News
In my last article I made the case that conventional fertility programs are costing farmers real money – and that the soil tests driving most of those programs don’t actually measure what we think they do. Understanding what’s wrong with the current approach is step one. Knowing what to do instead is step two. That’s […]
What is a Silvopasture? Silvopastures are grazing systems where trees, forage crops, and livestock are integrated on the same land. This blended microecosystem creates many beneficial symbiotic relationships between the soil, the plants, and the livestock. Silvopastures consist of a diverse mix of trees-such as hardwoods, conifers, fruit and nut producers, and nitrogen-fixing species-and support […]
There’s a deeply held belief in modern agriculture that more fertilizer equals more yield, and more yield equals more profit. It sounds reasonable on the surface. But when you sharpen your pencil and run the numbers, the math often tells a very different story. For many farmers, a significant chunk of their fertilizer bill is […]
Have you heard the saying, “Anytime you place a piece of equipment between the mouth of the cow and her feed source, it has just cost you money.” This statement is generally true. That doesn’t mean the cost is never profitable or justified-it’s just that in cow-calf or stocker operations, it only makes sense occasionally. […]
I live in a cold part of the northern Great Plains in southern Saskatchewan. We have snow for four and a half to five months every year. December, January, and February rarely get above freezing. Our biggest cost in raising a cow is winter feed. To be successful, we need to be very aware of […]
At Understanding Ag, we often talk about how focusing on the Six Soil Health Principles leads to resiliency of the Four Ecosystem Processes on our farms. That is extremely important and doing so certainly significantly lowers input costs, helping to make our farms more profitable, but if we genuinely want our farm to be financially […]
The nutrient cycle is one of the four foundational ecosystem processes, along with the energy cycle, water cycle, and cycle of life. It’s also one of the most overlooked drivers of farm profitability and long-term resilience. Just think about what you spend on ag inputs every year. Whether you’re a farmer, rancher, gardener or “yardener”, […]
New Season Brings New Opportunities As we come into a new planting season, it’s easy to get excited about new opportunities. I’ll admit that for many years the idea of polycropping, intercropping-or whatever fancy term came along next-felt pretty intimidating to me. You’ve likely heard of The Three Sisters Method, but how do we apply […]
We live in The Digital Age, and for the first time in a long while it appears that a new technology is emerging that could truly revolutionize the way we graze livestock. But is our growing dependence on technology necessarily a good thing? Is this really what our industry needs? Virtual fencing is becoming commercially […]
By John Hays, Understanding Ag, LLC Winter feed costs are typically a significant part of the annual cost to carry cattle, especially here in the Midwestern United States. There was a point in time that I believed that the only way to feed cattle during midwestern winters was to feed harvested forages. We would spend […]