From the Nation's Heartland:
Windows Into the Future of Milk

[Article by Ben Gisin]

Photo - Radiance Dairy

Merging the sciences behind grass pastures and animal husbandry with a sensitivity to the larger and complex universe of nature, Francis and Susan Thicke refine the art of dairy farming and its economics. With modesty, they acknowledge receipt of the highest score possible in a recent report card by Cornucopia Institute when it rated America’s top organic dairies.

Francis and Susan Thicke, owners of Radiance Dairy in Fairfield, Iowa, are refining and in some cases redefining dairy farming of the future. And it really comes down to the fact that not all dairies are the same, have the same cows, practice the same production practices or feed the same feed.

Radiance Dairy takes pasture grazing to a new level of freshness. The 236-acre farm is planted entirely into forages for pasture. The pastures are divided into 60 paddocks of 2 to 3 acres each with the balance of the farm in hay fields. A paddock is simply a designated area that the cows pasture each day. Thus, every day, the cows move to a new grass pasture. But the Thickes take it another step. By using portable fencing, they divide each paddock in half. The first half is for grazing after the morning milking and the second half is opened for grazing after the evening milking. Thus the cows have access to fresh grass twice a day – a standard almost unheard of in conventional industrial dairies.

To learn more about how grass makes milk special buy the March/April edition of Touch the Soil magazine at a retail outlet or subscribe online.