Following the dairy financial crisis of 2009, virtually every dairy farmer in America has spent time evaluating strategies to mitigate the impact when rising feed costs and low milk prices drive profit margins into the red. Lowering operating costs is one logical response to the financial squeeze, and it is the reason a growing number of producers have turned their attention toward grazing.

Currently, beef bulls are worth a lot of money – at least based on the relatively high prices paid by bull buyers for virgin seedstock bulls this past fall. As a result, strategic management of bulls, particularly during the winter months, is becoming even more important to a producer’s profitability.

Imagine the air temperature is 115ºF; the pastures have browned from lack of water, the cows are comfortably under roof in freestalls with a grass silage-based TMR, and the sound of magpies pierces the air. This sounds like an ordinary U.S. dairy, doesn’t it?

With nearly 800 mother cows, Gelbvieh and Angus breeder Vaughn Thorstenson recognizes that reducing feed inputs would be a huge savings on the ranch he and his family operate in north-central South Dakota.

Pastures have always been, and will continue to be, a source of forages and nutrients for livestock. In the rolling hills and karst topography of the Driftless Area of northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin, pastures serve an additional role in soil conservation and water quality protection. Reincorporating pasture into the feeding and management program for the dairy herd is gaining interest. With advances in fencing and watering systems, improvements in forage species, and increasing cost of equipment, one of the best ways to learn about these practices is to witness them first-hand.

There was a time long, long ago, before electric milking machines and refrigeration, before modern technology and the slow disappearance of the farmer, that every dairy cow in the world spent most of its productive life grazing on a pasture.

Understanding the horse’s body language is extremely important to safely work around a horse. Observing body language allows a rider or handler to be better prepared for reactions from the horse or may prevent actions that will result in danger to the horse and handler. Features to watch include head carriage, ear position, look in its eyes, flare of the nostrils and mouth, as they will provide you with indicators of what a horse is doing. Pawing, continuous body movement, head tossing, a wild or frightened look, ears laid back against the head, or attempts to bite are all signals of danger to the handler.

Utilizing available resources efficiently has become a foundation for successful grazing operations. To effectively produce high-quality milk means more than providing pasture to the milking herd; it also means supplying a balanced ration alongside high-quality forages. Supplementing grazing cattle diets has the ability to achieve both of these goals.

Some time after he arrived as general manager of Riverbend Ranch, David Brown got a quick tutorial on how harsh the seasons can be in Idaho.