We are trying to educate ourselves about pasture management, soil and cow health. All these things come back to, and are influenced by, our rotational grazing system. Rotational grazing means that the cows move in a rotation through our pastures. The lactating cows get moved about every 12 hours (after every milking). Here is Topher holding up a chart that representes the grazing schematic from last year. The diagonal lines in orange on the top show the movement of the lactating cows through the fields. You can see a gap in the middle, this is when we had to stop grazing because of the drought. During that time we had to feed the cows hay in the barn. This cut into our hay reserves for the winter, and also impacted the fermentation in the cheese made during that time. Hopefully this year we won’t have to take a break from grazing, we’ll need nicely spaced bouts of rain and sunshine. Think of us this season as you ask for gifts from the weather gods!