Management Tool Helps Farmers Convert Pastures to Profits

Stocker production can help farmers convert pastures to profits, particularly if they have a surplus of grass but not a lot of facilities. Managing pasture, animals, costs, and markets plays a key role in determining the level of profit that farmers can expect, however. Researchers with the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at the University […] more

Dairy grazing can provide good financial return (Research Brief #50)

An ongoing financial study of farms that use management intensive rotational grazing (MIRG) shows that generation of income is the main factor separating the farms with the best financial performance from those with the worst financial performance. The graziers with the best financial performance in this study had slightly higher operating expenses per cow, higher […] more

Wisconsin grazing networks: a status report (Research Brief #49)

Grazing networks have played an important role in the adoption of grass farming in Wisconsin. A grazing network is a group of people, usually within the same county or region, which meets regularly to discuss grass-based farming. Wisconsin’s grazing networks are a place to exchange information, build community, provide support, and foster new ideas. A […] more

Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers (Research Brief #37)

Wisconsin has suffered dramatic losses in numbers of dairy farms. While the decrease in part includes large numbers of retiring dairy farmers, the lack of young people entering dairy farming is an even more significant factor in the decline. To reverse that trend a creative approach is needed to make dairy farming more attractive. The […] more

Stocker cattle convert pasture to profits (Research Brief #36)

Purchasing calves (stockers) in spring and selling them in the fall as feeder cattle may be a way to convert pasture to profit for those with a surplus of grass but not a lot of facilities. But managing pasture, animals, costs, and markets plays a key role in determining the level of profit producers can […] more

Outwintering dairy cattle: the fate of manure components (Research Brief #35)

Farmers who wish to outwinter their cattle to decrease facility and labor costs can do so in environmentally sound ways. In a study conducted during the winter of 1997-98, manure from outwintered cattle on three Wisconsin dairy farms retained nutrients rather than releasing them to the environment where they could pollute ground or surface water. […] more

Grazing’s potential: expansion’s effects on cash flow (Research Brief #31)

All farm types examined here, particularly the low and medium investment farms with high levels of debt, may find an expansion involving sweat equity to be the best option for them.- Rick Klemme Grazing-based dairy farmers considering expanding their herds and constructing labor- saving parlors need to consider the expansion’s effect on profitability carefully. (See […] more

Grazing’s potential: predicting expansion’s cost, profit (Research Brief #30)

Many successful graziers, confident in their grazing and management skills, are now asking: Will an expansion pay for a labor-saving parlor within a modified seasonal calving system to allow me and my family a better of quality of life? Probably, according to the models formulated by a team of UW-Madison and Extension economists, but it […] more