Growing the New Jersey Regenerative Farm Network: Garden State Graziers

Commodities

• Animals: bovine, goats, sheep
• Animal Products: fiber, fur, leather, meat

Practices

• Animal Production: grazing management, grazing - rotational, rangeland/pasture management, winter forage
• Education and Training: farmer to farmer, technical assistance

Project Focus: 

NJ livestock farmers face the highest costs for pastureland and farm real estate value yet are ranked 39th for net farm income in the country. Coupled with the economic challenges are erratic weather patterns that bring intense storms and drought conditions. Farmers are squeezed by environmental and economic pressures and need increased educational and technical resources to empower them with the knowledge and assistance to implement management practices that build climate and economic resilience onto their farms and pasturelands. 

Adoption and improved use of rotational grazing and pasture management help meet those needs. Rotational grazing is a management strategy to benefit pastureland with controlled animal movements through observed grazing and rest periods to benefit soil, plant and animal health. While pasture management encompasses rotational grazing, it also entails practices like frost and interseeding, bale grazing, clipping for vegetative growth, and animal impact.  Many livestock farmers in North Jersey RC&D’s seven-county service area struggle with accessing the limited educational and technical assistance resources to help them adopt or improve rotational grazing and pasture management. 

Solution and Approach:

Farmers can learn about rotational grazing and pasture management through a Grazing School, field days, and technical assistance (TA). Through these resources, they will learn how to utilize tools such as pasture condition scores (PCS), grazing plans, record keeping, and soil testing to inform, plan for, and guide management decisions. PCS was developed by the Natural Resource Conservation Service to assess if a site is managed to its production potential and identifies factors causing low production.  Grazing plans are farm-specific management tools that allow graziers to organize pastureland and animals to optimize targeted objectives, planning for necessary plant recovery, and ensuring the pasture health. Using these tools, farmers can see how their pasture productivity and soil health changes based on their management and adjust accordingly to make improvements. 

Farmers will be supported and coached through a step-by-step process to assess their existing infrastructure and pastures to create farm-specific grazing plans for pasture improvement. Through this program, farmers will find resources, on-farm technical assistance, and tools to help build resilience into their farms.

30 HU farmers on an average of 20 acres (600 acres total) will improve pasture management and adopt rotational grazing. Rotational grazing will lead to an increase of 5 points on average on individualized pasture condition scoring.