Support for pasture-based management providing alternatives for smaller dairies

An agricultural and environmental economist is helping small and mid-sized dairy farms turn to regenerative grazing as a path to long-term viability.

Jon Winsten with the nonprofit Winrock International says farmers can be reluctant to graze because of the reduction in milk production.

“If those changes were coupled with a way to be able to manage more cows per person and actually milk more cows on your farm fairly efficiently, which does require in many cases changes to farm infrastructure, that’s where the ability to become viable happens,” he explains.

He tells Brownfield grazing offers an opportunity to lower production costs and access premium markets like organic, A2 milk, or direct consumer sales.

“We believe strongly, and have numbers that show, that low overhead dairy grazing operations, and these generally are farms with more cows per acre than you would see in a traditional farm, have the ability to compete,” he says.

Winsten says the Wallace Center at Winrock International has helped establish successful farms throughout the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions to serve as examples through its Pasture Project.

“Having agricultural land in year-round vegetative cover is probably the best way to reduce nutrient and soil loss from agricultural land into surface waters, which, by doing so, helps improve the water quality in the Great Lakes,” he says.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recently launched the Dairy Grazing Expansion Project to increase resources for farmers transitioning to grazing systems, expanding the work of the Pasture Project.