With crop margins tight, crop producers may want to consider pasture as a viable and profitable alternative to corn and bean production. 

That’s the message Meghan Filbert, livestock program manager for Practical Farmers of Iowa, is trying to get across. Filbert and Linda Shumate, who is the grazing advisor for the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, both detail pasture management practices that can lead to greater profits through livestock production, forage sales and contract grazing.

One of the first things producers need to understand with pasture management is how not to manage a pasture. Both Filbert and Shumate say that overgrazing and overstocking a pasture can be its...