Gene Logsdon on Pasturing

[helwen]

Short article by Gene Logsdon on Bluegrass, which apparently critters find to be tastier than the popular ryegrass. Oh, and did you know bluegrass isn't originally native to North America?

And this short article: A Quiet Revolution Coming to a Farm Near You

Might be of interest to non-farmers too, as he talks about the grain model (fossil fuel intensive) vs. pasture model (not) for livestock.

I also found it interesting that one of the Ohio farmers whose land he saw didn't have a barn for their cows to stay in during the winter, just woods and windbreaks. Don't know what winter is like in Mount Vernon, Ohio, but it definitely peaks my interest. Also, having some of the farm's land be woods is a good thing in several ways.

Comments

[gigglingwizard.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. I like Gene Logsden quite a bit. Never met him, but I got to hear a nice long interview with him on one of the local public radio stations through OSU.

Mt. Vernon's not too far out of my neck of the woods. I once took some chickens to a processor near there. Not looking at an almanac, I'd say most of our days in the winter range between the twenties to mid-forties. Lotta rain, blizzards and ice storms from about February through April. The rest of the winter, snow is sporadic. We get healthy doses of it, but not feet at a time and white ground all winter long like they do up by the lake.

Gallipolis is further south, down near the Ohio River. I believe Mt. Vernon is Zone 5 and Gallipolis is Zone 6. The winters are slightly milder there most of the time, and pretty drastically milder than along the lakeshore. You could compare southern Ohio winters to those in Kentucky, whereas Cleveland, Toledo, and the like are more like Detroit or Buffalo. I could imagine grazing year-round in the south, with a bit of creativity and some hay put back for really bad days, but I don't see how it would be possible up in the snow belt.

Yes, woods are a good thing. I don't think I'd consider buying a farm that didn't have at least a small stand of trees.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info. So, northern Ohio has some cold and wild weather, but not as much precip as I think we get here, and not quite as cold, at least when we have a winter like this past one. More like one of our mild winters, as we usually get down to single digits at some point during the winter, even if it's just for a week or so.