From the Pastures

A wise-old rancher told me last year, “I can lead you to knowledge, but I can’t make you think.”

June is the beginning of grilling season and that’s been great for beef demand. If more of you would try lamb chops or lamb kabobs on the grill maybe we could see similar results in the lamb market.

After 17 wonderful years, we’ve made the heartfelt decision to sell Illinois Wool & Fiber Mill and The Complete Sheep Shoppe.

I’ve got my bean crop planted into green standing cereal rye that had been sprayed just the day previous. It went into great soil conditions.

The mill has been busy. We have received a lot of new fiber orders and working through the ones already had.

The animals are smelling green grass and are tired of eating their winter vittles. The rye looks great, but the cool temps have slowed its growth enough that I have decided to delay the usual turnout a few days.

Some of the highlights I came away with from the Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition’s 2025 Grazing Conference are: soil microbes help the water percolate through the soil and cover crops help feed the soil microbes which make them multiply.

It is great to see several tractors in the fields around northern Illinois. They are putting fertilizer down and soil finishing the fields. No planting yet, but it will not be too long.

March is a month that I sometimes struggle with. The weather is starting to warm up, then a cold snap comes through. It is a month of anticipation for the upcoming spring and summer projects.

We continue to have lamb customers since March is Ramadan and they come out before, during and after that holiday, and they all want eggs, too, but our supply was limited until just this week when I was able to get some hens from a fellow emptying his barn.

So far, this winter has been pretty friendly to the winter chores. We might be concerned about the lack of moisture for next spring’s crops, but right now dry is good.

Brrr, it’s cold outside. My sheep need good hay in their bellies to keep them warm during this time. That’s why I tested my hay and found out it averages only 8.75% crude protein.

It’s cold outside, so it must be meeting time. Besides the meetings I talked about last month there is the Northern Indiana Grazing Conference on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the Michiana Event Center in beautiful Shipshewana, Indiana.

Are you used to writing 2025 yet? Always amazing how time passes so quickly. This year I am super excited about the new year. I am making an extra effort to be positive and focus on family and friends.

The goal of the Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition is to help support livestock producers in building profitable, sustainable grazing operations.

Fall is a great time to enjoy the fruits of our labor as farmers and to remind us of our many blessings as we approach Thanksgiving. Be sure to give proper thanks to the author of those blessings.

Have you started your holiday decorating? I did see some cute ornaments to make using scrap wool felt. I have a bunch of scraps from the felted coasters I made using my Scottish blackface wool.

With the current crises we face on all fronts, foreign and domestic, we need a strong leader and God’s help to get us through.

I asked my wife, “What have I done in the last 30 days?” She said, “Praying for rain, moving sheep and praying for rain.” I’m still praying for rain.

We hosted a farm and mill tour as part of our county’s Farm Stroll. The local University of Illinois Extension office coordinates the day with small farms and more in Boone County participating.

The mill is buzzing with activity to prepare some of our fiber for sale and complete customer orders. We make felted batts from our Scottish Blackface wool.

Well, it’s dry again and we really could use a good soaking rain. The grass pastures had been growing nice up to about two weeks ago when they started feeling the effects of no rain.

We’ve gone more than a month now without any rain and none in our forecast, so the pastures are thirsty. In spite of that, the cover crops on our wheat stubble are looking surprisingly well.

I hope you readers saw the recent AgriNews article on sheep grazing under solar farms. Land stays in production while generating electricity for the grid and cash for shepherds while saving on mowing and spraying costs.

I’ve been busy with the granddaughters’ fair schedule of showing. The oldest one can now drive, so that helps a lot, but grandpa still drives the truck and trailer to the shows.

It is that magical time of the year — August fair season. In a lot of ways, I look forward to the fair more than Christmas. 4-H has always been a big part of my family.

Take note of Team USA’s opening ceremony blazers. They are made with USA-grown wool. Actually, the Ralph Lauren website lists it as USA-grown Responsible Wool Standard-certified wool.

Maybe it’s time to put some eggs in a different basket — that is, livestock. And since cattle prices are formidable for newcomers, I suggest a more reasonable approach to diversification: sheep.

The fairs have started and my granddaughters have been busy walking, setting up, washing and trimming their four market lambs and one yearling ewe.

Summer is finally here in northern Illinois. Temperatures are going to be hot this weekend. We call it Georgia weather, teasing our daughter who lives in Georgia. Luckily, we have had more rain than they have had.

April was an extremely busy time, mostly because we welcomed a new granddaughter. Her name is Brynlee and she is doing well. We were lucky to spend more time in Georgia in April than Illinois.

The race to keep up with grass growth is about to start here. The sheep and cattle are now content with the rye and volunteer wheat, saving on the hay supply.

I’m glad to be done feeding hay and am now grazing cereal rye and red clover. Some of the rye is in the flag leaf stage already. I have rye that is 10 inches tall right next to 30-inch tall rye, so I need to get it grazed.

This is the time of year that I become a little impatient waiting for spring. The warmer weather makes me think the grass and pasture should be getting green faster than they are. The sheep are also looking impatient.

It looks so far like spring has arrived early this year. Even if we get a last blast of winter, spring has a pretty good head start — so much so that I missed my best opportunity to frost seed some clover.

At the Illinois Lamb and Wool meeting a guy told me that he didn’t know about the wool loan deficiency payments program until he read about it in my article last year. He was able to get more than the 40 cents per pound minimum by having his wool graded.

This year, February has seemed more like late March. The temperature here in northern Illinois is warmer than in past years, quite a difference from when I was writing the January column. I know the warm temperatures are not going to last.

Hello from Graze-N-Grow. Well, it seems Elton and I missed our deadline last month. I don’t know his excuse, but mine was forgetfulness. I wasn’t really idle, though.

I was just having so much fun with the minus-15 temperatures and 20 mph winds last month that I just forgot to write an article. Well, the last part is true. Things have been mundane around here — unroll hay, break ice and fill water tanks.

Today, as I am writing this column, it has been snowing all night and all day. So far in northern Illinois we have at least 6 inches of heavy, wet snow on the ground.

Wool season is here in northern Illinois. Those wool socks, wool blankets, sweaters, gloves and mittens are so comfortable. Wool is a remarkable natural fiber. The website www.americanwool.org has a lot of resources to help with wool promotion.

It’s been great so far this December to do chores without having to break the ice on the energy-free waterers we use here. Pretty much all fieldwork has been done by now around here.

‘Tis the season to give, so I gave the rams to the ewes. Now everybody’s happy. I should start lambing about mid-May. Hopefully we will have a lot of green vegetation to graze.

The mill and store are very busy getting ready for Small Business Saturday. This special shopping day is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is a chance to support local businesses.

My philosophy is I need something to get me motivated every morning. What do all you grain farmers use as motivation after harvest?

It’s been a beautiful dry fall, almost too dry. With all the talk about an El Niño weather system, I sure hope we get a lot of moisture this winter because we need to recharge the soil moisture. But you make your prediction. What do you think?

Finally there’s no more talk of drought. The recent rains have kept the pastures looking good. Harvest in this area is probably on par with other years — many finished with beans, but not so much here.

The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival was a lot of fun this year. Great to see old friends and to meet new ones. Just a note to follow up on the items I discussed in last month’s column. The wool coasters were well received.

September already! Have you had your first pumpkin spice latte? I have not, but I did enjoy a pumpkin spice cream cheese muffin. I saw a funny advertisement for pumpkin spice oil change for your car.

I imagine some of you have started harvest by now. Not me, though, but that’s normal. Our double-crop beans are getting really thirsty since we’ve only had a third of an inch of rain in over six weeks.