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Tim Tobin, of Swallow Hill Farm in Woodford, VA, is a farm demonstration cooperator with the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council as part of a USDA- NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant project. Tim will be speaking next week at the VFGC Conference in Madison, presenting a project summary on how he has used specific forage species and improved grazing management practices […]

Pasture Walk August 17, 2017 Demonstrating conversion of wildtype to novel endophyte fescue pastures for greater livestock performance and better environmental outcomes Tall fescue compared to a highly productive summer annual mix in neighboring field after 30 days of no rain. A variety of summer annuals have been donated by Halifax SWCD, Dodd’s Farm Supply, King’s Agriseeds, and CPS-South Hill […]

The Virginia Forage and Grassland Council is excited to present a short video highlighting Ronnie Nuckols discussing his journey as a grazing demonstration cooperator over the last few years. In this video, “A Step by Step Approach to Building Pasture Productivity and Soil Health,” Ronnie explains where he started, the challenge to change, how he transitioned to grazing management and […]

This publication is available as an EXCEL file only. To customize a fence budget copy  the link below to your web browser then click on the excel file, save the file to your computer then open the file. http://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/ANR/ANR-257/ANR-257.html

The Virginia Forage and Grassland Council is currently working with John Fant who co-owns and operates Summerfield farm in Independence, Virginia. Summer Field farm is a grass-fed and grass-finished beef cattle operation. John, a veteran of the United States Army, has been farming full time since 2013, but Summerfield farm has been in John’s family since the 1970’s. Continuous grazing […]

On July 6, 2016, NCSU Extension Entomologist Dominic Reisig reported that the sugarcane aphid (Melanaphis sacchari) was found in Stanly County, NC. We first detected this aphid in Virginia in late September 2015 (in Isle of Wight, Prince George, Southampton, Suffolk, Surry, and Sussex Counties), and with its ability to spread and reproduce rapidly, we recommend monitoring for this pest in Virginia sorghum fields. […]

Recent studies indicate that native grasses can be a useful “tool” for forage producers providing a good complement to tall fescue or orchardgrass and a low input alternative to bermudagrass. There are five species typically considered for forage production: switchgrass, big bluestem, little bluestem, indiangrass, and eastern gamagrass. While all have value for forage production, benefits and site adaptations vary […]

The video was shot and produced by Anders Gurda as part of his graduate-thesis work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is now an associate researcher in organic and sustainable cropping systems at UW-Madison.This last video of a four-part series gives Upper Midwestern graziers’ suggestions on how others can implement mob grazing into their operations. Mob Grazing in Their Own Words […]

Thousand of farmers raise livestock on grasslands throughout Virginia. These grasslands have the potential to be very productive, but it largely depends on how the livestock are managed on the pastures. More and more farmers are transitioning from continuous grazing their livestock to a higher level of grazing management. Their goal is to save time and money by grazing their […]

Top-quality hay is the FOUNDATION of your feeding program. Always have it professionally tested. The author of this attached article managed to get by for many years without testing hay, but the winter of 2004-2005 was a nutritional disaster. If you are fortunate enough to have sufficient forage and don’t have to feed hay, have the forage tested every year. Conditions […]