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SARE 2001 Highlights
Low-Cost
Livestock Systems Offer Profitable Alternatives
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| Above: Demonstrations at Nebraska farms, including
this one where cattle graze standing corn during the pasture's "summer
slump," highlighted livestock systems that reduce feeding costs.
The systems also require less labor, lessen odor, flies and dust,
and minimize manure concerns. Photo by Wyatt Fraas. |
Nebraska ranchers raising cattle, dairy cows, poultry and hogs have a
new source to tap to learn more about alternative, lower-cost production
systems: other farmers. As part of a SARE-funded project at the Center
for Rural Affairs, 10 producers opened their enterprises, complete with
their hard-won tricks of the trade, to scrutiny by livestock farmers interested
in learning about alternative systems, many of them grass-based. Recruiting
farmers from throughout the state, the Center asked participants to allow
evaluations of their livestock systems, including their costs and returns,
and to talk about their practices to their peers. Preliminary economic
data measured by project cooperators at the University of Nebraska showed
annual net income for a participating dairy farmer who raised cows on
well-managed pasture to be $713 per animal, compared to $439 per cow milked
in a confinement dairy. While the grazier produced less milk, his feed
and fertilizer costs were far lower than his conventional counterpart.
Some of the farmers made presentations at well-attended meetings and workshops;
others held tours on their farms. Muriel Barrett, a poultry producer who
raises 10,000 birds a year on pasture, was happy to open her farm to tours.
"We encourage them, let them know our ups and downs, and give them
the benefit of our mistakes so their learning curve is less steep,"
says Barrett, who has reduced feed costs and receives $1.65 a pound for
her pastured birds, 76 cents more than grocery store prices. By the second
year of the project, about 700 producers and agricultural educators had
learned about alternative livestock systems. Many of them were intrigued
by cattle grazing systems that reduce both feedlot time and supplemental
grain costs.
[For more information, go to http://www.sare.
org/projects/ and search for LNC98-144]
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