About this item
Grazing management might seem simple: just put livestock in a pasture and let them eat their fill. However, as Sarah Flack explains in The Art and Science of Grazing, the pasture/livestock relationship is incredibly complex. If a farmer doesn't pay close attention to how the animals are grazing, the resulting poorly managed grazing system can be harmful to the health of the livestock, pasture plants, and soils. Well-managed pastures can instead create healthier animals, a diverse and resilient pasture ecosystem, and other benefits. Flack delves deeply below the surface of let the cows eat grass, demonstrating that grazing management is a sophisticated science that requires mastery of plant and animal physiology, animal behavior, and ecology. She also shows readers that applying grazing management science on a working farm is an art form that calls on grass farmers to be careful observers, excellent planners and record-keepers, skillful interpreters of their observations, and creative troubleshooters.
About the Author
Sarah is a consultant specializing in grass-based and organic livestock production. She has written extensively about grass farming and is known for teaching workshops that take a practical approach to applying the science of grazing. As a consultant, writer, and teacher, her goal is to help farmers create positive change in their pastures, soils, livestock, finances, and farm-family quality of life.
Sarah is the author of Organic Dairy Production and the chapter on grazing management in The Organic Dairy Handbook. She is also a coauthor of Transitioning to Organic Dairy as well as many articles about grass-based and organic farming systems. Her new book on grass-based livestock production, The Art and Science of Grazing, will be available from Chelsea Green Publishing in the spring of 2016.
To learn more about upcoming conferences and workshops Sarah is speaking at, visit her website http://www.sarahflackconsulting.com/calendar/
