Chippewa County Success from the Field  

Beginning Farmer Builds Habitat and Soil Health

Through Prescribed Grazing
Background 
Ryan Anderson grew up on a Century Farm in Chippewa Falls,
Wisconsin. He had fond memories of showing Simmental
ca le at the County fair and having livestock around. When
he moved back to the area, he purchased part of the original
farmstead and knew at some point he wanted to have ca le
back on the land.
In the spring of 2017, eight cows were delivered to his farm
and his family watched the arrival of calves in June. Not only
did his young children enjoy the new babies, they also men-
oned how many more birds they were seeing around the
farm now that 18.5 acres of land was back into grass and
legumes.

Program Successes 
Above: The Anderson’s decided they wanted to raise grass‐fed beef 
When the USDA Natural Resources Conserva on Service and liked the mannerism of the Bri sh White ca le. They worked 
(NRCS) met Ryan and Emily Anderson in August of 2014, they with another farmer to purchase the cows.  The ca le arrived and 
were just star ng to think about how to get back into farming, started grazing May 24, 2017. Below: The Anderson’s daughter 
since they also have full- me jobs. Ryan and Emily are friends helps on the farm’s grazing acres. 
with other beginning farmers that had introduced them to
prescribed grazing by a ending pasture walks. Ryan knew the
60 acres he rented out the last ten years wasn’t sustainable in
con nuous row crops, and not part of his long term goal.
Robert Brandt, Grazing Specialist, was also at the farm to talk
about rota onal grazing. NRCS staff Tammy Lindsay, District
Conserva onist and Sarah Raith, Soil Conserva onist, invento-
ried the soil. “Even though his family had hay in the rota on
previously, a er ten years of con nuous row crops, the sandy
loam soil was very depleted. There was no organic ma er, no
earth worms, no earthy smell, just stagnant, droughty soil,”
Sarah Raith, Soil Conserva onist, noted in the inventory.
Ryan hired Robert Brandt to write a Prescribed Grazing Plan
for the en re acreage. In 2015, Ryan seeded down 18.5 acres
with a seed mix from the grazing plan. In fall of 2016, Ryan
was ready to par cipate in the NRCS Environmental Quality
Incen ves Program (EQIP), since, according to the plan, he
was able to have livestock in 2017. NRCS took the original
grazing plan and reworked a layout on smaller acres to ease
into implementa on. Wisconsin
Ryan was selected for 2017 EQIP Statewide Beginning Farmer Natural
funding. A perimeter high tensile fence, interior-pasture Resources
Conservation
Service
wi.nrcs.usda.gov
Chippewa County Success from the Field (con nued)

paddock fence, livestock pipeline, and a watering facility were

implemented along with prescribed grazing—moving the
ca le once a day.

Future Plans 
In 2018, the remaining acres of the farm will be seeded down
with the EQIP forage and biomass plan ng. It will be u lized
for hay un l the Andersons are ready to add addi onal grazing
acres. NRCS will monitor the two remaining years of pre-
scribed grazing implementa on in 2018 and 2019.
“The first year of prescribed grazing was very successful for
the Anderson family. I am glad the Andersons took the me to
think through their op ons, learn from others and started  
small to make sure the conserva on prac ces worked for
them,” said Tammy Lindsay, District Conserva onist. NRCS
staff enjoyed working with the young family and seeing the
farm change to a livestock opera on.
When asking Ryan how the first year of transi on went, he
responded, “All I can say is that it has been great having cows
back on the property and the view has greatly improved. The
grazing is definitely different than how we raised our ca le
from when I was a kid, but its been quite easy to implement
and the long-term benefits are easily observed from the start.
Both of the kids have really enjoyed watching the ca le and
naming each of the calves. Our son's favorite animal is defi-
nitely a cow; he talks about them every day. We look forward
to what the future holds! Without the help of the NRCS, this
dream of returning the farm back to pasture and raising ca le
sustainably, would s ll be just that...a dream.”

Wisconsin
Natural
Resources
Conservation
Service

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Success Story • November 2018