[upbeat folk music]
- Inga: One of the key qualities of Kernza
that gives it extra value as a perennial crop
is that in addition to being harvested for the grain,
it can also be used as forage for livestock.
Usually, Kernza is best grazed in the fall,
a couple of months after it's been harvested
and before it goes dormant for the wintertime.
But these highland cattle are extra hungry,
so they're grazing on some Kernza late in the summer,
which is fine for Mike,
a farmer from Fall River, Wisconsin
who manages a herd of Highland beef cattle.
Mike and his wife Angie inherited these fields of Kernza
when they took over management of the farm
from John and Dorothy Priske,
who were some of the first farmers
to grow Kernza in Wisconsin.
Now that Mike and Angie
have taken over this herd from John and Dorothy,
he sees the benefits
of this deep-rooted perennial crop
in keeping his cattle well-fed.
Mike, thank you so much
for inviting me out to the fields today.
- Thanks for coming.
- Been kinda learning about Kernza
and learning about the benefits,
and I wanted to see it in a grazing situation.
Tell me a little bit about your farm here.
- So my farm here, Highland Prairie Farms,
we raise Scottish Highland cattle.
The Kernza here we use is a forage for the grazing
and we do combine some for seed and for interseeding pastures,
but for the most part, it's made into hay
and for grazing for the cattle.
- We've been in a drought where I'm at in Wisconsin.
Have you guys been dry down here as well?
- Yes, we have been drier than normal this year.
- This looks great though.
- Yes, so the Kernza, the roots, they go down I believe,
like six to seven feet. - Oh, wow!
- So they will find the moisture
that's down there.
So as far as drought tolerance,
it's just not as much of a problem.
- Is this something that you think farmers
could really incorporate into their fields for grazing?
- I believe so. - Yeah.
- I think with the root structure that goes down there,
it will always allow,
even in the worst of drought conditions,
you're going to get something that will grow,
as opposed to other pastures with shallow roots
that will just dry off and die or go dormant.
This will, it will keep growing, allowing for feed for cattle.
So it's really a neat thing for the cattle, for making hay.
It's got several purposes that I enjoy about it.
- So did you stumble into the Kernza,
was this here when you started
to farm at this farm? - Yes.
- I kinda, for me it was,
we rented this farm two years ago
and the Kernza was already planted,
and I didn't know anything about it.
And so I kinda got a crash course into what it was,
and I really was impressed by what it could be.
So for me, it was...
I'm still learning a lot about it,
but I like what I have seen so far with it.
- That's the best part about farming though,
is every day you get to learn a little bit more
about what's on your farm. - You never know
what's gonna happen next week.
[upbeat folk music]