Articles
Pasture-based farming
CIAS is strengthening the grass-based farming industry in Wisconsin through a special USDA-CSREES grant: Strengthening Wisconsin's Pasture-Based Farming Industry Through Directed Research.
Considerable research to support grassland-based farming has been and is now being conducted in Wisconsin. Much of the work focuses on grassland management, animal nutrition and comparative economics. However, a systems perspective uniting these activities and tying them with other efforts involving environmental benefits, marketing and rural sociology is an important next step.
Four objectives form the basis of the research:
- To determine the status of pasture-based farming in Wisconsin. This effort will gather data and report on the extent that pasture-based farming is used in Wisconsin.
- To determine and document the economic and sociological impacts of pasture-based farming under Wisconsin conditions. An extensive annotated bibliography has been completed. It details the findings of previous studies, particularly focusing on Wisconsin's unique resource base. Original research will emphasize the social impacts of managed grazing on farmers and rural communities. Two reports will result: 1) an economic descriptive analysis and 2) a sociological analysis of pasture-based farming systems in Wisconsin.
- To improve formal links between UW-Madison researchers and the pasture-based farming community. This project will articulate the needs of pasture-based farms in ways that are readily addressed by academic researchers.
- To stimulate directed research on critical pasture-based farming needs through research grants. The project will emphasize efforts involving the close cooperation of university researchers and practicing graziers, and systems approaches. The first set of research grants has been funded and consists of
the following four projects:
- Predicting Intake of Dairy Cows Grazing Pastures That Have Been Managed to Differ in Sward Density, by David K. Combs and Kenneth A. Albrecht.
- Evaluation of Forage Species for Cattle Systems in South-Central and Western Wisconsin, by Jeffrey W. Lehmkuhler, Kenneth A. Albrecht and Jim Munsch.
- Grass-based Farmers and Researchers Collaborate to Study Management Effects on Ecosystem Structure and Function, by Randall D. Jackson, Claudio Gratton and Michael M. Bell.
- Surface Water Quality Impacts of Management Intensive Rotational Grazing, by Anita M. Thompson, Fred Madison and Jim Peterson.
Publications on this work include:
- Pastures of Plenty: Financial Performance of Wisconsin Grazing Dairy Farms
- Grazing in the Dairy State
- The Social Implications of Management Intensive Rotational Grazing: An Annotated Bibliography
CIAS is also reviewing and summarizing about thirty recent grass-based projects that were undertaken across the state and funded by the GLCI (Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative). A report of project summaries with a discussion of their overall impacts will be produced in late 2006.
The Center has supported research on a wide range of grazing topics, including:
- Marketing pasture-based cheese
- Biological control of Canada thistle
- Ovsynch results on grass-based dairy farms
- Status of Wisconsin grazing networks
- The potential for Italian ryegrass in Wisconsin pastures under management-intensive rotational grazing
- Management of stocker cattle on pasture
- Management and environmental aspects of outwintering dairy cows and heifers
- Growth of Holstein steers on kura clover/grass pastures
- The financial performance of grazing dairy farms:
One aim of our pasture-based farming program is to help people get started in farming. The Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers provides classroom and field experience, mentoring, and farm internships to young people interested in a career as management-intensive graziers.
For more information on grazing research at CIAS, contact Jennifer Taylor.