Green Grazing: Raising Sustainable Cattle in Virginia
Have you ever sat down to a steak dinner and considered the cow you were poised to devour? Did you wonder how it lived or what it ate? Were you, like many, curious about how the production of your meal might have affected the environment? Jacob Giley, owner and operator of Heaven’s Hollow Farm in Virginia and manager of the Sustainable Grazing Project at American Farmland Trust (AFT), thinks about these issues all the time.
Giley launched the Sustainable Grazing Project at AFT in 2019 with a goal to work with other cattle producers in Virginia to increase adoption of regenerative farming practices that enhance soil health, improve water quality, sequester carbon, and increase productivity on the farm. Now, the program counts eight participating producers across Virginia. The focus of the program rests on rotational grazing practices, and providing producers with the financial and knowledge resources to incorporate such practices on their own operations.
Rotational grazing is the practice of strategically moving cows across pastures, preventing any one field from becoming overgrazed. Allowing grazed pastures a period of rest improves plant growth and significantly reduces erosion. This enables the soil to hold on to nutrients more efficiently, lowering the need for fertilizer inputs. This is particularly important for producers in Virginia, since any runoff from their fields has a high chance of eventually making its way down into the Chesapeake Bay. “Rotational grazing leaves enough cover on the pasture that, during heavy rains, it allows the soil to capture that water instead of having it run off. We also try to reduce off farm inputs like fertilizer to further prevent the potential for that to be washed into the tributaries,” said Giley.
Producers that participate in the program also experience benefits above ground in the form of community building and knowledge sharing. Program participants take turns hosting quarterly socials, which can be valuable forums for brainstorming on shared challenges. Andrea Young, owner and operator of Hidden Creek Farm in Delaplane, VA, has been involved in the program since 2020 and says that the ability to tap into the aggregated experience of Giley and the other producers has been the most valuable part of the program for her. “The funding is awesome, but the guidance and the community and being able to talk about issues with people that understand them…it’s even more important than money,” said Young.
Young has been raising cattle since 2017, and is intentional about managing her animals in ways that support their natural tendencies and movements. She acknowledges, “If you think about how animals that are not domesticated move through the world, that’s what we’re trying to replicate, in a fashion that’s both beneficial to them and the land.” This sort of approach requires discerning observation of the land and animals to assess what’s needed for them to thrive. And this observation starts at a microscopic level.
Through the Sustainable Grazing Project, each participant has the opportunity to meet with soil scientist Allen Williams of Understanding Ag, who analyzes the nutritional makeup of their soil and makes recommendations on how to improve it. This information is invaluable for helping producers make smart decisions that support the health of their land and animals. “Soil, that sounds like an easy thing. It’s dirt, what’s to be done about that? But it’s really a lot more complicated. Just because a field is green and has lots of things growing in it, that doesn’t mean those plants are palatable for animals or healthy for the soil,” said Young.
Ralph Morton, another producer participant in the Sustainable Grazing Project and the owner and operator of Cattle Run Farm in Ruckersville, Virginia, agrees that the soil analysis and coaching he’s received have been eye opening. “He [Williams] has years of experience, so he’s been able to tell me things that I didn’t even know about my soil. He makes recommendations and coaches on how to improve my soil health by using what I already have,” said Morton.
Giley agrees that coaching is an appropriate description for these consultations, as regenerative agricultural practices can rarely be recommended across the board. “They aren’t necessarily directing producers to do one thing or another. Regenerative agriculture is very opposed to prescriptions because it’s always changing. Every day and every operation is different. So it’s more useful to be coached on how to be observant and which indicators to pay attention to, so that you know how to respond when a situation arises,” said Giley.
Luckily, both Morton and Young are already accustomed to navigating constantly shifting situations. Morton is a military veteran who came to farming as a second career, eventually taking over the land his father once farmed. “My father always said if you have a piece of ground, hold on to it, because they’re not making any more. He said do things sustainably and be humble, let your work speak for itself. Those words hold a lot of weight for me,” said Morton.
As a Black man succeeding in an agricultural career, Morton is also aware that he has the power to shape the shifting future of the profession. He embraces the responsibility with enthusiasm, making extra effort to be an example for young people who might not often see themselves represented in the field. Working as a 4H mentor, hosting college students as interns on the farm, and founding the non-profit Minority & Veteran Farmers of the Piedmont are just a few examples of the way Morton is making an outsized impact in his community.
Ralph Morton leading a farm tour at Cattle Run Farm.
As for Young, the child of an American Foreign Service officer, she grew up in crisis postings around the world before entering a career in conflict resolution. Now, she constantly negotiates with her land, experimenting and analyzing to see what practices will lead to gains in health and productivity. Young also works with AFT on bee and bird friendly beef programs that encourage cattle farmers to take innovative steps that will make their land more inhabitable for nesting grassland birds and pollinators.
The diversity of experience that these two producers bring to the Sustainable Grazing Project is emblematic of the broader purpose of the program: to aggregate knowledge and skills from individuals of varying backgrounds and employ it in service of making the whole better off. Giley put it best, “There’s a learning curve for producers in adopting these practices. It doesn't happen just like that. Often you get humbled or the environment changes, but the purpose of this project is to shorten that learning curve.” And when producers can lean on one another and feel empowered to embrace the mistakes that may come with trying something new, that curve gets shorter indeed.
