HEALTH!  Grassfed is really all about health.  Health of the natural systems and cycles, health of the land, health of the animals, and health for all of us. Cattle and goats are ruminant animals and their digestive systems were not designed to process grains except as they occurr naturally at the end of the grass stalk.  Grass is more than just the green stuff you see in your front lawn.  Grass, in the sense that it is used by those of us who raise livestock (especially ruminants), includes many species of grasses, forbs and legumes. In other words, pastures. We are working constantly to improve HEALTH!  For more specific and/or technical information about nutritional benefits for people, there is a lot of good research available through Eat Wild and links from there.  For animal and land health facts there are also many good sources of information from USDA, and there are some great links at the Quivira Coalition.   

We are always learning new things from our land.  Observation is the best management tool we have, letting the land and the varying conditions be our guide each season (and sometimes each day!) as we determine which animals will go where and for how long a time. We do not have a "set" routine every year or season. What we do have are permanent pasture divisions which can be divided into many smaller segments (paddocks) as needed with electric fencing. There are many factors that determine our pasture management strategy, but the most important two are the current conditions of the land and the animals on it.

Livestock management is actually a part of Pasture Management. Again we use observation as our main guide in making decisions about what livestock to put where.  We are in close daily contact with our animals, observing their condition and that of their pasture.  This year we are going to be doing some brush and weed control using a large herd of meat goats.  Check the blog to see the progress of this management strategy.