Intensive grazing and grass fed beef workshop held in Fairfield

Freestone County beef producers had no complaints about the rains that sent them indoors for a recent intensive grazing management and grass fed beef workshop.

“We wanted to open up new ideas in the grazing management area to area ranchers and create awareness of the grass-fed beef market,” said Jeff Goodwin, Blackland Prairie Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) coordinator and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) range management specialist.

Workshop attendees learned some cost effective management practices for growing forages and raising beef in a sustainable system.

Gene Sollock of Iola has been utilizing intensive grazing or mob grazing practices on his farm for decades. Legumes, such as ball clover, are the soil builders and foundation of his intensive grazing management system.

“The clover is the king,” he said.
Sollock hasn’t planted ball clover on the farm in 20 years. It regenerates itself. He also hasn’t fed hay to his cattle in 20 years.

“The seed is hard and laying there,” he said. “The seed can lie there four or five years and still come up. The hard seed will be there even through a drought.”
The hoof action of cattle rotating through grazing paddocks helps to work the seed into the soil.

“Cattle are the best planters you can have,” he said.

Sollock utilizes about 33 paddocks that average two acres each. He rotates his cattle through this paddock system each day. Water is available at every paddock. Sollock said a rotational grazing system can be started without much expense using hot wire.

“I’ve produced 1,100 pounds to 1,400 pounds [per head] on nothing but forage,” he noted.

The farm’s grass fed beef is sold on the rail to individuals.

Cody Holmes traveled from Norwood, Mo., to share the holistic planned grazing practices used on his Rocking H Ranch.

“Controlled grazing is the key to this system,” Holmes said.

There are 15 to 20 different varieties of forage plants on the ranch. Holmes focuses his efforts on soil fertility and building organic matter for his forages. Sunlight, capturing carbon, manure, earthworms and dung beetles, all combine to help get the job done, he said.

He keeps his herd together as a group as it rotates through about 100 paddocks on the ranch. He runs on average one head per acre.

“It’s critical to have enough paddocks for the slowest growing plant to mature,” he said. “The time period is about 90 days. Under the mature forage is new growth coming on and that’s what the cow eats.”

Holmes said his beef herd is a byproduct of his forage and holistic grazing systems.

Betsy Ross, CEO of Sustainable Growth Texas, shared information on building healthy soils for forage growth, along with ways to optimize acres grazed while creating a functional ecosystem.

“We want to keep everything on our place. We want to recycle everything. You can not do this without life in the soil,” Ross said. “My goal is to set up a natural grazing system.”

She told attendees that a successful and sustainable forage and beef operation starts with the soil.

“Think life, life, life … . You need to see your soil. You need to feel your soil,” Ross said.

Deb Manahan, co-owner of 5M Farms in Fairfield, said the workshop’s goal was to help ranchers develop their land to its fullest potential by bringing them cost effective management practices utilizing grass.

She also acknowledged that consumers are becoming more aware of where their food supply comes from and how it’s raised, along with the health benefits of the food they consume.

“We tried to structure this conference around that concept and bring it to the cattlemen in this area,” she said.

Manahan is the GLCI director for Freestone County.

The event was sponsored by Natural Resources Conservation Service, Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative, Freestone County Soil and Water Conservation District and AgriLife Extension.
 

Deb Manahan, 5M Farms in Fairfield, is the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative director for Freestone County.	Jeff Snider with Fairlie Seed visits with attendees about the benefits of incorporating legumes into a grazing system.
Gene Sollock of Iola told attendees that legumes are the soil builder and foundation of the intensive grazing management system that he’s utilized for decades. Sollock said he doesn’t spend money on inputs such as fertilizer and feed.