2010 was a very exciting year at our livestock operation here in central Missouri.  For years we struggled to create quality grass that would provide good nutrition for our cattle.  Thanks to a couple of guys from the Cornhusker State, we feel we lucked out and came up with a way to jump start the production of high-quality grass without spending a big chunk of money.

Our story actually starts in the fall of 2009, when a friend sent me a two-paragraph blurb about two men from Nebraska that teamed up to show how the spraying of raw milk on pasture increased grass production, while at the same time greatly reducing compaction in the soil.

One of the men involved in the story was Terry Gompert, a well-known University of Nebraska Extension agent.  I knew Gompert from having attended his highly-successful mob grazing school held in Knox County, Neb., in 2007.  From that experience there was no doubt in my mind Gompert was the real deal and I was just as convinced that raw milk must also be the real deal.

Gompert’s experience with raw milk came from watching as his neighbor, David Wetzel, dumped raw skim milk on his pastures, thereby making the grass really take off.  For Wetzel the skim milk was a waste product, as he used only the milk fat to produce cod liver oil.  Gompert got two scientists from the University of Nebraska to test what Wetzel had been doing and these tests showed that when two gallons of raw milk per acre were sprayed on pasture, the result was an extra 1200 pounds of grass in 45 days.  The test also showed that two gallons of milk were just as effective as 20.  In addition the scientists discovered the raw milk greatly reduced compaction.

When I read this short account, I called Gompert and asked him if I could do a story on what they had done there in Nebraska.  Gompert not only gave me the OK, he and Wetzel were both very helpful in providing information.  After I started writing the story, one thing led to another and by the time I finished writing the story in mid-March of last year, it was very long and covered the spraying of raw milk, but also other soil amendments such as compost tea, worm castings tea, molasses, sea minerals (sea salt) and liquid fish.

The story generated enough interest that we decided to hold a field day at our farm in Linn and Gompert and Wetzel headed up the field day, along with well-known grazing consultant Doug Gunnink.

To prepare for the field day, I sprayed half of three different fields with raw milk.  That raw milk application was May 28.  The field day crowd came to our farm on June 25, which was only 28 days later, and at that time I could not see that the raw milk had made a difference.  But when Gompert and Wetzel looked at the fields before the start of the field day, they assured me the milk had worked.  They pointed out the difference in the color of the grass where the milk had been sprayed.  As an old NPK guy, I assumed the milk would turn the grass dark green.  This is not the case with raw milk, which turns the grass a light green.  A man from New York who read the article and tried milk on his hay fields, later described the color as “John Deere green.”

On June 25, with some 50 people in attendance, Gompert and Wetzel performed two tests on one of the fields where I had sprayed the raw milk.  The first thing they did was to measure for grass growth.  This showed the area sprayed with raw milk in 28 days had produced an extra 700 pounds of grass per acre, as compared with that part of the field where raw milk was not sprayed.

What should be noted here is that our grass was not sprayed until May 28, well past our peak growing period here in central Missouri.  Had I sprayed around mid-March, I believe the additional growth would have been much more than the 700 pounds we actually realized. 

Another important thing is that the grass continued to grow.  On June 25 that extra 700 pounds of grass was not obvious.  However, just 15 days later it was very apparent the grass that had been sprayed with raw milk was taller than the grass that had not been sprayed.  It will be interesting to see how much grass growth raw milk will produce in a year where there is not as much moisture as we had last year.

The second test performed by Gompert and Wetzel was to check for compaction.  Using a device called a penetrometer, it was shown that only 100 pounds of pressure per square inch was needed to push the 28-inch-long rod into the ground where the milk had been sprayed, while it took 300 pounds of pressure to do the same thing where milk had not been sprayed. 

As the summer went on another thing became apparent.  Where raw milk was sprayed, there were fewer weeds.  At first, I thought I might be imagining this, but the more time that passed the more convinced I became that the milk had reduced the amount of weeds.  There are at least two possible explanations.  Where milk is sprayed the stand of grass appears to be thicker.  If this is the case, the grass is out-competing the weeds.  Another explanation is that – as some weed experts contend -- weeds do poorly in an environment where the soil has adequate nutrients, which the milk would help provide.

Initially we decided to try raw milk because we assumed we would probably get some benefits in terms of more grass and loosening of the soil.  We also hoped that the raw milk might increase the brix levels of our grasses.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term brix, this is basically a measure of the amount of sugar or energy in a plant.  You measure for brix with a small hand-held device called a refractometer.  If the brix of your grass is 10, that’s good.  If that number is 15, you’ve got some excellent grass.  If you’re at 20, you should be the envy of your neighbors. 

We have been measuring the brix levels of our grass for four years and prior to last year the results were deplorable.  Low single digits was the norm for our cool season grasses.  Our clovers and Johnsongrass would normally top out at 5 or 6.

In 2010 we made time to take frequent brix measurements throughout the year.  To our surprise we learned that the brix level of grass in late winter and early spring were surprisingly high.  For example, fescue that measured 2 in July of 2009 showed an 8 on March 22 of last year.  Throughout the early spring, brix levels were elevated.  If this is a normal occurrence this time of year, it would explain why an old cow can gain weight so quickly on early grass.  Later in the spring brix levels dropped.  I have no explanation for this and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in 2011.

We were also provided with another valuable lesson.  To measure brix it is necessary to squeeze the juice out of the grass and put this juice in the refractometer.  What we learned is that if the grass is pulverized with something like a blender or juicer, the juice will measure much higher than if the liquid is removed from the same or similar plant by means of a garlic press.  We noted that juice removed by a juicer tested almost three times as high as the juice from a garlic press. I did not discover this until July, so all brix readings until that time would have been higher had the juice been extracted with a juicer.  The point here is that our grass was probably not as bad as we had always thought.  And probably the same is true of your grass if you only use a garlic press to squeeze out the juice.

What is a juicer, you might be asking?  A juicer is nothing more than a modified meat grinder like the one you may have seen your mom or grandma clamp onto the kitchen table to grind things.  Several people I know use one of the old meat grinders and this works reasonably well.  To see what one of the new juicers looks like, Google wheat grass juicer. 

A third thing we learned is that brix levels are not just higher at 3 p.m., they are much higher at that time than early morning.  There are two lessons here – to get the highest reading always test your brix at 3 or 4 p.m. and to have the most energy in your hay, cut it as close to that time as possible.   

When we held the field day at the farm on June 25, the brix levels of the grass we sprayed with milk and the grass from non-sprayed areas were almost identical.  As the season went on, however, the brix from the sprayed areas started to show an improvement over the non-sprayed areas.  I cannot say that milk alone accounted for this difference, because after the field day, I began adding sea salt, molasses, tea from compost and earthworm castings, liquid fish and even something called coral calcium.  The latter two amendments were applied so late in the season, they would not have impacted the brix.  However, the sea salt, molasses and teas may have been responsible for some of the uptick in the brix measurement.

On Nov. 6, I made a presentation at a farm show in Columbia sponsored by Small Farm Today.  That morning I picked three clumps of fescue to take with me for the purpose of testing the brix.  By Nov. 6, we were well into a serious dry spell and the first two clumps of grass were so dry I could not get any juice out of them.  The third clump yielded a couple of drops and this measured a 20.  A number of people at the presentation were quite surprised by that reading, as was I.

A reading of 20 would indicate our grass is great.  But I don’t think that’s the case.  It is much better than in the past, but it’s far from great.  I’m at a loss for an explanation.   

Measuring the brix is very important.  If you do not have one, I would strongly urge you to get a refractometer and use it frequently and learn from your experiences.  I learned a great deal last year about taking brix measurements, but I still have a long way to go.  You are only going to improve your skills by frequent use of your refractometer, comparing notes with others who also use the refractometer and then reading what others may have written about their experiences.

I have written considerably more on this subject in other articles.  If you would send me an email at ralphvoss@sbcglobal.net, I would be happy to send you a Word document containing three stories on raw milk that also provide a considerable amount of information about brix levels and other soil amendments and a fourth story about the possible health benefits of sea salt.  Two of these four stories have already appeared in the Unterrified Democrat, but two of them you have probably not read unless you subscribed to magazines such as Small Farm Today or Acres USA.

I had planned to begin spraying this year by mid-March. Gompert suggested spraying when the grass was four to six inches high and growing rapidly.  Frequently that happens by mid-March here in central Missouri. This year the grass was not growing well in mid-March and much of the time fields were too muddy to travel.  In April and early May we sprayed most of our pastures.  One field we sprayed in April consists of 45 acres along the Gasconade River.  Several weeks after we sprayed that field, the Gasconade River crested at 29 feet and submerged every acre of pasture we had treated.  I doubt we’ll receive much benefit from that application.    

In addition to two gallons of raw milk per acre, I plan to use a gallon of fish (at a cost of $4 to $5 per acre), half a gallon of molasses (75 cents), several pounds of sea salt (less than $1) and tea from compost and earthworm castings (the cost could vary widely depending on whether you bought the compost or produced it yourself, and depending on how much earthworm castings you use).  With everything we’re probably talking less than $15 per acre.

People who use liquid fish frequently apply three gallons per acre.  Some people who use fish feel it makes their grass more drought-tolerant.  For people living in an area where raw milk is not available, fish is always a good alternative.  The teas also do a great job.  A man in Oregon routinely raises grass with a brix of 23, using nothing but sea salt and compost tea.

The two men from Nebraska proved to me last summer that raw milk works.  From what I have been told by others and from what I read in many places, I’m convinced the other soil amendments also work.  I urge you to try some or all of these amendments.  Do a little experimenting.  See what works on your farm.  If it were going to cost you $200 per acre, I could understand your reluctance.  But we’re talking very little money.

There is one more thing I want to discuss briefly, and that is your grazing practices.  I am in no way suggesting raw milk and the other soil amendments should be a substitute for good grazing practices.  Here in central Missouri south of the Missouri River, our soils are extremely poor and I believe these various soil amendments will get us to the point where our pastures can be self-sustaining if we graze properly.  Good grazing practices alone might get the job done, but we’re talking years.  If soil amendments can help us reach our goal, why not give them a try?

Having said that, I want to tell you about a very significant grazing development at our farm last year.  Greg Judy, who has written several stories for this special section, says weeds can be controlled by not grazing your pastures until June or July.  We gave this a try on 30 acres and the results were amazing.  The grass looked great.  The brix levels were the highest we ever had.  There were large amounts of earthworm castings beneath the grass.  But even more impressive was the performance of the cows on that grass.  Several days after they had been turned in on the first few strips of the 30 acres, I went out one morning to move the cows and to my astonishment, all of the manure piles from the calves were somewhere between white and light gray in color.  I had never seen anything like this before and checked with a number of people was told me this was simply the result of the cows going to much improved grass and their milk production spiking so dramatically the calves could not handle all the milk and much of it passed through their systems without being digested.  In discussing this later with others, including several veterinarians, this idea was confirmed.

We are not in a position to let much of our grass sit there until July, but we were willing to try this on a small tract and you might also want to consider it.  By the way, not only did holding this pasture until July result in great grass, the weeds were controlled as well.