Capturing Sunlight, Book 1: Skills & Ideas for Intensive Grazing, Sustainable Pastures, Healthy Soils, & Grassfed Livestock

• There is magic in forages. The magic of sunlight and green leaves and the miracle of photosynthesis. It’s the magic of legumes that pull nitrogen from the air to make proteins, of roots interacting with the soil, of plants capturing and storing carbon, and of the vast array of forages that contain the protein, fiber, and starch upon which livestock depend.
• My book about this magic. About the skills and knowledge to grow and harvest forages effectively and sustainably.  This book is for anyone interested in the modern concepts of grazing, forage growth, soil health, regenerative agriculture.
• This is not a dry textbook or a collection of homey anecdotes. Not here. Rather, here we get under the hood with down-to-earth essays on the practical skills and the underlying science. Sometimes with a bit of humor.
• Some things you’ll learn:
  • No-nonsense science—the chemistry and physiology of growing plants, the dark and hidden qualities of soil, the modern methods for describing fiber, the nutritional value of forages, and the principles of storing hay and silage.
  • How to look at a pasture and know when to open the gate and what happens to forages during grazing.
  • Renovating pastures, where to start, how to start, when to make that decision.
  • Starting grazing systems from scratch.
  • Making sound business decisions in grazing operations.
  • These skills apply to farms and ranches that raise any grazing livestock: beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, goats, bison, and horses.
• 62 chapters on topics that should interest any forage manager: grazing techniques, soil fertility, pasture renovation, forage quality, hay and silage storage, and the business of grazing animals.
• There’s even a chapter on the forage nutrition of dinosaurs, should that ever become necessary again.
• The last section of this book is special —
  • It’s a practical, in-depth handbook on improved pastures. I systematically outline the skills of Management Intensive Grazing—one of the most intelligent and efficient ways ever devised for managing improved pastures.
• A gentle warning to my readers: these pages will open doors to a wizardly world of forage skills. You’ll gain knowledge that will enrich your days and help you make good decisions about your farm or ranch. This book will stay with you long after you finish reading it. And — grazier or not — you’ll never again drive past a pasture without seeing it in a different light.

Want to read some reviews? Click here

Where can you buy it?

• Amazon

• Lots of Other Outlets online

  • this link gets you to Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols (Spain), Thalia (Germany), bol.de (Germany), Indigo (Canada), Angus & Robertson (Australia), Mondadori (Italy)
  • this link lists Kindle — brings you directly to the Amazon page. The Amazon page lists both the paperback and Kindle versions.

• Cost:

  • Trade paperback: approximately $28
  • eBook: $8.99

• Book technical stuff:

  • ISBN: 978-0-983-32382-2  (paperback)
  • ISBN: 978-0-983-32383-9  (.mobi format used by Kindle)
  • ISBN: 978-0-983-32384-6  (.epub format used by other ebook readers)
  • LCCN: 2017918554
  • Publication date: January 20, 2020
  • 318 pages

The Chapters are grouped into eight sections:

(click here for the detailed Table of Contents)

• Section 1:  Capturing Sunlight
• Section 2:  Grazing Techniques
• Section 3:  Soils, Soil Fertility, Fertilization
• Section 4:  Forage Growth & Storage
• Section 5:  Forage Quality
• Section 6:  The Science & Business of Grazing
• Section 7:   I Wonder
• Section 8:  Intensively Managed Grazing Systems — A Textbook