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Increased cover crop acres bring livestock opportunity

The president of the Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition says the increasing popularity of cover crops on row crop operations poses an opportunity for the livestock sector.

Cliff Schuette tells Brownfield, “We’re really concentrated on the row crop producer getting cover crops and getting livestock back on the land.”  He says, “I’ve been farming since 1996, been doing cover crops since then.  It definitely heals the land quicker.  Plus, you get to use the feed from it, so it’s a win-win situation.”

He says cover crops bring benefits to soil health, nutritional intake of the grazing livestock, and the producer’s feed supply. 

“The cover crop is going to be over and above their nutrient requirements.”  He says, “That’s how good the cover crop usually is in the fall time and in the springtime.  In the middle of January, I can still have milk cow feed out in the field that’s not been grazed that was put on in September.”

Schuette says livestock markets, especially cattle, are attractive, but most farmers face two main hurdles to bringing livestock back to the farm.

“A lot of the fences have been taken out over the years and that there.”  He says, “So getting the fence in, and water, is the two biggest things that slows down the movement to get to that because they are costly and takes a while for them to be put in.”

Schuette says USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service offers programs to assist farmers with those types of infrastructure upgrades.    

The Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition plans to address this and many similar topics at its second annual Grazing Conference on Tuesday, March 11, and Wednesday, March 12, at the Northfield Inn Conference Center in Springfield, Illinois.

AUDIO: Cliff Schuette – Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition