Scope

 

Project Scope:

Approximately 50 commercial organic (ORG) dairies and 50 comparable non-organic grazing dairies (GRAZ) in Wisconsin will be recruited for this project. Dairy herds that have been utilizing management intensive grazing and shipping milk for at least 3 years will be eligible and invited to participate and further categorized as ORG (shipping certified organic milk) or GRAZ (not ORG). Once identified, all farms will be asked to define their preferred pasture supplementation strategy by peer category (no grain, grain—on farm sources, or grain—off farm sources). A stakeholder research advisory panel will be established for guidance on relevant data to be collected, expected outcomes, and delivery of results to interested individuals and groups. Relevant data on selected economic, production, and environmental variables will be collected during 6 scheduled visits over two grazing seasons, using a combination of questionnaires and physical samples, depending on the variable of interest.