Pastures

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.

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.

The futures market is reacting as expected with all this tariff news creating plenty of uncertainty which usually trends lower as most players look to eliminate risk.

We have faced several consecutive days over a six-state area where there have been multiple tornados causing damage, a lot of rain, lightning, hail and serious flooding and washouts of roads and bridges.

Tags on bags of livestock feed must meet specific standards.

Disruption is the key to adaptive grazing systems.

The Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition announced the recipients of the 2025 Master Grazier Awards at the ILGLC Annual Grazing Conference in Springfield.

I saw robins, snow geese and green grass all in the same frame last week — it must be spring!

In reviewing my February writing, I realize that quite a few things actually were finished or at least started in the last month — I am pleased to report that!

As March hit, we finally got some relief on the weather and had some nice days that first week. February stayed ugly until the end and muddy, muddy, muddy.

Resource availability has a significant impact on optimizing genetics that fit into an environment to make a perfect cow.

Cattlemen have several options to control brush or woody plants in pastures.

It’s common knowledge that weeds impact cash crop yields, but they can also impact farmland values.

We shipped two loads of fat cattle this past week and will ship another this week. Two of these loads were sold cash, and for the first time ever, we sold cattle for more than $200 per hundredweight.

Illinois agricultural and forestry producers who want to address or improve natural resources are encouraged to sign up for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

Corteva Agriscience announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has registered NovaGraz herbicide.

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.

Illinois and Indiana had the highest amount of agricultural land lost to development in the Midwest over a 20-year period.

Cattle and sheep graze on permanent pasture, cover crops and crop residue on Pasture Grazed Regenerative Farm in northern Illinois.

This year’s Greater Peoria Farm Show will include a new Kubota Sidekick UTV giveaway and the new University of Illinois Extension seminar series.

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.

Chef Bryan Flower hurries toward one of the raised “free-to-pick” vegetable, flower and herb beds that flank Neptune North residence and dining hall on the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb.

The best option for adding sheep or goats to an operation is to purchase from a reputable breeder.

The Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition announced the continuation of its free Pasture Walk series for livestock producers, with upcoming fall dates planned across the state.

We are in that tough phase between decent residue grazing and great stockpile grazing. It is the hardest time of the year for grazing management.

What a great harvest we had, huge crop and great weather to harvest in. Aside from the dusty road conditions, I do not recall an easier harvest ever.

Once again, no shortage of things to do on the farm and couple that with the planning and office work that continues to be done, there won’t be much time for rest or slacking.

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 focus at Schoepp Farms LLC is to keep soil and nutrients on the land.

Will we someday return to a more diversified Midwest agriculture economy incorporating livestock into row crop operations?

We have all but finished our harvest for the year. Corn chopping went extremely smooth with no rain delays and to my recollection only one truck needing pulled all season long — surely a record.

Who would have thought that hurricanes would impact Illinois weather so much, but that is what has happened. Not just one, but two of those storms made their way to southern Illinois with ample amounts of rain.

Regenerative farming and soil health are the focus for pastured-raised animals at Terra Vitae Farms.

A late-summer drought across much of the Midwest certainly altered the landscape. The cows are moving slowly, single file as they often do, coming from a pasture to get a drink from the automatic waterers.

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.

Beef production spans generations in the Hanson and Kuipers family in Iroquois County where they operate a forage-based program utilizing a paddock grazing system along with growing corn, soybeans and wheat.

After waiting, not so patiently, for the corn to mature, we finally had a field last week get mature enough to start chopping. Now we will race to stay ahead of the corn getting too mature.

It certainly has dried up in a hurry and pastures are showing the ill effects of that. We have had some hot days, but for the most part temperatures have been moderate, so it could have been worse.

Armyworms are appropriately named. They definitely work like an army, moving their line forward as efficiently and rapidly as possible, attempting to overwhelm the enemy and gain territory.

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.

Women who own or manage farmland or who have an interest in farming are invited to the Learning Circle hosted by The Land Conservancy of McHenry County.

The earth provides an overabundance of food, but the distribution of that food is the struggle.

Does your corn have stunted, yellowing plants along the edges of the field? If so, you’re not alone. It’s a common occurrence that agronomists call edge effect.

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.