Saturday, June 1, 2024 | Country Acres • Page 1
Country Acres Saturday, June 1, 2024
PRSRT STD ECR U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #861 Sauk Rapids, MN 2 Second Ave S Suite 135 Sauk Rapids MN 56379
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Volume 11, Edition 08
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PHOTO SUBMITTED
Sheep wander their paddock mid-May at Plain Farms near Elbow Lake. Currently 12 wetlands have been restored on the farm.
Olsons work toward all-natural practices BY EMILY BRETH STAFF WRITER
ELBOW LAKE — Preserving the land and keeping it natural is the main focus on Plain Farms owned by Nic and Megan Olson. “We have a very diverse ecosystem,” Nic said. “It’s getting a healthy system that manages the ups and downs.” On the farm, all of the animals — cows, chickens, hogs, horses and sheep — are grassfed and pasture raised. The Olsons work closely with the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program, where they are certified. Jim Lahn, Area Certification Specialist for MAWQCP, worked with the couple to help them achieve their certification. To be
certified, land owners must agree to a field review which looks at a farm’s crop rotation, manure application process, erosion rate, buffers around waterways and more. “We appreciate the good things they are doing to protect Minnesota’s water quality,” Lahn said. “A majority of their farm is in perennial pasture. That’s not the typical situation for farms in that neighborhood.” Coming to the conclusion to convert their farm to pasture and raise their animals on it came with a lot of research. “We had cattle at the time and I was doing the math on how much nitrogen we would need to plant corn and our intention originally was to do everything with on-farm input,” Nic said. “When I did the math, the amount of manure we’d
need required we have 17 years’ worth to get one crop of corn.” With the decision made, the couple had a lot of work to do. “You need totally different infrastructure for (pasture), a lot of fencing and a lot of acres fenced in,” Nic said. “We are always trying to build infrastructure that doesn’t have concrete or a huge investment. We start with something, prove it works and build from there.” Having water in all of the different pastures was one of the challenges they faced since they moved their cattle every couple of days. “It’s really nice to just turn them out and they take care of the grass and then
we move them and the grass grows back,” Megan said. The Olsons are also members of the Sustainable Farming Association and participate in DriftWatch, a communication tool that allows farmers, hobbyists and pesticide applicators to work together, to
Olsons page 2
PHOTOS BY EMILY BRETH
Megan Olson bottle feeds a lamb May 7 at Plain Farms near Elbow Lake. A majority of the farm is in perennial pasture with plans to plant the rest into grazing land as well.
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