Farming is all about lessons.
“We did what we thought we knew to do,” says AMP farmer Cooper Hurst when referring to the $90,000 he and his wife Katie spent on fertilizer. All that money for a one-time application - and it didn’t take because it didn’t rain within a few days, and they saw no growth.
After that huge financial loss, they vowed never to look back again. They chose to go full force into AMP grazing with the hope of never having to throw away money again… and they haven’t!
The rest period that an AMP farmer adds into their practice allows the grass to dig deep roots and grow to waist-height; a very different approach from conventional grazing, where the goal is to have a pasture that looks like a golf course.
Wallace, Cooper’s conventional farming neighbor, says he keeps an eye on Cooper’s pastures of thick, nutrient-dense grass across the fenceline - he just doesn’t know why or how Cooper grazes the way he does.
When we showed up, these friends and neighbors of 25 years had never had a conversation about grazing.
We wondered what it would take for Wallace to even want to learn about AMP grazing.
