Low Overhead Dairy Grazing: Exploring the Current State of Dairy in the U.S. Midwest

Sep 20, 2024

On July 18, 2024, Wallace Center and Winrock International staff hosted their first farmer workshop in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, for the Improving the Health of the Great Lakes through Profitable Low Overhead Dairy Grazing project. Funded by the Great Lakes Protection Fund, this project aims to provide custom assistance for technical and financial planning to a cohort of dairy farmers who are currently grazing and want to expand or improve their operations through reducing overhead costs or scaling their operations.

This project is expected to reduce phosphorus and nitrogen loss from farms while making farms more resilient to the “get big or get out” pressures of the dairy industry. The workshop style was a change from the Wallace Center’s typical practice of hosting on-farm field days — a change prompted by growing concerns over the spread of the avian influenza A(H5N1) virus in the Midwest.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 human cases of avian influenza A(H5) infection have been reported in the U.S. since April. Four of those cases have been associated with exposure to sick dairy cows. In the interest of attendees’ safety, the Wallace Center team pivoted to an off-farm workshop visit hosted in the Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center. Thirty-five participants, including technical assistance providers, statewide agency staff, farmworkers and farmers learned about approaches to increasing efficiencies and profitability on dairy grazing operations.

Participants heard from presenters who dug into the challenges facing dairy graziers, provided feedback on levers for change and discussed specific ways dairy farms can be more resilient ecologically and financially.

Presenters included:

Dr. Jon Winsten, senior project manager, Winrock International, who presented on the economics of low-overhead dairy grazing;
Adam Abel, Wisconsin state grazing land specialist, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, who presented on heifer grazing; and
Ashley Hughes, producer services manager, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, who presented on PaddockTrac technology.

This free workshop was hosted in partnership with the Klessig family of Saxon Homestead Farm. Learn more about this fifth-generation family farm and its practices here.

Click here to see more...

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.