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BENEFITS

• Maximized forage production
• Provides a healthy environment for livestock
• Good for the environment, minimizes the risk of runoff and leaching of pollutants from livestock
• Looks better, it’s visually pleasing to see healthy pastures

Pasture Management should really be called “grass farming”.  Think of your pasture grasses as your crop and the animals as your method of harvest.  Matching the amount of grass with the amount eaten by the animals will reduce waste and prevent the need to make hay, which raises the cost of the feed and can lower quality. Read the rest of this entry »

by Stephanie Smith

Historically, all of our farm was prairie land with little or no trees. Few prairie species remained when we bought the farm in 1995. In keeping with the spirit of renovating the old farmhouse and smokehouse, we decided to restore some of natural history of the farm. This meant reintroducing prairie species on 10 acres. We also are reintroducing wetland species to a marsh that was enlarged from a wet swale that still had wetland plants. Aquatic plants have also been planted in each of our four ponds. Seed sources of the plants have been limited to the northern half of Missouri in most cases. This is an attempt to preserve the local genetics for each type of plant, rather than importing genetics from another region or state. Plants from our region are generally more adapted to local conditions. Each year more remnant prairie and marsh populations are lost, especially along roadsides and along railroad tracks and from the effects of urbanization and intensive agricultural practices.

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