Manitowoc County Discovery Farms Project Area, Site 2
Name of farm:
Saxon Homestead Farm, LLC
Discovery Farm since:
Original sites: Fall 2004, 3 surface water and 1 tile site -- all discontinued in Fall 2007
Supplementary sites: Fall 2007, 2 surface water and 1 tile site; Fall 2008, 1 surface water site
Family:
Karl and Elizabeth Klessig family
Robert and Kathleen Block-Klessig family
Gerald and Elise Klessig-Heimerl family
Location:
West of Cleveland, Manitowoc County, WI
Enterprises:
Milk
Corn, forage, and other crops for on-farm feeding
Management intensive rotational grazing
Specialty cheese from Creamery
Farm photo tour - view here
Research and advisory team:
Dennis Frame, UW Discovery Farms
Fred Madison, UW Discovery Farms
Eric Cooley, UW Discovery Farms
Aaron Wunderlin, UW Discovery Farms
Research opportunities:
This farm was chosen to represent rotational grazing, medium-scale dairy operations that have associated cropland. Farm location is in the Great Lakes Basin and a region once glaciated.
Gentle to moderate sloping (2-6 percent slopes) landscape and field configurations led to large (495 to 641 acre) watershed upstream/downstream design mainly controlled and farmed by participant. Subsequent research was comprised of smaller (5 to 15 acre) watersheds completely controlled and farmed by participant. Ideal for studying this farming system.
Nutrient and soil sediment loss in surface and tile-line discharge of fields with grazing manure deposition and liquid dairy manure applications.
Conservation practices:
Follows USDA -- 590 nutrient management standards -- phosphorus based
Grassed waterways
Manure storage system
Monitoring in place:
Edge-of-field surface and tile drainage water monitoring stations, placed at lower end of grazing paddock waterways. Three surface and one tile site are in place, each collecting water from a unique watershed that is 100 percent farmed and controlled by participating farmer. Watershed sizes range between 5 and 15 acres.
A paired surface water and tile-line site for overwintering cattle plus two other surface sites for monitoring runoff quality, as impacted by a 12+ year history of rotational grazing. Manure is applied to paddocks in summer after cutting. Manure is held in a pit when conditions warrant no spreading.
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