Greener Pasture on Your Side of the Fence: Better Farming Voisin Management-Intensive Grazing (4th Edition) (Paperback)

~ Bill Murphy (Author) "Permanent pastures are amazingly complex environments, compared to row crops such as corn..." (more)
Key Phrases: pregrazing mass, pasture mass, pasture forage quality, Stockman Grass Farmer, New Zealand, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bill Murphy's book saved our farm and changed our life! It made it possible for our son to come back home to the farm, which now that it is based on pasture will support two families, rather than going bankrupt as we were when we fed in confinement. " -- Henry Forgues, Vermont dairy farmer

Product Description

This book explains in detail why and how to use management intensive grazing, and what to expect from its use for most kinds of livestock. I provide many examples to illustrate fine points, including producing milk, beef, and lamb on pasture alone, nutrient cycling, grounding energizers, recovery periods, economics, and much more. I present everything that I learned during 17 years of using Voisin management on my own farm, and answer all questions that have been asked me during conferences and farm visits with farmers. This book shows a way to increase your farm's profitability and reduce its labor demand -- thereby improving your quality of life -- while properly and responsibly caring for the land and the plants and animals that live on it.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 379 pages
• Publisher: Arriba Pub; 4th edition (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0961780738
• ISBN-13: 978-0961780739
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #409,366 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Has what it takes!, December 5, 2001

By	Georgiana C. Kotarski "Author of Ghosts of th... (Dunlap, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, January 22, 2000

By	William H R Davis (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This is a really good overview if you are interested in pasture based livestock farming. With a lot of interesting facts about pasture ecology and euqlly fascinating detials about livestock production on pasture, I think Mr Murphy has put together a good book for livestock producers to use to become acquainted with pasture-based farming.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rational vs Rotational - This concept could change your farming life forever..., August 27, 2005

By	DMB "bona fide bibliomaniac" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greener Pastures on Your Side of the Fence: Better Farming with Voisin Grazing Management (Paperback)

Challenge your thinking and change your ways. Your pastures will thrive, your animals will be healthier and you'll have more time to lay in the hammock instead of throwing hay bales around. Andre Voisin, a French farmer, biologist and chemist--as well as a teacher at the Institute of Veterinary Medicine in Paris, designed a system that he calls "rational grazing" (as opposed to the generic term "rotational grazing"). Rational grazing takes into account the needs of the animal and plant, rather than the animal alone. The term "rational grazing" can mean two things: the thinking way of grazing management, or a system for rationing out the forage. Interested? Then read the book!