For years , the rising price of Department of Energy and feed , along with tightening mention , have forced droves of dairy farm farmers in southeastern Georgia to descale back or closelipped shop solely . From 1997 to 2007 , the diligence disgorge an average of 1,820 cows and 47 dairy farm military operation per year , according to USDA statistics . There is a vivid spot , however : pasture - found dairy .
Pasture - based dairy farm now typify more than 15 percent of the full ruck in Georgia , up from a mere 1 percent in 2006 . While only 20 out of about 270 dairy farmers are pasture - based , the size of the herds on these dairies is typically 2 to 4 time that of their ceremonious peers . This emergence is for the most part due to many farmers see the personal , environmental and financial advantage of pasture - base systems .
To help pasture - based dairy farmers in Georgia and neighboring states develop and make the most of their operations , University of Georgia research worker are using multiple Ulysses Grant from Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education ( SARE ) programme to create a eubstance of technological knowledge for these system .
“ The growth we ’re seeing in this market is an opportunity for our educators to be involved and to sympathise that the technological specification for a conventional dairy are very different than for a pasturage - free-base dairy , ” read Dennis Hancock , UGA forage extension specializer .
Hancock and his colleagues used a 2009 SARE grant to stage preparation duty tour , shop and a two - 24-hour interval eatage - based - dairy farm pinnacle to fill knowledge gaps in central issue areas , include nutrient direction , rotational stocking strategy , forages and economic science . In total , these events have gain more than 200 personnel from the extension , Natural Resources Conservation Service and other agrarian - livelihood agencies .
In summation , UGA researchers have receive two other SARE Ulysses Grant to ameliorate the efficiency ofgrazing systemsthrough ripe irrigation scheduling and forage selection and direction .
“ They ’re providing tremendous info that can really help people . I wish it had been usable when we got started in 1993 , ” says Desiree Wehner , who , along with her husband , Al , operates three grazing dairies in southeastern Georgia , with a combined herd of about 1,700 Bos taurus .
The Wehners , who transition from a conventional system about 20 days ago , allowed the UGA researchers to conduct wet and nitrogen studies on one of their farms to better empathise theirpastures ’ needs at each time of the class . They have a more consistent , profitable organization now , whereas in the past , Wehner says , “ All we ever did was seek to grow as much grass as we could , and sometimes we had too much , sometimes not much . ”
A key appendage of Hancock ’s SARE grant was the organisation of a farmer meshing in Georgia , northerly Florida and South Carolina . It now has 35 participant who utilize it as a locale for peer - to - peer learning .
“ There ’s no way we can do all the enquiry postulate to answer all the questions that our pastureland - free-base dairy farm producers have , ” Hancock say . “ But when they get together and study from one another , that ’s when they really bulge out to make some onward motion . They vet each other ’s ideas . ”
