06/30/2026
"The Smiths are overgrazing those fields"
Or are we?
(We don't know if anyone is really saying this - it is only a guess)
This year, we converted some highway-adjacent hayfields to pasture as part of our herd-consolidation and rotational grazing plan. We are grazing half the herd on one side of the road and the other half on the other side.
This is allowing a 31 day rest & recovery window for most pastures.
As part of a soil health & regeneration project, we recently allowed the cattle to graze some fields very short, after which we drilled in a specialized seed mix, utilizing the Clinch Valley Soil and Water Conservation District's drill that is available for producers to rent.
We followed this up with another round of grazing, both to work the seed into the ground via animal impact and to reduce competition for the seed.
The seed mix includes:
- Cow peas to fix nitrogen and add protein
- Sorghum sudan to build organic matter, sequester carbon, and provide highly digestible forage
- Pearl millet to weather hot summer slumps and produce fibrous roots that anchor the soil in the creek bottoms
- Sunflowers to pull nutrients to the surface
- Daikon radish to break up compaction
It likely looks like overgrazing from the highway, but it is actually part of a long term vision for healthier soils.
