Advancing the Art and Science of Grazing in Dodge County

Looking back on the last couple of years, it is apparent to see that rotational grazing has been a practice more and more farmers have started to look at to drive input costs down and help improve their soil health.

We also have seen a number of people and families move into Dodge County, buy small farms and want to do rotational grazing. Whatever the reason, it is a welcomed site to see but to be successful with grazing takes a lot of time, hard work and management.

That’s why to help farmers understand grazing more, our department has been putting on pasture walks. This year, we went to the west side of the county and visited Jeff Gaska’s farm to see how he has been transitioning his farm into a more managed grazing system.

Jeff showed us how he planned out his rotational grazing, what tools he uses to be successful with maintaining his system and how he manages his animals out on pasture.

It was a day packed with information. We discussed fencing, watering lines, forage selection, economics and even a little about where landowners can go to get cost-sharing for grazing systems on their own farms.

We had a lot of discussions and talks from several great speakers including Serge Koeing from Sauk County, Jason Cavadini from UW-Extension and Paul Dietmann from Compeer Financial. Overall, it was a successful day and we look forward to putting a field day on next year.