Hello everyone, Michael here. So this is it...the introduction of Long Creek Pastures. This is a very exciting (and scary) time for my family & myself, and we are wanting to bring you along for the ride as we tell our farm's story.
Meet The Family: (Left to Right) Abby, Kelsey, baby Emmalyn, Michael, and Wyatt.
Long Creek Pastures
Let's start with a little background on what/where Long Creek Pastures currently is in our journey, and where we are hoping to go. At this time, Long Creek Pastures is nothing more than a figment of my imagination. But that is going to be changing soon as we are in the process of purchasing the charter members of our Belted Galloway Cattle Herd! We will be marketing grass fed beef (among other products) directly to you, the consumers, starting in 2019. More on that in a bit, but first, let's lay out how we got to this point.
Cereal Rye: The Gateway Drug to Regenerative Agriculture
If you are new to the blog, or need a quick refresher on my farming background, be sure to check out the Purpose post from January 2017 where I explain how I became involved in not only agriculture, but also the soil health movement and regenerative agriculture.
When I started learning about the principles of soil health and regenerative agriculture back in early 2016, I heard a lot of talk about the importance of integrating livestock into the system. I shrugged it off as we already have a livestock component on our farm operation in our confinement hog buildings...that counts, right? (Hint: not exactly, but it's better than nothing). Plus, there was no way we could possibly integrate livestock on our farm...we are in Iowa, this is corn and soybean country...why try to fight that? So I didn't.
We have been experimenting with cover crops (mainly cereal rye, but also diverse mixes via interseeding) on our operation for over 5 years. My favorite aspect of cover cropping is that the benefits to the soil/ecosystem are undeniable. Erosion control, water quality, water infiltration, carbon sequestration, and simply supporting more life in general, especially during the off season when fields are typically brown/dead. We are cover cropping more fields every year, there have been ups and downs along the way, and we are learning how to adapt our management practices accordingly. That being said, it can still be a tough practice to implement due to time constraints in the fall, added costs for seed/equipment/etc, and increased risk to yield loss due to a lack of experience.
Interseeded Cover Crops: 2017 was a year of "Learning Opportunities" on our farm.
I have been doing research on the internet, attending meetings & conferences, and reaching out to more experienced cover croppers in an effort to learn how to better utilize cover crops & hopefully increase yields instead of taking yield hits. Through this research and time spent with other farmers, I have noticed a trend. The farmers that are having the most success with cover crops are integrating livestock, especially grazing livestock such as cattle, into their operations. They are doing this by grazing their cover crops and turning them into dollars by saving on feed & equipment costs by letting the cattle do what they were meant to do: graze forages.
So this not only turns our standard cover crops, like cereal rye, into a bit of a cash crop, but it can also create opportunities to bring other crops that may not be profitable on their own (like small grains) into the rotation. This is possible by seeding a cover crop mix for grazing after small grain harvest in June/July when the window for growth is much larger than what we are accustomed to after corn/soybean harvest in the fall. This results in healthier soils, which produce nutrient dense food, which leads to better human health...and the cattle are happy to help!
Gabe & Paul Brown's cattle grazing cover crops on Brown's Ranch in Bismark, ND
PC- Gabe/Paul Brown
Meet The Family: (Left to Right) Abby, Kelsey, baby Emmalyn, Michael, and Wyatt.
Long Creek Pastures
Let's start with a little background on what/where Long Creek Pastures currently is in our journey, and where we are hoping to go. At this time, Long Creek Pastures is nothing more than a figment of my imagination. But that is going to be changing soon as we are in the process of purchasing the charter members of our Belted Galloway Cattle Herd! We will be marketing grass fed beef (among other products) directly to you, the consumers, starting in 2019. More on that in a bit, but first, let's lay out how we got to this point.
If you are new to the blog, or need a quick refresher on my farming background, be sure to check out the Purpose post from January 2017 where I explain how I became involved in not only agriculture, but also the soil health movement and regenerative agriculture.
When I started learning about the principles of soil health and regenerative agriculture back in early 2016, I heard a lot of talk about the importance of integrating livestock into the system. I shrugged it off as we already have a livestock component on our farm operation in our confinement hog buildings...that counts, right? (Hint: not exactly, but it's better than nothing). Plus, there was no way we could possibly integrate livestock on our farm...we are in Iowa, this is corn and soybean country...why try to fight that? So I didn't.
We have been experimenting with cover crops (mainly cereal rye, but also diverse mixes via interseeding) on our operation for over 5 years. My favorite aspect of cover cropping is that the benefits to the soil/ecosystem are undeniable. Erosion control, water quality, water infiltration, carbon sequestration, and simply supporting more life in general, especially during the off season when fields are typically brown/dead. We are cover cropping more fields every year, there have been ups and downs along the way, and we are learning how to adapt our management practices accordingly. That being said, it can still be a tough practice to implement due to time constraints in the fall, added costs for seed/equipment/etc, and increased risk to yield loss due to a lack of experience.
I have been doing research on the internet, attending meetings & conferences, and reaching out to more experienced cover croppers in an effort to learn how to better utilize cover crops & hopefully increase yields instead of taking yield hits. Through this research and time spent with other farmers, I have noticed a trend. The farmers that are having the most success with cover crops are integrating livestock, especially grazing livestock such as cattle, into their operations. They are doing this by grazing their cover crops and turning them into dollars by saving on feed & equipment costs by letting the cattle do what they were meant to do: graze forages.
So this not only turns our standard cover crops, like cereal rye, into a bit of a cash crop, but it can also create opportunities to bring other crops that may not be profitable on their own (like small grains) into the rotation. This is possible by seeding a cover crop mix for grazing after small grain harvest in June/July when the window for growth is much larger than what we are accustomed to after corn/soybean harvest in the fall. This results in healthier soils, which produce nutrient dense food, which leads to better human health...and the cattle are happy to help!
PC- Gabe/Paul Brown
So one could say that I have been warming up to the idea of livestock integration over the last 2 years, and things finally came to a boil during the Soil Health Academy in February 2018. The Soil Health Academy was a 3 day course developed by the Ray Archuleta, Gabe Brown, Dave Brandt, and Allen Williams to "inspire, teach, & mentor future leaders on how to regenerate soils in farm and ranch ecosystems by mimicking intelligent design innate in natural systems." ...I think they accomplished their goal after talking with a few other classmates when the course was completed. I had finally seen enough evidence that I no longer needed convincing that this cattle thing was something worth pursuing.
The only problem is that I knew LITERALLY nothing about raising cattle other than what I had seen in presentations & watching the cattle farmers in our neighborhood from a distance. Que up more quality time with Mr Google & YouTube University in an effort to round up some knowledge. Through this research, I determined that Belted Galloways were the cattle breed I wanted to work with due to their smaller size, calm demeanor, good mothering abilities, good adaptability in various grazing environments, and excellent beef quality and marbling.
Belted Galloway Calf. PC- www.beltie.org
So that is essentially how we got to where we're at today. We are in the process of getting our old barnyard cleaned up, fenced in, and set up for the charter members of our cattle herd which are set to arrive this month. We will be converting grass areas around the farmstead into pasture for this first grazing season before expanding into other areas that are currently being row cropped as the herd grows. We are also open to adding other species of animals to the operation as consumer demand grows, so please let us know what you would like to see on the menu in the future.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story. Please stay tuned for more updates in the future as things progress, and we hope you enjoy the ride as much as we do!
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