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Rotational grazing offers unexpected benefits Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Agri News staff writer
PLAINVIEW, Minn. -- More than a decade after John Bedtke switched to rotational grazing, he found it had benefits he wasn't even aware of. He'd already seen that it reduced costs and improved his quality of life.
When University of Minnesota graduate student Melissa Driscoll completed her research on his farm, he learned that it also benefited the birds.
The Land Stewardship Project hosted a field day on Bedtke's farm June 16 for Driscoll to present her findings and for Bedtke to share his experience rotationally grazing.
"I really want to find that compromise ... between the DNR and farmers," Driscoll said. "I really believe there is a way for sustainable agriculture."
Farms are being told to keep expanding to survive, Bedtke said, and to him that just doesn't make any sense. He took his farm in the opposite direction by reducing number of cattle and pounds of milk, and he's making more money and keeping a larger percentage of it.
"Many people said you just can't make a living farming," Bedtke said. He proved them wrong.
With the benefit of two previous farm generations, his own mind and inquisitive nature, Bedtke said, he knew he'd be a success. And he was -- but something, he felt, was missing.
In the 1980s he really started questioning his farming practices, he said. Around that time he went to an auction and paid $900 for used equipment. He should have felt pretty pleased, but then he saw the family in tears. It was a distress sale.
"What good is the farm if you can't pass it on?" Bedtke said.
In 1989 he switched to rotational grazing. While he liked the improved smell of his farm and the benefit of working outside, not inside in the dark all day, he hated fencing and the next year returned to conventional means. Almost immediately, he said, he saw why he'd switched in the first place and the year after that went back to rotational grazing, where he's been ever since. In 1999 he went organic.
"Why not slow down and enjoy life?" Bedtke said.
Cows are designed to give enough milk for one calf, not meant to be pushed to give so much milk. His cows are healthier now, he said.
His land, too, is healthier. It's been able to handle this summer's extreme dry and extreme wet because the soil supports a wide variety of microorganisms that conventional or row-crop farms don't, he said.
Although his costs are down and he's making more money, Bedtke said success can't be measured solely in monetary terms. Family values and quality of life count, too.
"It may take a long time, but you'll make an impact by what you do," he said. |
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