1. Nutrient Dense Grazing
Lisa McCrory, Earthwise Farm and Forest
Beginning Women Farmer Conference
March 22 & 23, 2012

2. Landbase: 158 acres owned, 16 acres rented
Open land = 24 acres; 23 pasture, 1 acre crop land

3. Hand-squeezed Raw Milk
certified organic

4. Hand-squeezed right in the
pasture

5. Draft Animals

6. Sows and Feeder Pigs

7. Poultry: Heritage Turkeys,
Meat birds, Layers

8. Layers and Turkeys
hatched on the farm

9. Off-Grid System

10. Renewable Energy

11. Organic Vegetables, Flowers

12. Grazing Management

13. Grazing has made tremendous
improvements on our fields

14. Key Ingredients
to a good
grazing plan:
Adequate rest in between
grazings
Clipping pastures when
needed
Providing water in every
paddock
Move the animals often
(every 12-48 hours)
Appropriate size of paddocks

15. Infrastructure
Improvements
• Water to every pasture
(gravity feed), piping
• Perimeter Fencing and
other improvements
through NRCS
• Returning tree plantation
back to pasture
• Diverting water away from
a pasture & barn and
capturing it for use

16. Brontosaurus
Hired in 2010 to
chip up the debris
(tree tops, stumps,
shrubs on 4 acres
or what was white
and red pine

17. Field
Management
Clipping when
needed
Lime application
Other
amendments

18. Grazing was
making a
difference,
But we wanted to
ramp it up:
• Become more self
sufficient
• Provide a more
nutrient dense
food for our
livestock
• Increase the
biological activity
in our soil

19. What I wanted
to Address
• Increase Disease &
Pest Resistance
• Increase Plant
Species Diversity
• Increase Forage
Yields
• Reduce Livestock
Health Issues
• Have longer
growing season
(productive life of
plants)

20. Earthwise
Farm and
Forest

21. Keeping Good Grazing Records :
Forward planning and historical records

22. Important Conversions
 Important Conversion Values:
 PPM – Parts per million
 PPA = Pounds per Acre
 PPA = 2(PPM)
 There are 2 million lbs of soil in the top 6 inches of soil
 500 lbs per acre = 11.5 lbs per 1000 sq feet
 100 lbs per acre = 2.3 lbs per 1000 sq feet
 20 lbs per acre = .46 lbs per 1000 sq feet
 5 lbs per acre = 2 ounces per 1000 sq feet

23. Macro Nutrients available
in natural forms:
 Magnesium Sulfate (epsom salts) = 20% Mg, 30% S
 Gypsum = 23% Ca, 19% S
 Sul-Po-Mag = 22%S, 22% K, 11% Mg
 Soft Rock Phosphate = 22% P, 20% Ca
 Hi Cal Lime = 38-40% Ca
 Dolomitic Lime = 30% Ca, 10% Mg
 P2O5: 75 PPM x 4.6 = 350 #/a

24. Micro Nutrients
Solubor = 20% Boron
Borax = 11% Boron
Cobalt Sulfate = 27% copper
Manganese Sulfate = 32% Manganese

25. Financials and Nutrients
applied
 18 tons lime @ $52/ton delivered = $940
 2 ton SulPo Mag/Gypsum @ $550/ton = $1100
 Micronutrients: Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate,
Boron, Humates – applied at $75/acre = $750
 Total amount invested on amendments for 2011
$2,790.00

26. Nutrients applied
13 acres of pasture
- 1 ton/acre lime
10 Acres of pasture
- 200# gypsum
- 200# sulpomag
- 10# solubor, 10# zinc sulfate, 15 # Manganese
sulfate/acre, mixed with humates, (50% summer, 50%
fall application

27. Contact Info
Lisa McCrory
Earthwise Farm
and Forest
Email:
Lmccrory@hughes.net
www.earthwisefarma
ndforest.com
Phone: 802-234-5524