We are proud of our holistic land management and humane livestock handling practices. However, we also know that sometimes these ideas can seem a little abstract and difficult to visualize. So we've brought together these three videos, to demonstrate the work we do and how it is interconnected with regenerative land management.
Cow-Calf Herd Move
First up: you will watch our large cow-calf herd move from the winter sacrifice pasture to a newly leased piece of retired row-crop land. We add pieces of land to our farm every year, and much of it was formerly used to grow monoculture crops like peanuts, cotton, or corn. This soil typically endured massive applications of fertilizer and pesticide, and the organic matter left in the land is very low. This land will be regenerated through planned grazing and animal impact.
Fast-Action Video of a Sheep Move
Next, you will watch a video (sped up seven times faster than real life) showing our humane animal handling as we move our sheep herd from a grazed paddock to fresh pasture.
Conventional vs Regenerative Land Management, Side-by-Side
Finally, we demonstrate the alternative to regenerative agriculture- conventional agriculture. This is a real-life example of a windy March 2018 afternoon. Our neighbors conventionally farmed row-crop land and they did not use cover crops this winter. This is a common practice in our region. The literal juxtaposition of our grass-covered land, the roots retaining and building soil, the shoots shading and protecting the topsoil, compared to our neighbor's land which suffers from wind erosion, is extremely stark.
We hope you enjoy these videos. We're always updating our White Oak Pastures YouTube Channel with new videos, including drone footage of our pastures and livestock pastures. Subscribe to get the latest!
