Greener Pastures On Your Side Of The Fence: Better Farming With Voisin Management Intensive Grazing

Based on research and experience, Dr Murphy explains the methods developed in France by Andre Voisin for intensive grazing and pasture management. When I hear local farmers talk about fertilizing, renovating, and weeding their pastures, I offer them this book. You will need more fencing (either fixed or movable) than conventional grazing and pasture management, but you will not need to fertilize, renovate, or replant, you will have less work, and your pasture will produce much food for your animals, for a longer season during the year, and you will lower or eliminate the need for supplemental feeding.

A great read, this is not just science, in the sense of measuring and recording the data, but in drawing intelligent conclusions from thoughtful observation: increase the production of the land, make it healthier for the animals, use less chemicals and make more money. More of a change in how the farmer thinks about agriculture than the subtle changes in timing and layout on the farm. It is intuitive and inventive: the finding of solutions that are practical and simple, produce astonishing results and make life better. It is what we used to mean by 'science'The reason such results astonish us is that we humans tend to stick with what works, out of habit, even if it doesn't work very well. If all the billions of dollars and thousands of researchers being paid to spend their days creating libraries of information in support of climate change were to take more strolls - or even go for a jog without the iPod plugged in - we might come up with some real solutions, rather than environmentalist homilies and political diktats that usually involve, one way or another, sending our hard-earned money to someone else. Often enough, not surprisingly, to increase the budget or bottom line of those making the 'recommendations'There is a word for solutions that are easily understood, once somebody points it out to us, and which produce tremendous results: elegant. Greener Pastures on Your Side of the Fence is elegant. We need more elegance in this world: read it.

Lots of great information in this book, very practical and applicable for people who raise cows, sheep or goats. You can skim some of the statistical details and just get to the practical parts if you just want to know what it means for your farm on a day to day basis: how to set up pasture rotation, when to move animals on and off a certain pasture, etc.However, I'm not sure how applicable it is for people with pastures in California because when it stops raining here in April, the grass dries up almost immediately. In areas where it rains periodically all summer, this book would be super useful.

I'm reading this book for the third time - there's just too much info to digest in one reading. We are just starting with cattle and are using this book as our bible. It not only explains the many advantages of raising animals using managment intensive grazing (more profit, environmentally friendly, humane, better nutrition, ease of animal handling), it goes into great detail on HOW to do it. My husband used the chapter on fencing to select products that have received many positive comments from visitors to the farm. I especially enjoyed reading about pasture plant diversity and how cattle "harvest" it. Our cattle look (and taste) great, much to the shock of long-time cattle farmers in our community who are surprised that two greenhorns like us can do so well. We attribute our success to this book and highly recommend it.

This book is extremely well researched and organized, but I agree with the reviewer about the poor binding. One of the first pages fell out when I first started reading it! I am a book lover and treat them carefully, not having problems with this normally. I headed the problem off by being more careful after that, but it is definitely poor quality. Too bad, it gives the author a bad rap when he probably had nothing to do with it---the writing and info was COMPLETE. This book is not for the faint-of-heart or beginner. It is extremely thorough and deep reading. It was just what I was looking for, but not for everyone.

This book is full of good information on rotational grazing and how to create "greener" pastures. I read it twice since I got it, and each time I picked up on a new part of the book that I overlooked the first time through. Looking forward to using some of the ideas next spring and summer on our grass acres.

A very complete discussion of intensive pasture management. Murphy s explanation is very good, however, this method of farming is not simple, and requires the farmer to make weekly analysis and planning adjustments. It is a method that requires both the farmers hands and his mind. Not for the absentee or part time farmer.

Very detailed and informational regarding the nutrients and life cycle of pastures, symbiotic relationships of plants and livestock, and how to manage rotational grazing to get those most production possible. A slight bit of repetition throughout the book, but overall, very well-written.

Excellent rotational grazing book.

A really good read with some valuable information. I will keep this book for continued future references