Managing Waste for an Expanding Dairy Herd

From USDA:

Posted by Christy Morgan, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kentucky, on January 13, 2015 at 2:00 PM

Jonathan and Jessica Gaskin and children operate a dairy farm in Adair County, Kentucky. Photo courtesy Kentucky Farm Bureau.

Jonathan Gaskin grew up on a beef cattle and grain farm in Adair County, Kentucky. And at 12, Gaskin was milking cows for the farm next door. The neighbor sold their farm when he was 18, and at that time, he always knew he wanted to have a dairy farm – he just didn’t realize he would buy that same farm a few years later.

He bought the farm in 2006 and started working with his soon-to-be wife, Jessica, to build a dairy operation together. They married in 2008 and started growing the 110-acre place.

“We started with 30 heifers and calved them one cow at a time,” Gaskin said.

As the herd grew, the Gaskins expanded their operation. They bought additional equipment, built barns and purchased additional land. With a growing herd, managing manure became more challenging.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), helped the Gaskins develop a management plan for handling the increase in manure as the farm expanded.  They were able to develop a nutrient management plan, which outlines ways to manage manure while putting it to good use as a fertilizer without affecting water quality.

Through the agency’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), they constructed a covered manure stack pad that can hold up to 42,700 cubic feet of manure.

“Through financial and technical assistance from NRCS, we now have a stack pad that allows us to apply the stored dry manure directly to our fields at rates calculated in the plan,” Gaskin said of using the manure as organic fertilizer for crops. When manure is applied correctly, the nutrients are used by plants, minimizing the risk of runoff into nearby streams and rivers.

The Gaskins would like to continue to expand the herd to more than 500 cows. Managing the waste and nutrients from a herd that size will always be a challenge, but the Gaskins are ready to do what it takes to grow their dairy operation in a sustainable way.

To get started with NRCS, visit your local USDA Service Center or www.nrcs.usda.gov/GetStarted.

The Gaskins were able to use financial assistance through NRCS’ Environmental Quality Incentives Program to build a covered stack pad that can hold 42,700 cubic feet of manure. Photo courtesy Kentucky Farm Bureau.

Better Quality Beef Starts with Improving the Quality of the Land

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Christy Morgan, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kentucky, on April 15, 2014 at 1:00 PM

Jake and Jondra Shadowen and family use conservation programs to improve their Benton, Ky. ranch. (NRCS photo)

When Jake and Jondra Shadowen from Benton, Ky. got married 14 years ago, they decided to buy a 26-acre ranch with a goal of raising a healthy herd of cattle. Today, thanks to hard work and conservation, they maintain a strong herd of 26 cattle, up from 11 when they first began.

They worked with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to implement a rotational grazing system, which breaks up large pastures into smaller ones. A rotational grazing system allows for grass to grow faster and quicker and prevents soil from becoming prone to erosion.

Healthier grass means healthier forage, or food for the cattle. Jake Shadowen aims to constantly improve the quality of his cattle by improving forage. Through the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and other Farm Bill conservation programs, he received technical and financial assistance to put in cross fencing and to implement other conservation activities, or enhancements.

CSP helps agricultural producers maintain and improve their existing conservation systems and adopt additional conservation enhancements to address priority resources concerns. Participants earn CSP payments for conservation performance – the higher the performance, the higher the payment.

As part of a CSP, Shadowen sends fecal samples for lab analysis six times a year to determine cattle health – and see how the cattle are responding to better forage. Shadowen plants a mix of cool-season grasses such as tall fescue, orchardgrass and red clover.

Also, as part of the program, he has added wildlife friendly fences, escape routes in water troughs and pollinator habitat to the farm. He marked fences with flags in locations that are the main thoroughfares for deer, which help prevent deer from getting snagged or injured. He also added the escape ladders to water troughs to keep birds and small animals from getting trapped. Additionally, he plants pollinator-friendly flowers and grasses on the land to help improve the health of bees, butterflies and other crucial pollinators.

CSP is the perfect program for landowners like the Shadowens, who want to make improvements to their existing conservation system and address resource concerns like soil health and water quality. The conservation work benefits his cattle herd as well as the surrounding environment.

Their farm is a model for the community as it has been used for soil health demonstrations to help other landowners see the benefit of rotational grazing and other conservation practices.

In addition to ranching, Jake is a full-time electrician and Jondra works part-time as a dental hygienist. They have three sons.

“My wife and I were both raised on a farm and even though you don’t think the farm work means much at the time, you appreciate it later in life,” Jake Shandowen said of raising his children on the land.

To get started with NRCS, visit your local USDA Service Center or www.nrcs.usda.gov/GetStarted.