From Barn to Pasture
- Laura Wayte
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
The Farm's Annual Spring Migration
After months sheltered in the "living barn," the farm is buzzing with anticipation. The fields are greening up, the mud is slowly retreating, and everyone — two-legged and four-legged alike — is ready to head back outside.
"This is the time of the year where we are waiting expectantly for the fields to become dry enough to put animals on," says farm co-owner John Deck. Planning sessions are underway, and the team is busy training students on every step of the transition.
The Spring Dance
For the dairy herd, the return to pasture is less a single event than an ongoing negotiation with the weather. Cows have been getting outside as much as possible these last weeks of winter, but weather conditions call the shots.
"In the dairy during the spring, we call it the 'spring dance,'" John explains. "The cows might go out into the field to graze a few days, and then if we get two days of hard rain, we bring them back into the barn. We might go back and forth during the month of March several times, just waiting for the weather to get just right."
The cows and pigs spent winter in the barn — protected from the elements, and just as importantly, protecting the fields from compaction and damage. The laying hen trailers, which move to fresh ground every seven days during the rest of the year, stayed put through the cold, wet months.
Four Steps to Moving Out
Farm manager Raul Lopez oversees the process, which follows five essential steps:
Weather must be reliably warmer
Pastures need to have adequate forage growth
Infrastructure — electric fencing, water, and minerals — must be set up in each paddock
Animals need to be sorted into appropriate herds
"I like to have those animals together that we are going to process in the next few months, for example," Raul says. "The smallest are kept apart" so they can continue to grow without competing with larger animals.
Once the pieces are in place, the farm's rotational grazing system kicks in: after the cows graze a section, the laying hens follow close behind, then the pigs — each species playing a role in the land's natural cycle.
The grazing team isn't only readying the home farm. The operation leases roughly 500 acres of additional land for sheep, cows, and pigs — all of it requiring careful preparation before animals can safely graze.
One key concern? The pastures themselves. Dairy lead Summer Price explains that lush spring grass, as inviting as it looks, can actually pose a health risk.
"You'd think that was a complete positive, but cattle can get grass tetany — a magnesium deficiency from rapidly growing forage," she says. To get ahead of the issue, they have stocked up on minerals and supplements to support the herd as they head into the season's richest grazing.
Planning with Paper, Pen, and Magnets
Walk into the pack barn during planning season, and you'll find the farm's high-tech command center: a laminated aerial photo of the property, a handful of magnets, and a marker.
"We plan using a laminated aerial photo of the farm with magnets, and we write down the different herd names and stick them on the photo where they're going to be and on what dates," John says.
It's a deceptively simple system for a genuinely complex puzzle. With hundreds of animals across multiple species, the question becomes: Where does everyone go?
"Where are we gonna graze all those layers? Where are we going to graze all those pigs? Where are we gonna graze all those cows? We like to have a plan in place for the season so we know roughly where everybody's going to go."
But the best plan is only a starting point. As John puts it, this is less a science than an art — one that requires reading the land, anticipating weather patterns, and estimating how much grass each field will actually produce. "That varies season to season," he notes.
Training the Next Generation
John and Raul bring years of experience to this puzzle, but a big part of their role is passing that knowledge on. Student farmers learn by doing — setting up electronet fencing alongside experienced team members, moving herds, installing waterers and feeders, corralling animals, and cleaning the barns and pens after moving out.
It's hands-on work, and the kind of practical education you can only get by being in the field which, soon enough, is exactly where everyone will be.
