Annual/Termination Reports:

[04/26/2012] [04/24/2013] [06/27/2014] [07/22/2015] [09/13/2016]

Report Information

Participants

Akin, Thomas (thomas.akin@ma.usda.gov) USDA-NRCS;
Aldrich, Corrina (corrina.aldrich@ny.nacdnet.net) Washington Co SWCD;
Bailey, Clyde (cbaileyfarm@aol.com);
Benson, Faye, Cornell Cooperative Ext of Cortland Co.;
Bishopp, Troy (farmboytb@aol.com) Central NY RC&D Project;
Bosworth, Sid (sid.bosworth@uvm.edu) University of Vermont;
Cerosaletti, Paul (pec6@cornell.edu) Cornell University Extension of Delaware County;
Chedzoy, Brett (bjc226@cornell.edu) Cornell University Ext of Schuyler County;
Clark, Stephen (sjc.stephenjclark@gmail.com);
Clutts, Perry (addyg1000@gmail.com) Pleasantview Farm;
Colby, Jennifer (jcolby@uvm.edu) University of Vermont;
Cropper, James (jbcrooper@yahoo.com) NEPC;
Darby, Heather (heather.darby@uvm.edu) University of Vermont;
DeClue, Robert (robert.declue@frontiernet.net) Chenango Co. SWCD;
Dobrowolski, James (jdobrowolski@nifa.usda.gov) USDA-NIFA;
Elkins, Bill (elkins32@gmail.com) Buck Run Land and Cattle;
Fellows, Mark (chasehillfarm@gmail.com) Chase Hill Farm;
Fellows, Jeannette (chasehillfarm@gmail.com) Chase Hill Farm;
Flack , Sarah (satotleja@gmail.com) Sara Flack Consulting;
Foulk, Donna (dlf5@psu.edu) Penn State Cooperative Extension;
Fultz, Stanley (sfultz@umd.edu) University of Maryland Ext;
Gilker, Rachel, University of Vermont;
Goslee, Sarah (sarah.goslee@ars.usda.gov) USDA-ARS;
Green, Annie (annie.green@ny.usda.gov) USDA-NRCS;
Hartman, Morgan (blackqueenangus@yahoo.com) Black Queen Angus Farm;
Hatton, Joe, WV Forage and Grassland Council;
Herbert, Stephen, University of Massachusetts;
Hoffman, Karen (karen.hoffman2@ny.usda.gov) USDA-NRCS;
Hudson, Dan (djhudson@uvm.edu) University of Vermont;
Ireland, Bill (ireland01bill@aol.com) Ireland Farm;
Ireland, Sally (ireland01bill@aol.com) Ireland Farm;
Johnson, Angus;
Kaija, Kevin (kevin.kaija@vt.usda.gov) USDA-NRCS;
Ketterings, Quirine, Cornell University;
LaPlace, Sandra (ziggyion@yahoo.com) Patch Farm;
LaTourette, Brian (blatourette@nycwatershed.org) Watershed Ag Council;
Maher, Kevin (kmaher@post.com);
Malot, Jana, Uncle Clem's Place;
Martinez, Simon (twoplychipboard@gmail.com) Flaca Vaca Farm;
Miller, Ken (kbm.miller@gmail.com);
Neel, Jim, USDA-ARS;
Noel, Eric, Maplewood Organics;
Ott, Jill (jill.ott@nj.usda.gov) USDA-NRCS;
Paul, Mashumi (Susan.iandola@ars.usda.gov) USDA-ERRC;
Rayburn, Ed (erayburn@wvu.edu) WVU Extension Service;
Richardson, Martha (rockyacresfarm@verizon.net) Rocky Acres Farm;
Richardson, Robert (rockyacresfarm@verizon.net) Rocky Acres Farm;
Roberts, David (dave.roberts@ny.usda.gov) USDA-NRCS;
Sayre, Lawrason, Waffle Hill Farm;
Schivera, Diane (dianes@mofga.org) Forage Farm/Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Assoc;
Skinner, Howard (howard.skinner@ars.usda.gov) USDA-ARS;
Smith, Margaret (mes25@cornell.edu) Cornell University;
Tomasula, Peggy (Susan.iandola@ars.usda.gov) USDA-ERRC;
Townsend, Nathan (natetownsend@nycwatershed.org) Watershed Ag Council;
Tunick, Michael (Susan.iandola@ars.usda.gov) USDA-ERRC;
Van Hekken, Diane (Susan.iandola@ars.usda.gov) USDA-ERRC;
Vough, Lester (vough@umd.edu) University of Maryland;
Vredenburgh, Dan (dvredenburgh@nycwatershed.org) Watershed Ag Council;
Wagner, Bob (bwagner954@yahoo.com) New England Farmers Union;
Waldron, Keith, Cornell University;
Wild, Don (wildacres4750@gmail.com) Wild Acres Family Farm;
Wild, Sharon (wildacres4750@gmail.com) Wild Acres Family Farm

Brief Summary of Minutes

On January 25 and 26, the Northeast Pasture Consortium held its annual meeting at the Century House in Latham, NY. This Consortium is a group of farmers, Land Grant University (LGU) researchers, Extension specialists, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Natural Resources Conservation Ser-vice (NRCS) personnel, and agribusiness professionals devoted to promoting pasture-based research, education, and technical assistance to help grassland and pasture-based farmers remain environmen-tally sustainable and economically viable throughout the northeastern US.

The annual meeting hosts a number of current pasture research findings (technical) sessions and busi-ness sessions and USDA agency reports. During the business sessions research priorities are discussed in the light of new developments needing research to answer. USDA programs and policies in support of pasture-based farms are reviewed to ensure they are moving forward, meet the needs of pasture-based agriculture, and are sufficiently funded.

The first technical session was about nutrient management on pastures. Three speakers were featured: Dr. Quirine Ketterings - Cornell University, Mr. Paul Cerosaletti - Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Dr. Edward Rayburn - West Virginia University. Whole farm nutrient balancing and precision feed management are instrumental in reducing excess soil nitrogen and phosphorus on dairy farms. Excess feeding of protein and phosphorus in dairy rations leads to soil build-up of nitrogen and phosphorus. Only a small portion of the imported nitrogen and phosphorus fed to the dairy stock as home grown or purchased feed leaves the farm in the milk or meat. The excess soil nitrogen and phosphorus can be lost to surface and ground water creating water quality problems locally and further downstream. Pastures vary considerably in soil nutrient content due to livestock lingering in certain locations for prolonged periods of time, such as at hay bunks, water troughs, shade, and at gates. Therefore, if tak-ing pasture soil samples for nutrient analysis to get fertilizer recommendations, it is best to do grid sampling that is geo-referenced (precision soil sampling). Five soil cores are taken within a 12-foot radius at each sampling point. Fertilizer and lime then can be variably rate applied with the proper equipment so that the nutrient hot spots are given less or no fertilizer and the deficient areas more. It is also very important to sample pastures at shallow depths since all the fertilizer spread, either by grazing animal or equipment, is currently surface applied unless the pasture is tilled for replanting and the fertilizers are incorporated then. Permanent pastures should be soil sampled to a 2-inch depth only because of this. Sampling at greater depths can greatly understate the nutrient concentrations found in the upper 2 inches of the soil. This can lead to erroneously higher rates of recommended nutrients; that if applied, will only heighten surface soil nutrient concentrations. This can cause shallow rooted grasses, grass tetany in cattle, and increased nutrient concentrations in runoff water from these pastures.

The second technical session was devoted to the Pastureland Conservation Effects Assessment Program (CEAP). Dr. Howard Skinner and Dr. Sarah Goslee of Agriculture Research Service, University Park, PA gave the presentations. Pastureland CEAP is devoted to finding out what we do know and what we do not know, and then, fill those research gaps with new knowledge. Farms are a part of the landscape and watersheds. Grazing Land CEAP is attempting to understand the broader consequences of on-farm decisions and provide information to farmers so that they make decisions that are not only advan-tageous to themselves and their families but to the landscape and watersheds they reside in. A recent literature review has been done and is nearing publication on Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) pastureland conservation practices - Prescribed Grazing; Pasture, Hay, and Biomass Planting; Nutrient Management; and Forage Harvest Management. Dr. Jerry Nelson, University of Missouri, has led a team of investigators doing the literature review. This review delves into the adequacy of the science supporting each practice's design criteria and the purposes it is used for to protect the environment from degradation while meeting pasture productivity needs and the nutritional needs of the livestock grazing it. CEAP also is inventorying the Nation's pastures. In 2011, 20 states across the US were doing pasture inventories. In the Northeast, the states participating were Vermont, Massa-chusetts, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. For the first time, plant species composition of pastures is being collected on a nation-wide basis. CEAP will also do on-farm research and use those results in simulation models to scale up to regional effects. CEAP will also look into climate change and how that will effect pasture productivity and shifts in plant species abundance and composition.

The third session dealt with the grass species and variety grazing trial results from coordinated plot trials conducted at the University of Massachusetts, University of Vermont, and ARS, University Park. Dr. Sarah Goslee led off this session talking about plant species diversity in pastures and its impact on productivity, nutritive value, resistance to weed invasion, and economics. Dry matter yield per acre tended to increase as plant species diversity went from just 2-species, to 6-species pastures. Yield per acre was particularly better in a dry year on species diverse pastures versus 2 plant species pastures. This was due to better and deeper root distribution in the soil when deeper rooted plant species were in the plant mixture. Milk production per animal was no different on plant species diverse pastures than on a 2-species pasture. However, owing to the diverse species pastures being more productive, more milk was produced per acre on more diverse plant species pastures - 7000 pounds per acre versus 4700 pounds per acre on a 2-plant species pasture. Weed invasion was much less when plant species mix-tures approached 7 to 9 species. More research is needed to determine what forage plant species com-binations are best over a wide variety of soil and climatic conditions.

Dr. Stephen Herbert was the next speaker. In his presentation, plant species diversity tended to increase pasture productivity until a 5-species mixture was reached over the 4 years of the study, only in 2011 did the 6 and 7-species mix-tures continue to add tonnage to forage yield on average. Within mixtures having the same number of species, there was a broad range of yield that would overlap with yields from mixtures having fewer or more species. Therefore, the varieties and species selected to compose a planting blend were of great importance to yield performance. Extend orchardgrass tended to be the best of the orchardgrasses in Massachusetts for yield, but this was not observed in either PA or VT. Perennial ryegrass was susceptible to winter injury. In summary in Massachusetts, based on yield and four-year revenue stream (long term), Blend 13, a 6-species mix performed best. It was composed of Extend orchardgrass, Boost perennial ryegrass, Select and Summit tall fescue, Slezanka timothy, Kentucky bluegrass, and FSG 9601 red clover.

Dr. Sid Bosworth presented the Vermont plot trial results done on a heavy clay soil with a high water table. Five varieties of Festulolium were badly damaged in winter by white mold. It recovered but was weak in late May compared to other grasses growing in adjacent plots. Perennial ryegrass tend to pro-duce well the first year, but yielded much less and inconsistently, varying from 5 percent of total dry matter yield to 35 percent depending on variety the following years. Species diversity tended to im-prove dry matter production and suppress weeds the first year. However, by the second year as volun-teer grasses and broadleaf weeds invaded, the more diverse mixture yielded less than the 2- species mixture even though the planted grass in both mixtures had declined significantly. The invading grasses gave the 2-species seeded mixture (now more diverse, no longer a 2-species sward) the edge in yield over the 3-4 species and 5-6 species seeded mixtures. The diverse species mixtures continued to suppress weedy grasses and broadleaf weeds and therefore were less productive than the 2-species mix when the grassy weeds and broadleaf weeds were included in the total yield of all mixtures. Pastures as they naturalize tend to drift towards higher diversity from simple seeded mixtures.

The fourth technical session featured organic farming methods of seeding and managing pastures. Sarah Flack was the first speaker and went over recent amendments to the National Organic Program of USDA pasture rules for organic dairies. The main elements to the amendments are: Recognizes pasture as a crop. Producers must manage pastures and other outdoor access areas in a manner that does not put soil or water quality at risk. Producers must establish a functioning management plan for pasture and incorporate the pasture management plan into their organic system plan (OSP). Producers must provide ruminants over 6 months of age with pasture throughout the grazing season at their geographic location and outdoor access during the non-grazing season. Grazing season will be 120 to 365 days. Ensure ruminants derive not less than an average of 30 percent of their dry matter intake (DMI) from pasture during the grazing season. Detailed records must be maintained to keep organic certification intact. They include an OSP  Organic System Plan, which is filled out annually, and dry matter intake records & grazing records. These records are needed to pass the annual inspection. The job of the inspector is to verify management is as stated in the OSP.

Mr. J. Keith Waldron, IPM Coordinator, Cornell Extension, talked about fly management on organic dairy pastures. Potential arthropod related losses of 5 percent for a 65-cow dairy herd can mean an annual loss of $11,050 in income. Keith said the 3 major flies of pastured cows were face, horn, and stable flies. Each are found on a unique part of the cow. Face flies, as the name implies, are on the cow's face. Horn flies are found in large numbers on the backs of cows. Stable flies concentrate on the lower legs. The elements of pasture fly management as an integrated approach is to: correctly identify key pests, know their biology and habitat to know when and how to control them, monitor their numbers and assess if it is time to control them, and then use the control tactics that are available. Control tactics are: Cultural, Mechanical, Biological, and Chemical. On organic pastures, there are various fly traps that are available that work to catch different flies.

Dr. Heather Darby of the University of Vermont was the final speaker of this session. She took a soil health approach to producing healthy organic pastures. She explained that soil health is the ability of a soil to provide a physical, chemical, and biological environment for the plant that is health sustaining. Nutrient cycling in the soil is highly dependent on an active and diverse community of microbes. These microbes are dependent on abundant active organic matter for food and shelter. These microbes, once the soil temperature rises above 500 F., feed on this organic matter releasing nitrogen tied up in it. This nitrogen then is available for plant uptake. This organic matter also helps glue soil particles to-gether so the soil becomes granular and able to take up water readily, be well aerated, and resist com-paction by cattle hooves. Soil compaction in pastures can be a problem. It can cause forage yield loss, nitrogen loss through denitrification, and higher precipitation runoff due to a lack of soil porosity. Tap rooted crops, such as forage radish, can help break up soil compaction. Key-line plowing can also break up soil compaction. Nutrient distribution on pastures can be greatly enhanced by rotational stocking cattle on paddocks compared to set stocking them on a much larger pasture (curtails selective grazing and use of permanent camp sites, such as at water and shade). Frost crack seeding of legumes and perennial ryegrass can be a good way to renovate organic pastures. The percent of seeds that germ-inate and grow is low but good stands are possible if seeded at recommended rates. Legumes that are inoculated with rhizobium bacteria add nitrogen to the soil for grass uptake. Off-farm manures and non-synthetic fertilizers, such as rock phosphate and green sand (potassium), can be used to improve soil fertility in organic pastures.

The last technical session was held on the morning of January 26. This session was about silvopasture opportunities in the Northeast. Mr. Brett Chedzoy from Cornell Cooperative Extension and Dr. Jim Neel from ARS at Beaver, WV (closing ARS research unit due to ARS budget cuts) spoke about thinning out hardwood forest stands so that enough light reached the soil surface to grow grass. Orchardgrass does very well in hardwood silvopasture being a shade tolerant grass (hence its name). Brett said that it is much easier to introduce grass into a thinned forest stand than it is to introduce trees into a pasture (loss of or severe damage to seedlings and saplings by livestock). New biomass and fuel wood markets have created a commercial outlet for the low quality wood harvested from the thinning operation. There are also some new clearing machinery, such as the Pecon brush eater, to make it easier to prepare the silvopasture site for grass seedings. The Beaver, WV ARS research unit had worked on silvopasture for 12 years. Dr. Jim Neel said it improves summertime grass growth. However, silvopasture under hardwoods produces only 60 percent of the grass growth of open pasture, but the grass is of higher quality. The shade offered by the trees decreases the amount of time animals linger at waterers. Tree diameter at breast height (DBH) should range from about 50 to 65 feet/acre to help ensure grass stand longevity and maximize productivity. Adequate light penetration is a must to avoid grasses that are too high in protein and too low in energy. This results in decreased livestock intake and performance, and possibly animal loss due to nitrate poisoning (high nitrates). When adequate light penetrates the tree canopy, animal performance in a silvopasture is similar to open pasture, with lambs achieving 0.20 lb ADG under the ARS management scheme. Water quality im-proved under silvopasture with reduced nitrate in soil leachate, increased movement of fecal organisms into the soil that reduced runoff contamination, and dissolved organic matter more readily leached to the soil/bedrock interface rather than leaving via runoff water.

The last presenter was Dr. Rachel Gilker for Mr. Matt Burke, owner of Bloomfield Farm. Matt is planting hedgerows around his pastures to create barriers to keep livestock in, predators out, and to reduce wind exposure. They can also provide browse. Hawthorne is a very good hedge species. Other good species are rugosa and swamp rose, black locust, and seaberry. All hedge species need protection until they have established and matured to hedge height. To finish off this session with a counterpoint solution to silvopasture, Rachel gave a presentation on "Reclaiming Forest Land for Pasture" authored by Mr. George van Vlaanderen, owner of Does Leap Farm near Bakersfield, VT. George uses goats and hogs to eat brush and root up existing vegetation roots. The farm produces goat cheese and kefir. They have work horses to do the farm work and move logs from areas being cleared of trees. Marginal forestland is converted to pasture to expand his livestock operation. For acreage larger than 10 acres, it is best to have a logger clear the land with a feller-buncher and grapple skidder. A chipper can clean up branches and brushy material and the chips sold to a biomass buyer, such as Burlington Electric. Once cleared of trees and slash, keys to converting former forestland to pasture are addition of organic matter, animal impact by rooting and treading, frost seeding, fertilization, and multi-species grazing of the established seeding. Over-wintering animals on the cleared ground and feeding them hay at high density stocking rate incorporates organic matter into the forest soil. Multi-species grazing does these specific things: Small ruminants control stump sprouts and forbs, second class grass eaters such as horses or heifers graze the pasture forages, and pigs control ferns and other undesirables by rooting them up to eat them.

On the evening of January 25, the Producer Showcase session was held. Mr. Bob Richardson, owner of Rocky Acres Farm, presented his dairy farm operation in a presentation called Greening of Rocky Acres. The farm is in central Massachusetts on a high ridge. His herd is made up of black and red Hol-steins and Brown Swiss. Dry large round bales are stored in a shed. A $10,000 shed pays for itself in 10 years as dry matter loss from a round bale can cost $5 in lost feed. Forage samples are taken to check magnesium and calcium levels to balance them in the ration fed to the cows. Protein runs about 14% on pastures. Corn meal is used to keep milk urea nitrogen levels in the 12-15 range. When the dairy cows are on pasture 15 pounds of grain per cow per day or less is fed along with some dry hay. The pastures tend have a good white clover content with some red clover. The grass is primarily orchardgrass. Cows are turned into a paddock when the forage is 8 inches tall. Bedstraw is present in the pastures, but the cows will eat it when it is young. The seasonal cowherd is calved in March and April to fit lactation curve to the growth curve of the pasture forages. The calf pasture is kept close to the farm house because coyote predation is a big danger. Wild turkeys follow calves and cows on pasture to work on the dung pats for food. Electric fences are solar powered. Plastic pipelines are used to convey water to waterers in each paddock. Water is pumped from 2 ponds. Multiflora rose is a problem. It is rotary mowed and spot sprayed with an herbicide. Bob has used the Grassland Reserve Program of NRCS to build perimeter fences and watering systems. He also is using that program to reclaim stony, brushy land and turn it into pasture. Bob and Martha bottle raw milk and sell it by the half gallon or gallon. They are licensed by Massachusetts to do so. They were the eighth farm in the State to be licensed. The bottled raw milk is sold within 24 hours of being produced.

Bob was followed by Mr. Morgan Hartman, owner of Black Queen Angus Farm in eastern Renssellaer County, NY. Morgan produces 100 percent grass-fed beef and also sells Angus breeding stock. Grass-fed steers are slaughtered at 22 months of age with good marbling but yield a smaller cut than grain-fed animals. Cows needed for the grass-fed markets are ones of moderate size with good disposition and easy fleshing. They also should have the volume and capacity to eat pasture forages, well-formed udders and teats, be structurally sound, and long-lived. This cow can overwinter on stockpiled forage, hay, and snow most winters, losing up to 200 pounds of weight and still produce a calf and rebreed. Morgan is a believer in line breeding to get a good herd of cattle for producing grass-fed beef. Line breeding is done by breeding the same bull to daughter and granddaughter in a closed herd. 12.5% in-breeding is ideal. Further than that and in-bred regression begins taking place. The Wye Angus herd in Maryland is a closed herd with in-breeding at 11.5%. The Trask Polled Hereford herd at Clemson University is intensely line-bred and their steers range from high choice to prime on grass only.



In two breakout sessions, the Private Sector (farmers and agribusiness people) revised Consortium pasture research priorities, produced a resolution asking the NRCS to cost-share perimeter fences on where cropland was being converted to pasture under the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), produced another resolution asking NRCS to fund the pastureland National Resource Inventory in 2012 when they found out it was being cut from the reduced 2012 budget, and reconstituted the Stakeholder Action Committee. Orchardgrass die-off was also raised as a concern.

In their two breakout sessions, the Public Sector sought ways to fund the Consortium in 2012 as ARS's budget is extremely tight due to a budget cut and the expense associated with closure of ten ARS research units and the cost of relocating their employees to other surviving research units. ARS has underwritten the Consortium since 1996, but will not be able to in all likelihood this fiscal year. The Public Sector also discussed the issue of cost-sharing of perimeter fences in EQIP. In the Northeast, it is a needed incentive to get landuse conversion from cropland to pasture. Often times from an environmental standpoint, the more marginal cropland being converted to pasture would greatly improve water quality and reduce soil erosion to near zero. Another issue raised was the die-out of orchardgrass in the Mid-Atlantic states of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. This grass species is a very important component of many Northeast pastures. It is getting more susceptible to insect and disease attacks. The underlying cause is unknown.

During the Reports session, Bob Richardson, Private Sector Co-Chair Elect and Rob DeClue, Public Sector Co-Chair Elect gave each sector's report to the whole Consortium. Bob announced that the Private Sector had nominated Don Wild and Ken Miller to replace Clyde Bailey, whose term had expired, and Angus Johnson, who had to step down due to health reasons. Eric Noel was nominated to Chair the Stakeholder Action Committee. Rob reviewed the Public Sector's ideas for continued funding of the Consortium. This included asking member land grant Cooperative Extensions each to donate $1000 to $2000. Submitting a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) proposal to do pasture outreach work. Gathering agribusiness support was another idea. Depending on the level of funding, a less costly place to hold the annual meeting/conference was offered as a measure to reduce expenses.

Dr. Jim Dobrowolski, National Program Leader for Rangeland and Grassland Ecosystems, was the first USDA agency person to speak representing the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Jim said that China is fast catching up to the US in agricultural research spending. In the US, more research and development funding is done by the food industry than the agricultural industry. He asked that we get researchable items to him concerning pastureland issues. He then went over different grant programs where the Consortium could apply for funding. NIFA tends to favor large projects that will have big impacts. The SARE grant program, the AFRI Foundational Program priority areas - plant health or animal health, the Rangeland Research Program, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Develop-ment Program, and the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative were mentioned as possible funding vehicles. Currently, NIFA is led by Acting Director Chavonda Jacobs-Young.

In place of the ARS agency report, Mr. Bob Wagner from the New England Farmers Union, gave a presentation on their carbon credits program funded by a Conservation Innovation Grant. The New England Farmers Union seeks to be an aggregator of farms applying for carbon credits. For an individual farm, it would not be profitable to apply as an individual, because the fees to get annual carbon audits and verifications would exceed the return an individual farmer would get in payment for the farm's carbon credits. Bob gave an example on how carbon credits are earned and expensed out on a farm switching from total confinement to a pastured cow dairy.

Mr. Dennis Thompson, National Rangeland and Grazing Lands Ecologist, gave the NRCS report by speaker phone. Both ARS and NRCS have severe travel restrictions so their National leaders could not travel to Latham. Dr. Jeff Steiner of ARS was called away to meet with the Department of Energy at his scheduled speaking time. Dennis had with him Mr. Mark Rose who administers EQIP. The peri-meter fencing policy was still under review for cost-share assistance under EQIP. They were aware of the Consortium's concerns about it not being cost-shared for land use conversion from cropland to pasture. Dennis also conveyed his concern that the pastureland NRI was not funded for 2012. Pasture-land CEAP could also be in jeopardy due to the contraction of funding to NRCS in 2012.

The Business Meeting followed the Reports Session. Jill Ott, Public Sector Co-Chair and Rachel Gil-ker, Private Sector Co-Chair presided over it.

Margaret Smith, Administrative Advisor to the Consortium, spoke about the land grant universities' agricultural experiment stations that are funded through NIFA. Our Consortium is a project of the Northeast Agricultural Experiment Station Directors Association. Their Coordinating Committee re-newed the Consortium for another 5 years recently as a project of theirs. It commenced on October 1, 2011. Each year we file a report to them describing our accomplishments and impacts. Jim Cropper, Executive Director, writes this report.

Angus Johnson, a long-time farmer member of the Consortium and Chair of the Stakeholder Action Committee since 2007, was honored with a meritorious service award plaque. This was given to him by Rachel Gilker, Private Sector Co-Chair. Angus thanked everyone for this honor and said he had grown close to many members over the years. He regretted that he had to leave to take care of his health. He had worked hard to promote the Consortium in Washington DC and in the Northeast Region, and the pasture consortium concept to the Southeast US.


The new Private Sector members to the Consortium Executive Committee were introduced to the whole membership, Ken Miller from Massachusetts and Don Wild from New York. Ken Miller would serve as a liaison for the Stakeholder Action Committee (Angus Johnson's seat) on the Executive Committee. Don Wild would serve as the Private Sector member-at-large. The Public Sector did not nominate a member-at-large to the Consortium to replace outgoing member, Dr. Stephen Herbert. Jim Cropper upon not hearing any nominations from the floor said that he would get in touch with Dr. Andre Brito of UNH to see if he would agree to succeed Dr. Herbert. This would maintain a land grant university researcher on the Executive Committee. Dr. Brito subsequently in February agreed to serve on the Executive Committee.

Two resolutions were passed by the Consortium members. Support of EQIP payment for perimeter fencing was the first resolution brought before the Consortium. Clyde Bailey moved to approve the resolution and send it to NRCS for their consideration. Angus Johnson seconded the motion. Discussion on wording changes ensued and after those changes were made, the Consortium unan-imously passed the resolution. The second resolution was in support of the NRCS Pastureland National Resource Inventory continuing to be gathered in 2012 and beyond. Lawrason Sayre moved to approve the resolution and send it to NRCS for their consideration. Clyde Bailey seconded the motion. Discussion of this resolution revolved around the threat to discontinue gathering inventory data in 2012 due to budget cuts. The consensus of the Consortium was that if this did occur, it would cause a loss in data collection acumen and set the whole data collection effort on a downward spiral to non-completion that would severely hamper the Conservation Effects Assessment Program to assess the environmental state of the pastureland landuse. Less than half of the Country is currently involved in the data collection to begin with. The resolution was passed unanimously by the Consortium membership. Mr. Clyde Bailey would hand deliver them to Dr. David White, Chief of NRCS, at the National Association of Conservation Districts Annual Meeting the following week. The two resolutions were signed by Bob Richardson, Co-Chair of Private Sector on the Executive Committee and by Rob DeClue, Co-Chair of the Public Sector on the Executive Committee at the end of the Business Meeting.

Jim Cropper announced the co-chairs for 2012. They are Mr. Bob Richardson, Private Sector Co-Chair, and Mr. Rob DeClue, Public Sector Co-Chair.

Jim thanked Mr. Clyde Bailey, Private Sector Past Co-Chair and Dr. Stephen Herbert, Public Sector Past Co-Chair, for their work on the Executive Committee and their continued support as members of the Consortium. This concluded the annual meeting and it was adjourned.

Accomplishments

Email sent to USDA Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, opposing Agricultural Marketing Service entering the food safety regulation arena. The Food Safety Bill was passed and signed into law last December. AMS was not the agency designated to do food safety work, FDA was. AMS has no one on staff to do food safety regulatory oversight.<br /> <br /> Support letter for Dr. Andre Brito for seed grant money from the Agriculture & Food Research Initiative for a project called, Towards Sustainable Food, Fuel, and Forests in New England.<br /> <br /> Review and comment on May 9th meeting of the Chesapeake Bay Program's Agricultural Water Quality Team. This meeting involved a detailed discussion on how to model different nutrients inputs and losses in the Bay Computer Model. There were a couple of oversimplifications that could lead to erroneous results.<br /> <br /> Sent email alert to Private Sector members from the Crop Science Society of America about the 2011 National Organic Certification Cost Share Program. This provides cost share assistance to people tooling up for organic certification and expenses incurred by organic producers associated with continuing organic certification inspections by a USDA accredited certifying agent. It pays up to 75% of those costs not to exceed $750 per year. <br /> <br /> Review and comment on National Academy of Sciences Report on the Chesapeake Bay Program's progress. I used the Water Quality Goal Team's response form in Microsoft Excel format to make comments concerning the findings and some of the WQ Goal Teams responses to those findings. Rural septic systems is one area where improvement is needed and has largely been ignored. Some townships and counties do a lot to enforce good design and maintenance while others do nothing at all. Urban runoff concerns seem centered around lawn runoff which is nil while ignoring sewage treatment plant overflows during intense storms when sewer inflow is too great for the treatment plant to handle due to storm water entering the system from several sources, some intentional while others due to poor design or maintenance.

Publications

Impact Statements

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Report Information

Participants

Aber, Dr. John, University of New Hampshire, 207 Thompson Hall, Durham, NH, 03824;
Akin, Thomas, USDA-NRCS, 451 West Street, Amherst, MA, 01002;
Alvez, Dr. Juan, University of Vermont, 106 Highpoint Center Suite 300, Colchester, VT, 05446;
Bailey , Clyde, C. Bailey Farms, 479 Cedar Cliff Lane, Charleston, WV, 25312;
Begin, Alice, USDA-NRCS, 967 Illinois Avenue, Bangor, ME, 04401;
Beidler , Brent, Beidler Family Farm, PO Box 124, Randolph Center, VT, 05061;
Benson, Fay, Cornell University, 60 Central Avenue, Cortland, NY, 13045;
Bosworth, Dr. Sid, University of Vermont, Plant and Soil Sci. 208 Jeffords, Burlington, VT, 05405;
Brito, Dr. Andre, University of New Hampshire, 30 Old Cane Road, Storr , NH, 03824;
Burgess , Bill, NRCS, 2 Madbury Road, Durham, NH, 03824;
Colby, Jenn, University of Vermont, 106 Highpoint Center Suite 300, Colchester, VT, 05446;
Cropper, James, NEPC, 805 Fairgreen Road, Greensboro, NC, 27410;
DeClue, Robert, Chenango Co SWCD, 99 North Broad Street, Norwich, NY, 13815;
Delany, Carol, NE SARE, 655 Spear Street, Burlington, VT, 05405;
Dole, Donna, NRCS, 2 Madbury Road, Durham, NH, 03824;
Fultz, Stanley, University of Maryland Ext., 330 Montevue Lane, Frederick, MD, 21702;
Garza, Eric , University of Vermont, Rubenstein School of Env. & Nat. Res., Burlington, VT, 05602;
Getz, Steve, Organic Valley CROPP Cooperative, 1 Organic Way, La Farge, WI, 54639;
Gilker, Dr. Rachel, Center for Sustainable Ag., 64 Maple Avenue, Voorheesville, NY, 12186;
Gorres, Josef, U. of Vermont, 258 Jeffords Hall, Burlington, VT, 05405;
Hagen, Kimberly, Osprey Hill Farm, 28 Norton Road, N Middlesex , VT, 05682;
Hashemi, Dr. Masoud, University of Massachusetts, 207 Bowditch Hall, Amherst, MA, 01003;
Hatton, Joe, , 221 Wild Cherry Road, Morgantown, WV, 26508;
Hayes, Jim, Sap Bush Hollow Farm, 1314 West Fulton Road, Warnerville, NY, 12187;
Hayes, Adele, Sap Bush Hollow Farm, 1314 West Fulton Road, Warnerville, NY, 12187;
Howlett, Bruce, MACD, 195 Russell Street Suite B6, Hadley , MA, 01035;
Kaija, Kevin, USDA-NRCS, 356 Mountainview Dr. Suite 105, Colchester, VT, 05446;
Karreman, Dr. Hue, Organic Valley CROPP Cooperative, 1 Organic Way, La Farge, WI, 54639;
Karszes, Jason, Cornell University, Dairy Farm Business Mgt. Program, Ithaca , NY, 14853;
Kersbergen, Richard, University of Maine, 992 Waterville Road, Waldo, ME, 04915;
Kleinman, Dr. Peter, USDA-ARS Pasture Lab, 3702 Curtin Road, University Park, PA, 16802;
Konesko, Heidi, NRCS, 2 Madbury Road, Durham, NH, 03824;
Miller, Ken, NEPC Executive Committee , 193 Cummington Road, Ashfield, MA, 01330;
Noel , Eric, Maplewood Organics, 3550 Gore Road, Highgate, VT, 05459;
Parry, Susan, USDA-NRCS, One Credit Union Pl Suite 340, Harrisburg, PA, 17112;
Paul , Dr. Moshumi, USDA-ERRC, 600 E. Mermaid lane, Wyndmoor, PA, 19038;
Ransom, Earl , Amy Huyffer, 53 Rock Bottom Road, Stafford, VT, 05072;
Rayburn, Ed, WVU Extension, PO Box 6108, Morgantown, WV, 26506;
Richardson , Bob, Rocky Acres Farm, 690 Coy Hill Road, Warren, MA, 01083;
Richardson , Martha, Rocky Acres Farm, 690 Coy Hill Road, Warren, MA, 01083;
Roberts, Dave, USDA-NRCS, 441 S. Salina Street, Suite 354, Syracuse, NY, 13202;
Russell , Mark, Swallowdale Farm, 437 Mt. Independence Road, Orwell, VT, 05760;
Russell , Sarah, Swallowdale Farm, 437 Mt. Independence Road, Orwell, VT, 05760;
Sayre, Lawrason, Waffle Hill Farm, 3332 Cool Branch Road, Churchville, MD, 21028;
Schivera, Diane, MOFGA, 2635 Sennebec Road, Appleton, ME, 04862;
Sheffer, Eric, Grassland Dairy, 74 Sheffer Road, Hoosick Falls, NY, 12090;
Sheffer, Wally, Grassland Dairy, 74 Sheffer Road, Hoosick Falls, NY, 12090;
Skinner, Dr. Howard, USDA-ARS, Bldg 3702 Curtin Road, University Park, PA, 16802;
Smith, Matt, University of New Hampshire, 207 Thompson Hall, Durham, NH, 03824;
Smith, Brandon, NRCS, 2 Madbury Road, Durham, NH, 03824;
Stoltzfus, John, , 1553 Haselton Gully Road, Whitesville, NY, 14897;
Stoltzfus, Tammy, , 1553 Haselton Gully Road, Whitesville, NY, 14897;
Tunick, Dr. Michael, USDA-ERRC, 600 E. Mermaid lane, Wyndmoor, PA, 19038;
Van Hekken, Dr. Diane, USDA-ERRC, 600 E. Mermaid lane, Wyndmoor, PA, 19038;
Vough, Dr. Lester, University of Maryland, UM Research Greenhouse Complex, 398 Regents Drive, College Park, MD, 20742;
Wild, Don, Wild Acres Family Farm, PO Box 7, 5963 Route 98, Great Valley, NY, 14741;
Wild, Sharon, Wild Acres Family Farm, PO Box 7, 5963 Route 98, Great Valley, NY, 14741

Brief Summary of Minutes

Snowstorm Nemo shortened the 2013 Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference and Meeting to one day, Thursday - February 7 as it moved into the Northeast by Friday, February 8 with great intensity. The states of Connecticut and Massachusetts closed roads to all travel by Friday evening. Snowfall amounts varied considerably, but Manchester had 20+ inches of snow on the ground by Saturday while areas of Massachusetts and Connecticut had over 3 feet of snow and massive power outages. A few of us who had flown into Manchester spent an extra day or two as guests of the Radisson until flights resumed on Sunday. The New Hampshire Grazing Conference scheduled for Saturday was canceled by noon on Thursday. We had coordinated this year's conference to dovetail with their conference so any of our members wishing to go their conference could stay over an extra day.

As in the past, the conference was scheduled to be a two-day affair with business meeting and report session held on the afternoon of the second day. The morning of the second day was to host one technical session, Grain Supplementation Economics and Strategies for Pastured Dairy Cows, and a Pasture-Based Farming Research Needs Discussion Session, a new feature to the program. The tech-nical session speakers that were present on Thursday gave their presentations on Thursday evening as the Producer Showcase session on Bedded Pack was shortened to one speaker due to a last minute cancellation by the second speaker. The Pasture-Based Farming Research Needs Discussion session was canceled, but the Private Sector and Public Sector research needs reports were finalized after the conference and discussed at the February Executive Committee teleconference. This information will be used to promote collaborative research in the Region to address needs that have not been addressed yet or not fully. The report session was canceled. However, Dr. Peter Kleinman, Research Leader at the Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit, was given the floor briefly Thursday afternoon to give the ARS report to the membership. The national program leaders for range and pasture or their designate of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and National Resources Conservation Service were to be given by speaker phone on Friday afternoon due to federal travel restrictions. They were notified that the Friday report session was canceled but sent in reports for use in the proceedings. The Business Meeting was very brief. It was held right after the last technical session speaker was finished Thursday evening. We nominated and approved the appointment of two new members-at-large to the Executive Committee. Dr. Les Vough, professor emeritus at the Univer-sity of Maryland became the 2013 Public sector member-at-large. Ms. Diane Schivera, Maine Organic Growers Association, became the 2013 Private sector member-at-large. James Cropper, Executive Di-rector, Northeast Pasture Consortium with the affirmation of the attending members closed the Confer-ence and Meeting shortly after 9:00 PM Thursday, February 7. Dr. Rachel Gilker, University of Ver-mont and Ms. Jill Ott, Natural Resources Conservation Service had completed their terms on the Executive Committee. Diane and Les replace them.

Attendance was down this year due to travel restrictions at the both the state land grant universities and federal agency level. Total preregistration was 57 people. Twenty-one farmer members were in attend-ance. This was actually heartening as the snowstorm was predicted well in advance and people braved the elements to return home before conditions went from bad to horrible. Once the New Hampshire Grazing Conference was canceled around noon on Thursday, a close-eye was given to weather updates. By the end of the afternoon at the 5:00 PM adjournment for dinner, the membership was asked how they wished to proceed with the rest of the conference. A majority were interested in getting as much accomplished as possible on Thursday evening so they could start on their way home early Friday morning. As it turned out, this proved to be the correct course of action as by 2:00 PM on Friday, the blizzard had arrived at Manchester with sustained winds over 50 miles per hour.

After introductions of all the attending members were completed, Technical Session 1, Efficient Pasture Systems Design for Natural Features and Management Challenges commenced at 8:30 AM February 7. Donald Wild, owner and operator of Wild Acres Family Farm, and former grazing lands specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, gave a presentation entitled Efficient Pasture Systems Design on Irregular Topography. Rob DeClue was the second and last presenter in this session on pasture system design. Rob is Area Grazing Lands Management Specialist with the Chenago County Soil and Water Conservation District. The title of his presentation was Landscape, Animal, Plant, & Operational Challenges for Successful Grazing Assistance. Both presenters described ways to overcome the challenges posed by the irregular topography throughout the Northeast in laying out rotationally grazed paddock systems. Suggestions were made on how to build electric fences, setup and install water systems, size paddocks based on number and class of livestock and the number of days or hours they were left on a paddock, and size the pasture system to feed livestock at the spring flush of grass growth and during the summer slump.

A new feature to the conference and meeting was the review of current and planned research and on-farm demonstration work being conducted by members of the Consortium. This was the intent of Session 2 - Northeast Region Pasture-Based Research and On-Farm Demonstration Update. This session was moderated by Dr. Howard Skinner, ARS, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA. Howard led this session with his opening remarks entitled: Introduction: Coordinating Pasture Research in the Northeast. He pointed out that the Consortium was formed at the direction of US Senate Appropriations Committee in 1995. They wanted the Consortium to "promote applied pasture research, link existing resources, and foster continued state/federal and public/private partnerships for research in this area." To this end, at this annual conference we tried a new format. First, looking at current and planned research activities at this session; then meeting in two separate groups, private sector and public sector, immediately after this session to discuss research needs either not being addressed at all or in need of further work; and then coming together Friday morning to prioritize research items that need immediate attention (canceled due to snow storm). He introduced the 5 speakers who presented current research or on-farm demonstration work. They were:
" Andre Brito, University of New Hampshire: Assisting Organic Dairy Producers to Meet the Demands of New and Emerging Milk Markets: An Update on Feeding Flaxseed to Organic Dairy Cow. Flaxseed contains omega-3 fatty acid by feeding this to organic cows it is hoped that this will make the milk they produce higher in omega-3 fatty acids, especially in the winter months when not on pasture to differentiate organic milk from conventional confinement fed cows. It is well known that pasture produced milk is already higher on omega-3 fatty acid than confinement fed cows.

" Sid Bosworth, University of Vermont: Assisting Organic Dairy Producers to Meet the Demands of New and Emerging Milk Markets: An update on using complex blends of perennial ryegrass varieties for pasture. Sid Bosworth described a new experiment setup in 2012 to look at different blends of ryegrass varieties to see which ones were most effective in surviving Northeast weather conditions and provide the best quality forage to lactating dairy cows.

" Jennifer Colby, University of Vermont: Developing Economic and Energy Tools to Aid Farmer Decision-Making. This Conservation Innovation Grant uses farmer supplied data to develop economic and energy tools for them to make day-to-day decisions on whether to graze or harvest forage crops.

" Sarah Goslee, ARS, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit: Pasture-Based Products within Regional Food Systems. (Howard Skinner Presenting) This research is looking at the ability of the Northeast US to produce pasture-based products and to consume these products within the Region.

" Matt Smith, University of New Hampshire: Reducing Costs for Bedding and Energy on Organic Dairy Farms, reporting for John Aber. This research study is looking at the feasibility of producing wood chip bedding on-the-farm and then composting the soiled bedding in an on-farm heat-recovery composting facility. The intent is to see if it is economically feasible to do this on less than one hundred cow operations.

The next session, Pasture-Based Farming Research Needs Determination, was a break out session. A Producer Sector session and a Public Sector session ran concurrently.

These are the 2013 research needs requests from the Private Sector session.

In order of priority, with statements in bold of specific items that need to be addressed. The top 4 are new this year. Not all priorities were reclassified as to priorities. The conference was cut short because of an incoming winter storm and blizzard so these research priorities could not be put before the whole Consortium. They were reviewed by the Executive Committee at their February teleconference. Further disposition is pending.

1. Exploring and explaining the impacts of stream and streambank exclusion. This priority is an immediate need and is based on problems in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, especially in Maryland. Regulations are coming out of EPA's regulations, based on total maximum daily loads (TMDL).

Currently, the issue is being interpreted by NRCS discretion, and farmers may have to completely fence out streams with a 10-foot wide buffer, and with permanent fence. In one instance at least, this is costing more than $75,000 and may push the farmer into cropping and out of livestock.

There is not a clear scientific-based answer on the impacts of careful grazing manage-ment on streambanks and water quality. Therefore, the regulations are not based on sci-ence but by perception. Why does a grassed land use require an ungrazed grass buffer between it and the stream? Direct deposition of animal wastes in water is a very small portion of total waste excreted especially when riparian area pastures are rotationally grazed. This issue calls for further research or existing research be compiled and directed to the proper authorities on the impacts of grazing riparian areas.

2. More focus is needed on parasite issues for small ruminants, especially given climate change and possibly a longer grazing season.
a) Efficacy of botanical wormers? Are products on the market worth the money?
b) Effects of organic and conventional treatments on parasites?
3. Farmers need more information about FDA requiring all barns used to store food to be registered. Is there a minimum of $500,000 in farm revenues on this? Executive Committee determined this was actually not a research item, but a concern that needs to be directed to FDA for an answer.
4. How to improve land with low inputs, especially land with C+ slopes, and silvopasture. This is a primary concern, especially given losing moderate quality land to corn production and pushing marginal land into production and grazing.
5. Evaluate and promote forage species and improved varieties under grazing management and changing climatic and soil conditions with emphasis on extending the grazing season. Research problems with orchardgrass persistence. Specifically why is orchardgrass dying? - What is being done with this 2012 priority?
6. Determine the management strategies and costs of transition or conversion from row crops to productive and sustainable grazing lands and soils. How do you start the soil biological com-munity when transitioning from row crop to grazing lands? Study leading edge advances in alternative energy sources.
7. Quantify the economics of whole-farm systems including the effects of breed selection, livestock diversification, and grazing management on animals and pasture health to promote safe, healthy, and secure local community food systems. *Summarize CLA and human nutritional benefits present in grass-fed products.
8. Determine the environmental impacts and profitability of alternative supplemental feeding strat-egies for animals on high quality pastures. *What is the effect of stock density as it pertains to soil health and animal health? Compare high density or mob stocking to management inten-sive grazing. (Editor's note: This may be more a matter of definition of what mob stocking is. See Soder poster paper abstract, Case Study: Dairies Utilizing Mob Grazing in the Northeast, in com-panion document, NEPC 2013 Annual Conference Poster Paper Abstracts.)
9. Evaluate increasing production and quality management aspects of pasture-based animal products. What is the potential to increase production and what is the capacity of supply and demand?
10. Identify and address the limiting factors and marketing opportunities in dairy and livestock pas-ture-based production systems. Produce summaries that are accessible to Extension education and other non-profits.
11. Explore new alternatives for transfer of knowledge and information to increase adoption of re-search findings with the agricultural community such as mentoring, case studies, and creative use of technology in promotional materials. Produce summaries that are accessible to Extension Education and other non-profits.
The Public Sector came up similar suggestions for needed research. They included orchardgrass die-off, demonstrating the water quality effect of livestock in grazed riparian areas, and silvopasture research. The silvopasture research area was extended to include conversion of understocked or low quality tree forestland to pasture.

After lunch recess, Session 3, Economics of Confinement Dairy Farms versus Pasture Dairy Farms, began at 1:30 PM. Jim Cropper introduced Jason Karszes, Senior Extension Associate, Cornell University Dairy Farm Business Management Program. Jason Karszes' presentation looked at the session's title from the perspective of a business analyst. Each year DFBS compares grazing perform-ance to non-grazing performance. Grazing has been consistently better financially than confinement dairy farms. However, the spread has been shrinking. 2011 was the first year since the project started that non-grazing dairies out-performed grazing dairies. One big reason seems to be the steadily declin-ing amount of milk produced per grazing cow since 2006. After Jason, Wally and Eric Sheffer, Sheffer's Grassland Dairy, Hoosic Fall, NY gave a pasture-based dairyman's perspective on the profitability of stocking lactating dairy cows on pasture. They had 188 lactating dairy cows in 2012 and intend to increase that to 200 cows in 2013. They built a double-12 swing parlor and holding area, using logged wood from their farm and sawed into lumber at their own sawmill during the winter of 2007-08. They have increased forage production on their pastures from 5000 pounds per acre annually to 8000 pounds per acre by reseeding their pastures to improved grass varieties and eradicating tall fescue. They use the tools, the Dairy Farm Business Summary that Jason Karszes presented and the Dairy Profit Monitor, to help measure and monitor performance and progress.

At 3:00 PM, the poster break session was held in Salon C. The poster paper titles and authors are listed below by topic of interest:

Inventorying and Monitoring Pastures

Application of Rising Plate Meter to Estimate Forage Yield on Dairy Farms in Pennsylvania.
Authors: Hafla, Aimee1*, Kathy Soder2, Melissa Rubano3, and Robert Stout4.
1*Post Doctoral Research Animal Scientist,
2Animal Scientist,
3Agricultural Science Research Technician,
4Agronomist, USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA 16802

Pastures from Space: What can we learn from satellite images?
Author: Goslee, Sarah*.
*Ecologist, USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA 16802

Nutrient Management on Pasture-Based Farms

Raw Waste Milk as a Pasture Amendment
Authors: Hilshey, Bridgett1, Sid Bosworth2*, and Josef Gorres3.
1Graduate Student,
2*Extension Agronomist and Instructor,
3Associate Professor,
Plant and Soil Science Dept., University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405

Bedded Pack on Five Vermont Farms
Authors: Gilker, Rachel1*, Deborah Neher2, Joshua Bakelaar3, Mark Cannella4, Jennifer Colby5.
1*Partner & Research Consultant, Vermont Pasture Network, University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colchester, VT 05446
2Chair and Professor of Soil Ecology, Plant & Soil Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405
3Former Graduate Student, Plant & Soil Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405
4Farm Business Management Specialist, Extension - Programming & Faculty Support, University of Vermont, Berlin, VT 05602
5Program Coordinator, Vermont Pasture Network, University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colchester, VT 05446

Bedded Pack System Assessment in Vermont
Authors: Alvez, Juan P.1*, 2Jennifer Colby, and 3Rachel Gilker.
1*Pasture Program Technical Coordinator, Vermont Pasture Network, UVM Extension, Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colchester, VT 05446
2Program Coordinator, Vermont Pasture Network, University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colchester, VT 05446
3Partner & Research Consultant, Vermont Pasture Network, University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colchester, VT 05446

Forage Management on Pastures

Alternative Forages, Formerly Known as Weeds
Authors: Gilker, Rachel1*, Sid Bosworth2, Jenn Colby3, Kathy Voth4.
1*Partner & Research Consultant, Vermont Pasture Network, University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colchester, VT 05446
2Extension Agronomist and Instructor, University of Vermont Plant and Soil Science Department, Burlington, VT 05405-0082
3Program Coordinator, Vermont Pasture Network, University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colchester, VT 05446
4Consultant, Livestock for Landscapes, LLC, Loveland, CO 80538

Case Study: Dairies Utilizing Mob Grazing in the Northeast.
Authors: Soder, Kathy1*, Mena Hautau2, Melissa Rubano3, Aimee Hafla4, Brian Moyer5, and Robert Stout6.
1*Animal Scientist, USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA 16802
2Extension Educator-Field Crop Systems, Berks Co Cooperative Extension, Pennsylvania State University, Leesport, PA 19533
3Agricultural Science Research Technician, USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA 16802
4Post Doctoral Research Animal Scientist, USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA 16802
5Program Assistant, Pennsylvania State Extension, Allentown, PA & Owner and Operator of Green Haven Farm in Berks County, PA
6Agronomist, USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA 16802

Investigating Livestock Agriculture Impacts on the Environment & the Economy

Livestock GRACEnet
Presenter: Skinner, R. Howard*. USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA 16802
Author: Leytem, April. Research Soil Scientist, USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Laboratory, Kimberly, Idaho 83341

Dairy Systems and Sustainability
Authors: Alvez, Juan P.1*, Allen Matthews2, Jon Erickson3, Joshua Farley4, Abdon L. Schmitt5.
1*Pasture Program Technical Coordinator, Vermont Pasture Network, UVM Extension, Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colchester, VT 05446
2Program Coordinator, Chatham University, School of Sustainability and the Environment, Pittsburgh, PA 15232
3Professor and Interim Dean, University of Vermont, Rubenstein School of Env. and Nat. Resources, Burlington, VT, 05405
4Associate Professor, University of Vermont, Community Development and Applied Economics, Burlington VT, 05405
5Visiting Scholar, University of Vermont, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, Burlington VT, 05405

Possible Tools for Pasture Soil Quality: Keyline Plowing and Forage Radishes
Authors: Gilker, Rachel1*, Josef Gorres2.
1*Partner & Research Consultant, Vermont Pasture Network, University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colchester, VT 05446
2Associate Professor, Plant and Soil Science Dept., University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405

Evaluating Agricultural Management Strategies In The Upper Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Authors: A. D. McLean1, T. L. Veith2*, C. A. Rotz2, J. M. Hamlett1, J. S. Shortle3
1 Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
2 USDA-ARS Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA.
3 Agricultural and Environmental Economics, Pennsylvania State University

Grazing-Based Food Systems in the Northeast
Author: Goslee, Sarah*.
*Ecologist, USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA 16802

Nutritional Quality of Pasture-Based Dairy Milk

Case History: Tracking the Nutritional Value of Milk from Transitioning-to-Organic Dairy Herd
Authors: D.L. Van Hekken1*, M.H. Tunick1, M. Paul1, E.R. Ingham2, R. Seidel3, and P.M. Tomasula4
1*Research Chemist(s), USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Dairy and Functional Foods Research Unit, Eastern Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, PA 19038
2Chief Scientist, Rodale Institute, Kutztown, PA 19530
3Research Agroecologist and Farming Systems Trial Project Leader, Rodale Institute, Kutztown, PA 19530
4Research Leader, USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Dairy and Functional Foods Research Unit, Eastern Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, PA 19038

*Presenter and/or Principal Correspondent

The abstracts of these poster papers are available for reading in another document, NEPC 2013 Annual Conference Poster Paper Abstracts.

Agricultural Research Service Report

Upon reconvening back at Salon A at 3:45 PM where the general session was being held, Jim Cropper called upon Dr. Peter Kleinman to give a brief Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Report to the Con-sortium members. Peter announced the formation of the USDA Long-Term Agro-ecosystem Research (LTAR) Network administered by ARS. The Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit at University Park was one of the 4 pillars of pasture research within ARS. The other 3 research units were the Grazinglands Research Laboratory's Forage and Livestock Production Research Unit at El Reno, OK, the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory at Mandan, North Dakota, and the South Atlantic Area Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit at Tifton, GA. This was extremely good news. This, along with the research unit's involvement in the Grazing Lands Conservation Effects Assessment Program in determining the effects of NRCS conservation practices on the environment and the grazing land resource, bodes well for the continuation of the research unit for some time into the future. This was heartening after the loss of two ARS research units in fiscal year 2012 that col-laborated with the Northeast Pasture Consortium, Coshocton, OH and Beaver, WV.

The conference then proceeded with its scheduled Session 4, Developing Economic and Energy Tools to Aid Farmer Decision-Making a few minutes late. Jennifer Colby, Program Coordinator of the Vermont Pasture Network at UVM, Colchester moderated this session. She introduced Dr. Eric Garza, who gave a presentation entitled Energy Life Cycle Assessment in Food Systems. Eric gave some background information on economic theory as it applies to the Conservation Innovation Grant project on developing economic and energy tools to aid pasture-based farmer decision-making. Jenn Colby then took the floor to wrap up this technical session. She gave some history on dairy farm economics. However, this has been a dairy focus. It has extensive records so it is a great snapshot of grazing dairy farm profitability running now over a decade of results. Expanding economic analysis into non-dairy is challenged by a lack of farm numbers in the New England area but not in the Northeast Region. In closing, Jennifer asked the question, "How to address the challenge?" The CIG Energy project goals are to use this opportunity to look at energy use in a new way and incorporate that perspective into day-to-day farm-level decisions. Many of the farmer members of the Consortium could participate in this project for their own edification and give the project the requisite sample size and scope.

The general session then recessed for dinner. At 7:00 PM, the members returned to Salon A for the Evening Session, Producer Showcase - Bedded Pack, the Complete Scoop. Mark Russell, Swallowdale Farm, Orwell, VT gave his presentation, Bedded Pack - Challenges and Benefits. A major challenge is to design and build housing that is big enough to house the dairy herd and have sidewalls that can take the pressure of the bedded pack as it builds up overwinter against them. The facility is a major invest-ment, but if designed right, it can lead to these benefits: cow comfort during the winter season, strong sidewalls to keep the building wall from kicking out, and provide a good feeding area when it is too muddy or deep in snow outside. The other challenge is to harvest enough bedding material. Mark bales up reed canarygrass hay to use as bedding material. The bedded pack is removed from the loafing shed when the ground is dry enough to support machinery. It is composted and then spread on fields during warm weather.

With the impending snowstorm bearing down on Manchester, Session 5, Grain Supplementation Economics and Strategies for Pasture Dairy Cows began right after Mark Russell's presentation. Dr. Andre Brito moderated this session. Andre introduced Dr. Hubert Karreman, DVM, Organic Valley CO-OP, Penn Dutch Cow Care, Lancaster, PA. Dr. Karreman presented Reading and Feeding Cows on Pasture. Dr. Karreman described how to tell if a cow had a full rumen or not since this is of daily importance in her producing the most milk. It was also important to note whether a cow had a full belly or not as this reflects how her forage intake has been for the last week. He also cited some work being done by Organic Valley looking at the difference between organic milk from pastured cows versus conventionally fed cows' milk in fatty acid content, principally omega-3 and omega-6. Organic Valley milk had a much lower ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 of 2.17:1 than conventional milk, 5.26:1 on average. There was a wide variation in these ratios depending on region of the country, however.

After Dr. Karreman finished his presentation, Fay Benson, Project Manager NY Organic Dairy Initiative, Cornell University, introduced the subject of feeding barley fodder (sprouts) to organic dairy cows and then, farmer speaker, John Stoltzfus, Be-A-Blessing Organic Dairy near Whitesville, NY, who explained how he grows barley fodder for his milking herd. He hydroponically grows barley sprouts and feeds them to his lactating cows since they are high in protein and fiber, and are naturally balanced in protein, fat and energy. Compared to corn, barley fodder has 95% of the energy and higher digestibility. Barley fodder is one of the most nutritious sprouts being full of essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Feeding barley fodder improves the overall health and well-being of the cows, and they eagerly eat it. This ended all the technical presentations.

An abbreviated business meeting followed and the conference was adjourned shortly after 9:00 PM. Brent Beidler, Beidler Family Farm, Randolph Center, VT was to make the last presentation for the session, Grain Supplementation Economics and Strategies for Pastured Dairy Cows. However, due to the weather he was unable to attend in person and our attempts to schedule him to use the speaker phone Thursday evening failed. His PowerPoint presentation was forwarded to us and was incor-porated into the Conference's proceedings.

Two agencies reports, NIFA and NRCS, were prepared for the 2013 Annual Conference to be given by speaker phone message during the Reports Session Friday afternoon, February 8. They could not be delivered due to the cancellation of the second day of the Conference, February 8 due to a major snow storm that swept in Friday. They are listed here for completeness and were transcribed in the Confer-ence's proceedings to inform the membership of recent developments in grant funding and technical assistance for grazing lands.

James B. Dobrowolski, USDA-National Institute of Food & Agriculture National Program Leader for Rangeland and Grassland Ecosystems, prepared a presentation, NIFA Update: USDAs Extramural Funding for Pasture and Grazing Land Research, Education and Outreach.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service agency report was prepared by Kevin Ogles, Grazing Specialist, East National Technology Support Center, USDA-NRCS.

Accomplishments

1. Two newsletters were published, one in July and another in November of 2012, and distributed primarily as attachments to emails to all of the membership.<br /> 2. The 2013 Annual Conference and Meeting of the Consortium was held on February 7 at the Radisson Downtown Hotel and Conference Center in Manchester, NH. It was to be a 2-day conference, but the second day, February 8, was canceled due to Snowstorm Nemo's arrival on that day. Fifty-seven people attended the annual meeting. Several people had to cancel at the last minute as Nemo arrived on the second day of the annual meeting. Some state university and federal personnel were unable to attend due to travel restrictions caused by budget cuts.<br /> 3. The proceedings of the 2013 annual conference and meeting including power point presenta-tions and handouts, poster paper abstracts, and speaker biographical sketches are cued up to be put on the Consortium website, Northeast Grazing Guide, for post-meeting access.<br /> 4. The Northeast Grazing Guide website for the Consortium is at: http://grazingguide.net/. Sarah Goslee of Agricultural Research Service Research Unit at University Park, PA is our web master.<br /> 5. The letter of pledge/support written in April 2012 for a Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) proposal entitled Energy savings through holistic planned grazing and management submitted by the University of Vermont Center for Sustain-able Agriculture, Pasture Network and Pasture Program, bore fruit. The grant proposal was approved in August 2012. It was presented at the 2013 Annual Consortium Conference by Jennifer Colby and Eric Garza so farmer members could see how their farms' records could be used in the grant study to produce new economic and energy tools to make rational choices between grazing or harvesting forages, and between options available when managing grazing livestock and forage species composition on pastures. <br /> 6. USDA research grant proposal submitted in 2011 by Dr. Andre Brito of the University of New Hampshire (OREI Integrated Project Proposal entitled Assisting Organic Dairy Producers to Meet the Demands of New and Emerging Milk Markets) was funded in 2012. The Consortium had written a letter of support in February 2011 for this proposal at Andre's request. James Cropper, Executive Director, serves on the Advisory Board for this OREI project. He participated in the first advisory board meeting on September 27, 2012 at Brattleboro, VT. This research project was showcased at the 2013 Annual Consortium Conference in its 3 components: feeding flaxseed as a supplement to organic dairy cows, ryegrass varietal blends forage trials, and on-farm sourcing of bedding from pine wood chips and heat-recovery composting of the soiled bedding. Collaborators with UNH are University of Vermont, USDA-ARS at University Park, PA, University of Maine, and Cornell University.<br /> 7. Sent support letter in March 2012 to Diane VanHekken, ARS Wyndmoor, PA for their USDA Organic Research and Extension Incentive (OREI) research project proposal "On-Farm and Milk Processing Factors that Affect the Beneficial Compounds of Organic Milk". Unfortunately, this proposal was not funded in 2012. It was ranked as outstanding, the highest level in scoring, but still did not get selected for funding. However, they have forged ahead with ARS funding and are collaborating with Rodale Institute looking at the difference on amount bioactive compounds in milk between grazing cows and confinement fed cows using 2 farms near the Rodale Institute. Although there are various claims that there is no difference in milk constituents based on what lactating cows are fed, there is growing evidence that this is far from the truth. It really depends on which constituents are being monitored and how they are affected by heat pasteurization. Diane reported on their preliminary work with a poster paper at the 2013 Annual Consortium Conference.<br /> 8. Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA was named as one of 4 ARS sites doing Conservation Effects Assessment Program work on pasture resource conservation practice effectiveness in enhancing productivity and environmental protection. <br /> 9. Kept all members of the Consortium up-to-date on 2012 Farm Bill progress in the US Senate and House of Representatives throughout 2012. It was not passed by the House so a continuing resolution was passed to keep the 2008 Farm Bill provisions in place for the 2013 fiscal year.<br /> 10. Kept the Executive Committee abreast of the disposition of the ARS North Appalachian Experimental Watershed at Coshocton, OH. It was closed as an ARS research facility in 2012. Negotiations are on-going with Ohio State University and ARS for Ohio State to assume control of the federal research acreage. Our interest is to make sure the lysimeters and gauging stations at the research unit remain in place and continue to collect rain infiltration and runoff and soil water balance data from pastured fields.<br /> 11. Jim Cropper, Executive director, participated in the Nutrient Management Expert Panel of the Chesapeake Bay Agricultural Work Group via teleconferencing and Share Point during 2012. Provided input on pasture nutrient management issues to support modeling of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff to the Bay from the pasture landuse.<br /> 12. Jim Cropper, Executive director, also participated via speaker phone with the Chesapeake Bay Ag. Workgroup at several teleconferences held throughout the year to provide input on how to improve conservation practice data collection and upgrade the Bay Model to increase its precision in modeling conservation practices effects in reducing sediment, phosphorus, and nitrogen loads to Bay waters.<br /> 13. Teleconferences are held monthly by the Executive Committee to plan the next annual meeting and address other issues that come up during the year. <br /> 14. Forward email message to Private Sector Dairy members and Dairy Scientists about the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Dairy Grazing Conference that was held at Chestertown, MD on July 25-27. This conference is yearly and is headed up by Dr. Steve Washburn at NC State. This was the first year it was held in the Northeast Region. <br /> 15. Jim Cropper, Executive Director, reviewed, edited, and added narrative and photographs to the NEERA-1000 Northeast Pasture Consortium Impact Statement that was being prepared by a new Impact Communications Specialist at Colorado State for Multistate Research Fund projects. The final impact statement was released on August 31. It was sent electronically to Consortium members and allied groups and agencies.<br /> 16. A Final Report of the Northeast Pasture Consortium was sent to ARS at their request in December 2012. This report was required by ARS to document what they received from the Northeast Pasture Consortium for their funding it over a 5-year period that ended in fiscal year 2011, September 30, 2011. Some of the funding was carried over and spent in fiscal year 2012.<br /> 17. Continuing education credit (CEU) requests were sent to the American Society of Agronomy and the American Forage & Grassland Council for certified crop advisors and certified forage and grassland professionals, respectively for the 2013 Annual Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference and Meeting. These were granted prior to the conference and certified crop advisors and grassland professionals in attendance were able to get CEU's by signing their names to a sign-in sheet for each session granted CEU's.<br /> 18. Letter of support sent in February 2013 to Dr. Andre Brito of the University of New Hampshire for a research grant from USDA-AFRI's Foundational Program for a proposal entitled: "Forage-Based Approaches for Improved Profitability and Ecosystem Services of Dairy Farms." This was approved for funding. Collaborators with UNH are Pennsylvania State University and USDA-ARS, University Park, PA.<br /> 19. Revised and updated research need priorities at the 2013 Northeast Pasture Consortium Annual Conference and Meeting. See the summary minutes of the conference for details.<br />

Publications

Bishopp, Troy. 2012-2013. The Grass Whisperer Website. At: http://www.thegrasswhisperer.com/.<br /> <br /> Camargo, G., Kemanian, A., Goslee, S.C., Skinner, R.H. 2012. Competition for water among plants: resolving the root system. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. Paper No. 204.<br /> <br /> Cassida, K.A., Foster, J.G., Gonzalez, J.M., Zobel, R.W., Sanderson, M.A. 2012. Available soil phosphorus affects herbage yield and stand persistence in forage chicory. Agronomy Journal. 104:807-816.<br /> <br /> Cassida, K. A., J. G. Foster, J. M. Gonzalez, R. W. Zobel & M. A. Sanderson. 2013. Response of Forage Chicory Seedlings to Available Soil Phosphorus in Two Soils in a Controlled Environment. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. DOI:10.1080/00103624.2013.788657.<br /> <br /> Colby, J. 2012-2013. Vermont Pasture Network Calendar. Published monthly by the Vermont Pasture Network. At: http://www.uvm.edu/~pasture/Documents/calendar.pdf<br /> <br /> Dell, C.J., Kleinman, P.J., Schmidt, J.P., Beegle, D.B., Johnson, K. 2012. Low disturbance manure incorporation effects on ammonia and nitrate losses. Journal of Environmental Quality. 41:928-937.<br /> <br /> Dias, C.C., Moraes, M.P., Weiss, M., Diaz San Segundo, F.C., Perez-Martin, E., Salazar, A.M., De Los Santos, T.B., Grubman, M.J. 2012. Novel antiviral therapeutics to control foot-and-mouth disease. Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research. 32(10):462-473.<br /> <br /> Dougherty, M., Burger, J.A., Feldhake, C.M., Abdelgadir, A.H. 2013. Calibration and use of plate meter regressions for pasture mass estimation in an Appalachian silvopasture. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science. 59(2):305-315.<br /> <br /> Flack, S., Daley, C., Soder, K.J. 2012. How to avoid costly mistakes in pasture management. Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance newsletter. 12(5):22,32-33.<br /> <br /> Gilker, R. and K. Voth. 2013. On-Pasture Website. At: OnPasture.com Livestock for Landscapes, 6850 W CR 24, Loveland, Colorado 80538<br /> <br /> Goslee, S.C. 2012. Quantitative site type delineation for pastures in the northeastern United States[abstract]. US-International Association for Landscape Ecology. Abstract #79.<br /> <br /> Goslee, S.C. 2013. Monitoring grazinglands with satellite imagery. Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts. Paper No. 0127.<br /> <br /> Grubman, M.J., Diaz San Segundo, F.C., Dias, C.C., Moraes, M.P., Perez-Martin, E., De Los Santos, T.B. 2012. Use of replication-defective adenoviruses to develop vaccines and biotherapeutics against foot-and-mouth disease. Future Virology. 7(8):767-778.<br /> <br /> Hafla, A.N., Soder, K.J., Rubano, M.D., Stout, R.C. 2013. Application of a rising plate meter to estimate forage yield on dairy farms in PA[abstract]. Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference. p. 1.<br /> <br /> Halvorson, J.J., Gonzalez, J.M., Hagerman, A.E. 2012. Changes in Soluble-N in forest and pasture soils after repeated applications of tannins and related phenolic compounds. International Journal of Agronomy. DOI: 10.1155/2012/163054.2012.<br /> <br /> Hoffman, K. 2012-2013. GLCI Grazette Newsletter. NYS GLCI. Published monthly.<br /> <br /> Hristov, A.N., Oh, J., Lee, C., Meinen, R., Montes, F., Ott, T., Firkins, J., Rotz, C.A., Dell, C.J., Adesogan, A., Yang, W., Tricarico, J., Kebreab, E., Waghorn, G., Dijkstra, J., Oosting, S., Gerber, P.J., Henderson, B., Makkar, H. 2013. Nutritional and management strategies to mitigate animal greenhouse gas emissions. IN: Ruminant Nutrition Conference Proceedings, February 5-6, 2013, Gainesville, Florida. p. 1-8.<br /> <br /> Katiki, L., Ferreira, J.F., Gonzalez, J.M., Zajac, A., Lindsay, D., Chagas, A., Amarante, A. 2013. Anthelmintic effect of plant extracts containing condensed and hydrolyzable tannins on Caenorhabditis elegans and their antioxidant capacity. Veterinary Parasitology. 192(1-3):218-227.<br /> <br /> Kokko, C., Soder, K.J., Brito, A.F., Hovey, R.C., Berthiaume, R. 2013. Effect of time of cutting and maceration on forage composition, nutrient flow, microbial protein synthesis, and digestibility in dual-flow continuous culture. Journal of Animal Science. 91:1765-1774.<br /> <br /> McCrory, L. 2012-2013. Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA) E-Newsletter. Published monthly. At: www.nodpa.com NE Organic Dairy Producers Alliance | 30 Keets Road | Deerfield | MA | 01342.<br /> <br /> Pandya, M., Pacheco Tobin, J., Bishop, E.A., Kenney, M.A., Milward, F., Doel, T., Golde, W.T. 2012. An alternate delivery system improves vaccine performance against foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Vaccine. 30(20):3106-3111. <br /> <br /> Pega, J., Bucafusco, D., Di Giacomo, S., Malacari, D., Capozzo, A., Arzt, J., Perez-Beascoechea, C., Maradei, E., Rodriguez, L.L., Borca, M.V., Perez-Filgueira, M. 2012. Early adaptive immune responses in the respiratory tract of foot and mouth disease-infected cattle. Journal of Virology. 87(5):2489-2495.<br /> <br /> Perez-Martin, E., Weiss, M., Diaz San Segundo, F.C., Pacheco Tobin, J., Arzt, J., Grubman, M.J., De Los Santos, T.B. 2012. Bovine type III interferon significantly delays and reduces the severity of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. Journal of Virology. 86(8):4477-4487.<br /> <br /> Piechnik, D.A., Goslee, S.C., Veith, T.L., Bishop, J.A., Brooks, R.P. 2012. Topographic placement of management practices to reduce water quality impacts from pastures. Landscape Ecology. 27:1307-1319.<br /> <br /> Rai, D.K., Schafer, E.A., Singh, K., McIntosh, M., Sarafianos, S., Rieder, A.E. 2013. Repeated exposure to 5D9, an inhibitor of 3D polymerase, effectively limits the replication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus in host cells. Antiviral Research. 98(3):380-385 <br /> <br /> Rotz, C.A. 2012. Managing livestock to mitigate nitrogen losses and adapt to climate change[abstract]. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. Paper No. 180-5.<br /> <br /> Rotz, C.A., Chianese, D.S., Montes, F., Hafner, S.D., Jarvis, R. 2012. Dairy gas emissions model: reference manual. World Wide Web. Available: https://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Place/19020000/DairyGEMReferenceManual.pdf<br /> <br /> Skinner, R.H. 2012. Relationship between annual canopy photosynthesis and ecosystem respiration in humid-temperate pastures[abstract]. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. Paper No. 81-15.<br /> <br /> Skinner, R.H. 2012. Understanding growth and development of forage plants. In: Pereira, O.G., da Fonseca, D.M., Ribeiro, K.G., Chizzotti, F.H.M., editors. Proceedings 6th Symposium on Strategic Management of Pasture, November 15-17, 2012, Vicosa, Brazil. p. 183-198.<br /> <br /> Skinner, R.H. 2013. Respiration partitioning during pasture regrowth. Crop Science. doi: 10.2135/cropsci2012.10.0572.<br /> <br /> Soder, K.J., Brito, A.F., Rubano, M.D., Dell, C.J. 2012. Effect of incremental flaxseed supplementation of an herbage diet on methane output and ruminal fermentation in continuous culture. Journal of Dairy Science. 95(7):3961-3969.<br /> <br /> Soder, K.J., Brito, A., Rubano, M.D. 2013. Short communication: effect of oilseed supplementation of an herbage diet on ruminal fermentation in continuous culture. Journal of Dairy Science. 96(4):2551-2556.<br /> <br /> Soder, K.J., Brito, A., Rubano, M.D. 2013. Effect of supplementing orchardgrass herbage with a total mixed ration or flaxseed fermentation profile and bacterial protein synthesis in continuous culture. Journal of Dairy Science. 96:3228-3237.<br /> <br /> Soder, K.J., Hautau, M., Hafla, A.N., Rubano, M.D., Moyer, B., Stout, R.C. 2013. Case study: dairies utilizing ultra-high stock density grazing in the northeast[abstract]. Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference. p 1.<br /> <br /> Turner, K.E., Cassida, K.A., Zajac, A.M. 2012. Weight gain, blood parameters, and fecal egg counts when meat-goat kids were finished on alfalfa, red clover, or orchardgrass pastures. Grass and Forage Science. DOI: 10.111/j.1365-2494.2012.00893.<br /> <br /> Van Hekken, D.L., M.H. Tunick, M. Paul, E.R. Ingham, R. Seidel, and P.M. Tomasula. 2013. Case History: Tracking the nutritional value of milk from transitioning-to-organic dairy herd. Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference Abstracts p. 7.<br /> <br /> Zobel, R.W. 2012. Lolium perenne L. root systems are a collection of Gaussian curve shaped meso diameter class length distributions. Plant and Soil. DOI:10.1007/s11104-012-1298-0.

Impact Statements

1. Significantly improved interactions and communications among producers (dairy, beef, sheep, goat, and horse), agribusiness suppliers, non-governmental organizations, and public research, extension, and technical transfer agencies (land-grant universities, USDA-ARS, USDANRCS) regarding pasture-based animal production systems (traditional and organic).
2. Organic milk producers are being helped with collaborative research at UNH, UVM, Univ. Maine, USDA-ARS in PA, and Cornell. Topics include flaxseed supplementation to improve omega-3 fatty acid content in milk, ryegrass variety evaluation for survival and persistence in improved pastures, and viable and sustainable sources of bedding material for dairy cows in the Northeast (small grain straw is not plentiful, hayfields are needed for quality hay, and off-farm wood chips are very costly).
3. Two ARS research units that were closely allied with the NE Pasture Consortium were closed in FY 2012: the Appalachian Farming System Research Center at Beaver, WV and the North Appalachian Experimental Watershed at Coshocton, OH. This was due to ARS budget cuts. Both research units were doing pasture related research, such as hardwood forest silvopasture, botanical control of internal parasites in pastured livestock, and runoff water quality from pastures. They will be sorely missed.
4. The Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit at University Park, PA was chosen to be "one of the 4 pillars of pasture research within ARS". This, along with the research units involvement in the Grazing Lands Conservation Effects Assessment Program in determining the effects of NRCS conservation practices on the environment and the grazing land resource, bodes well for the continuation of the research unit for some time into the future.
5. The loss of ARS funding of the Consortium due to federal budget cuts has caused financial strain. The Conservation Innovation Grant received by UVM will help support the 2014 Annual Conference. Other grant attempts have not been successful. Registration fees were increased in 2013 to cover the shortfall in the funds. We are looking at less expensive venues for the 2014 conference. Farmer members have attended free in the past; they may be asked to pay a nominal registration fee in 2014.
6. A 2012 resolution passed by the Consortium and sent to the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service was responded to positively in FY 2013. We had requested that they not discontinue the National Resources Inventory on pastureland in 2012. They did discontinue it, but are now reinstating it in 2013 and going nation-wide for the first time. All states will be doing pastureland NRI inventories on scientifically randomized sampling.
7. A 2012 resolution sent to NRCS asked them to cost-share on perimeter fencing when cropland was being converted to pastureland. Our request was partially addressed with this change: "Now perimeter/boundary fence can be financially assisted through EQIP. If the field is being converted to pasture, and prescribed grazing implemented, it is eligible if the field is 1) a Highly Erodible Land (HEL) designated cropland field, or 2) a field coming out of the Conservation Reserve Program."

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Report Information

Participants

See attached file with complete list of participants, their contact information and affiliation.

Brief Summary of Minutes

At 3:45 PM on 5 February 2014, the Business Meeting convened. Mr. Peter Miller of Organic Valley had asked to have and was granted a few minutes to alert Consortium members to their Farmers Advocating For Organics grant program. Its mission is to protect and promote organic farmers by investing in organic research, education & advocacy. CROPP Cooperative member-owners voluntarily provide the funds. Since 2007, $2.1 million dollars have been granted on Research, Education, and Advocacy. Grant applications are reviewed by Members, Staff, and Board of Directors. Sustaining Grants are multi-year. Initiative Category this year is: Focus on healthy soil & seed research. Deadlines for next funding cycle: Small Grants by March 1st & September 1st. Large Grants Letter of intent by September 1st. CONTACT: Kristine Salmi-Snowdeal (Kristine.snowdeal@organicvalley.coop, Office: 608-625-3541). For more information go to: www.organicvalley.coop, left side of home page: cooperative giving page. Past Annual Reports; Criteria; Proposal format.

Dr. Ed Rayburn complimented Mr. James Cropper, Executive Director, for his hard work for setting up one of the best Consortium Conferences. He then announced that he was stepping down as the Northeast Pasture Consortium Principal Investigator. He then reported that Dr. Sid Bosworth from the University of Vermont was the new Principal Investigator.

Mr. Ken Miller, the Private Sector Co-Chair, presiding over the Business Meeting asked for nominations of a Private Sector member-at-large for the Executive Committee. Mr. Clyde Bailey nominated Mr. Angus Johnson. Ms. Diane Schivera seconded. Nominations were closed and Mr. Angus Johnson was unanimously elected as the new Private Sector member-at-large. Dr. Andre Brito, the Public Sector Co-Chair, asked for nominations for the Public Sector member-at-large. Mr. Tom Akin nominated Ms. Susan Parry. Mr. James Cropper seconded. Nominations were closed and Ms. Susan Parry was unanimously elected.

Mr. Clyde Bailey invited the Northeast Pasture Consortium to hold their annual conference and meeting at Morgantown, WV on March 11 and 12, 2015. This will be just prior to the 2015 Appalachian Grazing Conference being held at the Waterfront Place Hotel and Conference Center on March 13 and 14, 2015.

Mr. James Cropper thanked Mr. Rob DeClue and Mr. Bob Richardson for their great work on the Executive Committee over the past 4 years as they had completed their tenure on the Committee. Mr. Cropper noted that Mr. DeClue had to work particularly hard to pull together the Pastureland NRI session this year with the change in leadership in Washington, DC and the lack of travel funds available to get Mr. Kevin Ogles at the Conference in person.

After thanking everyone for their participation and making it a great conference, Mr. Cropper adjourned the Conference and Business Meeting.

Accomplishments

1. Two newsletters were published, one in August and another in November of 2013, and distributed primarily as email attachments to all of the membership.<br /> <p>2. The 2014 Annual Conference and Meeting of the Consortium was held on February 4-5 at the Ramada Conference Center and Golf Hotel in State College, PA. Ninety people registered for the conference. This was an all-time high. Fifteen poster papers were presented, also an all-time high. Winter weather again plagued the people attending the conference, but most were able to make it to and from the conference, but had to adjust their scheduling to accommodate the weather.<br /> <p>3. The proceedings of the 2014 annual conference and meeting including power point presentations and handouts, poster paper abstracts, and speaker biographical sketches are cued up to be put on the Consortium website, Northeast Grazing Guide, for post-meeting access.<br /> <p>4. The Northeast Grazing Guide website for the Consortium is at: http://grazingguide.net/. Sarah Goslee of Agricultural Research Service Research Unit at University Park, PA is our web master.<br /> <p>5. The NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant received in late 2013 by the University of Vermont Pasture Network paid hotel room expenses for farmer members and one speaker from the University of Tennessee. This along with registration fees allowed the Consortium to hold its annual conference this year. Farmer members for the first time paid a reduced registration fee to help cover food costs during the conference.<br /> <p>6. Sent letter in April 2014 to Dr. Ruth Varner, University of New Hampshire, in support of their study, “Trade-offs between soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions in organic pastures under management intensive grazing” that they are proposing to the USDA Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program – Organic Transitions. If funded, this would provide funds to the Consortium for holding a session on this topic at the 2015 Consortium Conference.<br /> <p>7. Currently working with University of Vermont Pasture Network on a grant proposal entitled "Intensively Managed Grazing Livestock as a Tool to Maintain Ecological Diversity, Farm Profitability and Water Quality Along Riparian Zones" for an AFRI Foundational Program Area and Priority Area: Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment (RENRE) Agroecosystem Management A1451 (Agroecosystem projects designed to develop management systems that significantly increase the output and/or value of at least three ecosystem services). This grant proposal must be submitted by June 4, 2014.<br /> <p>8. The USDA-NRCS Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA was named as a USDA Climate Hub for Global Climate Change. <br /> <p>9. Kept all members of the Consortium up-to-date on 2013 Farm Bill progress in the US Senate and House of Representatives throughout 2013. It was finally passed by Congress and signed by the President in January, 2014.<br /> <p>10. Kept the Executive Committee abreast of the disposition of the ARS North Appalachian Experimental Watershed at Coshocton, OH. It was closed as an ARS research facility in 2012. Negotiations fell apart in 2013 between Ohio State University and USDA-ARS for Ohio State to assume control of the federal research acreage. There was disagreement over which entity would receive royalties for natural gas on the property and Ohio State would also have to agree to maintain research facilities at the research unit. With this impasse, our interest to make sure the lysimeters and gauging stations at the research unit remain in place and continue to collect rain infiltration and runoff and soil water balance data from pastured fields is in jeopardy.<br /> <p>11. Jim Cropper, Executive Director, participated in the Nutrient Management Expert Panel of the Chesapeake Bay Agricultural Work Group via teleconferencing and Share Point during 2013-2014. Provided input on pasture nutrient management issues to support realistic modeling of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff to the Bay from the pasture land use.<br /> <p>12. Jim Cropper, Executive Director, also participated via speaker phone with the Chesapeake Bay Ag. Workgroup at several teleconferences held throughout the past year to provide input on how to improve conservation practice data collection and upgrade the Bay Model to increase its precision in modeling conservation practices effects in reducing sediment, phosphorus, and nitrogen loads to Bay waters.<br /> <p>13. Teleconferences are held monthly by the Executive Committee to plan the next annual conference and meeting and address other issues that come up during the year. <br /> <p>14. The Northeast Pasture Consortium Executive Committee produced a NEERA-1003 Northeast Pasture Consortium Support Flyer for use in attracting new members and sending a message to federal and state agencies about the need for financial support. The Impact Communications Specialist at Colorado State for Multistate Research Fund projects assisted us with the final layout. The support flyer was printed in December 2013 and was circulated to the Executive Committee members at the 2014 Consortium Conference. It was sent electronically to Consortium members and allied groups and agencies.<br /> <p>15. Continuing education credit (CEU) requests were sent to the American Society of Agronomy and the American Forage & Grassland Council for certified crop advisors and certified forage and grassland professionals, respectively for the 2014 Annual Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference and Meeting. These were granted prior to the conference and certified crop advisors and grassland professionals in attendance were able to get CEU's by signing their names to a sign-in sheet for each session granted CEU's. The completed sign-in sheets were sent to ASA and AFGC after the Conference.<br /> <p>16. Revised and updated research needs and priorities were discussed at the 2014 Northeast Pasture Consortium Annual Conference and Meeting. <br /> <br>Our first session at the 2014 Conference, <i>Managing Pastures in Riparian Areas for Water Quality and Forage Utilization</i>, is the first priority by our farmer members for more research or a very extensive literature review that can shed light on whether or not livestock exclusion from streams is the only means available to protect water quality of the streams passing through pastures. It would appear there is an increasing call in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and elsewhere that only livestock exclusion will do. This may lead to some very bad unintended consequences all around, including land use conversion from pasture to cropland or creating shady areas along fenced-off streams adjacent to the remaining pasture that could lead to bare earth, well-fertilized lounging areas within a few feet of the stream. This session created the large registration of USDA-NRCS employees from Pennsylvania. It also highlighted the Maryland Nutrient Management regulations that apply to pastures. Its first line of defense is to have livestock excluded from streams although it may allow other substitute practices. This has caused the grant proposal by the University of Vermont to seek a more definitive answer about livestock exclusion from streams feeding Lake Champlain as well as the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and the use of intensive rotational grazing as a substitute practice. The Consortium, USDA-ARS, Penn State University, and New York Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts are currently working with Vermont on a joint proposal.<br />

Publications

Bishopp, Troy. 2013-2014. The Grass Whisperer Website. <br /> <br>At: http://www.thegrasswhisperer.com/.<br /> <br /> <p>Bosworth, S. 2014. Characteristics of Forage and Pasture Grasses Found in the Northeast U.S. University of Vermont Extension, January 2014.<br /> <br /> <p>Colby, J. 2013-2014. Vermont On-Line Pasture Calendar. <br /> <br>At: http://www.uvm.edu/~pasture/?Page=Calendar&agenda=Network,Vermont%20Pasture&period=twomonth<br /> <br /> <p>Del Prado, A., P. Crosson, J. Oleson, C.A. Rotz. 2013. Whole-farm models to quantify GHG emissions and their potential use for linking climate change mitigation and adaptation in ruminant-based farming systems. Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Greenhouse Gasses and Animal Agriculture. Dublin, Ireland. 23-26 June, 2013.<br /> <br /> <p>Gilker, R. and K. Voth. 2013-2014. On Pasture Website. Published weekly. At: OnPasture.com Livestock for Landscapes, 6850 W CR 24, Loveland, Colorado 80538. R. Gilker is a Northeast Pasture Consortium member from NY.<br /> <br /> <p>Goslee, S.C. 2013. Pasture monitoring with Landsat[abstract]. US-International Association for Landscape Ecology. Publication Acceptance Date: February 14, 2013.<br /> <br /> <p>Goslee, S.C., T.L. Vieth, R.H. Skinner, and L. Comas. 2013. Optimizing ecosystem function by manipulating pasture community composition. Basic and Applied Ecology. 14(8):630-641.<br /> <br /> <p>Goslee, S.C. and D. Piechnik. 2013. Water quality effects and placement of pasture best management practices in the Spring Creek Watershed (Centre County, PA). USDA-NRCS Technical Note. Publication Acceptance Date: June 5, 2013.<br /> <br /> <p>Hoffman, K. 2013-2014. GLCI Grazette Newsletter. NYS GLCI. Published monthly.<br /> <br /> <p>Orr, A.N. 2013. Pasture quality variation throughout the grazing season. Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance Newsletter. http://www.nodpa.com/production_forage_pasture_quality_variation_073013.shtml.<br /> <br /> <p>Orr, A.N., Soder, K.J., Hautau, M. 2014. Dairy farmers using mob grazing in Pennsylvania and New York. Electronic Publication. Available: http://onpasture.com/2014/04/07/how-mob-grazing-works-for-dairies-in-the-northeast/.<br /> <br /> <p>Rotz, C.A., B.J. Isenberg, K.R. Stackhouse-Lawson, and E.J. Pollak. 2013. A simulation-based approach for evaluating and comparing the environmental footprints of beef production systems. Journal of Animal Science. 91:5427-5437.<br /> <br /> <p>Rotz, C.A. and R.H. Skinner. 2013. Farm simulation can help adapt dairy production systems to climate change[abstract]. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. Publication Acceptance Date: April 25, 2013.<br /> <br /> <p>Skinner, R.H. 2013. Nitrogen fertilization effects on pasture photosynthesis, respiration, and ecosystem carbon content. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 172:35-41.<br /> <br /> <p>Skinner, R.H. 2013. Water, temperature, and defoliation effects on perennial grassland respiration[abstract]. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. Publication Acceptance Date: May 3, 2013.<br /> <br /> <p>Skinner, R. H. and A.V. Stewart. 2014. Narrow-Leaf Plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) Selection for Increased Freezing Tolerance. Crop Science. 54: 3: 1238-1242.<br /> <br /> <p>Soder, K.J., Hautau, M., Hafla, A.N., Rubano, M.D., Moyer, B., Stout, R.C. 2013. Case study: dairies utilizing ultra-high stock density grazing in the northeast[abstract]. Joint Abstracts of the American Dairy Science and Society of Animal Science. Publication Acceptance Date: March 10, 2013.

Impact Statements

1. Significantly improved interactions and communications among producers (dairy, beef, sheep, goat, and horse), agribusiness suppliers, non-governmental organizations, and public research, extension, and technical transfer agencies (land-grant universities, USDA-ARS, USDANRCS) regarding pasture-based animal production systems (traditional and organic).
2. Organic milk producers are being helped with the current collaborative research work being done on their behalf by UNH, UVM, University of Maine, USDA-ARS at University Park, and Cornell University. Flaxseed supplementation can improve omega-3 fatty acid content in milk so this will help differentiate organic milk from conventionally fed cow?s milk even after the cows are off pasture during the non-growing season. Several new ryegrass varieties are being tested for their survival and persistence in trials. This helps any farmers who have thought about improving pastures by reseeding to ryegrass. Ryegrass varieties tested up to this point have not been very successful persisting under the Northeast climatic conditions. Bedding material for dairy cows is an issue in the Northeast as small grain straw in not plentiful, hayfields should produce quality hay - not bedding, and off-farm wood chips run at a premium since they can be used as an energy source, a competing use.
3. Penn State University is also helping organic dairy farmers by looking at annual forage crops to augment forage resources for grazing during the summer slump and extending the grazing season earlier in the spring and later in the fall.
4. University of Rhode Island and Cornell University are helping sheep and goat farmers find new ways to control internal parasites in their flocks that are on pastures. Pharmaceuticals have lost their effectiveness as the parasites become immune to them over time. There are some botanicals and pasture legumes that have anthelminthic properties. The two universities are studying their effectiveness and there are some good preliminary results.
5. The USDA-ARS Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit at University Park, PA was chosen to be a Climate Hub along with the ARS Research Unit in Ithaca, NY. This strengthens both locations utility within the whole ARS system. It also means that this will be linked to pasture plant species shifts that could occur due to warmer temperatures creeping northward, or not, if winters turn out to be colder as this past one was.
6. The loss of ARS funding of the Consortium due to federal budget cuts has caused a financial strain on it as well. The Conservation Innovation Grant received by UVM will provide some relief for the 2014 Annual Conference as some of that money is earmarked for the Consortium. Other attempts at grants have not been successful. For the 2013 Consortium Conference, registration fees were increased to cover the shortfall in the funds the Consortium had left in its account at WVU. Farmer members have attended free heretofore since they devote two to three days away from their farms. They were asked to pay a nominal registration fee in 2014.
7. A resolution passed by the Consortium at their 2012 annual conference and meeting and sent to the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service that asked for NRCS to restore funding and data collection for the Pasture National Resource Inventory was responded to positively in fiscal year 2013 and again in 2014. The new Natural Resources Conservation Service National Range and Grazing Land Ecologist, Sid Brantly, who attended our 2014 Conference, thanked the Consortium for our support of the Pastureland NRI.

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Report Information

Participants

Local Participants:; Bailey, Clyde (cbaileyfarm@aol.com) - Bailey Farm; Benson, Fay (afb3@cornell.edu) - Cornell University; Bertone, Matt (maberto2@ncsu.edu) - North Carolina State University; Bosworth, Sid (sid.bosworth@uvm.edu) - University of Vermont (UVM); Bowdridge, Scott (Scott.Bowdridge@mail.wvu.edu) - West Virginia University; Brantly, Sid (sid.brantly@wdc.usda.gov) - USDA-NRCS; Brink, Geoff (geoffrey.brink@ars.usda.gov) - USDA-ARS; Brito, Andre (Andre.Brito@unh.edu) - University of New Hampshire; Colby, Jenn (jcolby@uvm.edu) - UVM Center for Sustainable Ag.; Cropper, Jim (jbcropper@yahoo.com) - Northeast Pasture Consortium; Dillon, Jasmine (jad520@psu.edu) - Penn State University; Dobrowolski, James (jdobrowolski@nifa.usda.gov) - USDA-NIFA; Geisinger, Justin (Not Available) - Air Hill Acres; Griggs, Thomas (thomas.griggs@mail.wvu.edu) - West Virginia University; Hagen, Kimberly (kimberly.hagen@uvm.edu) - UVM Center for Sustainable Ag.; Hall, Marvin (mhh2@psu.edu) - Penn State University; Hatton, Joe (wvfarmin@juno.com) - Hatton Farm; Hertzler, Duane (mooecho@embarqmail.com) - PA GLCI; Jones, Gordon (gjones89@vt.edu) - Virginia Tech University; Jones, Jennifer (SwiftLevel@gmail.com) - Swift Level Farm; Kleinman, Peter (peter.kleinman@ars.usda.gov) - ARS; Malot, Jana (auntjana@embarqmail.com) - Uncle Clem's Place; Miller, Kenneth (kbm.miller@gmail.com) - Toro Hill Farm; Miller, Peter (peter.miller@organicvalley.coop) - Organic Valley/CROPP; Morris, Michael (clm4880@yahoo.com) - WV Farm Bureau; Neff, Tracy (tracyneff@kingsagriseeds.com) - King's AgriSeeds; Noel, Eric (ericrnoel@hotmail.com) - Health Hero Farm; Ogles, Kevin (kevin.ogles@gnb.usda.gov) - USDA-NRCS East NTSC; Parry, Susan (susan.parry@pa.usda.gov) - USDA-NRCS; Rayburn, Edward (Ed.Rayburn@mail.wvu.edu) - West Virginia University; Rotz, Alan (alrotz@ars.usda.gov) - USDA-ARS; Sayers, Lawrason (nancyann@mcguirk.net) - Waffle Hill Farm; Schivera, Diane (dianes@mofga.org) - Forage Farm / Maine OFGA; Skinner, Howard (howard.skinner@ars.usda.gov) - USDA-ARS; Slocum, Genevieve (genevieveslocum@kingsagriseeds.com) - King's AgriSeeds; Soder, Kathy (Kathy.Soder@ars.usda.gov) - USDA-ARS; Swartzentruber, Richard (rcswartz1@yahoo.com) - Swartzentruber Homestead; Tomasula, Peggy (Peggy.Tomasula@ars.usda.gov) - USDA-ARS,ERRC,DFFRU; Van Hekken, Diane (diane.vanhekken@ars.usda.gov) - USDA-ARS,ERRC,DFFRU; Vough, Lester (vough@umd.edu) - University of Maryland; Walls, Gary (Not Available) - Walls Farm; Watson, Wes (wes_watson@ncsu.edu) - North Carolina State University; Wild, Don (wild.acres4750@gmail.com) - Wild Acres Family Farm; ; ;
Remote Participants:; Darby, Heather (heather.darby@uvm.edu) - University of Vermont; Garza, Eric (Eric.Garza@uvm.edu) - University of Vermont

Brief Summary of Minutes

2015 Northeast Pasture Consortium Annual Conference & Meeting Minutes, held at the
Waterfront Place Hotel & Conference Center in Morgantown, WV, March 11-12, 2015

A small but enthusiastic membership turned out for the 2015 Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference that was held at the well-appointed and service-oriented Waterfront Place Conference Center in Morgantown, West Virginia. Our conference numbers were down dramatically this year (43 attendees), in large part due to agency travel funds being severely curtailed for Extension and Natural Resources Conservation Service. Yet, the program itself was very well received by those people that did attend. Our thanks goes to the Pennsylvania Grazing Coalition who funded two Pennsylvania pasture-based farmers to attend our Conference and the University of Vermont Pasture Network that paid the hotel room rentals for other farmer members in attendance with grant money from a NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant Program. Without these funds, we would not have been able to pay all the bills with just the registration fees. We were also heartened by the attendance of Mr. Michael Morris, West Virginia Farm Bureau. He was very much interested in the findings of the literature review of riparian grazing effects on water quality, our first technical session.

The Conference offered 10.5 continuing education credits to Certified Crop Advisors and Certified Forage and Grassland Professionals from ASA-CSSA-SSSA and the American Forage and Grassland Council respectively.

After Jim Cropper, Executive Director, welcomed all the attendees at the opening session and gave them a brief overview of what was to take place over the two-day conference, a round-the-table self-introduction by each of the attendees was given.

The conference technical sessions covered a range of timely and important topics, and were very well received. (For details, see conference summary and meeting minutes file that is attached to this reporting site.)

After the conference technical sessions, a brief Business Meeting was held. Ms. Jennifer Colby, Program Coordinator of the Vermont Pasture Network, University of Vermont, was nominated and unanimously elected to be our new Public Sector Member-at-Large for 2015-2016. Mr. Richard Swartzentruber, Swartzentruber Homestead, Greenwood, DE, was nominated and unanimously elected as our new Private Sector Member-at-Large.

Jim Cropper was charged with sending letter to all US representatives and Senators in the Northeast Region and Jason Weller, Chief of NRCS introducing them to the Northeast Pasture Consortium and telling them about our work.

Jim Cropper was also charged with writing a letter specifically to Glenn Thompson, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Conservation & Forestry of House Agriculture Committee, introducing the Northeast Pasture Consortium to him and providing him information on our function of promoting pasture-based farming and our connection to the Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit at University Park, PA that is in his home district. Diane Schivera asked that she be sent a copy of the letter.

Jim Cropper also volunteered to draft a resolution to be sent to the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee to document the need for the Conservation of Private Grazing Lands program of NRCS to be funded for the first time since its authorization in 1996. For some time, funding of grazing lands technical assistance came out of the Conservation Operations program. However, this has been discontinued and as the appropriations continue to dwindle for Conservation Operations, it is unlikely that funds will be set aside expressly for grazing lands assistance under this program. Joe Hatton asked that a copy of the resolution be sent to him.

The Farmer Survey questionnaire sent out earlier in the year to all farmer members was briefly discussed. The deadline extension for sending in the questionnaires is April 1. It was estimated that it would take 10 days to analyze the input received from pasture-based farmers around the Northeast. A conference call for Private Producers to discuss the results was scheduled for April 10. Susan Parry, USDA-NRCS, Harrisburg, PA and Executive Committee member, is the contact person for this survey.

Jim Cropper thanked Joe Hatton and Tom Akin for their service on the Executive Committee of the Northeast Pasture Consortium over the past four years. He further thanked Joe Hatton for his help in setting up the Conference at the Waterfront Place Hotel and Convention Center this year. The Waterfront Place was a great venue for this year's conference.

Jim Cropper asked for approval to adjourn the business meeting. It was approved and the business meeting was adjourned and the Conference ended.

Accomplishments

1. Two newsletters were published, one in September 2014 and another in January 2015, and distributed primarily as attachments to emails to all of the membership. These keep the members informed about the annual conference and new developments in pasturing livestock.<br /> 2. The 2015 Annual Conference and Meeting of the Consortium was held on March 11-12 at the Waterfront Place Hotel & Conference Center in Morgantown, WV. Forty-three people attended the conference. Six poster papers were presented. Travel restrictions at the universities and USDA-NRCS hurt our attendance considerably. We worked in tandem with the Appalachian Grazing Conference that followed our conference. Both programs were well received.<br /> 3. The proceedings of the 2015 annual conference and meeting including power point presentations and handouts, poster paper abstracts, and speaker biographical sketches are cued up to be put on the Consortium website, Northeast Grazing Guide, for post-meeting access.<br /> 4. The Northeast Grazing Guide website for the Consortium is at: http://grazingguide.net/. Sarah Goslee of the Agricultural Research Service Research Unit at University Park, PA is our web master. It is continually updated as new material arrives.<br /> 5. The NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant received in late 2013 by the University of Vermont Pasture Network paid farmer members hotel room expenses. This along with registration fees allowed the Consortium to hold its annual conference this year. The Pennsylvania Grazing Lands Coalition paid for two of their farmer members to attend this year. Especially with the low turnout this year, these funds were vital to cover all our expenses for holding the conference. We continue to look for new funding sources in a very competitive environment.<br /> 6. Jim Cropper, Executive director, participated in the Nutrient Management Expert Panel of the Chesapeake Bay Agricultural Work Group via teleconferencing and Share Point during 2014-2015. Provided input on pasture nutrient management issues to support realistic modeling of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff to the Bay from the pasture landuse. Also did a literature review and synthesis of variable rate applications of phosphorus on fields to reduce soil test phosphorus in areas of the field that test well above optimum for a crop response.<br /> 7. Jim Cropper, Executive director, also participated via speaker phone with the Chesapeake Bay Ag. Workgroup and its Agriculture Land Use Loading Rates Subgroup at several teleconferences held throughout the past year to provide input on how to improve estimates on nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment losses for the pasture landuse and upgrade the Bay Model to increase its precision in modeling conservation practices effects in reducing sediment, phosphorus, and nitrogen loads to Bay waters.<br /> 8. Jim Cropper has also been involved with another Chesapeake Bay Program subgroup, the Agricultural Modeling Subcommittee's Pasture Subgroup. Here there has been controversy about the impact livestock have on stream corridors. There is a strong movement towards excluding all livestock from water courses in the Bay Watershed. Yet, there is strong evidence that this is not always true depending on pasture configuration about the stream. A narrow stream corridor pasture forces livestock to be always close, but pastures that have upland areas in them as well as a stream corridor, time spent in the stream is only about 2% of the total occupancy time. Exclusionary fencing would be a costly program for which there is no evidence that there is a favorable benefit to cost ratio. Most evidence points to a reduction in sediment and phosphorus (sometimes) and very little to no improvement in nitrogen losses. Pastures ARE grassed buffers, but the perception is that they are not. Also, loafing areas and unpaved, somewhat grassed feedlots are often viewed as being pastures. Hay bunks and other feeding facilities are often adjacent to streams creating point source pollution but attributed to the pasture landuse which they are not. Livestock confined in these areas get nearly 100 percent of their daily intake from stored forages and feedstuffs.<br /> 9. Teleconferences are held monthly by the Executive Committee to plan the next annual conference and meeting and address other issues that come up during the year. <br /> 10. The Northeast Pasture Consortium Executive Committee conducted a Survey Monkey Farmer Survey that asked ten questions of pasture-based farmers for their insight on issues of pasture management that they need technical assistance, education, or more research on to solve problems that they are having with pasturing livestock. We are currently evaluating the 71 responses received and will use this information to develop conference agendas to address those problems or issues that they have. If it is a research need, we will ask for research by the appropriate researchers, or if it is an educational or technical assistance issue see that Extension and the Natural Resources Conservation Service are involved.<br /> 11. Continuing education credit (CEU) requests were sent to the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and the American Forage & Grassland Council (AFGC) for certified crop advisors and certified forage and grassland professionals, respectively, for the 2015 Annual Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference and Meeting. 10.5 CEU's were approved prior to the conference. Certified crop advisors and grassland professionals in attendance were able to get CEU's by signing their names to a sign-in sheet for each session granted CEU's. The completed sign-in sheets were sent to ASA and AFGC after the Conference.<br /> 12. Revised and updated research need priorities at the 2015 Northeast Pasture Consortium Annual Conference and Meeting. We used a different format this year by asking each registrant to choose, from a list of research and demonstration needs, two topics that they would like to discuss with others at concurrent planning sessions in the morning of the second day of the conference. Private sector and public sector members intermingled for the first time. Everyone agreed this new format was a much better approach to determining new directions in research and demonstration work. See the minutes of the conference for the outcomes of those sessions.<br />

Publications

Bishopp, Troy. 2014-2015. The Grass Whisperer Website. At: http://www.thegrasswhisperer.com/. Click on writings and then click on hotlinks to web pages listed under writings to see numerous articles on grazing management.<br /> <br /> Bowdridge, S.A., A.M. Zajac, D.R. Notter. 2015. St. Croix sheep produce a rapid and greater cellular immune response contributing to reduced establishment of Haemonchus contortus. Vet. Parasitol. 208:204-210.<br /> <br /> Jacobs, J.R., S.P Greiner, S.A. Bowdridge. 2015. Serum interleukin-4 (IL-4) production is associated with lower fecal egg count in parasite-resistant sheep. Vet. Parasitol. 211:102-105.<br /> <br /> MacKinnon, K.M., S.A. Bowdridge, I. Kanevsky-Mullarky, A.M. Zajac, D.R. Notter. 2015. Gene expression profiles of hair and wool sheep reveal importance of Th2 immune mechanisms for increased resistance to Haemonchus contortus. J. Anim. Sci. 93:2074-2082.<br /> <br /> De Wolf, B.M., A.M. Zajac, K.A. Hoffer, B.L. Sartini, S. Bowdridge, T. LaRoith, K.H. Petersson. 2014. The effect of vitamin E supplementation on an experimental Haemonchus contortus infection. Vet. Parasitol. 205: 140-149<br /> <br /> Alber, N., Brink, G.E. 2014. Above- and below-ground grass growth responds to grazing management. University of Wisconsin Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems Experiment Station Bulletins. Research Brief No. 91.<br /> <br /> Alber, N.B., Brink, G.E., Jackson, R.D. 2014. Temperate grass response to extent and timing of grazing. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 94:827-833.<br /> <br /> Brink, G.E., Soder, K.J. 2015. Cool-season grass sward structure influences intake of grazing cattle. American Forage and Grassland Council Conference Proceedings [CD-ROM]. Number 16. St. Louis, MO: American Forage and Grassland Council.<br /> <br /> Coblentz, W.K., Brink, G.E., Hoffman, P.C., Esser, N.M., Bertram, M.G. 2014. Fall-grown oat to extend the fall grazing season for replacement dairy heifers. Journal of Dairy Science. 97:1645-1660. <br /> <br /> Mohammed, R., Brink, G.E., Stevenson, D.M., Neumann, A.P., Beauchemin, K., Suen, G., Weimer, P.J. 2014. Bacterial communities in the rumen of Holstein heifers differ when fed orchardgrass as pasture versus hay. Frontiers in Microbiology 5. 689:1-11. <br /> <br /> Sabatier, R., Oates, L.G., Brink, G.E., Bleier, J.S., Jackson, R.D. 2015. Grazing in an uncertain environment: modeling the trade-off between production and robustness. Agronomy Journal. 107:257-264. <br /> <br /> Vadas, P.A., Powell, J.M., Busch, D.L., Brink, G.E. 2014. Monitoring runoff from cattle-grazed pastures for a phosphorus loss quantification tool. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 199:124-131. <br /> <br /> Antaya, N.T., Soder, K.J., Kraft, J., Whitehouse, N.L., Guindon, N.E., Erickson, P.S., Conroy, A., Brito, A.F. 2014. Incremental amounts of Ascophyllum nodosum meal do not improve animal performance but increase milk iodine output in early lactation dairy cows fed high-forage diets. Journal of Dairy Science. 98:1991-2004.<br /> <br /> Brito, A.F., Petit, H.V., Pepeira, A.B., Soder, K.J., Ross, S. 2014. Interactions of corn meal or molasses with a soybean-sunflower meal mix or flaxseed meal on production, milk fatty acids composition, and nutrient utilization in dairy cows fed grass hay-based diets. Journal of Dairy Science. 98:443-457. <br /> <br /> Brito, A.F., J. Chiquette, S.P. Stabler, R.H. Allen and C.L. Girard. 2015. Supplementing lactating dairy cows with a vitamin B12 precursor, 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole, increases the apparent ruminal synthesis of vitamin B12. Animal 9: 67-75.<br /> <br /> Dorich, C.D., R.K. Varner, A.B.D. Pereira, R. Martineau, K.J. Soder, and A.F. Brito. 2015. Short communication: Use of a portable automated open-circuit gas quantification system and the sulfur hexafluoride tracer technique for measuring enteric methane emissions in Holstein cows ad libitum- or restricted-fed. J. Dairy Sci. 98:2676-2681. <br /> <br /> Resende, T.L., J. Kraft, K.J. Soder, A.B.D. Pereira, D.E. Woitschach, R.B. Reis, and A.F. Brito. 2015. Incremental amounts of ground flaxseed decreases milk production but increases n-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid in dairy cows fed high-forage diets. J. Dairy Sci. 98:4785-4799.<br /> <br /> M.D. Casler, D.J. Undersander, Y.A. Papadopolous, S. Bittman, D. Hunt, R.D. Mathison, D.H. Min, J.G. Robins, J.H. Cherney, S.N. Acharya, D.P. Belesky, S.R. Bowley, B.E. Coulman, R. Drapeau, N.J. Ehlke, M.H. Hall, R.H. Leep, R. Michaud, J. Rowsell, G.E. Shewmaker, C.D. Teutsch, and W.K. Coblentz. 2014. Sparse-Flowering Orchardgrass Represents an Improvement in Forage Quality During Reproductive Growth. Crop Sci. 54:421-429. <br /> <br /> Colby, J. 2014-2015. Vermont On-Line Pasture Calendar. <br /> At: http://www.uvm.edu/~pasture/?Page=Calendar&agenda=Network,Vermont%20Pasture&period=two month<br /> <br /> Dillon, J., Rotz, C.A. 2014. Environmental assessment of a representative grass-finishing beef operation in southern Pennsylvania[Abstract]. Joint Abstracts of the American Dairy Science and Society of Animal Science. Paper 6447. <br /> <br /> Gilker, R. and K. Voth. 2014-2015. On Pasture Website. Published weekly. At: OnPasture.com Livestock for Landscapes, 6850 W CR 24, Loveland, Colorado 80538. R. Gilker is a Northeast Pasture Consortium member from NY.<br /> <br /> Toledo, D.N., Sanderson, M.A., Herrick, J.E., Goslee, S.C. 2014. An integrated approach to grazingland ecological assessments and management interpretations. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 69(4):110A-114A.<br /> <br /> Hunt, S.R., MacAdam, J.W., Griggs, T.C. 2014. Lignification and Tannin Localization During the Development of Birdsfoot Trefoil Stems. Crop Sci. 54(4):1876-1886.<br /> <br /> Bailey, B. L., Griggs, T. C., Rayburn, E. B., Krause, K. M. 2014. Beef heifer growth and reproductive performance following two levels of pasture allowance during the fall grazing period. Journal of Animal Science. 92(8):3659-3669<br /> <br /> Grabber, J., Min, D., Riday, H., Griggs, T.C., MacAdam, J.W., Cassida, K., Coblentz, W.K. 2014. Yield, Morphological Development, and Forage Quality Characteristics of European- and Mediterranean-Derived Birdsfoot Trefoil Cultivars Grown in the Colder Continental United States[Abstract]. American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting. 2014-11-03. Poster Number 758<br /> <br /> Hoffman, K. 2014-2015. NYGC Grazette Newsletter. NY Grazinglands Coalition. Published monthly on-line at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ny/technical/landuse/pasture/?cid= nrcseprd366641 <br /> <br /> Orr, A.N., Soder, K.J., Brito, A., Rubano, M.D., Dell, C.J. 2014. Effect of sprouted barley grain supplementation of an herbage-based or haylage-based diet on ruminal fermentation and methane output in continuous culture. Journal of Animal Science. 97:7856-7869.<br /> <br /> Orr, A.N., Soder, K.J., Rubano, M.D., Dell, C.J. 2014. Sprouted barley for dairy cows: Nutritional composition and digestibility. USDA-ARS fact sheet. p. 1. <br /> <br /> Rayburn, E.B., Shockey, W.L., Seymour, D.A., Smith, B.D., and Basden, T.J. 2014. Residual forage mass and pasture growth. American Forage & Grassland Council 2014 Conference Proceedings. http://afgc.associationsonline.com/site_member_documents2.cfm?pk_association_document=7502<br /> <br /> Rayburn, E.B. 2015. How to make good-quality, plastic-wrapped, round bale silage. Forage Magazine. Progressive Forage Grower. East Edition. Progressive Publishing. Main Office: Jerome, ID. 16(5):31-32.<br /> <br /> Rayburn, E.B. 2015. Stepping up grazing management. Forage Magazine. Progressive Forage Grower. East Edition. Progressive Publishing. Main Office: Jerome, ID. 16(6):14-15.<br /> <br /> Asem-Hiablie, S., Rotz, C.A., Stackhouse-Lawson, K., Battagliese, T. 2014. Assessing the sustainability of beef production[Abstract]. ASABE Annual International Meeting. p 1. <br /> <br /> Powell, J.M., Rotz, C.A., Wattiaux, M.A. 2014. Abatement of ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions from dairy farms using milk urea N (MUN). Journal of Environmental Quality. DOI:10.2134/jeq2013.09.0375. <br /> <br /> Snow, V.O., Rotz, C.A., Johnson, I.R., Hutchings, N.J., Eckard, R.J. 2014. The challenges of incorporating random animal-mediated nitrogen transfers in process-based modeling of grazed agricultural systems. Meeting Proceedings. Proc. 7th Inter. Meeting Environ. Modeling and Software, San Diego, CA. p. 1-7.<br /> <br /> Snow, V.O., Rotz, C.A., Moore, A.D., Martin-Clouaire, R., Johnson, I.R., Hutchings, N.J., Eckard, R.J. 2014. The challenges – and some solutions – to process-based modeling of grazed agricultural systems. Journal of Environmental Modeling and Software. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2014.03.009.<br /> <br /> Schrenker, D.L., Hall, M.H., Grantham, A., Kaye, J.P., Skinner, R.H. 2014. Production potential of warm-season annual pastures in rotation with corn silage. American Forage and Grassland Conference Proceedings. p 1. <br /> <br /> Skinner, R.H., Dell, C.J. 2014. Comparing pasture c sequestration estimates from eddy covariance and soil cores. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 199:52-57.<br /> <br /> Skinner, R.H., Smith, R.G., Bosworth, S.C., Kersbergen, R.J. 2014. Productivity and persistence of multi-cultivar perennial ryegrass[Abstract]. American Society of Agronomy Abstracts. p. 1.<br /> <br /> Soder, K.J., Hafla, A., Hautau, M. 2014. Mob grazing for dairy cows. Lancaster Farming (Corn Talk & Foraging Around Special Section). p. E13-14. <br />

Impact Statements

1. Significantly improved interactions and communications among producers (dairy, beef, sheep, goat, and horse), agribusiness suppliers, non-governmental organizations, and public research, extension, and technical transfer agencies (land-grant universities, USDA-ARS, USDANRCS) regarding pasture-based animal production systems (traditional and organic).
2. Organic milk producers benefited from collaborative research done by UNH, UVM, Univ. Maine, USDA-ARS at University Park, and Cornell Univ. Flaxseed supplementation can improve omega-3 fatty acid content in milk to help differentiate organic milk from conventionally fed cow?s milk even after the cows are off pasture during the non-growing season. Pasture-fed cows have higher omega-3 in their milk and a very good ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids compared to confinement-fed cows.
3. 3. UNH, UVM, Univ. Maine, USDA-ARS at University Park, and Cornell Univ. are testing new perennial ryegrass varieties for survival and persistence. This helps many farmers who have thought about or tried improving pastures by reseeding to perennial ryegrass. The ryegrass trials this past winter were largely devastated except for the UVM trials (on sandy loam soil). The weakness of perennial ryegrass is that forage varieties do not overwinter well and the new varieties tested are no exception.
4. 4. Animal scientist Dr. Scott Bowdridge at W. Virginia Univ. is genetically improving wool sheep to be more naturally resistant to stomach worms (hair sheep are naturally resistant to stomach worm infestation). He is crossbreeding wool sheep with hair sheep to see if the resistance will transfer and also will investigate what genetic factor is making hair sheep more resistant to parasites. If the gene can be transferred artificially, this may be the better way to maintain quality wool sheep.
5. 5. Univ. RI and Cornell Univ. researchers are seeking new ways to control internal parasites in sheep and goat flocks on pastures, given that pharmaceuticals have lost their effectiveness in some cases. They are evaluating botanicals and pasture legumes that have anthelmintic properties. The condensed tannins of birdsfoot trefoil make it a natural dewormer, varietal differences have been found in condensed tannin concentrations. Low condensed tannin level varieties are not as effective.
6. 6. The USDA-ARS Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit at University Park, PA was chosen to be a Climate Hub along with the ARS Research Unit in Ithaca, NY. This strengthens both locations utility within the whole ARS system. It also means that this will be linked to pasture plant species shifts that could occur due to warmer temperatures creeping northward, or not, if winters turn out to be colder as this past one was.
7. 7. As a Long Term Agro-Ecosystem Research sites in the ARS network, the budget for the Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit increased by fifty percent over their 2014 fiscal year budget. This is very good news after the belt tightening of the past two years. They have formed a Riparian Conservation Team with Pennsylvania State Univ. to develop a Riparian Conservation Planning Tool to holistically address some of the problems with grazing riparian area pastures.
8. 8. A resolution passed by the Consortium at their 2012 annual conference and meeting and sent to the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service asked for NRCS to restore funding and data collection for the Pasture National Resource Inventory. It was responded to positively again in fiscal year 2015. The Natural Resources Conservation Service National Range and Grazing Land Ecologist, Sid Brantly, attended our 2015 Conference to report on Pastureland NRI and other pasture-related programs.
9. 10. Opinion in the Chesapeake Bay and other watersheds seems to be that only livestock exclusion will protect water quality. Exclusion may have unintended consequences, including conversion from pasture to cropland, or creating shady areas along fenced-off streams adjacent to remaining pastures, which then become bare earth, well-fertilized lounging areas close to the stream. Riparian area measures should be used in combination with upland and floodplain treatment measures, not in isolation.
10. 11. Gordon Jones, Virginia Tech, summarized his investigations as to why orchardgrass is dying off prematurely, a problem that is most prevalent in hayfields. A warming climate along with close mowing may be harming regrowth (cutting off too much stem base where carbohydrate reserves are stored and accompanying heat stress), leading to a loss of vigor and failure to survive the winter. We will continue to monitor Gordon?s work on this, including collecting regional weather data.
11. 12. Other reports suggest that orchardgrass die-off may be due to nitrogen fertilization without commensurate potassium fertilization, so that the orchardgrass is potassium deficient and loses vigor. In the northern part of Region, orchardgrass die-off appears to be a function of winterkill or ice sheet damage. A concerted effort to do collaborative studies on orchardgrass die-off among our researchers around the Region and to our South is in the offing.

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Report Information

Participants

Alice Begin, USDA NRCS, ME, Alice.Begin@me.usda.gov
Allison Bell, Just Good Kosher, MA, anjohnson55@hotmail.com
Sid Bosworth, Univ. Vermont, VT, sid.bosworth@uvm.edu
Andre Brito, Univ. New Hampshire, NH, andre.brito@unh.edu
Xandy Brown, USDA-NRCS, VT, alexander.brown@me.usda.gov
Doug Callnan, Agri-Cal Inc., ME, anne@agri-calinc.com
Cheryl Cesario, UVM Extension, VT, Cheryl.Cesario@uvm.edu
Gabriel Clark, Cold Spring Ranch, ME, gclark004@yahoo.com
Donna Coffin, UMaine Extension, ME, donna.coffin@maine.edu
Jennifer Colby, UVM Ctr. Sustainable Agriculture, VT, jcolby@uvm.edu
James Cropper, Northeast Pasture Consortium, NC, jbcropper@yahoo.com
Caragh Fitzgerald, UMaine Extension, VT, cfitzgerald@maine.edu
Sarah Flack, Sarah Flack Consulting, VT, sarahflackconsulting@gmail.com
Tim Fritz, King's Agriseeds, Inc., PA, timfritz@kingsagriseeds.com
Naomi Fukagawa, USDA BHNRC, MD, naomi.fukagawa@ars.usda.gov
Steve Getz, Organic Valley/CROPP, WI, alie.hubing@organicvalley.coop
Katy Green, MOFGA, VT, kgreen@mofga.org
Sabrina Greenwood, Univ. Vermont, VT, sabrina.greenwood@uvm.edu
Erik Hagan, USDA-ARS, PA, erik.hagan@psu.edu
Kimberly Hagen, UVM Ctr. Sustainable Agriculture, VT, kimberly.hagen@uvm.edu
Jason Harris, Kent Nutrition Group, VT, Jason.harris@kentww.com
Joe Hatton, N+Hatton Farm, WV, wvfarmin@juno.com
Clifford Hawbaker, Hamilton Hgts Farm / PaGLC, PA, hhdf@innernet.net
Adele Hayes, Sap Bush Hollow Farm, NY, sapbush@midtel.net
Jim Hayes, Sap Bush Hollow Farm, NY, sapbush@midtel.net
Deb Heleba, UVM Extension, VT, Debra.Heleba@uvm.edu
Bruce Howlett, USDA-NRCS, VT, bruce.howlett@vt.usda.gov
Kayla Glerum, USDA-NRCS, VT, Kayla.Glerum@vt.usda.gov
James Hyde, USDA-NRCS, VT, james.hyde@ct.usda.gov
Bill Ireland, Ireland Farm, CT, ireland01bill@aol.com
Sally Ireland, Ireland Farm, CT, ireland01bill@aol.com
Angus Johnson, Just Good Kosher, MA, anjohnson55@hotmail.com
Gordon Jones, Virginia Tech Univ., VA, gjones@vt.edu
Kevin Kaija, USDA-NRCS, VT, kevin.kaija@vt.usda.gov
Richard Kersbergen, Univ. Maine, ME, richard.kersbergen@maine.edu
Peter Kleinman, USDA-ARS, PA, peter.kleinman@ars.usda.gov
Hisashi Kominami, USDA-NRCS, VT, hisashi.kominami@vt.usda.gov
Nathan Leonard, Cornell Univ., NY, nrl3@cornell.edu
Sarah Littlefield, Wolfe's Neck Farm, ME, slittlefield@wolfesneckfarm.org
Jerome Magnuson, DLF, OR, jmagnuson@dlfna.com
Janet McAllister, Northeast SARE, CT, janet.mcallister@uconn.edu
Joyce Meader, UConn Extension, VT, Joyce.Meader@uconn.edu
Daimon Meeh, UNH Extension, VT, daimon.meeh@unh.edu
Barbara Miller, Toro Hill Farm, MA, kbbpmiller@yahoo.com
Kenneth Miller, Toro Hill Farm, MA, kbm.miller@gmail.com
Peter Miller, Organic Valley/CROPP, WI, alie.hubing@organicvalley.coop
Steve Morrison , Clovercrest Farm, ME, smccrest@gmail.com
Eric Noel, Health Hero Farm, VT, ericrnoel@hotmail.com
Laura Paine, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Program, WI, lkpaine@gmail.com
Yousef Papadopoulos, Ag. Canada, VT, Yousef.Papadopoulos@AGR.GC.CA
Andrew Radin, URI Extension, VT, andy_radin@mail.uri.edu
Edward B Rayburn, West Virginia Univ., WV, erayburn@wvu.edu
Heathcliffe Riday, USDA-ARS, VT, Heathcliffe.Riday@ARS.USDA.GOV
Erin Roche, UMaine Extension, ME, erin.roche@maine.edu
Diane Schivera, Forage Farm and MOFGA, ME, dianes@mofga.org
Joseph Schmidlen, Barenbrug, USA, OR, jschmidlen@barusa.com
Nathaniel Severy, UVM Extension, VT, nathaniel.severy@gmail.com
Howard Skinner, USDA-ARS, PA, howard.skinner@ars.usda.gov
Alex Stace, USDA-NRCS, ME, Alexander.Stace@me.usda.gov
Richard Swartzentruber, Swartzentruber Homestead, DE, rcswartz1@yahoo.com
Terri Teller, USDA-NRCS, VT, terri.teller@me.usda.gov
Michael Tunick, USDA-ARS, PA, michael.tunick@ars.usda.gov
Diane Van Hekken, USDA-ARS, PA, diane.vanhekken@ars.usda.gov
Lisa Webster, North Star Sheep Farm, ME, farmer@northstarsheepfarm.com
Phil Webster, North Star Sheep Farm, ME, farmer@northstarsheepfarm.com
Don Wild, Wild Acres Family Farm, NY, wildacres4750@gmail.com
Sharon Wild, Wild Acres Family Farm, NY, mamas7654321@gmail.com
Jessica Williamson, Penn State Univ., PA, jaw67@psu.edu

Brief Summary of Minutes

After the Conference sessions, the 2016 reports session and business meeting of the Northeast Pasture Consortium began with the Research/Demonstration Directions and USDA Agency Reports Session. The first speaker was Cliff Hawbaker, Chairman, PA Grazing Lands Coalition, Chambersburg, PA. His presentation was Ten Million and One Grazable Acres in the Northeast. He had asked to address our Conference prior to the Conference to challenge us to come up with a way to market grass based meat and milk products and other benefits that accrue with grass based agriculture. He began his talk with a explaining what "Ten Million and One Grazable Acres in the Northeast" is:

• Effort to document the extent of grasslands in the NE;


• Intent to promote grazing and grasslands;


• Project that can create partnerships of grazing groups and coalitions;


• Related directly to soil health, water quality, wildlife habitat and healthy communities.

 

He then said who would benefit:

• Soil & Water Conservation Districts


• State and National research projects


• State and National departments of agriculture


• Farm Education organizations


• Fish & wildlife agencies/groups


• Livestock organizations and farmers - dairy, beef, sheep, goat, swine, poultry, equine


• Seed and fertilizer companies


• Marketing of food products - local farmer and supermarkets


• Those who study Climate change


• Consumers - From Portland ME to Washington DC

 

He posed the question, "Why 10 Million and One?" He then answered with these points:

• Many of us promote and support grazing. We understand the importance of life in the soil, with livestock and humans working together for the good of the earth.


• If we don’t have a goal or target, how will we know if we have arrived or made a difference.


• If we believe in what we do, then we need to measure our progress.

 

The world of life is our planet. A World that is sustainable is:

1. able to feed and support itself, and


2. able to reproduce itself.

 

We need to look at the big picture to see what can be accomplished with grass-based agriculture.

1. Soil Health – grasses and legumes promote increased microbial life and organic matter

                       ~better water infiltration

                        ~less erosion

                        ~drought effects not as severe

1. Animal – well-managed pasture can have a positive effect on behavior and performance

                        ~better health

                        ~longer life

                        ~improved reproduction

                        ~lower carbon footprint per pound of meat and milk

1. Wildlife - pasture enhances a wide range of insect and animal species


2. Water - less flooding, more springs, cleaner streams and lakes


3. Air - cleaner air (less greenhouse gases) by carbon dioxide transferred to organic matter

 

"Changing the Climate" with grassland agriculture leads to a climate of better weather and economic conditions.

• Soil and Land

                        - Building organic matter

                        - Life in the soil

• Weather

                        - Temperature moderated, Rain & snow retention

• Social and Economic

                        - Support all forms of life to create a pleasant environment to live in.

                        - Community - jobs and wealth building - rural villages renewed.

 

 

Can we get 10 million and one acres in the Northeast? Here is the distribution to reach the goal:

• PA 30% goal/3 million ac.


• NY 25% goal/2.5 million ac.


• New England   25% goal/2.5 million ac.


• MD, NJ, DE     20% goal/2 million ac.

(Editor's Note: Clifford inadvertently left out WV. The 2012 Census of Agriculture reports total pasture acreage in WV to be 1.6 million acres - includes woodland pasture and cropable pasture. This will make the job easier. NY currently is just under 1 million acres. PA is slightly under 1.1 million.)

 

Clifford then went through some calculations to show what 10 million acres would support. If 10,000,000 Acres, Then if 50,000 Managed wildlife acres and 9,950,000 Grazable acres?

~This will support 3,015,151 (1000 pound) Animal Units (@ 3.3 ac/AU) Number of livestock 10 million acres support are:

• 50% - 1,512,575 Dairy cows


• 20% -   603,030 Brood cow/calf


• 20% -   603,030 Finished beef


• 10% - 1,507,575 goats, sheep

 

Mr. Hawbaker gave the statistics for Northeastern states as he listed earlier (w/o WV). There are

162,257 square miles of land area (104 million acres). Landuse percentages as of 2007 Census of Agriculture are:

            ~60% Forest (62.4 M ac.),

            ~11% Urban (11.4 M ac.),

            ~12% Cropland and

            ~ 4% Pasture (16.6 M ac. combined)

He characterized the Northeast as the Nation’s most economically developed, densely populated, and culturally diverse area. Food hubs and distribution networks for marketing of grass-fed products are being established. The number of small and mid-size farms are increasing rather than decreasing. Many farm operations are part-time as many of them are employed off-farm and work their farms after work and on weekends.

 

Potential criteria for 10 million and 1 acres* in the Northeast:

• Must have mixture of grasses/legumes/forbs with nearly 100% ground cover;


• Must have livestock grazing plan where a grazed period is followed by a rest period;


• Must have a plan to increase and monitor organic matter of the soil;


• Must have a measurement of microbial life in the soil;


• Acreage in pasture at least 3 – 4 years before cropping, then back to pasture.

*Acres in permanent hay, CREP, highway grass, wetlands, golf courses, private lawns, etc. do not count in 10 million and 1 acres.

 

Clifford then asked, "Where do we start?" Here are his thoughts on that:

• Develop an advisory team to oversee the project;


• Refine goals and criteria from above;


• Take inventory – how many acres do we know of now;


• Promote – Organizations working together;


• Outreach to grazing coalitions and groups.

 

For those interested in this project, Mr. Hawbaker referred them to these addresses to continue the dialog that he has initiated as he finished his presentation:

• Stay tuned at www.paglc.org


• Email for information at info.paglc@gmail.com


• Contact Cliff at hhdf@innernet.net

 

We then heard from the five research and outreach needs discussion groups. Each group had a spokesperson give a brief synopsis of research and outreach needs that were identified for each topic. Ms. Jennifer Colby was the first person to give a report. She represented the Riparian Pasture Grazing Management to protect water quality & the landuse. They had a list of seven needs:

1. Effectiveness of riparian buffers - There is still much to learn about stream-side buffers. Upland buffer effectiveness, where the upper edge can be placed on on a level grade to get a diffuse flow of water across the entire length of the buffer, is often used as a surrogate for practice effects. This is not possible along a stream buffer that follows the grade of a stream and is interrupted by small side ephemeral channels frequently along smaller order streams or sits on top of a natural levee along larger order streams (making it higher than the rest of the floodplain alongside of it). Denitrification of nitrates in the soil of the buffer requires a hydric soil of a certain quality that is not always present along every stream or every reach of a stream.


2. Identification of plant species that are most effective in trapping sediment, promoting denitrification, and removing and retaining P within the buffer, along with other beneficial attributes for fisheries and macroinvertebrates depending on stream order.


3. Riparian areas identified for their appropriateness for grazing, based on soil drainage characteristics, stream bank stability, grazing methods and duration used, and the season most appropriate for grazing livestock to be present, and the number of days livestock occupancy occurs yearly along a specific stream reach.


4. Resiliency of the riparian area needs to be measured or estimated based on soil drainage, plant species present, stream bank stability, true wetlands presence, and any other factor that may impact on the site to recover from a grazing event or a series of grazing events over a year or more of use as pasture. This relates back to item 3 very directly.


5. A cross disciplinarian approach is needed with agronomists, hydrologists, geomorphologists, fishery and wildlife biologists, grazing lands specialists, water quality specialists, economists, and ecologists working with impacted farmers to devise a set of parameters with appropriate input data that provides a riparian area planning tool that creates a landuse plan that is reasonable for the riparian area in question.


6. An interface needs to be developed between policymakers and researchers involved in characterizing riparian areas and developing a riparian area planning tool. Policy has to be based on good science as much as the riparian area tool; otherwise, policy may trump reasoned tool outcomes if policy makers are not sold on a more comprehensive but flexible approach to managing riparian areas on private lands.


7. More work is required to find the right set of performance metrics to measure and monitor the effects riparian pasture conservation practices over time have towards achieving key goals of protecting water quality while providing forage to livestock and improving farm economic viability.

 

The next report came from Gordon Jones on Orchardgrass Die-Off Investigation Action Plan adjustments. Continued research is needed in the area of orchardgrass (OG) persistence to assist producers, especially in the southern states of the Northeastern region, to improve the longevity of their OG haystands. The current research being conducted on OG persistence at Virginia Tech will likely conclude after the 2016 growing season. Further research is needed to answer several questions about the problem and managing OG persistence.

1. Are certain varieties of OG more tolerant to low cutting heights and heat and moisture stress? A longer ( > 3 year) genotype × harvest management × environment experiment may be      


2. How does heading date of OG varieties influence summer regrowth and persistence?


3. How does fall, winter, and spring management (harvest and fertilization) impact the number and quality of vegetative tillers present in stands in mid-summer?


4. For producers concerned with the risk associated with establishing new OG stands, what alternative grass species are recommended that are more heat tolerant with similar characteristics in forage quality, yield, and ease of establishment as OG?


5. Given crop growth models and climate change predictions, how would we expect the ranges of OG and other cool-season grasses to change in the future? Which forage species might become better adapted?

 

Participants in the OG research needs session were: Jim Cropper, Tim Fritz, Gordon Jones, Howard Skinner, and Don Wild.

 

Alice Begin gave the next report representing the New Forage Varieties to enhance and extend pasture productivity. Here is the list that this group put together:

1. Birdsfoot trefoil (BFT) requires more research trials to delve into getting more disease tolerance to Fusarium wilt (caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. loti) in the Northeast. Boosting BFT condensed tannins content to lower rumen degradable protein and have more of its protein degraded in the intestinal tract of ruminants would be beneficial to boost milk production in dairy cows without reducing BFT palatablility. Seedling vigor has also been an issue with BFT making farmers shun it due to its unpredictability in creating an adequate stand. Some newer varieties are showing better seedling vigor, but it is not clear whether or not this is what can be ultimately achieved to make BFT as easy to establish as alfalfa or the commonly planted clovers. Currently, it cannot compete well with other forages planted at the same time with it.


2. Birdsfoot trefoil seed availability for some varieties is limited. It was grown in the New York until the Fusarium wilt problem made it impossible to retain seed production fields.


3. Demand for BFT is low due to its reputation of having poor seedling vigor and short life if establishment goes well. These poor attributes trump its good attributes.


4. Forage breeders and forage agronomists should collaborate with Cornell University Forage Breeding Project. They were the first to develop a Fusarium wilt resistant variety, Pardee.


5. Improved varieties of several cool-season grasses species are still needed - improved heat resistance as climate change ramps up, improved disease resistance, winter-hardy ryegrasses (better but still not entirely reliable), improved drought resistance, and improved digestibility.


6. Evaluate forage species and their varieties for their performance in trials growing on sub-optimal soil fertility and pH soils.


7. Forage trials comparing seeding mixtures by variety to see if there is any varietal differences within a species that fair better than other varieties within species when planted in a mixture.


8. Improved varieties that are grazing appropriate. Examples are: Prostrate orchardgrass varieties versus upright hay type orchardgrass varieties, birdsfoot trefoil also has prostrate varieties for grazing as well as upright hay types, and Alfagraze^TM is a notable alfalfa that was rigorously selected to be grazing tolerant.


9. Methodology to arrive at relative grass maturity that provides consistency. Much work has been done on some grass species such as orchardgrass and timothy to either delay maturity or advance it to match better with alfalfa maturity at harvest when grown with alfalfa. The grasses do not persist well unless they are at the proper maturity too when harvested with alfalfa. As a result, it is hard to compare species differences in maturity as some species have a number of varieties with different maturity dates for the locale they are grown in. In the case of orchardgrass as a pasture grass, later maturing is better so that the rotational grazing of it can complete the Spring cycle without seedheads forming before the last paddock in the schedule is grazed, or at least delayed as long as possible. This avoids having several acres of ungrazed orchardgrass to harvest as hay/haylage or several paddocks where the headed-out orchardgrass is avoided by grazers and the forage must be clipped to get rid of the unwanted vegetation.


10. Study mycorrhizal fungi association with grass and forb roots under varying soil pH and phosphorus status. "Mycorrhizae are particularly important in assisting the host plant with the uptake of phosphorus and nitrogen. Mycorrhizae actually increase the surface area associated with the plant root, which allows the plant to reach nutrients and water that might not be available otherwise. That makes the plant stronger, especially during drought periods. Stronger individuals means that the plant community is more resilient to disturbance. Some mycorrhizae may even protect their host plant against unwanted pathogens (From BLM website)."


11. Forage trials that look at flowering species that attract pollinators. Legumes should fit the bill here as they are dependent on pollinators for pollination to occur well to form seeds.

 

Ms. Sarah Flack was next up. She presented the research and demonstration needs for Transitioning dairy cows to a no grain or high forage diet discussion group. Current work and future needs were:

Current:

1. Sabrina Greenwood is doing a study on 20 grass fed dairies presently.


2. SARE grant proposal by Dr. Heather Darby of UVM and Sarah Flack to study transitioning dairy cows best management practices.

 

Future work:

1. Additional energy to cows on a high forage diet - When and how much energy? Best supplement to meet energy demand to enhance milk flow and still be economically fed?


2. Research more balanced on achieving total volume of milk and high milk solids content of milk (Editor's note: On this particular point it seems that some farmers using a high forage diet during the pasture season to feed their cows see their milk components go higher. Yet, looking Dr. Sabrina Greenwood's table 5 on page 56, Comparative Numbers in Milk Production, the TMR fed cows actually had more solids in their milk than the medium quality and high quality pasture fed cows. This study runs counter to the hoped-for or observed result of feeding a high forage diet of pasture. There is also a very high spread between ME allowable milk and MP allowable milk for the pastured cows in that table so those cows have to excrete a lot of N since energy is limiting milk production and the excess protein has to be eliminated from their body which is neither good for them (BCS) or possibly the environment (ammonia volatilization, and N leaching underneath urine spots, perhaps even grass burn, methane generation higher?).


3. Explore the cumulative impact of having the wrong genetics to effectively go to a high forage diet.

 

Dr. Diane Van Hekken was the last spokesperson for a concurrent discussion group giving us their report on Pasture-fed Ruminant Fatty Acid Profiles - What is their Value? Where do we go from here to validate their value to human health? She broke down her presentation into current, interests, future, funding sources, and a summary.

 

Current:

No one in our group (16 participants from private and public sectors) could identify research currently being conducted on FA profiles in beef.

There are three programs currently collecting FA profiles in milk.

1. New Hampshire (Brito) is in the last year of his National Organic Program funded research project that investigates the utilization of flax seed in dairy cow rations. Part of the analysis is to track FA profiles in milk.


2. ARS, Dairy & Functional Foods Research Unit (Tomasula/Van Hekken) is continuing to investigate the health-value of milk, impact of non-thermal processing of milk on the bioactive compounds in high moisture cheese, fate of FAs and other food components in human digestion (new artificial gut system to mimic human gastro-intestinal tract), and improving sustainability by modeling dairy processing to lower environmental impact.


3. Organic Valley (Miller) is continuing to build their FA data base, now in 5th year. FA profiles are collected every 2 months from grass-fed cows and used to help counsel dairy producers to maintain high levels of healthy fats in their milk.

Interests:

1. Although healthy fats (omega-3 FAs and CLAs) are important, other components may also play a role in human health and no or little information is currently available depending on the component of interest.


2. Ruminants have major roles in the environment and the human food chain. Research needs to target the role the whole system has on human health (not just one or two compounds in isolated systems), determine the balance between factors, and obtain a better understanding of the complexity of the system.


3. There is definite consumer confusion of health claims and miscommunication of scientific findings to support biased views. Concerns on how to get information to consumers that will help them make informed decisions, especially for grass-fed beef.


4. Research needs to continue to focus on ways to enhance the level of ‘naturally occurring’ health beneficial compounds in foods instead of turning to ‘additives’; i.e. adding fish oils to dairy products to boost omega-3 FA levels.

 

Future:

There is a willingness among participants to collaborate to address research needs.

1. Emphasis is on determining healthy fats in grass-fed beef, the impact of cooking on the fat profiles in beef, and establishing which cooking methods would best retain the healthy fats available to the consumer. Dr. Rayburn is willing to go through his compositional data base on raw beef and develop a fact sheet that could be made available to consumers. Dr. Fukugawa, ARS Human Nutrition Director, will help facilitate getting collaborators from her research labs. [Since the meeting, Dr. Donna Coffin, University of Maine, has started inquires to potential collaborators to look at FAs in raw and cooked beef.]


2. Brito is interested in developing another proposal to expand/bridge his current research.

Funding:

National Organic Program, NIFA programs, Foundation grants

 

Summary:

Major research is needed in determining the health-value of grass-fed beef, especially cooking of cuts and ground beef. Develop a multi-disciplinary and location project that addresses farm-to-fork health-value of beef, including different cooking methods, and create a fact sheet for consumers. We ask NEPC to continue to write support letters for proposals addressing NEPC goals.

2016 Northeast Pasture Consortium Stakeholder Pasture Research and Education Priority Needs

 

The following priority needs are in order of priority. Any research project undertaken will include a cost analysis of implementation for farmers.

1. Explore new alternatives i.e.. U-tube videos, for transfer of knowledge and information to increase adoption of research findings within the agriculture community* such as farmer mentoring, case studies, and creative use of technology in promotional materials. Produce summaries that are accessible to Extension Education, non-profits, and health professionals. Moved from 11.

*Getting information to producers is a top challenge.

2. Exploring and explaining the impacts of stream and streambank exclusion from livestock grazing riparian areas. This priority is an immediate need and is based on problems in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, especially in Maryland. State regulations are out due to EPA’s guidelines based on Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) that call for livestock exclusion from streams and other water bodies that lie within pastureland to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loads entering Bay waters. There is not a clear scientific-based answer as to the impacts of careful grazing management have on streambanks and water quality. Therefore, the regulations are not based on science but on perception. Further research is needed to support and extend existing research which at this point is not very extensive and sometimes lacking in methodology and execution. Some studies refer to some small streamside exercise lots (livestock primarily fed stored feed) as pastures just because some grass struggles to grow on them. Stock densities on them are clearly above what is sustainable pasture carrying capacity. Current and past research is being compiled in a literature review on the impacts of grazing riparian areas appropriate for eastern US pastures at University Park, PA.


3. Research problems with orchardgrass persistence. Persistence has become a problem in hayfields throughout the Mid-Atlantic with some stands lasting only one or two years before dying out. This is disconcerting enough, but if it extends to pasturelands, we will be losing a major, highly productive forage species for grazing as well. Several factors have been identified as possible causes for the loss of orchardgrass, but it is still inconclusive what the underlying cause is.


4. More focus is needed on parasite issues for pastured small ruminants, especially given climate change and possibly a longer, warmer grazing season. Since synthetic dewormers quickly lose their effectiveness due to overuse, we are interested in seeking out botanical dewormers, such as birdsfoot trefoil, with condensed tannins that are natural dewormers that can be grown in pastures. We are also interested in selecting and breeding small ruminants that have a natural resistance to intestinal worms (work underway at WVU).


5. Research in meat and dairy products has found that omega-3 fatty acids (FA's) are higher in these products when they come from pastured livestock, while omega-6 FA's are lowered.   The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3, therefore, is lowered significantly and is considered by the medical community to be more healthful to the consumer. In the Northeast, livestock have to be overwintered on stored forages which do not confer the same fatty acid synthesis. In addition, Are there levels of grain supplementation that would still achieve an increase in omega-3 FA and Congegated Linoleic Acids (CLA’s)? Currently, research is underway at UNH and ARS at University Park, PA, to overcome this problem with feeding small amounts of flaxseed to dairy cows in their winter feed ration. This looks promising. The Dairy and Functional Foods Research Unit at Wyndmoor, PA is studying FA composition in grass-fed cow's milk and seeing how it and biologically active compounds are affected by different milk processing techniques so as preserve these health-promoting components found in raw milk in processed milk.


6. Determine the environmental impacts and profitability of alternative supplemental feeding strategies for animals on high quality pastures. What is the effect of stock density as it pertains to soil health and animal health? How do you manage energy in a high quality pasture? Are there alternatives to feeding supplements?


7. Evaluate and promote annual forage species, improved varieties, and new species combinations under grazing management and changing climatic and soil conditions with emphasis on extending the grazing season (mid-summer slump and both ends of the growing season).


8. How to improve grazing lands with low inputs (especially land with C+ slopes) and using silvopasture techniques on understocked (w/trees) hardwood forests. This is a primary concern, especially given losing moderate quality land to corn production and pushing even more marginal land into production for grazing


9. Quantify the economics of whole-farm systems including the effects of breed selection, livestock diversification, and grazing management on animals and pasture health to promote safe, healthy, and secure local community food systems.


10. Determine the management strategies and costs of transition or conversion from row crops, forest, and idle ground to productive and sustainable grazing lands and soils. How do you start the soil biological community when transitioning from row crop, forests, and idle ground to grazing lands? Research old findings, disseminate and re-evaluate.


11. Identify environmentally sound marketing opportunities in dairy and livestock pasture-based production systems (grass-fed products). Produce summaries that are accessible to Extension Education, non-profits, and health professionals.

We then went to the USDA agency reports. Natural Resources Conservation Service did not have anyone available to give a national view on pasture related issues this year due to travel restrictions and a planning session for a Greenhouse Gas Emissions meeting the following week at the National Agricultural Library that even prevented presenting the report remotely.

 

Dr. Peter Kleinman from the Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit at University Park, PA gave the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) report. With the disproportionate hit on pasture research facilities in ARS (lost research units in Florida, Ohio, and West Virginia), ARS research are initiatives that focus on national and regional issues of importance. It is left to the land grant universities to do research on local issues.

 

A goal set for ARS by 2025 is to launch the Agency-wide “Grand Challenge” which aims to “Transform agriculture to deliver a 20% increase in quality production at 20% lower environmental impact by 2025.”

 

Riparian grazing management is taking a backseat to policies that use a band-aid approach to watershed management. It is hoped that the riparian area planning tool being developed at the Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit will be adopted by land use and regulatory agencies when it is finished. It allows flexibility in riparian area management. Different riparian areas require a different set of conservation practices to allow the farmer to use his pastureland to feed and house livestock in such a way as to protect water quality and stream integrity.

 

The next speaker was Jim Dobrowolski representing the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). He gave his presentation from Washington DC over the speaker system by telephone with Jim Cropper advancing PowerPoint slides. We had planned to use Skype, but ran into technical difficulties with it and fell back to an old method of presenting the information. The title of his presentation was Funding Opportunities for Rangeland and Grassland Ecosystem Research, Education and Extension - Connecting People and Science. He started his presentation by saying what the Mission of NIFA is. "Invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges." Strategically they strive to:

• Catalyze exemplary and relevant research, education and extension programs.


• Transform NIFA into a model agency with a highly motivated workforce.


• Institutionalize streamlined, effective technologies, policies, and processes.


• Advance America's global preeminence in food and agricultural sciences.

 

Examples of their program areas are:

• Family and youth development (including 4-H)


• Human nutrition


• Community development


• Food processing and safety


• Natural resources and environment


• Plant systems


• Animal production, health, and disease


• New markets and products


• International programs

 

Federal assistance through NIFA is composed of:

• Capacity programs


• Competitive grants


• Targeted programs


• Agreements with other Federal agencies

 

Dr. Dobrowolski compared some USDA agencies in size and budgets with NIFA. They are a small agency, but being they are a grant funding agency that have a very sizable budget. The comparions are shown in the chart below.

 

 

Dr. Dobrowolski then focused his presentation to our interests by talking about the National Programming in Rangeland and Grassland Ecosystems of which the pasture landuse is a part. Jim is the National Program Leader for Water, Rangeland and Grassland Ecosystems. National Progam Leaders manage Hatch Capacity Projects, Renewable Resources Extension Act Projects, and manage and coordinate among competitive programs.

 

He displayed a summary of the money spent on range and grassland versus fish and wildlife by NIFA for fiscal years 2009 to 2015. Several millions of dollars go to range and grassland projects, but we seem not to get much from the capacity budget. NIFA provides capacity grant support for research and extension activities at land-grant institutions through grants to the states on the basis of statutory formulas. The Hatch Act of 1887 and the Smith-Lever Capacity Grant Act are examples of capacity grants. The Hatch Act is for agricultural experiment station research and the Smith-Lever Act is for agricultural extension activities by land grant universities.

 

The competitive grant program of main interest to the Northeast Pasture Consortium is the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) that provides funding for fundamental and applied research, education, and extension to address key problems of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of food and agriculture. Other programs that we have been involved with are:

• The Integrated Organic Program (IOP) is a competitive program that has included the Organic Transitions Program (ORG) since 2001 and the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) since 2009.


• The Sustainable Agriculture Program (SARE) supports agricultural science that fosters continuous improvement and a balanced approach to progress among the four pillars of sustainable agriculture which are productivity, environmental quality, profitability, and quality of life. Competitive grants are administered regionally, such as NESARE.

 

Jim gave an example of an AFRI Foundational—Bioenergy, Natural Resources and Environment (BENRE) project funded in FY 2016, “Brush management and ecosystem services: a quantification of trade-offs on western rangelands” to objectively quantify and assess trade-offs between woody plant encroachment and brush management so that policymakers and land managers can better differentiate among the consequences and cost-benefit of competing land use and management.

 

Other competitive grants approved were:

• Cattle grazing strategies to sustain and enhance sage-grouse habitat—Montana State University

This projects seeks to facilitate the coexistence of cattle grazing and sage-grouse on western US rangelands.

• Evaluating the influence of climate change on the commingling of livestock and wild ungulates: Quantifying the risks across Wyoming rangelands—University of Wyoming

The goal of the proposed work is to develop a framework for understanding the ecology of wildlife-livestock commingling, with particular focus on how climate change will influence the distribution of wild ungulates and livestock on shared rangeland.

• Enteric methane emissions measurement system for grazing beef and dairy cattle:

To conduct production systems-based evaluations of beef and airy sustainability (e.g. comparing different grazing methods and forages farmers and ranchers can practically adopt)—Agricultural Research Service

• Adaptive grazing management to sustain multiple ecosystem services in rangeland ecosystems:

The research team supported by this grant will measure the effect of adaptive grazing management on plant diversity, variability in vegetation height, and the reproductive performance of native grassland birds species.

This last competitive grant approved could be something for the Northeast Pasture Consortium to pursue by writing a grant proposal for sustaining multiple ecosystems services on riparian area pastures in the Northeast.

 

Jim then gave us examples of currently active Hatch Act capacity funded grants:

• Texas A&M University - Promoting resilience-based management for rangeland ecosystems.


• New Mexico State University - Alternative management approaches to enhance animal adaptability and improve sustainability of rangeland livestock production.


• University of California - Understanding and managing responses of California forests and rangelands to drought and fire.

 

SARE grant opportunities with funding at $20 million have three primary proposal areas. They are Farmer/Rancher where innovative management techniques are tested and shared, Professional Development where train the trainer programs are promoted, and Research and Education where new research is put in a form that is easily understood and widely disseminated.

 

As an aside, Jim mentioned that the 4-H program nation-wide incorporates rangelands and grasslands in their initiatives. Two examples were shared with us:

• The National Headquarters of 4-H is working with several federal agencies on the Pollinator Health Initiative—launching a big program on Monarch butterflies—includes rangeland and grasslands (New England pastures in our farmer survey results commonly had milkweed in them - essential for Monarch butterflies);


• Ongoing Wildlife Habitat Education Program (also on range and agricultural lands)—with extension educators across the country.

 

Dr. Dobrowolski ended his presentation thanking the Consortium for giving him the opportunity to speak at our Conference.

 

Our business meeting began at approximately 4:00 PM. Dr. Margaret Smith, Cornell University, our administrative advisor, also spoke to us by speaker phone. She congratulated us on having another successful conference and shared some very good news. Dr. Smith announced that the Northeast Pasture Consortium's request for an extension of the project for another 5 years, October 1 2016 to September 30 2021 was approved by the Northeast Regional Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors. She thanked everyone who had entered their contribution to the Consortium into Appendix E: Participation. It was very important in receiving approval to show that many people are involved in the project. Our new 5-year project narrative can be found under NEERA1603 at the newly revised website: http://www.nimss.org/projects. We are a Multistate Research Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group.

 

The next item taken up at the business meeting was the election of two new members-at-large to the Northeast Pasture Executive Committee for 2016-2017. Clifford Hawbaker, organic dairy farmer from

Chambersburg, PA, was nominated and unaminously approved to be the Private Sector member-at-large. Dr. Jessica Williamson, Extension Forage Crop Specialist, Penn State University, was nominated and unaminously approved to be the Public Sector member-at-large.

 

Sid Bosworth thanked Dr. Janet McAllister, NESARE, for participating in our Conference this year. It is important to us that she took the time and effort to come to the Conference to learn about who we are and what we do to further pasture research, extension, technical assistance, and education.

 

Jim Cropper then gave a report from Dr. Sarah Goslee, Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit, who is our webmaster for the Northeast Pasture Consortium Grazing Guide website: http://grazingguide.net/ The statistics, changes, and pleas for help are:

• Website has 600 visits a month.


• Northeastern pasture plant guide downloaded nearly 800 times.


• Associated Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube presence, but not well-utilized.


• Have moved to a different hosting company that should be more efficient and less expensive.


• Always looking for content, and for people to help with managing the site.


• Also would like calendar submissions of relevant pasture events.


• Currently developing a Grazing Dashboard as a quick reference for information of interest to farmers in the Northeast.

Diane Schivera moved to have a committee formed to work on website with Sarah Goslee. It was seconded and approved.

 

Jim Cropper then recognized the outstanding work done by Dr. Andre Brito and Mr. Ken Miller who had completed their tour of duty on the Executive Committee. He thanked Dr. Brito for providing us with sessions over the past 3 years that kept us updated on his work of supplementing organic dairy cows with different concentrates to provide either additional energy or improve omega-3 content in organic milk while cows were on pasture or back at the barn during winter. This year was especially appreciated in that he was able to fund speakers to his session with OREI grant money. He thanked Mr. Miller for his thoughtful ideas on session topics and speakers for those sessions and at other times offering sage advice to steer the Executive Committee onto a better way of accomplishing an objective.

 

He then announced who the Private Sector Co-chair and Public Sector Co-chair were for 2016-2017. They were Mr. Angus Johnson, Just Good Kosher, and Ms. Susan Parry, USDA-NRCS, respectively.

 

Mr. Cropper then asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting if there were no other items to discuss. Mr. Fay Benson moved to adjourn the meeting and Ms. Jennifer Colby seconded the motion. The motion was accepted and the business meeting came to end. This capped the Conference. Jim Cropper thanked everyone for their attendance and their participation. He invited those who were staying the night at the Inn to attend the post-conference tour of Wolfe's Neck Farm and a presentation on the Organic Dairy Farmer Training Program located there.

Accomplishments

<p><strong>Short-term Outcomes: </strong></p><br /> <ol><br /> <li>Sixty-eight people attended and participated in the NEPC Conference this year. Two forage breeding researchers were on the program from Nova Scotia and Wisconsin. One grass seedsman was from Oregon. Laura Paine, Program Director of the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Program from Madison, WI, presented their program that trains a new generation of grass-based dairy farmers by matching them up with Master Grazers (seasoned grass-based dairy farmers) who give them on-the-job training for two years and a salary.</li><br /> <li>Maine was the first Northeast State to start a Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Program. It is at Wolfe's Neck Farm near Freeport. New York and Pennsylvania are initiating programs in their States.</li><br /> <li>The concurrent research and education needs session on "Pasture-fed Ruminant Fatty Acid Profiles - What is their Value? Where do we go from here to validate their value to human health?" led us to decide that we needed to have the 2017 NEPC Conference concentrate on what has recently been learned about ruminant fatty acid composition of meat and milk when the livestock are on pasture. Pastured livestock meat and milk have a better balance of healthier fatty acids than confinement fed livestock due to the fresh grass, forbs, and legumes that they eat. The 2017 Conference theme is <em>From Pasture to Table - Grass Fed Livestock Production of Meat and Milk and Its Preparation - Their Effects on Fatty Acid Composition and Human Health</em>.</li><br /> <li>The Northeast Pasture Consortium was approved as a project of the Northeast Regional Association of Agricultural Experiment Stations Directors for another 5 years beginning October 1, 2016. Our new project number is NEERA1603. See activity 1.</li><br /> <li><em>On Pasture</em> website received a Conservation Innovation Grant from USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service to continue their weekly Tuesday issued pasture management electronic newsletter. NEPC supported their grant proposal with an endorsement letter. See activity 13.</li><br /> </ol><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p><strong>Outputs:</strong></p><br /> <ol><br /> <li>Two newsletters were published, one in October 2015 and another in January 2016, and distributed primarily as attachments to emails to all of the membership. These keep the members informed about the annual conference and new developments in pasturing livestock.</li><br /> <li>The proceedings of the 2016 annual conference and meeting was written. This document and the Power Point presentations, poster paper abstracts, and speaker biographical sketches are placed on the Consortium website, Northeast Grazing Guide, for post-meeting access.</li><br /> <li>Twenty-eight publications or website series were published in the past year. The website series were directed towards pasture-based farmers to give them suggestions on how to improve their pasture systems and give them calendar of pasture events around the Region. The rest of the publications were research papers on pasture-related issues. <em>See Publications document for the cited publications and educational websites.</em></li><br /> <li>The <em>NEPC Farmer Survey Report</em> was written by Susan Parry, NEPC Executive Committee Public-Sector Co-Chair Elect. It was given to all attendees at the 2016 Annual Conference. It is also being sent to the entire membership. Top concerns had to do with a wide array of forage availability issues, fencing issues involving expense, labor, and adequate charging of electrical fences, soil fertility issues involving acidic soils and low fertility in general, and livestock water facility issues involving distribution to paddocks and perceived lack of an adequate water source.</li><br /> </ol><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p><strong>Activities:</strong></p><br /> <ol><br /> <li>Wrote a request to renew the Northeast Pasture Consortium project for another 5 years beginning October 1, 2016 and ending on September 30, 2021 and submitted it for approval by the Northeast Regional Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors.</li><br /> <li>The 2016 Annual Conference and Meeting of the Consortium was held on March 16-17 at the Harraseeket Inn, Freeport, Maine. Six poster papers were presented. Five concurrent sessions on research and education needs were held after the technical sessions were over. The five sessions were: Riparian Pasture Grazing Management to protect water quality &amp; the landuse, Orchardgrass Die-Off Investigation Action Plan adjustments, New Forage Varieties to enhance and extend pasture productivity, Transitioning Dairy Cows to a no grain or high forage diet, and Pasture-fed Ruminant Fatty Acid Profiles - What is their Value? Where do we go from here to validate their value to human health?</li><br /> <li>The Northeast Grazing Guide website for the Consortium is at: <a href="#http://grazingguide.net/">http://grazingguide.net/</a>. Dr. Sarah Goslee of the Agricultural Research Service Research Unit at University Park, PA is our web master. It is updated as new material arrives. She retained a new hosting company to reduce our expenses in maintaining the site.</li><br /> <li>We initiated a sponsorship program this year to help us pay for the cost of putting on the 2016 Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference. We had grant money from Northeast SARE, Organic Research and Education Initiative, and the PA Grazing Lands Coalition, and a donation from Organic Valley.</li><br /> <li>The Friday morning, March 18, after the 2016 NEPC Conference a group of twenty people toured the Wolfe's Neck Farm Dairy Apprenticeship Program site and heard how the farm embarked on the project after being a beef farm for a long time. They got to see the new milking facility installed at the farmstead. It is portable and eventually will be moved to a more central milking site to allow closer access by the milk cows to the many pastures on the farm.</li><br /> <li>The 2016 Conference had exhibitors for the first time. They were Organic Valley, King's AgriSeeds, and Barenbrug America. They brought displays of their products to the Conference.</li><br /> <li>Jim Cropper, Executive Director, participated with the Chesapeake Bay Agricultural Work Group and the Agricultural Modeling Subcommittee (AMS) via teleconferencing and email during 2015-2016. Provided input on pasture nutrient management issues to support realistic modeling of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff to the Bay from the pasture landuse. Worked with the AMS on Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, Version 2 modeling of erosion on pasture to get realistic values from naturalized pastures as most have not been seeded for decades.</li><br /> <li>Jim Cropper has continued to work with another Chesapeake Bay Program subgroup, the Agricultural Modeling Subcommittee's Pasture Subgroup. Here there has been controversy about the impact livestock have on stream corridors. There is a strong movement towards excluding all livestock from water courses in the Bay Watershed. Yet, there is strong evidence that this is not always true depending on pasture configuration about the stream. A narrow stream corridor pasture forces livestock to always be close to the stream. However, pastures that have upland areas in them as well as a stream corridor, time spent in the stream is only about 2% of the total occupancy time. Exclusionary fencing would be a costly program with little evidence that there is a favorable benefit to cost ratio. Most evidence points to a reduction in sediment and phosphorus (sometimes) and very little to no improvement in reducing nitrogen loads. Pastures ARE grassed buffers, but the perception is that they are not. Continuously over-grazed pastures though are poor grass buffers. If there is no pasture management of a riparian pasture, a narrow ungrazed grass buffer running along a stream in such a pasture will be ineffective. Also, loafing areas and unpaved, somewhat grassed feedlots are often viewed as being pastures. Hay bunks and other feeding facilities are often adjacent to streams creating point source pollution but attributed to the pasture landuse which they are not. Livestock confined in these areas get nearly 100 percent of their daily intake from stored forages and feedstuffs. They are unpaved feedlots, not pastures.</li><br /> <li>Teleconferences are held monthly by the Executive Committee to plan the next annual conference and meeting and address other issues that come up during the year.</li><br /> <li>The Northeast Pasture Consortium Executive Committee presented the Survey Monkey Farmer Survey at the 2016 NEPC Conference that had asked ten questions of pasture-based farmers for their insight on issues of pasture management that they need technical assistance, education, or more research on to solve problems that they are having with pasturing livestock. We evaluated the 71 responses received and used this information to develop the document handed out at the conference.</li><br /> <li>Continuing education credit (CEU) requests were sent to the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and the American Forage &amp; Grassland Council (AFGC) for certified crop advisors and certified forage and grassland professionals, respectively, for the 2015 Annual Northeast Pasture Consortium Conference and Meeting. 10.5 CEU's and 10 CEU's were approved prior to the conference for certified crop advisors and forage &amp; grassland professionals, respectively that attended the conference. The completed sign-in sheets were sent to ASA and AFGC after the Conference.</li><br /> <li>Revised and updated research need priorities at the 2016 Northeast Pasture Consortium Annual Conference and Meeting. The concurrent research and education need priority sessions held at this year's conference were: Riparian Pasture Grazing Management to Protect Water Quality &amp; the Landuse, Orchardgrass Die-Off Investigation Action Plan Adjustments, New Forage Varieties to Enhance and Extend Pasture Productivity, Transitioning Dairy Cows to a No Grain or High Forage Diet, and Pasture-fed Ruminant Fatty Acid Profiles - What is their Value? Where do we go from here to validate their value to human health?</li><br /> <li>Wrote a support letter for the <em>On Pasture</em> website grant application to USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant Program.</li><br /> <li>Wrote a letter in support of the Northeast Climate Hub project titled &ldquo;The Climate Adaptation Fellows Program: A Collaborative Design Project". Provided names of some Consortium dairy farmers who could lead the &ldquo;dairy subgroup&rdquo; &ndash; to develop dairy specific adaptation into a curriculum plan targeted towards farmers and technical service providers (including extension, agency, or private consultant people), that would focus on climate change adaptation techniques to help insulate farms from catastrophic weather events.</li><br /> <li>NEPC submitted a strengthening conference grant application to the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program to hold a special conference in 2017 with the theme, <em>From Pasture to Table - Grass Fed Livestock Production of Meat and Milk and Its Preparation - Their Effects on Fatty Acid Composition and Human Health</em>.</li><br /> </ol><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p><strong>Milestones: </strong></p><br /> <ol><br /> <li>Chesapeake Bay Program assistance on Watershed Model 6.0 agricultural modeling and database input for beta 4 testing is scheduled for completion by October 20, 2016.</li><br /> <li>The ARS - Penn State riparian management project is a 4-year project. Year 2, that is now complete, was devoted to developing a riparian area planning tool and publishing it for peer review. Year 3, coming up, the team will do riparian surveys with the tool to test its assumptions and review its output for acceptability of its proposed guidance in managing riparian pastures for continued use as pasture in many cases while protecting riparian ecosystem services, such as water quality.</li><br /> <li>The Northeast Pasture Consortium celebrated its 20th anniversary at the 2016 NEPC Conference. Jim Cropper, Executive Director, gave a presentation entitled <em>Accentuating the Positive - Accomplishments for Pasture Research, Education, and Technical Assistance fostered by NEPC members since 1996</em>.</li><br /> </ol>

Publications

<p>Bishopp, Troy. 2015-2016. <em>The Grass Whisperer</em> Website. At: http://www.thegrasswhisperer.com/. Click on Freelance Writing &amp; Photography and then click on hotlinks to web pages listed under writings to see numerous articles on grazing management.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Bowdridge, S. A., C. S. Sotomaior, M. A. McCann, A. M. Zajac and S. P. Greiner. 2016. Effect of sire breed on gain, carcass characteristics and parasite resistance of Katahdin crossbred feedlot-finished lambs. Abstract. J. Anim. Sci. 94: supplement 1: 48-48.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Bowdridge, S. A., D. Mata-Padrino and D. P. Belesky. 2016. Effect of fish meal supplementation rate on parasitism and performance of grazing lambs. Abstract. J. Anim. Sci. 94: supplement 1: 49-49</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Weaver, A. R., D. L. Wright, M. A. McCann, A. M. Zajac, <strong>S. A. Bowdridge </strong>and S. P. Greiner. 2016. Evaluation of terminal sire breeds for hair sheep production systems on lamb birth, weaning, and grazing performance. Abstract. J. Anim. Sci.</p><br /> <p>94: supplement 1: 53-53.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Brink, G.E., M.A. Sanderson and M.D. Casler. 2015. Grass and Legume Effects on Nutritive Value of Complex Forage Mixtures. Crop Science. 55: 3: 1329-1337.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Brink, G.E., W.K. Coblentz, and P. Hoffman. 2016. Performance of Dairy Heifers Reared on Pasture vs. Confinement. American Forage and Grassland Conference Proceedings. p. 1. Available at: http://www.afgc.org/proceedings/2016/</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Brito, A.F., G.F. Tremblay, A. Bertrand, Y. Castonguay, G. B&eacute;langer, R. Michaud, C. Lafreni&egrave;re, R. Martineau, and others. 2016.&nbsp;&nbsp; Performance and nitrogen use efficiency in mid-lactation dairy cows fed timothy cut in the afternoon or morning</p><br /> <ol start="5460"><br /> <li>Dairy Sci. 99:7:5445&ndash;5460.</li><br /> </ol><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>A.B.D. Pereira, S.A. Utsumi, C.D. Dorich, <strong>A.F. Brito</strong>. 2015. Integrating spot short-term measurements of carbon emissions and backward dietary energy partition calculations to estimate intake in lactating dairy cows fed ad libitum or restricted. J. Dairy Sci. 98:12:8913&ndash;8925.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>N.T. Antaya, R. Berthiaume, G.F. Tremblay, <strong>A.F. Brito</strong>. 2015. Short communication: Feeding red clover cut in the afternoon or morning to late-lactation dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 98:10:7335&ndash;7339</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Colby, J. 2015-2016. Vermont On-Line Pasture Calendar.</p><br /> <p>At: <a href="http://www.uvm.edu/~pasture/?Page=exchange_calendar">http://www.uvm.edu/~pasture/?Page=exchange_calendar</a></p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Dillon, J., Rotz, C.A. 2015. A survey of grass-finished beef producers in Pennsylvania[Abstract]. American Forage and Grassland Conference Proceedings. p. 1.&nbsp;&nbsp; Available at: http://www.afgc.org/proceedings/2015/</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Dillon, J., Rotz, C.A. 2016. Management characteristics of grassfed beef operations in the northeast. Progressive Forage Grower. p. 1. Available: http://www.progressiveforage.com/forage-production/management/management-characteristics-of-grass-fed-beef-operations</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Dillon, J., Rotz, C.A. 2016. A survey of grass-finished beef producers in the northeastern U.S.[Abstract]. American Forage and Grassland Conference Proceedings. p. 1. Available at: http://www.afgc.org/proceedings/2016/Dillon_and_Rotz_AFGC_2016_Interpretive_Summary.pdf&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Egan Jr, J.F., Goslee, S.C., Orr, A.N. 2015. Tradeoffs between production and perennial forages in dairy farming systems vary among counties in the Northeastern United States. Agricultural Systems. 139:14-28.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Gilker, R. and K. Voth. 2015-2016. <em>On Pasture</em> Website. Published weekly. At: OnPasture, 4435 E San Carlos Place N,</p><br /> <p>Tucson, AZ 85712. R. Gilker is a Northeast Pasture Consortium member from NY.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Goslee, S.C. 2015. Making landscape classification relevant for agriculture. US-International Association for Landscape Ecology World Congress, July 5-10, 2015, Portland, Oregon. p. 1.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Goslee, S.C., Sanderson, M.A. 2016. Pastureland ESD concepts and current development[Abstract]. Current Science, Technical Tools, and Strategies for Ecological Site Development and Description. Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, January 31-February 4, 2016, Corpus Christi, Texas. p. 1.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Rauschert, E., Shea, K., <strong>Goslee, S.C.</strong> 2015. Plant community associations of the invasive thistles. AoB Plants. doi: 10.1093/aobpla/plv065.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Hoffman, K. 2015-2016. NYGC Grazette Newsletter. NY Grazinglands Coalition. Published monthly on-line at: <a href="http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ny/technical/landuse/pasture/?cid">http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ny/technical/landuse/pasture/?cid</a>= nrcseprd366641</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Rayburn, E.B. 2016. Stocking Rate Affects Net Income Per Acre and Risk Management: A West Virginia Case Study. American Forage and Grassland Conference Proceedings. p. 1. 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Impact Statements

1. 6. With our private sector partners, farmers and agribusiness people, working with Agricultural Research Service, our land grant universities Agricultural Experiment Stations and Extension, and Natural Resources Conservation Service, pasture research, education, and technical assistance continues to do amazing things even with shrinking budgets. The grass-fed livestock industry continues to grow. Certified organic dairies must have their milk cows on pasture for as long as it is available to them. It too is a growing industry. In New York State alone, over 400 organic dairy farms are now producing organic milk. NY, PA, and VT rank third, fifth, and sixth in organic cow milk production in the US. Nearly every State in the Northeast has a pasture-based farmer organization. There is also the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Association with a heavy emphasis on pasture management since organic dairies must utilize pasture.

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