Managing Pasture: A Complete Guide to Building Healthy Pasture for Grass-Based Meat & Dairy Animals

A new way to understand nature as a partner when producing milk. We don't need chemicals, just a better understanding of nature and its relations with soil, weather, water and animals.

Completely enjoying the information and experience being shared!

Good information on grass production with the idea of developing soil that will develop grass to its highest level for consumption.

a great rad for anyone interested in making money on a farm

Essential reading for anyone in agriculture.

I bought this at a Mother Earth News Fair and devoured it in a week. This book is thick, colorful, systematic, and straight to the point. Excellent layout. If you want to learn how to create economic, sustainable pasture, not expensive, fertilized mono-crop fields, this is the book for you. Dale explains the science behind grazing in simple, easy-to-understand terms.

As a first generation homesteader with a dream of getting a dairy cow in the future, one of my biggest questions has been "how much can I rely on my five acres in Michigan to provide food for such a large animal?" followed by "is there something I could do ahead of time to prepare our property to better support a dairy cow?" In the summer I would walk around snapping pictures of random plants, trying to figure out what was growing, and then googling whether it would be good food or not for a dairy cow. This was not very effective. While I might get a good confidence number for the plant identification, I just could not get good answers from Google. Research papers were usually too specific for me to tell if the information was helpful to me. Similarly themed threads had replies ranging from "I wouldn't try it." to "It should be fine." In more general discussions I would see people say "polyculture", but there was no detailed explanation for how to work towards that goal effectively. I would see references to "rotational grazing", "strip grazing", and all of the other buzz words to the point that I knew it was a good thing to do, but didn't have a clear idea on how to know if you were doing it right.I have read this book cover to cover. My mental map of "how things work" for these connected but different topics -- pasture plants through all seasons, grazing various livestock (not just cattle), and how different plants map to dietary needs -- used to be covered in fog. That fog is gone now, and I feel confident in beginning to answer my situation specific questions.This book has many pictures (which is very helpful). It is also beautifully laid out with many callout boxes where you can "Learn From My Mistakes". If you like details and you're interested in reading about pasturing livestock with an eye towards taking care of the land as well as the animals, this is the way to do it.

Phenomenal book. Clearly written, informative, full of visual Aids, and written with a personable style that connects. I am implementing its tips as we speak.It is exactly what it’s title promises: a complete guide.My gratitude to the author and its publisher. Can’t wait to get my hands on the author’s other book.

I was incredibly disappointed when I scanned through this book. For a book supposedly on building healthy pastures for grass fed beef & dairy, I was shocked to see that there was only passing mention of soil health / microbes / fungi. Instead, the book focusses on the use of chemical pesticides / herbicides and synthetic fertilisers such as superphosphate, etc. As a regenerative farmer looking for a new resource for my library, this book was a definite fail.

Informative and practical. If you have an interest in managing a pasture, this book is an essential read. A good, enjoyable, informative read.

The author does not seem to really understand grazing. His fixes for poor performing pastures or to enhance forage production are based on farming practices. I feel this book is more suited to cover cropping than to grazing. Very disappointed!

all you need To know is right here!

Excellent format, great information.