Rising feed and transportation costs have dairy farmers looking for ways to save on raising replacement heifers. A free spreadsheet planning tool called the Heifer Grazing Compass allows farmers to evaluate whether their operation can reduce cost and labor needs by creating a rotational grazing program.

If there was ever an opportunity for good science, this is certainly it.

Organic dairy producers must follow many rules that seem to heighten the struggles every dairy faces. One of these regulations requires all organic dairy cattle to spend a minimum of 120 days each year on pasture, which in some areas can be the entire grazing season.

Grazing systems have been targeted as a source of greenhouse gas emissions due to high-forage diets and decreased forage quality.