Nearly a decade ago it seemed logical for Jed Becker to turn his father's small Holstein herd out to graze in a pasture that once had been planted to corn. But logical didn't mean familiar for this Winneshiek County farmer. Becker estimates that 80 percent of what he did was new to him as he set up a grass-based dairy near Cresco in northeast Iowa. Now there's a growing group of producers who consider grass-based dairies a profitable alternative to traditional methods. Grass-based dairies use a rotational grazing system in which cows are pastured April through November. Cows are moved daily from paddock to paddock, and alfalfa and oats are added to typical crop rotations. The system works well in areas marginally suited to row-crop production. "I have read about rotational grazing used in New Zealand," says Becker, a 1976 Iowa State University graduate in farm operations. "It really made a lot of sense to me. With our rolling topography in northeast Iowa, a lot of our landscape shouldn't be used for row-crop production anyhow. So I went to meetings to learn more about it." Now he speaks at meetings, hosts pasture walks and participates in a grassroots citizens group to share what he's learned with others. Becker is a member of the board of directors for the Northeast Iowa Community-Based Dairy Foundation, which last fall opened a new 156-acre dairy laboratory near Calmar. The group has joined forces with the local community college, Iowa State University Extension, the ISU colleges of agriculture and veterinary medicine, and the ISU experiment station to help train the next generation of dairy farmers. "In two years, we hope to be set up for an entirely grass-based dairy demonstration," Becker said. "The herd will be all Jersey, which generally do very well." Unlike other grass-based dairy producers, Becker uses pastures that are tillable. He farms 240 acres and sells any grain that he doesn't need for silage. The result has been a top-producing herd, says ISU Extension dairy specialist Wendy Powers. Powers worked with Becker during a Leopold Center research project that focused on grass-based dairies. She wanted to know how much more manure is produced by cows fed a less-digestible grass diet, compared to those on conventional mixed rations. Samples were collected from 10 cows in Becker's herd and another herd in central Iowa over a two-year period. She found that the summer grass-based diet resulted in 50 percent more manure than the winter diet of mixed rations, but it had a lower nitrogen and phosphorus content. Becker said he was glad to help out with the study, and that it reinforces his beliefs that grass-based dairy systems can be sustainable. He said they are a fairly low-cost operation, and are suited for farmers who want to enter the organic market. Some day, he added, northeast Iowa's hilly countryside might be as valuable as the lush, emerald meadows of New Zealand. |
