Brown Bag Weeds Webinar with Kathy Voth

Our terrific partner Kathy Voth did her first official public webinar today!  She shared her knowledge and experience in a one-hour overview at lunch.  

Kathy and a VT Devon steer making friends.

If you'd like to catch the webinar, we recorded it!  Click here to watch.

As Kathy encouraged in the webinar, she is available to help you teach your own animals to eat weeds!  And if you are in Vermont or the Northeast, we'd like to hear about your successes and challenges in trying it on your own farms.

Contact her at kvoth@livestockforlandscapes.com

or the Pasture Program at pasture@uvm.edu

Teaching VT Sheep to Eat Bedstraw

Kathy Voth and Kimberly Hagen

News from the field!

Here's farmer and grant participant Kimberly Hagen teaching her sheep to eat smooth bedstraw, a notorious plant in Vermont.  Think your animals won't eat it?  This technique has worked on all different types of ruminant animals, with differently sized herds and with different weeds.  It can work for you.

Call us if you'd like to learn more...we have a project underway right now and are happy to help!

Teaching Sheep to Eat Bedstraw on Osprey Hill Farm (YouTube streaming video).

Temple Grandin and the VT Grazing & Livestock Conference

Wow, what a ride the last month has been!

First, we'll start by detailing some of the press around the conference.  We've been quite lucky to have printed articles by the Burlington Free Press, the Bradford Journal Opinion, the Valley News, and even the Lancaster (PA) Farming magazine.  Yow!

Upon further investigation, I also found a blog posting about the event from Walpole Valley Farms. Thanks Chris and Caitlin!

Overall as the coordinator of the whole show, I can say that this was an amazing, humbling experience.  Dr. Grandin directly touched the lives of over 800 people in less than 12 hours.  She was incredibly patient and kind.  She signed hundreds of books and appeared in at least 50 pictures.  She took the time to answer individual questions when people came up to her with concerns about their animals OR their family members. She spent TIME to make sure they had answers. Dr. Grandin was giving, to a fault.

At the end of the evening, we settled up her traveling expenses.  We chatted for a few minutes and then she was done, time to sleep...and she walked off to her room without a backward glance.  I had this odd flash of the movie Shane or some other classic film where the kid watches in awe as their hero rides into the sunset.  Instantly, I was eight years old.

Safe travels, Temple.  Thank you for pausing one day with us...

Jenn

Dr. Temple Grandin and Jenn Colby of the UVM  Center for Sustainable Agriculture at the 16th Annual VT Grazing & Livestock Conference.

Temple Grandin Autism Presentation Saturday January 21 at 7 pm

In addition to Temple Grandin's two presentations for our farmer audience at the day conference, Dr. Grandin will also be presenting to a general audience in the evening of January 21, at 7 pm.  She'll be talking about her life and experience as an autistic person.  This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who would like to learn more about living life with autism.  Tickets are $10 per person, or $25 for a family of four.  If you are registered for the day conference Saturday, your admission is already covered.

Oh!  And we've set up an online rideshare board, for both the main conference, and for just the evening session. 

VT Grazing & Livestock Conference January 20 & 21

Happy New Year, and it's time to start thinking about the next grazing season.  Too soon?  Not at all!  The time to learn and think and plan is NOW.  Well, soon.

We are extremely excited to be hosting Dr. Temple Grandin as this year's keynote speaker, at Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, VT.  Just off I-91, the conference is easily accessible throughout New England, and well worth the drive.

Detailed conference schedule HERE.

We do welcome walk ins (hey, we know farmers!), BUT if you preregister by January 13, you'll be included in the door prize drawing, and that ain't hay.

Grazing Resources

From time to time I run across some amazing resources and breadth of grazing experience shared by farmers who are also excellent writers.  Dave Forgey is one of these people whom we all can learn from.

As the days grow darker and you all think about professional development readings for next season...check this out:

Dave Forgey's farm web site & writing

And...I hope you enjoy this photo from earlier in the summer.  Don't forget you can use your livestock to manage those pesky weeds!  Feel free to contact the Pasture Program to learn more about how to implement this simple process.

Teaching cows to eat weeds at Windhorse Farm in East Hardwick, VT

Tillage Radishes & Pasture Compaction

Coming up next week, a highlight of the Pasture Program project on reducing compaction in pastures using practical, inexpensive methods.   One aspect of the project has been assessing keyline plowing.  The other method has been the use of tillage radishes.  Tillage radishes, a variation of the daikon radish, have been tested for use addressing compaction on cropped land.  Using them to address compaction in pastures is a new application.

If you'd like a sneak preview, check out this field-recorded video:

Tillage radish YouTube link

To watch the segment in its entirety, please watch 'Across the Fence' on WCAX-TV, Channel 3 at 12:10 on Nov. 8.  The full-length program will also be archived on the UVM Extension website: uvm.edu/extension