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Thanks Erik for sharing your experience with Bob and his methods. I've been very intrigued about re-igniting the herding instinct in our livestock. I hope I'll have the opportunity someday to try his methods out myself as that could be a real game changer when it comes to grazing large, open...

Ever since I saw the Gantt charts I fell in love with them because you can easily map out on a day by day basis how your grazing plan will likely unfold. It also usually includes enough space to record when you moved livestock so that you see planned versus actual. For those who prefer to do...

Thanks for sharing that Lee. It's wonderful to hear of your experience with this practice in Texas. I'd love to see this technique be pushed further and further north, maybe perhaps reversing the situation where a warm season plant is planted into a cool season perennial pasture. I was thinking...

Hello Omar. A couple of years ago I took Mark Shepard's course in Keyline design while attending an Acres conference. Mark published a book on this subject and I have it, but I don't consider myself to be the authority. For that I'd recommend reaching out to Mark himself. He's located in Viola...

I've done similar testing myself using a meat thermometer. With an ambient air temperature of 88 degrees F, soil completely covered with dense green vegetation had a temperature around 70 degrees. Where some residue covered the soil surface the temperature was around 84 degrees and where the...

Hello Matt. Thank you for voicing your viewpoint regarding the comments I made about conventional soil testing. While it's true that plants absorb nutrients in their ionic state especially where soil life has been devastated, conventional soil testing completely misses the plant-microbial bridge...

The following question was recently asked at a webinar that Linda Poole and I co-presented. The question was: I like to have my lambing take place in the same place each spring because it is close to the house and easier for me to make sure everyone is ok. Can I do anything to counteract the...

Have you ever wondered what the research is that backs up soil health? For those interested in accessing the latest information related to soil health, the Soil Health Institute has a great website for accessing a variety of soil health related scientific literature. You can access it by topic...

I've been researching Ground to Air Heat Transfer Systems (GAHT) for storing and releasing heat energy underneath a greenhouse so you can grow produce throughout the year. Here's a brochure that talks in depth on how this system works and it's components. Has anyone out there seen one of these...

For those in southern latitudes where perennial warm-season plants are the dominant form of vegetation, has anyone had experience pasture cropping? For those who may not be aware what pasture cropping is, it's a technique of planting a cool-season annual plant like wheat or oats into a dormant...

For those who couldn't see the thresher in my first post, here's another photo that'll hopefully be viewable. And, here's a video of it in action:

For any out there looking for ideas on how to harvest small grains like wheat, oats, millet and barley at a small scale (a few acres or less) there are some options out there. As many know, the day of the small combine that could be powered by a 50 horsepower tractor is long gone. Vintage...

A number of years ago I came across a new approach to grazing management that really intrigued me. Bob Kinford from West Texas has been focusing on re-instilling the herding instinct in domestic livestock so the animals stay huddled together at higher stock densities (>100,000 pounds live weight...

Hello everyone. My name is Justin Morris and I'm a Regenerative Grazing Specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology. Early last November I was one of three presenters in a webinar that covered the topics of regenerative grazing, soil health and land carrying capacity. If...

One thing I've observed with fiberglass posts, they're smooth when you first get them, but once they stay outside for a winter or two, the smooth coating deteriorates and they get splintery. I didn't realize this until I had left some fiberglass posts in the ground all year round and then...

I just wanted to let everyone know that on Wednesday, January 26th at 5pm eastern, there will be a webinar on bouncing forward from catastrophes whether that's drought, flood, fire, grasshoppers, etc. My friend and colleague Linda Poole and I will be presenting. Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT)...

Hello John, Those are some great questions. I've had some direct experience with a variety of fencing products that may prove helpful in your situation. To get at some potential answers to your questions, my first question is, have you considered using plastic step-in posts like the you see...

Linda, Did you happen to see this video from Greg Judy? There's also an article on onpasture.com that's authored by Greg titled: 1-Strand Sheep Fencing - How We Made It Work For Our Operation that addresses this. From the video he recommends essentially a five-month training process where the...

I believe I remember hearing Greg Judy talking something about this at least six or seven years ago. I think his solution which was suggested to him by Ian Mitchell-Innes from South Africa was to cull animals that won't stay where they're supposed to be. Perhaps an alternative to electronet...

Hello Emily. Conventional soil tests like the one you posted can be valuable in establishing a benchmark, but they don't take into account the plant available nutrients tied up in soil life. Plants will more readily absorb pre-built organic compounds created by bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi...