Organic dairy grazier Angie Walter shares her experience using PaddockTrac, a grazing tool being developed by the University of Missouri. Angie's family runs a 100-cow organic dairy in Villard, Minn., grazing 80-100 acres at any given time. Theirs and 12 other Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship farms are piloting the PaddockTrac through an NRCS cooperative agreement.
The PaddockTrac device, which is in the prototype phase, mounts to the front of a UTV or 4-wheeler and uses sonar waves to measure forage height in pastures. Once the data is saved and uploaded, its app generates a grazing wedge.
The Walters drive their pastures weekly, using their eyes and the data from the grazing wedge to get a fuller picture to base their grazing management decisions from. As organic producers, it also aids in necessary record keeping for quantifying what the cows are eating.
PaddockTrac could hit the market in early 2024. Read more about the DGA/PaddockTrac project here.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Angie Walter, Central Minnesota Education Coordinator, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
39: Building Relationships and Telling Your Story
Revisited: Planting Minnesota Garlic
38: Getting Water Quality Certified
37: Wisdom of the Prairie: Diversity, Connection, Community
36: Growing Grazing Dairy Farmers
35: Pastured Pork & an Incubator Farm
Revisited: Implementing Silvopasture
34: The Potential of Perennial Crops & Kernza
33: Growing a CSA from 8 to 80
32: A Chat with Gabe Brown
31: Managing Spring Grazing
30: Spring Break
29: From "Conventional" to Resilient
28: Saving Seed & Dancing Feet
27: Home on the Tree-Range
26: AMPed for Grazing!
25: Integrative Nutrition with Sara Keough
24: Restoring Oak Savanna
23: Oak Savanna Origins
22: Matchmaking for Livestock & Land
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