Remove Acre Remove Farmland Remove Forage Remove Pasture
article thumbnail

The ranching industry’s toxic grass problem

Food Environment and Reporting Network

Fescue toxicity is the most devastating livestock disorder east of the Mississippi,” said Craig Roberts, a forage specialist at the University of Missouri (MU) Extension and an expert on fescue. An overgrazed fescue pasture in Elk Creek, Missouri. Many ranchers would like to avoid the risk of total pasture makeovers, if they can.

Ranching 101
article thumbnail

In Fire-Stricken Maui, Sustainable Land Management Is Key

Modern Farmer

Peppered throughout some 500 acres of charred pastureland, he found sizable patches of grass left unscathed by the blaze. The fire burned right around them,” says the 73-year old rancher and owner of Diamond B Ranch, noting the intact areas—some as big as a quarter acre. Some areas of grazed pasture on Diamond B Ranch went unburned.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Champions of conservation

Todays Farmer Magazine

Focus on forage earns Cope Grass Farms 2023 Missouri Leopold Award Cope Grass Farms of Truxton, Mo., The Sand County Foundation and national sponsor American Farmland Trust present the Leopold Conservation Award to private landowners in 27 states. 17 during the Missouri Governor’s Conference on Agriculture in Osage Beach.

Forage 52
article thumbnail

When Not Farming is the Best Use of Land

Modern Farmer

Not all farmland is created equal,” says Jesse Womack, a conservation policy specialist with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). In return, they are paid a yearly rental rate per acre of land enrolled in CRP programs. In 2023, he USDA Farm Service Agency made more than $1.77 It is always overdrawn.”

Farming 79
article thumbnail

Can Taller Cover Crops Help Clean the Water in Farm Country?

Civil Eats

The tall forage stands out in southeastern Minnesota’s corn and soybean fields, which this time of year have been reduced to stubble poking through the snow. It works as both a cover crop and forage for the cattle, and it’s helping Bedtka build up organic matter in his soil. farmland is regularly cover cropped.

Crop 112
article thumbnail

Sludge report

Food Environment and Reporting Network

But those farms had used sewage sludge to fertilize their pastures—something Dostie had never done. Of her 150 acres, only about 25 are safe for agricultural use, forcing Hunter to resort to raised garden beds in a greenhouse, filled with soil shipped in from another site. We called b t,” Dostie remembers. Stay in the Loop!

Farming 131
article thumbnail

Changing How We Farm Might Protect Wild Mammals—and Fight Climate Change

Civil Eats

Strips of trees, bushes, grasses, or flowers around agricultural or pasture fields can house higher numbers of small mammals than cropland. land, with cropland expanding by 1 million acres per year, fueling habitat loss for wildlife and mammals. But the crop-free plantings have had another effect, Farquhar explained. Runoff from U.S.

Farming 95