News

Missouri producer’s grazing system standing up to drought

A southwest Missouri grass-fed cattle operator says the drought has not been a problem for him. Adam Boman rotated his 22 cattle between 13 paddocks every day, starting in the spring, then switched to every-other-day in mid-July, “We’re doing pretty good. I mean, we haven’t had to change our operation or our grazing system. We have a pretty typical 1.9 acres per unit stocking rate.”

Boman tells Brownfield he doesn’t have as much grass as normal but there’s still a good five to eight inches of fescue coverage, “In different patches we have crabgrass, Bermuda grass coming in. We’re not having to feed hay. I don’t see us having to feed hay anytime soon.”

Brownfield first interviewed Boman August 10th and again this morning He says he’s had six inches of rain in western Lawrence County over the past 10 days and it’s looking promising for fall forage growth in his area.

Boman says without assistance from the Missouri NRCS he wouldn’t have his grass-finishing system and gives the agency a lot of credit for getting him started.

Boman and his wife Teresa own Good Life Grass Farms and direct market their grassfed beef. Their farm is near Pierce City in Lawrence County, Missouri, which is still in severe drought, according to the Drought Monitor.

AUDIO: Interview with Adam Boman, August 10, 2018~