Capturing Sunlight, Book 1: Skills & Ideas for Intensive Grazing, Sustainable Pastures, Healthy Soils, & Grassfed Livestock - Softcover

Lane, Woody

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0983323828 ISBN 13: 9780983323822

Publisher: Lane Livestock Services, 2020

Synopsis

There is magic in forages! And with this book, you can become a magician.

What if you knew — before you opened the gate — how many days your animals could graze a 3-acre field? Or how much pasture will your animals need for five days of grazing?

There’s so much to learn. What is truly important when you are just getting started? And if you are an experienced grazier, how can you build on your skills with science-based information and techniques that really work?
That’s what this book is about. Here are a few of the topics:

• When to open the gate to put your animals into a pasture and when to take them out.
• The Four Principles of good grazing.
• Practical skills like the Forage Growth Curve, the timing of regrowth, stocking density versus stocking rate, the grazing wedge and how to use it.
• To renovate or not to renovate a pasture, comparing the nutrient losses from hay versus grazing, the real cost of making hay.
• How to get started with new pastures, step-by-step.
• How to get started with managed rotational grazing, step-by-step
• The dirt on soil tests and fertilizer, how legumes increase pasture nitrogen.
• Forage nutritional value, scoring forages, what fiber really is,
• Making hay and silage, barn fires, coping with drought, the quality of old hay.
• The last section of this book is a special treat: A practical handbook on intensive grazing systems. I systematically describe the skills of Management Intensive Grazing — one of the most effective and efficient ways ever devised to improve and manage pastures.

Short, easy-to-read chapters, down-to-earth essays on practical skills and underlying science. With a bit of humor now and then. And this information applies to all species of grazing livestock: beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, goats, bison, horses. There’s even a chapter on the forage nutrition of dinosaurs, should that ever become necessary.

Farmers, students, and others worldwide are buying this book — U.S., Canada, England, Australia, Mexico, France, India, Japan, and more. My background includes a Ph.D. in animal nutrition from Cornell University and more than 30 years as a farm and ranch consultant on pastures, forages, and livestock nutrition, and as a featured speaker in hundreds of conferences, courses, and workshops.

There is indeed magic in forages. These pages might not be filled with mystical chants and bubbling cauldrons, but they will open doors to a wizardly world of forage skills. Even if you’re not a grazier, this book will stay with you long after you read it. You’ll never again drive past a pasture without seeing it in a different light.

Buy your copy today.

About this title

About the Author

Woody Lane is a nationally-known livestock nutritionist and forage specialist living in Roseburg, Oregon. Since moving to Oregon in 1990, he has owned and operated Lane Livestock Services, an independent consulting firm. Woody provides technical advice to farms, ranches and all types of agricultural businesses and agencies. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Animal Nutrition at Cornell University. Woody has published hundreds of popular articles and fact sheets on sheep and cattle production and more than 25 research articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is currently involved in many projects and activities: Teaching courses in livestock nutrition and forage management to ranchers in Western Oregon. Writing and publishing books on livestock nutrition and forage management. Facilitating three forage study groups for farmers and ranchers in Western Oregon. Writing a monthly livestock nutrition column for The Shepherd magazine. Being a featured speaker in scores of workshops and conferences across the United States and Canada.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lane Livestock Services
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0983323828
• ISBN 13: 9780983323822
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 332