The Man of the House burned off the fields this week. Oddly, the cows were fascinated with the fire.
By Steve Edwards – The term “pastured poultry” usually brings to mind some type of free-range chicken enterprise. Chickens can be free-ranged for meat or egg production, but you can also use this approach to raising geese and ducks. Pastured poultry models utilize the now famous “chicken tractor” (with variations thereof), the Joel Salatin style “eggmobile” or simply turning the birds out on old-fashioned pasture. Pasturing poultry is nothing new. In
It’s confusing! The buzzwords are everywhere, complete with cute pictures on the carton or website! But, what does it all really mean? Pasture raised and free range sound a lot alike, to me! How do the animals live their daily lives and which words on the label will help you to buy what you think you are buying? Pasture raised means that animal lived on pasture at some time in it’s life, not necessarily all of the time. Free Range is defined by the USDA as “continu
Steven Smith is a wildlife and fisheries consultant with the Noble Research Institute (NRI). Ryon Walker is livestock consultant with the NRI. A planned, prescribed burn can improve forage quality. Here, regrowth of little bluestem is shown 50 days after a September burning.Fire is an important process in the ecology of native plant and animal communities, especially in uplands. Most plant and animal communities in the Great Plains and eastern forests evolved with fire. In many situations, land
While on a recent barnstorming journey from southern Wisconsin to southern Arkansas, I was able to make some spring pasture observations both from the vehicle window and while walking across numerous pastures at planned stops along the way. Spring pastures offer some unique challenges with plenty of opportunity to both manage and mismanage. I saw both.Pastures ranged from still mostly brown in the North to lush, green annual ryegrass explosions in the South. I thought I’d share a few thoughts f