{"id":108341,"date":"2025-02-25T03:18:52","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T03:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/agriculture\/growing-healthy-soil-and-grass-regenerates-minnesota-farm-farmer-and-family\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T03:18:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T03:18:52","slug":"growing-healthy-soil-and-grass-regenerates-minnesota-farm-farmer-and-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=108341","title":{"rendered":"Growing Healthy Soil and Grass Regenerates Minnesota Farm, Farmer and Family"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By: Ron Nichols, Understanding Ag, LLC<\/em><\/p>\n
Every day on his farm, Luke Bergler sees the connection between healthy soil, healthy grass, healthy animals and healthy people.<\/p>\n
And he sees life\u2014lots of life.<\/p>\n
When he pushes a shovel into the soft, well-aggregated soil on his 240-acre farm near Ridgeway, Minnesota, Bergler sees more earthworms than he ever thought imaginable. The two ponds that were once filled with runoff water are now nearly dry, even though precipitation has been plentiful. Those near-empty ponds are an indication of well-functioning soil that soaks up precipitation at an incredible rate and provides production resiliency throughout the growing season.<\/p>\n
Dragonflies, monarch butterflies, birds and whitetail deer abound in astounding numbers.<\/p>\n
Thanks to his 24-48-hour paddock rotations, his 50-pair cow-calf herd grazes lush, diverse grasses, cover crops and innerseeded corn stubble, beginning in early May and into January. Getting the nutrition and \u201cmedicine\u201d they need from healthy grass, Bergler no longer uses dewormer or the panoply of prophylactic vaccinations prescribed in conventional confined animal operations. The pregnancy rate of his herd is an astounding 99 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had one open cow in the last five years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Never applying more than 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre to his corn acres, Bergler harvests 230 bushel-per-acre corn behind a seven-way grain mix with peas and flax.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll admit that I can\u2019t do it across every acre,\u201d he says, \u201cbut there\u2019s enough signs of hope that it\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bergler recently no-tilled soybeans into cereal rye and aerially applied two bushels of oats,rye and radishes (via drone). Then he combined the beans (cutting off the top of the oats off), yielding more than 70 bushels of beans per acre. Then, after a 30-40-day rest period, he was able to graze his herd in the remaining oat\/rye\/radish cover crops.<\/p>\nAfter no-till planting soybeans into cereal rye and aerially applying two bushels of oats, rye and radishes (via drone) Bergler combined the beans (cutting off the top of the oats off), yielding more than 70 bushels of beans per acre.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
But of all of the regenerative farming benefits experienced since he began making the transition from conventional to regenerative agriculture seven years ago, there\u2019s one benefit that\u2019s especially meaningful to the 42-year-old Bergler.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I\u2019m always home in my warm house sitting at the table for dinner every evening,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Before his regenerative transition, Bergler would come home from his work off the farm as a custom home builder and face the time-consuming chores associated with feeding cattle daily, spending hours baling hay, mixing feed, and hauling manure, all of which left little time for the \u201cluxury\u201d of family time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to feed 200 plus days a year,\u201d he says. \u201cEach day it would take about two hours of time. Now we feed less than 130-140 days a year and it only takes me 20-30 minutes. I used to haul 80-100 loads of manure each year and now I\u2019m down to seven. All of those little things add up to an improved quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\nRather than taking feed to the cattle, Bergler allows his cattle to walk to the feed, saving time and yielding healthier cattle and nutrient-dense beef in the process.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Today, his entire family is involved in the farming operation. Bergler\u2019s wife, Holly, manages the farm\u2019s non-confined, non-GMO-fed hog operation. His three daughters, 16-year-old Willa, 13-year-old Malia and nine-year-old Emery, manage 30-plus laying hens, collect and sell eggs to about 20 customers, a constituency consisting mainly their schoolteachers. The profits from the poultry operation, less the cost of feed, reside with the three sisters. Along with caring for and having the chore responsibilities of their horses which are often used to rotate the cow herd.<\/p>\nPictured here in diverse cover crop forage, are some of the hogs from the farm\u2019s non-confined, non-GMO-fed hog operation, which Bergler wife Holly manages.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Bergler says the list of regenerative benefits grows by the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t have we have setbacks, challenges or financial issues,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter all, we are American farmers. But when you abide by the principles, believe in the system and pay attention, it\u2019s remarkable what can happen. There are so many things working now that it just blows my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the changes on the farm, Bergler\u2019s relationships with the conventional input suppliers and his neighbors have also changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy neighbors will still call and ask if I\u2019m spraying for this pest or that weed, and my response is \u2018No\u2019 because they\u2019re simply not a problem,\u201d he says. \u201cThey also wonder why I\u2019m not harvesting my sorghum or hay mixes. My only response is why do all that when the cows can get it by themselves, and a lot cheaper than I can do it,\u201d Bergler says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guy who supplies my fuel asked what happened to me and my operation, all because I\u2019m not ordering nearly as much fuel throughout the year. I even switched co-ops because the fertilizer dealer couldn\u2019t comprehend what I was doing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Bergler routinely swaths and combines a 23.3 percent crude protein multigrain and pea mix that that supplies most of his feed for the pigs and chickens. \u201cI can\u2019t buy that quality of feed, especially as cheap as I can grow it. And the cattle aren\u2019t consuming nearly as much mineral supplement because they\u2019re getting most of the nutrients they need from what they graze.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his success, Bergler says more than one person has told him, \u201cYou\u2019ll go broke doing what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re still here,\u201d he says. \u201cGranted, you have to be willing to expect some outcomes you were not expecting, but the cows are such a more useful tool than I would have ever imagined, and I\u2019ve had cattle since I was 12.\u201d<\/p>\nBy using adaptive grazing principles including grazing corn stubble and cover crops, Bergler has reduced his feeding days by more than 30 percent, saving time and money in the process.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Like many of his contemporaries, when Bergler began his regenerative journey, he sought insight from Understanding Ag\u2019s Gabe Brown and attended a Soil Health Academy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I attended the SHA, the instructors talked a lot about how regenerative farming can improve one\u2019s quality of life, but I\u2019m not sure I understood what that meant at the time,\u201d he says. \u201cI wholeheartedly understand that now. Farming for me has become fun again. It\u2019s not just a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nFor the Bergler\u2019s, farming has become a family affair with daughters Willa, Malia and Emery assisting with the overall farming operation and their own pasture-raised enterprises.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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While he\u2019s excited to share his experiences, Bergler says he doesn\u2019t want to come across as \u201ctooting my own horn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI just enjoy having conversations about regenerative farming and sharing what\u2019s worked for me,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd, who knows, there may just be one person out there who reads this and says, \u2018If this guy can do it, maybe I should try something.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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