When, where, and how to treat your landbase with organic manure By Loretta Sorensen If the cost pencils out, applying manure to pastures is likely to increase forage yields. But analyzing costs is just the first step in preparing to apply manure to a pasture. Other key activities in a successful application include: Soil testing […]
Pasture Management
Sprinkler Thinkin
There’s a lot involved in a successful irrigated pasture strategy By Loretta Sorensen Typically, when pasture is irrigated, forage receives adequate water at just the right time, forage quantity increases and grazing days can be extended. Harvesting all of those and even more benefits, though, involves much more than just turning on the water. University […]
Sprinkler Thinkin’
There’s a lot involved in a successful irrigated pasture strategy By Loretta Sorensen Typically, when pasture is irrigated, forage receives adequate water at just the right time, forage quantity increases and grazing days can be extended. Harvesting all of those and even more benefits, though, involves much more than just turning on the water. University […]
What’s in YOUR Pasture?
Identifying plant life is the first step towards making you a better grass manager By Loretta Sorensen Photos by Terryn Drieling “Sedges have edges. Rushes are round. Grasses are hollow. What have you found?” (author unknown) There’s no need to become a botanist in order to gather information pasture forage provides. However, at least a […]
Bad Grass
Why are you just coping? By Loretta Sorensen Fescue. It’s prized where extreme weather conditions persist, surviving cold and hot temperatures, waterlogged or dry soils and pressures from insects, diseases and overgrazing. Some 35 million acres of U.S. pasture and hay land are planted to fescue. However, what some ranchers have perceived as Tall Fescue […]
Pasture Plan for 2018?
Sure… it’s all guesswork when you’re dealing with the weather, right? So why prepare? By Loretta Sorensen Once the dust of roundup and symphonies of weaning have died down, beef operators might have a few moments to contemplate what Spring 2018 will bring for their operation. While every pasture across the nation has unique properties […]
Giving it the TWICE-OVER
A look at a grazing principle that dates back almost four decades By Loretta Sorensen Rangeland in southwest North Dakota gets thirsty, typically receiving less than 13 inches of rain over summer. That droughty climate, coupled with evolving beef production methods, has driven North Dakota ranchers like Wendell and Linda Vigen and Chester and Jane […]
Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Summer Beef Tour
Hosted by Glacial Ridge Cattlemen By Brooke Roberts, Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association As the sun came up over the hills of Clear Springs Cattle Company pairs of sleek, black cattle greeted Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Summer Beef Tour attendees. Jim and Twyla Wulf and family’s ranch served as the headquarters for the 37th annual tour, hosted […]
What's Neat About Wheat
Oh yeah, there’s some risk, too By: Loretta Sorensen Cattlemen who graze wheat will know the basics of their strategy remain the same from year to year. However, with all the variables involved, no two plans will be exactly the same. “Weather, grain prices, the amount of fall forage accumulated in a wheat field and many other aspects of the practice […]
Keepers of the Grass
Your Future As A Rangeland Manager By: Loretta Sorensen Students who consider the great outdoors to be the perfect office location may want to contemplate pursuit of a Range Management degree. Susan Edinger Marshall, Rangeland Resources and Wildland Soils professor at Humboldt State’s Forestry and Wildland Resources Department in Arcata, CA, says working as a […]
