Episode-1136- Livestock Grazing Management with Chris Stelzer
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Chris Stelzer has been working as an intern on ranches for the past year. Chris has completed three internships on two different continents giving him grazing and livestock management experience in three different ecosystems.
He is passionate about sustainable agriculture and providing people with positive and real world solutions to agriculture’s problems. Chris also maintains a website devoted to sustainable agriculture with a focus on grazing management called “Agricultural Insights.” Grazing management is an art form that Chris has spent the past two years of his life trying to perfect and he is open to sharing all of his experiences.
Chris is currently exploring different grazing enterprises in Colorado. He also has experience with on-farm sales, direct marketing for small farms and commercial livestock marketing.
Resources for Today’s Show…
- Members Support Brigade
- 13Skills.com
- Join Our Forum
- TSP Mint
- TSP Gear
- WalkingToFreedom
- Survival Gear Bags – (sponsor of the day)
- Safe Castle Royal – (sponsor of the day)
- Chris’ Website, Podcast and Blog
- Get The Grazing Book by Chris Stelzer
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.
Jack,
Thank you for being a great host and interviewer. I had a lot of fun and hopefully this info will help those in the TSP community. Thank you!
Chris – I have seen and read about cattlemen who keep their cattle in barns for the Winter and feed hay during this time. If I remember correctly, this is what Joel Salatin does. Their reasons, as best as I can understand, is that the wet Winter soil compacts under the herd. I have always had an issue with this as wild herds of animals do not stay in caves for the Winter; they get out and survive without cover or hay. It doesn’t sound like you do this. Do you have any soil compaction issues? Doesn’t the constant litter and regrowth cycle prevent the compaction?
Thanks for the interview. Very educational! Well done!
John Kitsteiner
Jack do you think the raw milk spraying, is similar/related to Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) produced using cultivation via Milk?
Jack and Chris,
Great show. I’ve long been looking for information on how to run a sustainable cattle operation on a smaller property (10 acres). My plan is to scale down the operation with zebu cattle. I’ll be buying Chris’s book tomorrow. Thanks for the help!
Nate
Nate,
Thanks for the kind words. I hope this info can help and thank you in advance for buying my eBook.
Chris,
No problem brother. We need more experts in our community that are more experience based and less “I have a degree in….” based. I’m tired of listening to people who theorize ideas and want to hear more from those that are doing the work. I’ve got no issue with spending my money on those who take the guess work out of my plans. You’ve got my support and encouragement. Stay safe.
Yes!
This very issue is a large part of my distain for academia.
There are a few technical problems with what this gent said, however the basic methords are still sound.
Most of the problems are quite understandable, and show a misunderstanding of the underlying chemisty/biology.
Once again, the actual advice is fine, but the explainations were rather broken
Care to fill in the gaps?
I’d be interested to hear where my advice is broken. Please elaborate.
I’m not interested in the “gaps” in technicalities. Chris didn’t need to go into cat-ionic exchanges or soil analysis chemistry. I already understand all that. He did exactly what was needed in his “lay-person” explanation of grazing management. I’m sure if Jack interviews Entity it will no doubt be the most perfect and mistake free podcast ever recorded. Until that day happens I’m glad we have people like Chris that put themselves out there to be nit-picked by others.
Nate,
Thank you very much for saying that. Grazing management is an art, not a test tube. Decision making abilities are more important than anything else.
FANTASTIC! My pastures are crap. They have been overgrazed for the last 20+ yrs and have had chemicals put on them. (not by us were uneducated when we made the purchase) For the last 2 1/2 yrs have been trying to bring it back. Got some good info on why I have been having troubles. Now that I think about it you pointed out the duh factor. Thanks for that. I expect to see some good changes now. Can’t wait to get the book. Love info on pasture management.
Hi back to Charlie.
Thank you! I’m glad I could help you come to realize your “duh” moment, haha. Grazing management is an art form but hopefully what Jack and I laid out for you will get you started. Let me know if you have any questions, feel free to email me. Chris @ AgriculturalInsights.com
Great interview, Jack and Chris. Thanks, much. I took lots of notes and I’ll be reading the e-book. Silvopasture sounds particularly interesting.
Chris, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Silvopasture is one of the most exciting developments in sustainable ranching!
Being from a traditional cattle ranching background I was quite interested in listening to this podcast. I’m currently going through Geoff Lawton’s PDC and would have liked hearing more of a beef operation with a permaculture twist. That being said, I really enjoyed the podcast and would love to hear more from Chris.
Loren,
I think permaculture and grazing/ranching will start to come together as Jack suggested in the podcast. The areas of expertise are so different yet so similar. I’m hoping to help bridge that gap between permaculture and ranching.
Chris,
I’m hoping to do the same. Do you feed much hay in the winter or are you doing a year around grazing program?
I don’t have livestock in the winter. That is another thing, there are so many options to keep and raising livestock. You don’t have to keep animals in the winter you can custom graze or do sell/buy marketing. Sell/buy marketing is an advanced skill but you can learn it.
As am I Loren. A real eye opener so far. It saddens me that Ive never even heard the word before 4 months ago. The first time was here on one of Jacks podcast. Since then I cant get enough! Wish I had the funds to attend the groundwork seminar this week. Hopefully next one.
Chris, very informative! Some good stuff, especially about using other peoples land.
Thanks Rick. I hope you got some useful and practical info from this podcast. Jack is a GREAT host and interviewer.
Wow! What a great and informative interview. Can all of this be scaled down to one family milk cow and calf on very small acreage? I have 5 acres, half of which is planted slash pine (for the tax exemption) and no pasture. I was thinking about trying to rotationally graze a cow in the pine trees since there is a lot of grass growing there. Not exactly silvopasturing since I think the trees are more densely planted than you would do in silvopasture, but I wonder if it would work?
Thanks Jack and Chris for a thoroughly enjoyable episode!
Hi Chris, Great interview. Just the information I was hungry for. I am excited to start in on your podcasts and take a look at your ebook.
You were only able to present 2 of the 4 healthy performance/health indicators. could you elaborate on the other two or maybe point me to something on your website? This is directly relevant to my animals now. Thanks!
After listening to the interview, and the section on how it is better to not let the grass get to seed, could the seed stage of pasture actually be a natural way of fattening up the cattle for hard winter? Nature using grass seed as a “finishing” grain?
I find it interesting that we are talking about PH levels in urine and whether a stool is too runny or too hard. I have heard yogi’s mention the same with regard to human stools and health. Dr wollach who invented tangy tangerine says that his knowledge comes largely from livestock management and what vitamins and minerals are needed for livestock, yet human health care does not work that way because preventive approaches or general health are largely left out. If PH levels of urine in cows is important, what about PH levels in humans ?
I don’t know if Chris is still answering questions – I have searched for individual minerals for goats. Chris, do you know list of the minerals that people put out for freefeed? Do you know any suppliers? I only find general mineral supplements like Sweetlix.
Answer on where to find free choice minerals- On Chris’s website, see the talk titled-“Trace Elements, Copper.” Posted in the comments is the name of the company–Mark Bader Free Choice Minerals. Web address – http://www.freechoiceminerals.com/feeder.php