We all know that cows love grass, but some people don’t know how much grass loves cows!
That’s right, the grass loves the cows at least as much, if not more than the cows love the grass. Grass needs to have animals living on it to stay healthy. In a Kentucky pasture, animals find a rich mix of grass, forbs, and legumes, all of which depend fully on healthy, productive soil.
When cows – and sheep, chickens, pigs, and other animals – eat from the pasture, old growth is removed, making room for new, nutritious grass to grow. When animals can walk, stomp, play, peck, scratch, root, and roll in the pasture, they push old grass, manure, and new seeds into the soil. That’s what makes for a fertile green pasture.
Animals do all this work naturally. They are made to eat, live on and forage in grass. But without a little help from a farmer, the animals wouldn’t know when to stop. If there are too many animals in too little space, without movement, then they will eat the young grass before it is ready, put down more manure than the grass can use, and trample so much that the soil washes away. This situation is not good for the pasture or animals, and it pollutes streams, rivers, and even the air we breathe.
That’s why good farmers and good farming are so important. Farmers work hard to keep their animals moving and working in harmony with their pastures. Our efforts as farmers and processors focus first on our soil, which leads to healthy grass, which leads to healthy animals, which provide the high-quality Marksbury Farm Market products you enjoy on your plate.