland Grazing Exchange pair grazing with the use of cover crops. While not effective on all farm operations, cover crops can replace chemical controls to prevent herbicide-resistant weeds. If farmers are able to avoid long-lasting herbicides, they are able to utilize grazing.

“Grazing is a great way to terminate the cover crop, either in the fall or the spring and still keep some cover out there… Livestock grazing doesn’t kill the plant, but it will take off some of that extra litter that would hinder planting in the spring,” Anderson said.

Farmers who use herbicides should check the label to see if the particular control precludes grazing. Otherwise, land that’s coming out of CRP, hay land, and land that’s been in continuous corn where long lasting herbicides have not been used in the last four years are all good candidates for grazing.

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