Liz Ridenour--Week 8

Our sheep at WMREC.

They say that time flies when you're having fun, and I'm truly amazed by how quickly time has flown throughout this internship, with only two weeks left to go before the capstone presentations and, at least for me, a few weeks of rest and relaxation between the end of the internship and the start of my master's program at UMD this fall (although "R&R" in all likelihood is a pipe dream as I'm sure I'll find plenty of things to fill my time in those few weeks in August:)

This past week was quite busy, and in addition to the daily care of the animals at WMREC (including trapsing through the now shoulder-high pasture to set up temporary fencing with Amanda), I attended and participated in three educational events in two days from Tuesday to Wednesday, and helped at the county office with the "controlled chaos" of fair prep. 

Nutrition presentation at Dairy Day. 

On Tuesday, Amanda and I traveled to the annual Southwest Pennsylvania Regional Dairy Day in Dawson, PA, where Amanda gave a presentation on what farmers can do with alfalfa stands which are declining, such as integrating other forages into the stand for an alfalfa/grass hay or pasture, or starting afresh completely with a new crop or forage. While there, I also attended other presentations on dairy reproductive health, nutrition, and transitioning farms from one generation to the next. 

The last topic I found particularly interesting, as throughout this summer, I've been hearing a lot from farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural industry about the issues of land use. Younger farmers are struggling to acquire land in this area, and many older farmers retire or pass away and have no one to leave their land to, oftentimes meaning that land is sold and is no longer used for farming. It's a complex issue, and not one easily solved, but it was addressed very well, I thought, at the Dairy Day. 

Rob Schnabe at the silvopasture walk.

On Wednesday, Amanda and I went to a pasture walk hosted by two neighboring silvopasture farms and
organized by the Frederick County Soil Conservation District. For those not familiar with silvopasture, it is an agricultural practice whereby trees are utilized in a grazing system, not just for shade for the animals, but also for a variety of other benefits including extra forage (in cases such as locust trees, which drop edible seed pods which add nutrition to the diet of cattle and sheep) as well as overall soil health through root diversity and water retention. One farm is even planting trees which have edible value for humans, such as persimmons and serviceberries!

Sheep under solar panels at solar site.

Later Wednesday, we had our own monthly pasture walk, this time hosted at a solar grazing site in Hagerstown, run by Sara and Joe Kidd. Sara is an extension agent in Frederick County, and her and her husband run Maryland Solar Grazing Solutions, a company which contracts with solar sites to graze sheep around and under the solar panels. By grazing and browsing, the sheep keep the vegetation low around the solar panels much more efficiently and cost-effectively than by using heavy equipment, and in turn, the solar panels provide shade for the sheep. Solar grazing is an effective way of returning agriculture to farmland that has "gone solar," in a way that benefits both solar companies and shepherds. 

Participants of the solar pasture walk. 

Overall, I had a lot of interesting experiences this week, all with topics with which I'm not very familiar, such as dairy cattle, silvopasture, and solar grazing. This entire summer I've been feeling like a sponge soaking up new information, and I'm looking forward to the final stretch of this internship to continue to grow in experiences and knowledge!