CRAFT Grazing School at Manderly Farms

Recap from our friends at Sequatchie Cove Farm

We had such a great time at the CRAFT Grazing School at Manderly Farms last Saturday. We started off the day listening to a presentation from grazing expert Randall Tomlinson. Randall taught us about the importance of setting grazing and pasture health goals, how to create a grazing schedule for the year or season and much more. He even shared some rotational grazing fun facts! Did you know that ancient Romans used dense flocks of sheep to graze and trample grass in order to create their roads? After the presentation came a farmer panel featuring Kelsey Keener, Elson Mast of Manderly Farms and Randall Tomlinson. Topics included how to market grass-fed meat and eggs, the importance of cooperating with other local farms and how to find inspiration when things feel hard. After eating lunch, we embarked on a wagon tour of Manderly Farms to see rotational grazing in action! 

The Southeast TN CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) program highlights farmers in the region and helps to facilitate farmer-to-farmer learning. There are many ways to approach the topics covered in the workshops. The information shared at each CRAFT workshop reflects the philosophy of the farmer-educator(s) and their findings/ways of doing things that work for them in their operation. There will always be an opportunity to learn more, dive deeper into the topics, and approach them from different angles.

This event was made possible with support and partnership from the Cumberland River Compact, the TN Aquarium Conservation Institute, the National Young Farmers Coalition, Carbon Cowboys, SARE and Crabtree Farms of Chattanooga.