HOFFMAN, Minn. — A special “Bringing Livestock Back” workshop will be held Thursday, June 14, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Hoffman Community Center, 127 Main Avenue West. This event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) and the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota. For more information and to reserve a spot, contact LSP’s Bryan Simon at 320-492-2526 or bsimon@landstewardshipproject.org.

This workshop will provide basic information on how integrating livestock and row-crop farming can help increase your farm’s profitability and resilience, bring a family member into your farm operation, increase your farm’s revenue without buying more land, and take your farm’s soil health and nutrient cycling to the next level. Local farmer success, science and economics all tell us that farms with livestock integrated into row-crop production make for a more successful farm business than row crops alone.

Topics to be covered include:

• The financial benefits/economic analysis of having livestock in an annual crop operation.
• The basics of soil health and soil building with livestock on annual cropland.
• Local farmers will share their strategies and successes in integrating livestock into a cropping rotation.
• Learn about resources and peer networks helping farmers start to reintegrate livestock onto cropland.
• Cover-cropping strategies for grazing and soil building.
• Next steps for livestock integration.

“If you have heard some of the talk about soil health, if you are worried about your farm’s resilience in the face of less predictable weather patterns and extreme weather events, if you are looking for a way to diversify your business, or if you want to bring in another family member without buying more land, then livestock may be the answer for you,” said Simon. “This workshop is a good place to start.”

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