Food & Farming

Dairy Farming Basics: Classifying Cows

hbrough — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 14:16:20 +0000

Dairy Farming Basics: Classifying Cows hbrough Fri, 01/31/2025 - 09:16

Like Noah’s Ark, cows walked by twos into the milking parlor holding area, which had been scattered with fresh wood shavings. But the cows weren’t here for milking. Twenty-two cows were gathered to be evaluated and scored on their essential cow-ness.

“I really like that udder,” says Jennifer Clark, the visiting classifier, eyeing the business end of one cow. “She’s got a good leg on her. She’s grown up a lot. 88.”

Dairy herd classification is an important part of caring for and improving a herd’s overall health and production. Each year, we’re required to score all the registered cows in our Brown Swiss herd against the ideal Brown Swiss cow. (Jennifer, who is based in Wisconsin, is a classifier for the Brown Swiss Cattle Breeders.)

“It’s good to get someone else's eye on the cows that we see every day,” explains Farm Manager Sam Dixon, “and by working with the crew from Brown Swiss we can see trends over time.”

As any 4-Her knows from their time in the show ring, a cow is judged in four categories: her frame, dairy strength, rear feet and legs, and the all-important udder. Since a cow’s job on a dairy farm is to produce milk, those attributes are indicators of how a cow will contribute to the herd’s milk production over time. (Solid legs and feet will also help a cow thrive in our pasture-based grazing system.)

The classifying on this brisk winter day wasn’t for our full herd, though. It was a optional session to get baseline data on mostly younger cows with no score yet. To prepare, the team had spent three days, in between chores, closely shaving each cow’s hindquarters to better show off her… um…figure. They also decided to present the cows in pairs to keep them comfortable. As herd creatures, cows don’t like being alone.

Jennifer circles another cow. “Needs a little more umph in her front end but really nice udder,” she says. “88”. A score of 85-89 is considered “very good;” above 90 is “excellent.” From her phone, Jennifer enters each cow’s scores directly into the online database that we have for all our cows.

What seems a bit like a beauty pageant really comes down to one word: genetics. A cow has to be bred each year in order to have a calf and produce milk. Each calf gives farmers a chance to shape future generations of the herd. For example, if a cow “Pauline” has weaker legs, we might breed her to a bull whose daughters are known for their strong legs, so Pauline’s daughters might be stronger.

It’s not a perfect science by any means, but it is, in fact, an observable one. When Jennifer assesses one cow by saying, “She has a better than average daredevil rump,” she’s not making some odd comment about the cow’s caboose. She’s referring to that cow’s father, named Daredevil. Since most cows are artificially bred with semen ordered from Brown Swiss Bull catalogs, Jennifer has seen lots of daughters of Daredevil, and she can see “his” rump in our cow. It’s like having “your grandfather’s nose,” or “the height on your mom’s side.”

The whole classification process this afternoon takes a couple hours. The dairy team moves each pair of cows into the pen, Jennifer scores both cows in all the categories as they freely stroll the pen (cows are more typically put in stanchions for scoring), and then the team exits the cows to the barn.

In the end, dairy staffer Megan Letourneau calls it, “a great day.” One cow scored “excellent” (90), and eight cows earned “very good” scores. The rest slipped just below 85, but as Jennifer remarked often while assessing these mostly younger animals, “She’s a solid cow. She just needs to grow up a bit.” Under the care and attention of our dairy staff, they’ll do just that.

Holly Brough

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Very interesting and educational.

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January 10, 2025

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Enjoying Late Fall at the Farm

hbrough — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 14:47:06 +0000

Enjoying Late Fall at the Farm hbrough Mon, 11/11/2024 - 09:47

Holly Brough

Late fall at the farm has a quieter kind of beauty, as it does across Vermont. “Stick season” gets a bad rap, but the fault may lay in us, not the season. You just have to look a little harder at the stripped landscape to find beauty in its contours, newly revealed views, and the textures and details of seasonal senescence.

There’s joy in the looking, and comfort and peace in a late fall stroll on this working farm. Here are a few of our favorite stops.

Andrea Estey

Take a walk to the Farm Barn (¾ of a mile from the Welcome Center parking lot) and say hello to the winter residents of the Children’s Farmyard. You’ll find miniature Sicilian donkeys Franco (in foreground, with a darker coat) and Brawny in the large pasture just south of the barn. Donkeys of all sizes are part of our shared agricultural history, used for transportation, carrying loads, and guarding livestock.

Andrea Estey

Further up the hill, visit our farmyard goats and sheep. Keep an eye out for the smallest lamb, aptly named Tinkerbell.

Andrea Estey

Crops like kale (left) and calendula shine into late fall, and this season’s warm temperatures have lengthened the show. Kale gets sweeter and more tender in fall. Have a taste test as you explore the area around the Farm Barn, including the lower Children’s Farmyard garden.

Holly Brough

Lone Tree Hill never disappoints, especially as the clouds sift the sun to spotlight elements in the landscape—like the Inn, here, all buttoned up for the winter.

Wally Allen

With the colorful leaves gone, mushrooms can take center stage on a walk through the woods, like this shelf or "bracket" mushroom. More on Vermont mushrooms.

Holly Brough

The Butternut Trail is glorious in late autumn. The carpet of leaves rustle with every step, and the colors are beautiful in both conformity and contrast, like the yellow-green leaves lingering on this maple sapling.
Holly Brough

The leaf-less trees in Butternut now reveal the Farm Barn tower to the east.

Holly Brough

Visit Marshall Woods and imagine a future forested landscape. Look for the witch hazel (pictured), an understory shrub that, unusually, blooms October to December. Its ribbon-like petals curl and unfurl with swings in cold temperatures.

Brandon Parrish

True grazing season is behind us, but our milking cows still spend several hours a day in fields near the barn and milking parlor to get fresh air and exercise. (Good for humans and animals alike!) The young, non-milking heifers have lower nutritional needs, so you'll find them in more wide-ranging pastures.

Wally Allen

The lakeshore is often blustery at this time of year, but on a quiet day, exploring its rocks can be a meditative exercise—and a fun one. Find a heart-shaped rock, or one with a perfect white stripe. And why do so many stones have white lines?

Holly Brough

Wherever you are, we hope you get out and enjoy a late-fall walk. Thanks for visiting!

Your walk starts by parking at the Welcome Center & Farm Store. Check in before or after your walk to warm up and say hello! Trails close at sunset. See our Walking Trails Map or Visiting November to April.

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Shelburne Farms is conserving this critical farm and forest land that lies within the boundaries of our campus.

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What on the Farm? Marshall Woods

Just over the hill behind the Farm Barn is a forest in the making: a field edge now planted with 200+ native trees to honor Marshall Webb and the role of trees in a climate-stable future.

Holly Brough

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Please tell Wally that of all, all, all the photos of Shelburne Farms that I've enjoyed over the years, the one that he took of leaves amid the lakeside stones is among the most beautiful and evocative *ever*. Thank you so so much.

When autumn arrives in Vermont there's no better place than Shelburne Farms to see panoramic views of the trees taking color in the woodlands and over the mountains to the east and west of the farm. I love to see the walkers and hikers, individuals, couples, and groups of friends everywhere I go. We exchange greetings accompanied by knowing smiles because we intuitively know that we are inhabiting one of Nature's sacred places.

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November 12, 2024

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Shelburne Farms Product Catalog, 2024-25

hbrough — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 17:12:48 +0000

Shelburne Farms Product Catalog, 2024-25 hbrough Mon, 11/04/2024 - 12:12

We're excited to share our new Shelburne Farms Catalog with you! It features our farmstead cheddar and maple syrup, as well as finely crafted products from other Vermont farms and producers.

Take a peek above, then visit our online store to get an early start on holiday gift-giving. If you live locally, you can visit our Farm Store, or place a pre-order for a quick pickup!

Thank you for supporting Shelburne Farms and its educational mission. Every day, we connect people to where their food comes from to help collectively build a more sustainable future. When you enjoy Shelburne Farms cheddar, maple syrup, and other Vermont farm products, you are helping to make a simple idea a reality: that transformational learning, grounded in place and community, is sowing the seeds for growing a healthy and just world.

Don't receive a printed catalog? Request a one here.

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Sun to Cheese: What Does It Mean?

hbrough — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 13:24:01 +0000

Sun to Cheese: What Does It Mean? hbrough Wed, 09/25/2024 - 09:24

We talk a lot about the "Sun to Cheese" story. We even offer a tour by that name. But what does the phrase mean, and how does sunlight become the tasty cheddar we all enjoy?

1. Harvesting the Sun

Millions of humans eat vegetarian diets, but many plants are only digestible by ruminant animals like cows or sheep. Over eons, people have relied on ruminants to convert indigestible plants into edible, storable proteins: milk, cheese, and meat. We are part of a long tradition.

Plant photosynthesis uses the sun's energy to combine carbon dioxide and water into simple sugars.

Through photosynthesis, plants store the sun’s energy as simple sugars, which form the foundation of all our food. Photosynthesis makes life as we know it on Earth possible. Talk about a superpower!

How do our cows take advantage of that? Their special stomachs can digest grass and other plants that we can't.

A ruminant has four stomach compartments, each with a different role in digesting plant fiber.

A ruminant has four stomach compartments. The “rumen” is like a fermentation vat: it’s filled with microorganisms that can break down plant cellulose. (When a cow chews her "cud", she regurgitates softened plant fiber from the rumen and mixes it with saliva to further aid digestion—then she swallows it again!)

But a cow needs a lot of pasture plants—130 pounds a day! So we need to manage our pastures to keep both plants and our cows healthy.

2. Grazing Grass

We maintain a nutritious “salad” of pasture plants—a mix of grasses and protein-rich legumes like red, white, and ladino clover—through "managed" or “rotational” grazing. This involves grazing cows briefly but intensively on small sections of fenced pasture. Each section is then given time to regrow before it’s grazed again.

If grazing is unmanaged, cows quickly eat any new growth (especially of their favorite greens). Plants are continously stressed as they use up root energy to try to grow back. Eventually they can weaken and die, exposing soil.

During peak grazing season, we move our milking cows to a fresh strip of pasture each day and night, after each milking. For animals with lower nutritional demands (immature heifers, nonmilking “dry” cows, beef cows, and sheep), we use a variety of grazing rotations.

130 acres of pasture near the milking parlor are reserved for our milking cows. You can see how we subdivide the pasture into grazing sections.

With managed grazing, the land and animals support each other: the cows fertilize the plants; the plants nourish healthy cows; and a web of roots enrich the soil and store carbon.

In addition to pastures, we mechanically harvest 600 acres of fields to store feed for winter (see our Haying 101 blog), and supplement that with purchased non-GMO grain.

It all adds up to great nutrition for cows to make... milk!

3. It's A Cow's Life

Like all mammal moms, a dairy cow makes milk to feed her babies. So every cow has to have a calf in order to give milk. Over centuries, dairy cows have been bred to make a lot more milk than their babies can consume. We use the rest.

Each dairy cow is bred to have a calf annually. She makes the most milk right after calving and the least toward the end of her lactation cycle. We stop milking her to let her rest at least two months before she calves again. Our average cow has a calf every 13.5 months.

A Brown Swiss cow makes an average of 6 gallons of milk a day for 8-10 months.

The nutrient-rich “colostrum” milk that a cow produces right after giving birth is not used in cheesemaking. It is fed to her calf to help strengthen the calf’s immune system and give it a healthy start in life.

4. Milking It

Our staff milks the cows twice a day, at 4:30AM and 3:30PM.

At each milking, 12 cows at a time file into the parlor and line up with their rears facing a recessed pit. From the pit, the milker preps each cow. She carefully checks each cow’s udder to make sure everything looks healthy, then disinfects each teat with a paper towel (one per cow) before attaching the milk machine.

Anatomy of our milking parlor.

It takes 5-7 minutes for each cow to be milked.

As that's happening, 12 more cows file down the other side of the pit to be prepped. When a cow from the first group finishes milking, the machine is “swung over” to a cow on the other side. Once one side is done, they’re released and a new group files in.

Cows like routine, so they move through the parlor readily, guided by the milker, who also controls manual gates to help usher cows in and out.

The milker can milk about 100 cows in two hours.

Each morning, a cheesemaker retrieves the milk from that morning and the previous evening. It’s a chance to hear from the dairy staff about how the cows are doing, and get any updates that might impact cheesemaking.

So there you have it: From sun to cheese! (Making cheddar is a related story you can read about.)

105

Milking cows produce the milk for our cheddar cheese. We have an additional 90-100 young stock, as well as a few beef cows and 80 sheep ewes.

5. Farming's Future

We believe livestock play a valuable role in sustainable food systems, but we are always asking, "How can we do better?"

We're proud to be a grass-based dairy since the early 1990s. Prioritizing pastures over grain to feed our cows means using fewer inputs and resources. The permanent pastures protect water quality, and our constructed wetlands help absorb manure nutrients directly from our barns and parlor.

So what does “better” look like?

As we aim to achieve net zero here by 2028 (capturing more greenhouse gases than we emit), we’re joining partner organizations to experiment, adapt, and research climate solutions at the dairy, where cow burps and cow manure emit greenhouse gases, mostly methane.

Managed grazing: Our pasture sod and root structures store carbon and will help absorb intense rainfalls, but could they store more carbon?

Diet: We’re feeding our cows a linseed-based supplement and looking into encouraging high-fiber pasture plants to try to reduce methane emissions.

Silvopasture: We’re planting trees in pastures to store more carbon (also grazing cows among existing stands). But trees don’t grow overnight.

Manure management: Can adding biochar (a charcoal-like substance) to liquid manure reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

We’ve found a way to support grassland birds within our dairy system. After a long decline, populations of Bobolinks and Savannah Sparrows (pictured) have rebounded here, thanks to a 20-year research partnership that encouraged us to adjust our haying schedule to give these birds a window to successfully reproduce.

Where does your food come from? How is it grown? Who makes it? Understanding food systems is critical to shaping the future of farming. Our dairy—and entire farm—prompts students to ask questions like these. By seeking and learning the answers, they’ll help build the sustainable food systems of the future.

This story is based on the Sun to Cheese Exhibit in our cheese viewing area. Come visit it yourself, mid-May to mid-October.

Holly Brough

Cheddar

Food & Farming

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24 Hours at the Dairy

Our dairy team works every day to make high quality milk from healthy cows raised on pasture. See just some of what they do from pre-dawn to dusk to achieve that goal, and to share the world of dairy farming with others.

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Haying 101

There’s never a quiet time of year for dairy farmers, but haying season can be especially busy. Here's a breakdown of how haying works.

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Meet One of the Herd: Daisy

Farm cows are work animals with one role: to make milk for our farmhouse cheddar. But as Renée LaCoss, herdsman at our Dairy for 15 years shares, bonds develop.

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Celebrating Our 2024 4-H Team

aestey — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 20:20:42 +0000

Celebrating Our 2024 4-H Team aestey Tue, 08/20/2024 - 16:20

It's showtime!

For many years, Shelburne Farms has organized a 4-H club, The Shelburne Explorers. Participants—future farmers, aspiring veterinarians, and young animal lovers—learn about and work closely with Shelburne Farms' herd of Brown Swiss cows.

In April, each 4-H participant picks a calf to call their own for the season: they care for their calf, train it, and show their stuff to panels of expert judges at fairs around the region throughout the summer.

4-H youth work hard in the weeks leading up to the first show, learning to halter, lead, and bathe their cows so they're show-ready. Says agricultural educator Susie Gilmore, "As group leaders, we support and help where needed, but with the motto of 'learn by doing,' 4-Hers do almost all of it themselves."

Andrea Estey

4-Her Avery gives her calf a pre-training pep talk.
Andrea Estey

4-Her Emma. Her reason for joining? "I just love animals."
Robin Turnau

4-H Explorer Noa shows off his cow to visitors. Noa, a high school senior, is an aspiring large animal vet.

What is 4-H?

4-H is a federal program cooperatively developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Extension system, and local communities. The mission of all 4-H programs is to help young people become self-directing, productive, and contributing members of society by learning practical skills and developing leadership potential.

Having your calf (and yourself) looking tip-top in the show ring is the goal, explains Susie. 4-H members get their calves ready by fluffing their tails, making a perfect topline, shining their coats, and even applying a coat of hoof polish to their toes.

Here are a few photo highlights from this summer's shows. (Champlain Valley Expo is still to come!) While blue ribbons are nice, as Susie explains, it's the joy, hard work, and life lessons earned through 4-H that make it such a powerful program.

Congratulations, 2024 team!

Susie Gilmore

The Shelburne Explorers 4-H squad kicked off the 2024 show season in July with the Multi County 4-H Dairy show in Fair Haven, Vermont.
Susie Gilmore

Naptime in the barn after a long day of showing.
Susie Gilmore

Noa, John, Jordan, Emma, and Avery with their calves at the Multi County 4-H Dairy show.
Susie Gilmore

At Addison County Field Days in early August. Jordan (with South Dakota), Noa (with New York), and John (with Yule) outside the ring awaiting their yearling class show.
Susie Gilmore

On left, Noa and his calf Missouri earned Junior Champion Brown Swiss at Addison County Field Days. Noa and his winter calf won reserve Junior Champion. On right, the leaders who make the team possible (minus Shelburne Farms herdsman Renee).

Andrea Estey

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The Power of 4-H

Shelburne Explorers 4-Hers select a calf in the spring, then work with it all summer long to show at fairs.They learn so much about commitment, perseverance, and other life lessons. And they get to snuggle with calves.

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Connecting Students to Vermont's Dairy Farms

June is National Dairy Month, and we're highlighting a longtime program connecting farmer and students: Dairy in the Classroom.

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August 21, 2024

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What on the Farm? Three Sisters Garden

aestey — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:56:50 +0000

What on the Farm? Three Sisters Garden aestey Fri, 08/02/2024 - 09:56

Judy Dow, in striped shirt at center, speaks with educators in the Three Sisters garden. (Photo: Andrea Estey)

Around the south side of our Farm Barn is the Children’s Farmyard Garden, full of plants to taste, smell, and touch: sweet cherry tomatoes, tart ground cherries, fragrant herbs, fuzzy lamb’s ears, and more. We’re honored that, for four years, the garden has also hosted a trio of heirloom crops planted by our partners at Gedakina.

This triumvirate of plants—corn, beans, and squash—is called the Three Sisters. These three crops have been companion planted by Indigenous peoples in North, Central, and South America for millenia! When grown together, each plant has a mutually beneficial role to play in the growth and flourishing of the others. Gedakina’s executive director Judy Dow explains the Three Sisters (plus one):

Corn is planted first in the center of the plot. Corn provides a stalk for the beans to climb.

Beans are planted next, at least two weeks later, in a circle around the corn. Beans, as a legume, put nitrogen back into the soil, helping the other plants thrive.

Squash is planted last in the outermost circle. Squash provides shade that helps prevent the soil from drying out, while its prickly leaves keep predators away.

Sunflowers, the Fourth Sister, are planted along either end of the garden bed. Sunflowers distract birds from eating the corn, pull heavy metals from the soil, and serve as a windbreak. Ants help to herd aphids onto the sunflowers, increasing the production of the other plants.

Together, the family of plants in a Three Sisters garden create a healthy, balanced, self-sustaining ecosystem that both provides food and gives back to the soil, Judy says. This reflects the wisdom of traditional farming methods, which recognize and celebrate the ways in which all living things are interconnected and interdependent.

“Three Sisters: A Healthy Ecosystem” tapestry by Judy Dow. On right, you can see the way that bean vines climb the corn. (Photos: Sarah Webb and Andrea Estey)

Gedakina will share the seeds that these Three Sisters produce with other Indigenous gardens around the Northeast. Through this collaboration, it’s our hope that the plot will serve as both education and inspiration to learners of all ages, spreading the wisdom of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

Fiber hemp grows in Gedakina's plots, alongside tobacco and medicinal flowers like calendula, coneflower, and yarrow. (Photo: Andrea Estey)

In addition to the sisters, you’ll see several other crops planted by Gedakina staff in the Children’s Farmyard garden, including tobacco and fiber hemp. Tobacco is considered sacred by many Indigenous people and is grown here for use in ceremonies.

As for fiber hemp, it has been cultivated for centuries for its slender, strong, durable fibers, explains Gedakina staff member Jen Daniels. Once dried and processed, the fibers can be used for textiles, weavings, animal bedding, even building insulation! Hemp also sequesters carbon at a higher rate compared to other crops and even young forests, and its deep root systems are able to clean soils, a process known as bioremediation.

Stop by to see, learn from, and enjoy the Three Sisters on your next visit to the Children’s Farmyard!

Andrea Estey

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August 2, 2024

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Biochar: A Climate Solution?

hbrough — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 17:57:25 +0000

Biochar: A Climate Solution? hbrough Mon, 07/08/2024 - 13:57

Anyone reading about climate change will have heard any number of technologies hyped as “silver bullets” that will “solve” this crisis. These include solutions to fossil fuel dependency like nuclear energy, directly capturing carbon from the air, and drastic measures such as geoengineering.

The reality, of course, is that there are no “silver bullets.” Instead, we need to really understand how different solutions, working together, can support a process of lowering emissions, starting locally but with wider climate and ecosystem benefits.

My father, Marshall Webb, who inspired Shelburne Farms to commit to beyond net zero emissions by removing more carbon than we emit by 2028, believed in working locally to demonstrate how reducing emissions was possible, and to do it in ways that aligned with other local needs. And though he was incredibly passionate about biochar, he knew it wasn’t—and isn’t—a “silver bullet.” It is a climate solution that can complement and expand the impact of everything the farm is already doing: grass-based dairy management, woodlands management to support high sequestration of carbon, and finding new energy solutions for the building and operations’ reliance on fossil fuels.

What about biochar is so exciting?

One reason Marshall was so interested in biochar is that he loved trees and soil. Biochar is made from, and can potentially benefit both.

Biochar is a kind of charcoal. It is made by heating biomass, like tree trimmings or plants, in an oxygen-limited environment so that the carbon naturally stored in these plants is trapped in the biochar left behind, not released into the air. Once added to soil, biochar keeps that carbon stored for years (potentially hundreds or thousands of years). Biochar is known as a “negative emissions technology” because of this sequestration.

There are additional co-benefits: research has shown it can improve soil quality, reduce fertilizer use, increase crop yields, remediate depleted soil and even help to stop run-off into lakes. This is because biochar’s porous surface area holds a lot of spaces for nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that might otherwise be released into soils and water. It is being tried in places that have problems with long-lasting chemicals like PFAS.

In May 2024, we received about 100 yards of biochar from Standard Biocarbon in Maine, which Sam applies here to our earthen manure pit.

But biochar has its own carbon footprint that we need to understand more fully through a life cycle analysis. Some questions include:

What feedstock is being used? Was the biochar made from waste wood from the lumber industry? (potentially good) Cutting trees? (definitely bad)
What energy is required to process, chip, and transport the feedstock?
What energy are we using to use and spread it on soils?

At Shelburne Farms, when we buy biochar we look for producers that adhere to national and international standards. We have also made demonstration batches of biochar using our own waste wood and plants.

Applying biochar toward our net zero goal and more

We’ve recently updated our baseline emissions data to help us better understand the role that each building and product (like our cheese) has on our net zero goal, and where solutions lie. Buildings and the dairy make up the biggest share of emissions to date. In buildings we can reduce emissions by heating and cooling with geothermal and decarbonised electricity instead of fossil fuels or biomass. At the dairy, where cows produce methane as they digest and decomposing manure produces methane and nitrous oxide, climate solutions are less tried-and-tested, so we have more work to do in understanding and applying them effectively.

Applying a shipment of biochar to one of our dairy manure pits in August 2023.

Biochar is one piece of the puzzle we are trying to understand. Dairy manager Sam Dixon has used different types of biochar to reduce ammonia (and potentially methane) in the manure. In late May, we applied the latest batch from Standard Biocarbon to our manure pits. At the Market Garden, Josh Carter has applied biochar to the chicken coop and compost. Beyond informally observing its impact on soil fertility, chicken health, or dairy odors, however, we seek R&D partners to truly measure and understand biochar’s role in our farm system, and in mitigating climate change.

We've conducted small-scale experiments making our own biochar from waste wood, but most of the agricultural biochar we use is from outside sources.

We’re most interested in the potential for biochar in:

liquid manure to reduce odors and methane
bedded pack for the chickens and cows for reducing nitrous oxide emissions while keeping animals healthy
feed additives for reducing enteric emissions
creating educational opportunities about our biochar applications
partnering or sharing information with others who are working on similar applications

Through actively sharing our own biochar story, and seeking research partners, we are part of what is needed on climate action today: proactively seeking solutions, debunking the myth of silver bullets, and bringing our learning to all audiences.

How does what we do on Shelburne Farms link to bigger impact?

Despite the promising potential of biochar highlighted in scientific research, the large-scale commercialization of high-value biochar products has been relatively slow and limited so far. We cannot expect farmers or others to adopt a nascent product that hasn’t been fully designed for high performance at the right costs for their needs. Still, we’ve found inspiration from an Irish project "Farm Zero C" and research by University of Wisconsin and many conversations with biochar networks, producers and experts.

Experts say a coordinated public-private effort is needed to advance the industry. By sharing what we do, we hope to be part of that effort, which continues to be hampered by:

Lack of Established High-Value Markets: While research points to potential uses in everything from construction materials to animal feed, there is a lack of proven large-scale demand and established markets for these higher-value biochar products currently. The low-risk agricultural applications remain the primary commercial outlet.
Pricing Challenges: Like any early stage industry, prices fetched by biochar for soil amendment and other agricultural uses may not be high enough to support rapid scaling of production capacity.
Regulatory Uncertainty: Regulatory uncertainty around biochar production, certification standards and approved applications in certain regions could be hindering commercialization of new products. Standards in Europe for food grade biochar exist, for instance, but aren’t applied across the US.
Need for Further R&D: While the research is promising, some argue further R&D may still be needed to optimize biochar production processes, characterize product properties, and validate performance for specific high-value applications before companies invest heavily.

Shelburne Farms can’t solve these challenges that face the biochar industry, but we can be part of communities that are working to overcome them and contribute our own learning. Shelburne Farms offers a unique opportunity to showcase the use of biochar as a negative carbon technology, in its own practices at the dairy and market garden. If you’re interested in what we’re doing, please get in touch.

Additional resources:

US Biochar Initiative
US Biochar Coalition
The European Biochar Industry Consortium
"This simple farming technique can capture carbon for thousands of years," Grist Magazine, August 22, 2024

Molly Webb

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This is a thoughtful exploration of biochar as part of a multifaceted climate strategy! I appreciate how you emphasize the importance of local solutions and the need for thorough analysis of biochar’s life cycle. It’s encouraging to see initiatives that prioritize both carbon sequestration and soil health. Excited to see the results!

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July 11, 2024

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24 Hours at the Dairy

hbrough — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 20:20:37 +0000

24 Hours at the Dairy hbrough Mon, 06/17/2024 - 16:20

4:45 am Renee is already milking. She lines up 12 cows on a side, cleans their teats with an iodine dip, then attaches the cups. Country music radio twangs, occasionally in rhythm to the pulse of the milk pump. The station helps Renee track her progress. “At 6am every morning, they play the National Anthem,” she explains. “I know I should be on my fifth set of cows by then.” She urges cows into position, “Move along… Come on...” and the cows respond. They’re used to the routine, and to Renee, who knows each by name. There’s Ethel: “She’s my special cow,” Renee says. And Cayenne: “She doesn’t like being next to the gate.” Petunia: “Her mom was Daisy, my favorite cow.” And Faith: “Everyone in her family poops in the parlor—her mother, her sister, her grandmother. It’s a family tradition.” On to the next set. 110 cows total.

5:15 am While Renee milks, Megan tends to calf chores. A dozen calves are currently in the calf barn, including two bulls destined for a 4H family looking for an oxen pair. One more calf, born overnight, is still in the maternity barn with his mom Averil. Megan hops into the pen with one calf to encourage it to nurse from the nursing bucket. “She’s just off the bottle yesterday, so she’s not used to it,” Megan explains. “The milk flows faster from the bucket teats.” With Megan’s attention, the calf adjusts in no time.

7:15 am Alyssa arrives to haul the milk to our cheesemaking facility. She carefully disassembles, cleans, and reassembles many metal bits and parts to maintain food safety while pumping the milk from the holding tank to the truck’s tank. Today’s haul is 5,174 lbs, which she determines by dipping a metal measuring stick into the holding tank, then consulting a chart to convert that figure. It takes about 10 minutes to empty the tank. “Since I’m not a cheesemaker, this is my connection to the milk,” Alyssa says.

8:24 am After the cows are fed grain in the barn, Megan gators up to the top of the cow lane to let them onto a fresh pasture, where they’ll graze until afternoon milking. Earlier in the morning, Megan applied fresh green paint to the tail ends of several cows. These cows are now under watch for coming into heat. When they do, they’ll be bred to have another calf.

8:41 am Renee wraps up cleaning the parlor so it’ll be set for afternoon milking. The timing is a bit late because the new mom, Averil, was brought down to be milked after all the others. Her colostrum-rich milk will be separated out for the next few days to be fed to her calf. Finally, Renee can break for breakfast.

9:34 am Mo has loaded the gator up with several rolls of electric fence and lots of metal stakes to divide “Pasture 50” into seven sections for our rotational grazing system. Students often ask how Mo knows how much pasture to give cows. "Experience," she shrugs. She spools out a line of fence in six separate passes through the field; adding stakes on each return trip. On this cool morning, with views west to the lake and south to the Farm Barn, it’s easy to see why she calls this chore “my favorite thing to do.” “It’s just so peaceful,” she says, “and I love that the cows are going to get great feed.”

12:30 pm A small flock of “geocollared” sheep are moved to a new pasture. They’re part of a “Nofence” research project of the Agritech Institute. A “Nofence” system allows farmers to track each animal’s movement and keep them all in a defined area without fencing. “The black collars work with satellite imaging to create boundaries for the animals,” explains Renee. “They get a little buzz if they’re on top of the line for too long, and they figure it out pretty quickly.” The pros for farmers: they can update pasture boundaries through a phone app instead of manually moving electric fencing to rotationally graze animals. But, we do need one electric perimeter fence to keep out predators.

2:00 pm Two cows who recently tested pregnant rejoin the “teenage” herd in pasture. These females have a genetic Brown Swiss lineage that the team wants to preserve in the herd, so they were artificially inseminated by Brown Swiss bulls. (We breed other cows with Angus or other stock, then sell their offspring or raise them for meat.) The rowdy, welcoming moos start as soon as the herd sees the trailer nearing the field.

2:30 pm The summer camp counselors, already in training, learn the ins and outs of our working farm. They visit the Dairy to meet the staff (and herd), where they learn about the history of the dairy, land and herd management, and even help out with calf chores (giving the youngest member of the herd feed, water, milk, and new bedding).

Sarah Webb
Sarah Webb
Sarah Webb

4:00 pm Our daily Sun to Cheese Tours connect visitors to the cheesemaking process: from the pastures to the cows, to the milk and cheesemakers. The tour stops at the Dairy just in time for the "cow parade", when the milking herd comes down the lane after a day of grazing for their afternoon milking. The tour group asks Megan and tour guide Dianne questions in the milking parlor, while Mo handles the last milking of the day.

5:49 pm If you’ve ever trained a dog to walk on a leash, you can imagine the patience and care it takes to train an animal as large as a calf to do the same. Getting a cow to walk on a rope lead with their head held high is step one for youth in 4-H. In a little over a month, they’ll each get a chance to show their cows, selected from our herd of Brown Swiss, to a panel of expert judges at the Addison County Fair & Field Days. Renee and Megan stand by as 4-Hers Avery, Noah, and Emma (pictured) each catch and harness their cows and parade them in slow loops around the dairy. Avery, Megan’s daughter, is the only one with a family in farming; Noah and Emma are here because of their love of animals. How do you choose your show cow? “I picked the prettiest one this time,” says Emma, who is in her third year of 4-H. “My first cow, Sassy…let’s just say she lived up to her name.” Emma’s hoping to go into the healthcare field after high school; Noah wants to be a large animal vet.

6:46 pm The last cow leaves the barn for evening pasture, where the herd will spend the night. She lets out a low moo as if to say, “Where did all my friends go?” Renee replies, “Keep walking!”

7:57 pm The day draws to an end. Night check is underway—Renee will make sure the milk lines are clean, water buckets are filled, and the doors are closed on the calf barn—while the milking herd enjoys a sunset snack out on pasture.

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This was awesome!

4 Hers work with calfs not cows!

Love this!!

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June 27, 2024

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Adapting to changing weather

hbrough — Tue, 07 May 2024 14:02:17 +0000

Adapting to changing weather hbrough Tue, 05/07/2024 - 10:02

"How are you responding to the more unpredictable weather patterns brought on by climate change?"

We asked each of our land managers this question. Here are their answers.

Josh Carter, Market Gardener

"When growing vegetables, fruits, and flowers outside, you are at the will of mother nature, but we are adapting to less predictable weather patterns in three major ways:

Improving our soil health and resilience
Growing more crops under the protection of tunnels (unheated hoop structure with plastic cover)
Growing a diversity of crops over the entire season

To improve soil health, we till less often and less destructively (more shallow); we seed cover crops (winter rye, hairy vetch, clover, ryegrass, buckwheat, oats, peas) when we are not growing cash crops (veggies) to keep the soil alive; we cover soil with silage tarps when we can't grow anything; we rotate crops and fields so pests and diseases don't build up; and we add farm-made compost to improve the soil’s fertility, biology, and structure.

Inside high tunnels, we have more control of the climate. It is easier to keep the plants warm and dry, and the soil watered and fertile. Tunnels also lengthen the season so we can start growing crops earlier, keep them growing later into the fall, and keep plants alive in the winter. Tunnels do pose their own problems: they can get too hot, and pests and diseases can build up, but we can manage for this.

We grow over 50 different types of vegetables during the season and sow multiple successions of many crops (like beets, carrots, lettuce, kale, cucumbers, zucchini, beans). This gives us better odds of being successful when the climate does not provide the best growing conditions. If one crop does not do well–like seeding carrots before a hot dry spell in July, another crop may be thriving under these conditions (e.g. tomatoes, watermelons).

Sam Dixon, Dairy Manager

"Two or three years ago, I changed my thinking about how I was going to do my job. We were used to scheduling work based on seasonal patterns or traditions, and I realized that that wasn't doable anymore. Things were too unpredictable. Instead, we just have to do things when we can do them, looking no more than a couple months out.

The 2023 season was a great example of that. The first cut of hay used to happen around Memorial Day. But all our equipment was ready to go on May 11 and the grass was ready to go, too. So we said, “Let's go!” And we went out and made 1,300 bales of really nice hay by the first of June, before it started raining. Every farmer who waited got caught and couldn't make hay.

Another example from 2023: Normally, you don't spread a lot of manure in April. You wait until after the first cut. But in 2023, April was really dry, and the ground was ready to go. So I got our custom operators to spread a third of the manure that we normally spread throughout the whole year. And I was so glad I did that because the summer was so wet. If we had waited, the manure pits would have been over full and we wouldn't have been able to get on the land. We would have had a problem.

We also need to be flexible in how we manage the dairy cows, based on the conditions. Several times this past summer, we kept the cows in for three or four days because the pastures were so wet. And when it’s really hot, we bring the cows into the barn during the day and put fans on them to keep them cool, and turn them out at night.

One final part of climate uncertainty is that we have been utilizing a lot more land than a farm our size would necessarily need. We’re fortunate that way–we have the land–and it gives us a cushion to bail up extra grass in a dry year.

Basically, we have to be thinking ahead, watching the weather, and be ready to respond quickly when conditions are right. We can’t put anything off because you don't know what's going to happen next. No more counting on seasonal patterns. When you can do things, you have to go out and get them done.

Dana Bishop, Woodlands Manager

On some level, a lot of our trees are resilient to various weather events because they're native. They’ve been here for a long time and they've been through it. They are probably a bit more hardy than a garden crop. If there’s a drought, say, I feel like the trees are resilient enough to deal with it. (And I can't water the whole forest!). But when you start layering on multiple stresses, like drought coupled with disease, the trees are definitely going to take a hit. That's going to be harder to manage.

And that's where we need to start being really mindful of having that next generation of healthy trees ready to take over. But it's not always clear what the next generation is going to be here. A lot of our forest stands are very mature and have a closed canopy, so there’s not much sunlight on the forest floor. That means there’s not much of an understory of pole-sized oaks and hickories that are ready to take over.

But at the same time, when we’re marking trees for harvest in the forest stands, we think about how we can favor the more climate adaptive species, like the oaks and hickories. So we might cut some trees away from these species to give them more space to grow. And in the new Marshall Woods area, we're planting trees that are more climate adapted.

As for sugaring, right now we just need to be ready to tap early. This year we had our taps in by early January and we could probably have tapped even earlier and gotten earlier sap runs. But then again, if you tap really early, the tap holes will start closing in like six to eight weeks, so you’ll get less sap flow later in the season. And that early schedule also means we have to rethink the seasonality of our jobs. Because typically we are cutting firewood and doing stand work in December or January, not sugaring. My job kind of marches with the seasons, and as those seasons are changing, we haven't quite changed our march yet. But I feel like it will become clearer. And right now we’re in a good groove.

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Excellent explanations of climate-driven decision making.

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The Flavors of Maple Syrup Grades Explained

hbrough — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 19:24:12 +0000

The Flavors of Maple Syrup Grades Explained hbrough Tue, 03/19/2024 - 15:24

Sarah Webb

This year, our sugaring season started February 5th–the earliest day ever–and we're still going as of March 19th. As we soon turn to bottling the sweet syrup, here’s what you need to know to choose the perfect syrup for your taste.

Maple syrup grades reflect the liquid’s clarity, density, color, and flavor. Clarity and density are the same across all grades (density is a measure of sugar content). So it really comes down to color and flavor.

“Color” is a measure of how much light gets through the syrup. (Golden has a light transmission at or above 75%. Dark ranges between 25% and 50%). Flavor is, well, maple flavor! Loosely speaking, the darker the color, the stronger the maple flavor.

Grade A | Golden Color, Delicate Taste

People love the golden color and the light maple taste of this grade. Although for some people, the flavor is not maple-y enough, for others, it’s just right! Think ice cream drizzle or cocktail amendment. We didn’t make any Golden in 2024.

Grade A | Amber Color, Rich Taste

This is, generally speaking, a crowd favorite because of its classic “maple syrup” color and its smooth maple flavor, usually produced mid-season.

Grade A | Dark Color, Robust Taste

As sugaring days become warmer and longer, the syrup’s flavor shifts becoming stronger and more intense. Its color changes, too. Natural microorganisms build up in the lines and they break down the sap sugar into different types of sugar that caramelize more quickly during boiling, so the resulting syrup is darker. This strong maple flavor lends itself to meat glazes, baking recipes, or drizzled on waffles, pancakes, or oatmeal.

Grade A | Very Dark, Strong Taste

The last of the grades, this syrup has a color almost like molasses, with a flavor that holds up well in cooking and in marinades, though you might not prefer it over ice cream. We don’t make Very Dark.

Carey Nershi

Why no Grade B? The international grading system that Vermont was the first to adopt in 2015 eliminated “Grade B” because people understandably assumed that Grade B syrup was lower quality. It wasn’t. It was produced with the same standards as Grade A syrup. It just tasted different.

That’s the lowdown. Our friends at Butternut Mountain Farm have a great guide to the grades, too, but really, as you choose your syrup, just remember two things:

1. To echo what our cheesemaker Andi Wandt recently said about cheddar: “Eat it with what you like, the way you like, and most importantly, have fun with it!” In particular, you may enjoy some of these recipes!

2. Thank the sugar maples that make the sap where it all begins.

Recipes

Recipes to Celebrate the Sugaring Season

Our 2021 sugaring season has officially begun, and we’re celebrating by sharing four delicious recipes.

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Maple Sugaring as the Climate Changes

What does sugaring in a changing climate look like? For us, right now, it looks like... just sugaring. But that’s not to say all is healthy in the woods.

Holly Brough

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