ElB-Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 19, 2003
Grazing Turned This Dairy Farm Around
Sons Can Now Join
Their Father In Farming
Dan Deniable
Cornell Extension
Cortland County, N.Y.
The story of David Surpre
nant and his family farm is
getting around among New
York State dairy farmers.
David farms with his wife and
their two sons in Manteno, Il
linois, and was a featured
speaker at the dairy grazing
conference series that swept
across the state in January.
His story is about how grazing
turned around the farm busi
ness and opened up the possi
bility that his sons could join
him in dairy farming.
David Surprenant began
taking over the family farm
from his father when he
bought half of the cows in
1977, and then bought the
other half in 1979. Through
his initial years in farming,
David attempted to follow the
accepted model for dairy
farming but found he was
continually falling behind.
He had developed a good
relationship with University of
Illinois professor Michael Hut
jens and asked him on a regu
lar basis what size his dairy
needed to be in order to be
profitable. That size grew
through the years and David
felt he was spinning his
wheels, continually expanding
without ever getting ahead
financially. Finally, in the
early 19905, he was told that
he would need to expand to
ISO cows, which required him
to build an entirely new facili
ty. He was not ready to make
that step and decided instead
to pursue some stories he had
heard about grazing.
David learned about graz
ing through magazine articles
and decided to pursue it on a
small scale. A New Holland
magazine told about the Pat
terson brothers who were
grazing in Kentucky. David
called them up and asked how
they were doing. They were a
big help, and also introduced
him to Dave Forgey in Indi
ana, who had started grazing
the year before.
David’s farm is 160 acres in
a square, set up in four
40-acre fields. He started by
turning one of those fields into
pasture and over the next few
years, all four fields became
pasture. Although the transi
tion wasn’t easy, David could
soon see that the financial pic
ture on the farm was improv
ing. He hired a consultant
from Wisconsin who had
worked for several years in
New Zealand and advised
David to “plant fence posts in
stead of grass seed.”
Unfortunately, David’s pas
tures were slow to develop. He
Cows turning grass into milk on a grazing operation.
attributes this to soils that had
been depleted to less than 2
percent organic matter by
years of com and soybeans.
Even now, after nearly 10
years in pasture, several of
David’s paddocks still have
not developed into the thick,
lush sod that he would like.
After experimenting with sev
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C 44396 NH 411,9’
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eral different pasture types he
has found that a mix of spe
cies, including orchardgrass,
soft leaf tall fescue, and white
clover, works best for him. He
does believe that perennial
ryegrass has a place on his
farm but only in a limited
amount as it does not grow in
hot and dry conditions and
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C 32339 JD 336 Small Square
A 24803 NH 276
844014 NH 320 Square
C 24710 OH 600 Blower
A 24834 OH 8720 feme
Harvester, 3x30
A 25449 6E 1540 Bower
had a complete winter kill a
few years ago.
Breeding
Experience with grazing
has led David to an evolving
perspective on what breed of
cows to use and how to feed
them on pasture. He began
(Turn to Page El 9)
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