Author Archives: grasslandrenewal

As our seasons transition from summer to fall and on into winter our operations tend to take a slower pace.  Our warm season forages are heading into dormancy to rest until next spring, and our cool season forages are slowly getting off the ground.  This is often a good time to reflect on the previousContinue reading “From the Ground to Grazing: Four Steps to Livestock-Forage System Success”

At this time all Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue should be planted, as recommended by all states in the tall fescue belt.  This year, again due to the dry weather, many farmers delayed past normal planting dates, waiting for moisture. The Alliance for Grassland Renewal recommends holding off on seeding if soil was excessively dry untilContinue reading “Timely Tips: November 2025”

October brings our first wave of calves, and we are well into it now.  It has been a rough start for us this year.  We will be calving right at 100 cows, with 18 of those first-calf heifers.  Our usual success rate with calving is about 95%, with somewhere between 3 and 10 dead calvesContinue reading “Triple Creek Journal: October 2025. Let the Calving Begin!”

Timely Tips from the Alliance for Grassland Renewal.  October 2025 Recommended planting dates for Tall Fescue are generally September 1 to September 30 in northern (colder) regions of the tall fescue belt, and September 15 to October 15 in central and southern regions.  These dates are ideal and give seedlings plenty of time to establishContinue reading “Timely Tips”

January will be here before we know it and soon after, pastures will be greening up. Now is the time to plan for the preparation of the upcoming grazing season. One maintenance item to accomplish now is the incorporation of clovers such as Freedom! MR Red Clover and Alice White Clover into existing grass pasturesContinue reading “Frost Seeding of Clovers”

Over the next several months  I will focus the Amazing Grazing column on the topic of implementing a Regenerative Grazing system in the Southeastern US, based on examples from my own production system.  I have been farming in Southern Virginia and Northern North Carolina near the little border town of Virgilina, VA for most ofContinue reading “Confessions of a Regenerative Farmer: Part 1”

September, 2025 It has been another busy month for us getting pastures clipped and getting cows ready for calving.  We had a very wet spell in July and early August, but that quickly changed with less than an inch of rain here in the last 3 weeks.  The dry weather is expected to continue forContinue reading “Triple Creek Journal: Grazing Headed Dallisgrass”

September is a critical time for Tall Fescue Pasture Renovation. If you don’t have your critical dates set, make decisions and put the dates on your calendar. Specific establishment calendars are available for most states on the Alliance website, or from your local extension agent. For new stands to be planted this fall it isContinue reading “September Tall Fescue Pasture Renovation Tips.”

According to Tom Kilcer, planting a winter annual could make up for this lack of forage quality. In a recent issue of Crop Soil News, the owner of Advanced Ag Systems, an agronomy consulting and research business, suggests triticale is a viable winter annual option to seed after corn silage harvest. “We prefer triticale overContinue reading “Consider Triticale as a Winter Cereal”

It has been a crazy year for precipitation over much of the eastern USA!  In North Carolina and Virginia we have had very hot dry spells and in between, flooding rains.  Our last big rain was from Tropical Storm Chantal that hit the central Piedmont of NC on July 7, 2025.  Rainfall in the areaContinue reading “Triple Creek Journal, August 2025: Summer Rains Bring Abundant Forage”