by Tamara Scully
Silvopasture is the managed integration of trees and livestock, utilizing the land both to produce a tree crop and to graze livestock. This multi-tasking can result in diverse income streams, with money from timber, nuts, syrup or other tree by-product, plus income from livestock production. Silvopasturing enhances both systems: the forest and the animals. It is one of five recognized agroforestry practices in the United States.
Unmanaged woodland grazing can be extremely detrimental to the ecosystem, and may not add any value to a livestock production system. A few scattered trees in a pasture can cause more harm than good. But neither of these scenarios represent a silvopasturing practice.
Educating farmers on soil health
by Laura Rodley
Dysfunctional soil in your fields can’t attend a self-help program. It needs your help to bring it back to life, following nature’s system of using microbes and nutrients in organic matter to bring it back to life. Benefits include higher crop yield, less petroleum-based product use, less pesticide use, and a way to keep water in the soil through crop cover rather than irrigating, cutting down erosion, and a reverse of drought conditions in pockets throughout the country.
How do you do that? By planting cover crops that are rolled over and by not tilling, or reducing tilling, and keeping your soil always covered which forms a detritusphere, or armor. Continue reading
Virginia Beef Expo brings industry together for a weekend of fun
by Jennifer Showalter
HARRISONBURG, VA — Like in years past, the 2013 Virginia Beef Expo recently drew producers, exhibitors, lenders, industry officials, salesmen, and others who make up the beef cattle industry together for an eventful weekend at the Rockingham Fairgrounds. From cattle sales, shows, contests, educational workshops, to a trade show that offered something for everyone, the 2013 Virginia Beef Expo was a great success. Above and beyond all the activities that went on, the Expo provided an opportunity for cattlemen to simply come together and visit with old friends and meet new ones.
The World of dairy calves and heifers
by Stephen Wagner
Half the battle of putting on a successful trade show often depends upon where it is held. For the 2013 Dairy Calf and Heifer Conference, the Lancaster Convention Center in Lancaster, PA proved to be ideal. In recent years has the former Watt & Shand department store been transformed into a center that is state-of-the-art in architectural splendor, a complex that retains the old exterior of the former landmark store, with an imaginative interior full of color, comfort, and comportment. Continue reading
