PASA Conference 2013, Day Two

As the north east coast woke up to 3 feet of snow, central PA was spared all but a sprinkle of snow and ice. Heading back to the conference I was able to reflect on what I learned on day one. I had read several books on rotational grazing but the concept of letting the grass fully recover, 20 to 60 days in non drought conditions is necessary to build biomass in the soil, did not really click until now. The animals need to be moved off the clipped grass before it starts to regrow, within 2 to 3 days. They shouldn't return until the grass is at least 12 inches long again. The top of the grass is reflective of the root depth, so the longer it grows the more energy it can store for regrowth and to weather drought. When animals are grazed quickly across a pasture in spring they bite the tastiest grasses and leave the unpalatable and weeds. When grass is bit it tries to reproduce itself from the root at the soil line, sending out tendrils that become new plants. Animal damage to these tendrils will defeat this form of reproduction. Let the weeds and undesirables go to seed before mowing the entire pasture, they will have used their energy to produce that seed, but the good grasses will have already reproduced. Cut hay 4 to 6 inches off the ground for faster recovery. Go into winter with good grass cover for faster spring start-up.

So on day two I learned some more things. Learn to read your land so you can utilize it most efficiently. Grey plants are a sign of poor soil, or brittle land. Conscientious debt that will build your business is ultimately more productive than no debt. Crowd-source, find investors, use Kickstarter for specific projects. A detailed grazing plan is the only way to maximize your greatest resource, grass. If you know in what pastures you have been, you can plot where you will go next. Get a weather station with a rain gauge and record weather data on the grazing plan so that you can make predictions about how the weather will affect your farm.

So I have a lot to process now. I met a lot of smart people I need to remember the names of the next time I see them. I have a grazing plan to layout, I think I'll create a spreadsheet. I have three more books to read. I have much to do, better get to it.