Sustainable 12 Aprils Dairy Grazing
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2012
- Although Tom Trantham was one of South Carolina's top producing dairymen back in the 1980s, his business was struggling. He ran a typical confined feeding operation and his feed bill alone ate up 65 percent of his gross income. Then in April 1989, by chance, his cows broke out of the feeding area into a seven-acre field full of natural lush April growth. Trantham noted a two-pound average increase per cow in milk production the next day, and things have never been the same since.
This video was produced in partnership with Cooking Up a Story (cookingupastory.com).
Watch more videos from the field and learn about our partnership with Cooking up a Story at www.sare.org/Learning-Center/M.... - Věda a technologie
I’ve been to 12 Aprils Dairy. It’s beautiful. Good to see a family farm business thrive. Farmer Tom’s method is inspiring!
This made me cry. When you said you gave up and the cows ran off and then there was some rancid city show on tve and you just ran to your farm and cows... WOW..I love it. I love how farmers are such good detectives and scientists who want to know about their cows
holy crap... it made me cry too
When does the next semester start at University of Farmer Tom?? Sign me up! Great story, so much insight and willingness to be led...by his cows!
I Love this mans Thinking. Brilliant. Really put it all together for me. Thank you.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐👍👍
A treasure of priceless knowledge.Tell the world!
So many unique ideas.
This is brilliant! My thought is that since the system includes double bush hog mowing, you could probably even kick the system up a notch further by raising beef cows and/or hair sheep and using them to mow instead of the bush hog. Might even be able to squeeze in chickens as a 3rd revenue stream! Turn the expense of mowing into even more profits.
That's what I thought too, bring in some sheep to do your work. oliver griswold have you seen this?
***** I have not; thanks for alerting me! Off the cuff, he's basically implementing an intensive monocrop system. Looks to be way better than his old way of doing things certainly. I like the idea expressed of trying to utilize other animals to do the "brush hogging" work. I don't really have any expertise in growing traditional crops but am scared of that close cut phase and what happens in times of drought to the soil. But, on the whole, it works for his situation and kudos on thinking outside the box!
I thought you might be interested in his comments on grass heights and protein levels. But you probably know more about that than I do.
I really wish I had the years left in my life to start in on something like this.
oliver griswold Certainly not a monocrop since it is a crop planted in the existing perennial pasture. The interesting part to me is that it uses the second bite principle, but in reverse. Something I do myself, but for vegetable production.
@@redddbaron can you please explain second bite principle?
wow. thats great. I wonder if this could be done in northern states. maybe not all months but something similar.
Search Gabe Brown's presentation. He farms in North or South Dakota, and my goodness does he farm!
do you feed any grain
He feeds a TMR before turning them onto the grass. Theres more detailed info on the SARE website.
I am a farmer for economic reasons I was forced to quit my farming. If someone helps me financially I can start my farming again
Im sorry Sir... you had many more issues going on then making money milking cows.... Just a basic overview seeing your farm. It dont take money to clean things up ! Something is / was missing. Maybe its called ambition / drive ? Ive milked cows for 45 yrs. rotational grazing. Never noticed if you feed cows fresh" clean" grass your production will increase dramatically ? In Iowa during the drought of 1988 I learned that first hand..by allowing the cows to graze the country road ditches. When grazing cows / cattle you still need a mower.....and should have a baler to harvest what you have cut. Yes....pastures should / must be mowed to remove old growth...to allow new growth. If your cows eat feed/ grain your cows are telling you you have problems with your pasture ! They are either manured...over grown or non existent ! Pay attention to the cows. They tell you all you need to know !
Negative people will always find a way to poke holes in something. Go ahead, put your operation on CZcams for the whole world to see.
In English please