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Cow herd expansion requires creative thinking

watkins-seth editCattle industry analysts say one of the factors that could slow expansion of the nation’s cow herd is pasture availability.

Seth Watkins, a cow-calf farmer from near Clarinda in southwest Iowa says it’s probably going to take some “outside-of-the-box” thinking for him to expand his herd.

“Our biggest limiting factor right now is probably finding pasture,” Watkins says. “One thing we’re talking about now—and there’s been a lot of talk about cover crops today—we’re really curious to see if maybe as some of this marginal land, that people maybe shouldn’t have farmed, starts to come available as cash rents aren’t able to be paid…can we walk in on some of that and maybe start using—instead of seeding it back to pasture—maybe we should put that to a cover crop and graze it in the summer also.

“It’s a little bit outside-of-the-box thinking, but I’m not sure where we’re going to find land to expand otherwise.”

Watkins was part of a panel discussion on water quality and conservation practices at the recent Iowa Soybean Research Conference in Ames.

AUDIO: Seth Watkins

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