Published Jun 12, 2020
Working With Neighbors to Integrate Livestock and Improve Soil – Virtual Field Day
By Practical Farmers of Iowa
Tom’s goal is to improve the soil on his family’s century farm. To do this, he has been working with neighbors Jim Funke, Jon Merrill and Conner Allender to integrate cattle, sheep and poultry into his cropping system in a variety of ways. They’ve been practicing management-intensive grazing for four years on selected areas.
Check out the areas where unrolled hay bales were fed prior to cash crop planting and where stockpiled grazing took place. See how chickens follow cows, along with pictures showing where soils that were once poor have become productive again.
Not only is Tom seeing life come back to the soil and farm, he is building community in rural Iowa in the process.