Animal Production

In a SARE-funded study in New York, a team of farmers, researchers and consultants addressed economic, labor and weather constraints in dairy farm rotations by developing an alternative forage cropping system with multiple options to produce high-quality forages. This system produces forage with yields comparable to traditional cropping systems, and is based on soil health management.

Honeybee losses, compounded with rising rental rates for pollination, are a concern for many producers. Not only are growers looking for alternative pollinators to improve crop security, but they also want to learn how to manage on-farm habitats for native bees and other pollinators. Since 1988, NCR-SARE has supported researchers, educators, and producers who are researching, rearing, and managing species that provide pollination alternatives to the declining honey bee.

Aquaculture is the cultivation of fish and aquatic animals and plants. Aquaponics is a bio-integrated system that links recirculating aquaculture with hydroponic vegetable, flower, and/or herb production. In aquaponics, nutrient-rich effluent from fish tanks is used to fertigate hydroponic production beds. SARE has supported recent advances by producers, researchers, and educators that are helping to make aquaculture and aquaponics into working models of sustainable production.

Organizations are providing invaluable training and resources to help small-scale commercial poultry farmers establish profitable operations.

This comprehensive guide to planning and constructing a mobile poultry processing unit or stationary facility for on-farm poultry processing includes tips and lessons learned, case studies, and example plans.

The sustainability of a dairy farm relates to many factors revolving around farm management, use of resources, and quality of life. NCR-SARE has supported research and education opportunities in a wide variety of dairy topics including organic dairying, value-added dairy options, pasture productivity, animal management, milk marketing, small ruminant dairies, and farm energy.

This publication was created to provide information that will help producers explore the many choices available for today’s dairy farms. This book is not intended to be a how-to dairy guide or manual. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer for dairy farmers seeking success as milk producers, there are many options that can be profitable and satisfying.

In Canistota, SD, a group of family farmers have been experimenting with methods for adding value to their products and income to their operations.

Tom and Ruth Neuberger were traditional livestock farmers in ‘70’s. During the credit crunch of early 80’s they found themselves in debt “up to their ears.” They sold off their livestock to pay off debt, and then had to devise a new business plan. 

They turned to poultry. 

To help it survive in challenging economic times, the Imperial Stock Ranch has increased profits by adopting direct, value-added marketing of wool products.

NCR-SARE Research and Education grantee, Patricia Johnson, published, "Effects of supplemental Mo on animal performance, liver Cu concentrations, ruminal hydrogen sulfide concentrations, and the appearance of S and Mo toxicity in steers receiving fiber-based diets" in the Journal of Animal Science. Her research team wanted to identify a feed additive that would negate the toxic effects of high-sulfate water thereby allowing cattle to safely graze rangelands with high-sulfate water sources.

Granjeros que quieren producir puercos con éxito en pequeña escala pueden preservar su independencia de cara a la industria de puercos en proceso de consolidación.

FAMACHA is a diagnostic tool to help farmers identify parasite infection in small ruminants, allowing them to cut the cost of deworming agents by targeting treatments only to infected animals. Training is required before purchase.

Iowa State University graduate student's unexpected discoveries inspired vibrant new learning communities for small-scale meat processors.

This report and video summarizes a comprehensive investigation of the chemical and physical properties of pasture-based milk when made into cheese, butter or other products, and describes strategies for producing, marketing and positioning pasture-based dairy products to earn premium value from them.

Apply for a license to process poultry using a Mobile Poultry Processing Unit (MPPU). Written for Massachusetts, but useful in other states.

How to Direct Market Your Beef portrays how one couple used its family’s ranch to launch a profitable, grass-based beef operation focused on direct market sales.

This Comparative Decision Support (CDS) toolkit provides realistic expectations across multiple livestock enterprises by using an individual's input and returning individualized results. Additional content included in the video demonstration explains the steps involved in using the CDS toolkit.

Mortality management threatens the sustainability of livestock production in many ways. Composting mortalities is an alternative that holds promise for the achievement of environmental protection, economic sustainability and job creation.

Management-intensive grazing (MIG) maximizes the feed potential of pasture by moving grazing animals through a series of pasture paddocks. By monitoring the growth of pasture plants, producers can control the grazing activities of the animals, ensuring that they are harvesting the forages with the best nutritional quality. NCR-SARE has supported research and educational opportunities around the topic of management-intensive grazing in order to help producers reduce costs and increase profits.

This Montana State University publication addresses medium- to large-scale composting as a management option for animal producers in cold, semi-arid environments.

Farm and food safety information for small-scale poultry producers and processors using a Massachusetts-inspected mobile poultry processing unit or stationary on-farm facility.

In this video, NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher grant recipient, Todd Mortenson, describes some of his family’s many conservation efforts on their ranch in South Dakota.

University of Georgia researchers are developing a wealth of resources—on nutrient management, forage selection, rotational strategies and other topics—for the state's pasture-based dairies.

Down a winding country road in Garnett, Kansas stands the Bauman farm, where agriculture is a family affair. Upon purchasing the farm in 2001, the family’s first farm venture was to raise pastured chickens and livestock. Today, the Baumans sell about 7,000 broiler chickens each year and an average 350 dozen eggs a week.

With the help of a grant from the NCRSARE Farmer Rancher grant program, the Baumans experimented with pasturing different species of animals in the same area. With the “pasture stacking” project, the family increased their broiler chickens’ average weight by 50 percent.

A comprehensive small ruminant resource tool covering all manners of production, planning, marketing, health, and facilities has been developed to aid producers and the Extension agents who work with them in improving sheep and goat profitability and sustainability.

A series of eight handbooks for new farmers or established producers seeking to transition to organic or improve their current practices. Print only; order from Chelsea Green.

A group of farmers in Wimbledon, ND are working to turn a conventional chemically dependent farm into a fertile, sustainable, organic, farming unit. What started as a farm restoration project for the sake of their beef market ended by using all of the livestock to restore the soil.

In Wooster, Ohio, a producer of Katahdin sheep is working with producers from two other states on the heritability of parasite resistance. The group is investigating methods of identifying ewes with a reduced periparturient rise. They are comparing the fecel egg count of sheep selected for their low fecal egg counts as lambs to determine how it relates to their adult parasite resistance and that of their offspring. 

To determine the level of interest and opportunities for the production of sheep milk and cheeses in Ohio, Abbe and Anderson Turner helped form the Ohio Sheep Milk and Cheese Initiative (OSMCI).

Pervasive cheatgrass has long posed a threat to ranchers and their communities in the Intermountain West, but there is new hope in forage kochia, a perennial shrub with the potential to improve grazing and biodiversity.

Raising poultry on pasture instead of in a barn or other permanent structure is an increasingly popular enterprise for hobby and small farmers across the country. This bulletin features the Day-Range system, which consists of a mobile pen that is kept inside a fenced area. The birds are free to roam within the fenced-area during the day and are put in the mobile pen at night if predators are a problem. The mobile pen is moved daily to prevent accumulation of manure and the fence is moved as necessary to provide access to fresh pasture.

Poultry Your Way is for anyone interested in commercially raising, processing, and marketing poultry. It is designed to help you consider alternatives, and to help you make decisions about which alternative(s) will be most compatible with your family and business goals.

The 16-page bulletin features profiles about successful hog producers as well as the latest research on everything from greater profits to better-tasting pork raised in alternative hog systems.

Profitable Poultry: Raising Birds on Pasture features farmer experiences plus the latest research in a guide to raising chickens and turkeys using pens, movable fencing and pastures.

This farmer project assessed whether greenhouse crops can be raised in hoop structures heated by livestock's body heat and manure compost.

Features innovative SARE-funded research on creating and sustaining a healthy range.

Steve Van Vleet found that properly managing grasslands with mob grazing significantly helped regenerate the vegetation and improve species diversity. 

In Rochester, IL, Stu Jacobson is attempting to increase interest and understanding among beekeepers in Illinois, eastern Missouri, and southern Wisconsin.

Sheep and goat production is a growing enterprise for small and limited resource farmers in the North Central region. While small ruminants (sheep and goats) are adaptable to many different production systems and can be raised with relatively few inputs, they present production challenges. In Ohio, researchers are examining the use of forage chicory as part of a gastrointestinal nematode parasites control strategy for sheep.

In the State of Missouri, poultry raisers can process no more than 1,000 chickens on the farm and sell to customers at their farm, without government inspection. In an effort to promote better safety practices in poultry processing on Missouri farms, Backes Poultry offers hands-on workshops, trains processors and their employees, and provides tours of the Backes Poultry processing operation. This booklet, developed by Kevin Backes as part of an NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher Grant project, contains descriptions and (somewhat graphic) photos of Backes' poultry processing practices on the Backes' Poultry farm in Missouri.

Order an entire set of SARE Outreach books and bulletins for one low price.

This multimedia project includes four video segments on the economics of behavior. They are: 1) Improve Rangeland Use and Profitability: Using Low Moisture Block to Extend the Grazing Season, 2) Reduce Feed Costs and Improve Feed Efficiency: Let Animals Mix their Own Diets, 3) Improve Rangeland Use and Profitability: Herding and Low Stress Handling, and 4) Cost Effective Weed Management: Training Cows to Eat Them.

In a SARE-funded project coordinated by Montana State University, researchers have demonstrated that using sheep to graze crop residue and summer fallow can help address insect, weed and residue management challenges.

This 60-page checksheet is designed to help sheep and goat farmers evaluate and improve the sustainability of their farm management, use of resources and quality of life.

This multi-page fact sheet describes basic parasite biology for gastrointestinal worms acquired by sheep and goats on pastures, and provides several strategies for managing internal parasitism. 

When rising feed costs threatened to put his once-successful confined feeding dairy out of business, Tom Trantham made the switch to a pasture-based rotational grazing system, and now his operation has never been stronger.

The purpose of the guidebook is to assist the rancher and/or land manager use business planning and ecological monitoring to ensure the ranch or land is managed in a sustainable manner. Material focuses on:

• Business planning
• Financial and ecological monitoring
• Assessment of ranch management

Farmer Rancher grant recipient, Kelly Klober, provides valuable insight into rare, heritage and heirloom breed selection, chick raising, breeding and marketing to help producers start their own fully sustainable heritage chicken flock and raise eggs and meat for family or small farm business.

Nevada rancher Agee Smith is using a farmer/rancher grant to add sagebrush to his cattle's diet, which has the potential to lower winter feed costs while improving rangeland biodiversity. 

Charuth van Beuzekom-Loth grew up in Holland. Her family raised goats and good cheese was plentiful. Eventually, she moved to the United States and years later settled down with her husband on a small farm named Shadowbrook near Lincoln, Nebraska. The transition went along nicely except for one thing. The cheese just wasn’t the same.

“I guess I’d always had a dream of doing some kind of a cheese making venture,” said van Beuzekom-Loth. “I love the cheeses in Holland. I never was very satisfied with the cheese that I could buy here unless it came from Europe.”

Hailing from small vegetable farms, cattle ranches and grain farms covering thousands of acres, the producers in The New American Farmer, 2nd edition have embraced new sustainable approaches to agriculture.

As the drought in the Texas High Plains continues to intensify, a unique partnership of producers and researchers is working diligently to find economically viable alternatives to the region’s irrigation-dependent crop monocultures.

The Agricultural Innovation and Commercialization Center at Purdue University has developed a Comparative Decision Support toolkit online resource to assist with entry-level decision-making about small-scale livestock enterprises.  

How can Tom Trantham’s cows graze alfalfa and not be susceptible to bloat? The short answer: feed the cows a total mix ration (TMR) each evening.

According to researchers, training sheep to have a food aversion is a simple process. However, there are important steps to follow to improve the strength of the aversion. This fact sheet describes the aversion training process.

According to researchers, training sheep to have a food aversion is a simple process. However, there are important steps to follow to improve the strength of the aversion. This fact sheet describes how to find the correct dose of LiCl for the aversion training process.

Due to the rising cost of feed, many small scale pork producers are exploring alternatives in order to increase their profit margins. At Donnelly Farms, Jack Donnelly is producing hydroponically-grown green forage for his hogs, and has been able to reduce feed outlay and increase their bottom line.

Wisconsin researchers were awarded a SARE grant to investigate the properties of grassfed milk when made into cheese, butter, or other products. This 13 minute video summarizes the research they’ve done and the development of the grass-based (or pasture-grazed) dairy industry to date.

Despite the cold Wisconsin winters, Julie Maro and her husband recently were able to establish a small hatchery in Western Wisconsin, hatching a unique breed of chicken that comes from parent stock raised on certified organic feed.