**This article was written by Karen Breneman as a reflection on her experiences in the dairy industry and with rotational grazing. For questions or comments, please contact Kevan Klingberg with UW-Discovery Farms. He can be reached by email or phone kevan.klingberg@ces.uwex.edu or 715-983-2240.

It is the stillness I cherish. It is 5:30 AM. I am standing at the gate to let our milking herd across the road as Bob and the dogs gather them up. There is no traffic yet, the sun is a suggestion in the east, the birds are just waking, and there is a scarf of fog along the creek. These moments do not come often and do not last long; I have learned to drink them in when I can. As soon as the cows are safely across the highway I will drive to the milking parlor, set up the milking system and our day has begun with all the unexpected things which can pop up on a dairy farm. These small moments of stillness are treasures that sustain me.

Thirty-two years ago I married into a dairy farming family. My husband, Bob, his two brothers and parents ran a 400-acre, 100-cow dairy. We farmed together for twelve years, till his brothers left the farm to pursue other things. At that time, after taking stock of the dairy herd and the farm itself, Bob and I set goals for ourselves. We wanted a 19,000-pound rolling herd average for the dairy herd (above average production for that time) and enough land to sustain the herd. We adopted new technologies as they became available, both for the dairy herd and for the crops--corn and alfalfa. By 1992, we had reached our 19,000-pound goal but we and the cows were showing the stress.

We were having trouble getting the cows bred back and our cull rate was very high. We were working very hard but were no better off financially. Bob's father was no longer able to help with the crops and our son was going to college. We were losing our labor force. Something had to change.

It was at about this time that Bob went to a grazing field day at the University of Wisconsin's Arlington Research Station. There he talked to other dairy farmers who were practicing managed grazing and we decided to try it. It is the single best farming decision we have ever made.

Today, the only crop we grow is grass. Our cows are outside all day every day harvesting their own forage and spreading their own manure. They come inside the barn only long enough to be milked. Most cows breed back quickly and our cull rate is so much lower that we have extra heifers to sell. Our lives are better, too. We have eliminated nearly all the farm equipment that Bob spent so much time repairing. We have eliminated spring planting and fall harvest, and the financial returns are much greater. I do not know what our rolling herd average is now, and I don't care. Instead of concentrating on production, we now focus on profit. The unpredictability of weather, animals, and markets makes dairy farming a demanding, challenging business. There have always been times when we are overwhelmed by work and times when we love what we do. Since making the switch to grazing, there are a lot more times when we feel very, very fortunate.

The change grazing has made in our lives is so dramatic, so beneficial to us, to the cows and to the environment that we want to encourage other dairy farmers to switch to grass. A perennial grass cover all but eliminates wind and water erosion. The diverse mixture of grasses and legumes in our paddocks makes pesticide use unnecessary. The pastures provide high-quality habitat for bluebirds, bobolinks and other grassland birds. We have seen all of these environmental benefits--convincing the environmental and agricultural establishments is another matter.

This is why we have eagerly volunteered to participate in several research efforts. Together they have the potential to document what we have learned firsthand.

We are one of 14 farm/citizen members on the University of Wisconsin's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems' (CIAS) Advisory Council. Collectively, we help shape the research agenda at CIAS and meet with faculty and staff to discuss our concerns and interests. Here we hope to have far-reaching impacts on what is researched and how research is conducted. We have been impressed with the breadth of interests CIAS represents and the depth with which it treats issues important to us.

In addition, our farm is part of a multi-state study which compares the profitability of conventional dairies, large confinement dairies and grazing dairies. This study has confirmed our own experience-grazing dairies are more profitable.

We are one of eight Wisconsin grazing dairies participating in a SARE-funded study of dry matter intake, milk production, and manure production that will be used to help grazing herd develop a nutrient management plan to comply with environmental regulations.

And finally, we are part of the Discovery Farms Program. This program is an exciting, cooperative effort between the University of Wisconsin and several other agencies. Its goal is to evaluate various management practices and their impact on the environment based on research on working farms. The research will be used to write more effective and realistic environmental impact rules for agriculture. Bob and I feel it is important to have a grazing dairy in the Discovery Farms Program and were pleased when our farm was selected two years ago. Our hope is that the research results will show the benefits of grazing not only to the environment but to the dairy industry and society as a whole.

One of the studies we've been involved with looked at nitrogen cycling under managed grazing. The researchers found that shallow groundwater quality is not impacted by nitrogen from pastures, possibly because pasturing increases denitrification. Another study is looking at this issue.

As aspect of the research that especially pleases us is the involvement of our high school FFA program. Students are collecting water samples from several points along a creek which runs through our property. In addition to regular monitoring, they prepare an annual habitat assessment. We hope to have surface water monitoring equipment installed soon.

We have enjoyed meeting and working with each of the many people involved in these projects. We have in common a deep commitment to the land and to working with the environment so that agriculture can be both profitable and responsible.