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.

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