I am currently in search of a farm to own. I have advanced degrees in forages/grazing management and plan to have a multi-species grazing operation with hair sheep, cattle, and chickens.

My goal would be to reduce amount of hay feeding days each year, so I would likely be stocked a little lighter, but employ strategies to extend the grazing season, such as stockpiling. If possible, I would like to set aside a little land for pollinator habitat, and in a perfect world I would have some native warm season grasses to graze in the summertime.

I would like to purchase yearlings or fall-born weaned calves in the springtime to take advantage of the spring flush of forages, graze native warm season grasses during the summertime, and then sell during the late summer and save the fall growth and stockpiled forages for the sheep to graze into the winter.

I grew up on a small conventional dairy farm where I milked Holsteins in a tie-stall barn, picked rocks, unloaded square bales, and chopped all of our hay once I turned 14. In middle school, I bought two Jersey heifer calves and worked to pay off their room and board, and their milk checks (along with working part time and coming home to milk cows), helped get me through college debt free. I interned on a ranch in South Dakota, which is where my love of grazing began and which spurred me to go to graduate school to study forages and grazing.

After moving around the country for school, I have finally found a place to settle and am looking to own a small farm. Ideally, I’d like at least 20 acres of pasture and in a perfect world I would have some forested acres for hunting as well.

I have already thought out a business plan and created enterprise budgets for my dream farm, so now all I have to do is find it!