Gotschall Shares at Conferences

Author: Michael Wunder | Published: April 9, 2018

RAYMOND – Ben Gotschall and his family aim to ensure their dairy farm operates in a way that’s cohesive with the natural order of things.

They don’t manage the land at Davey Road Ranch, he said, they manage the landscape.

That means their farm near Raymond may look a little more rustic or a bit more wild than larger-scale operations. A few more species of grasses popping up in the pastures, conservation corridors that maintain biodiversity and grazing practices that mimic the state of nature rather than the industrial efficiency of larger farms.

Like many other farmers aiming for sustainability, Gotschall wants to make sure his operation has as little impact as possible. At Lincoln’s RegeNErate conference last month, he told attendees that process starts by shifting your mindset.

“The instinct is to say, okay what can I just change about the things I’m doing so I can keep doing the exact same thing I’m doing now, only I just use a different tool or I use a different product,” he said. “Or I use a different silver bullet, so to speak.”

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