7 minute read
Forages & Fences
IBA Environmental Stewards of the Year, Wes and Martha Green, prove that working to preserve their farm ground has lasting benefits.
By Olivia Hoots; Photos by Zack Arnold
Grab the wire and a wrench, let’s get fencing!
Temporary fencing, reliable water sources and grass are three of the most important resources for producers who practice rotational grazing. This type of grazing is becoming more and more popular as time goes on and producers experience the benefits of it for themselves.
Wes and Martha Green of Atlanta have implemented rotational grazing and other practices into their registered Angus operation, Diamond G Farms, to maximize their resources and steward their land. These are the practices that moved their peers to nominate them for IBA Environmental Steward of the Year.
Wes still remembers his first calf at the age of eight named Sam, which he bottle-fed and showed, then sold for $365. He used his earnings to buy a registered Angus heifer from the Illinois Spotlight for $375. In 1995, when Wes’s grandfather – someone who was very influential in his life and work –passed away, he took over his 20 head of cattle, adding it to his then eight-head herd. Today, the Greens have about 60 Angus cows.
Currently, and for a long time now, they have been doing AI work for themselves and some other breeders. They first started this by crossing Simmentals and Angus for themselves, and also had some club calves when their kids were growing up. Wes is also crossing Wagyu on his Simmental cows.
While there are a few other breeds in their pasture today, the Greens focus on Angus. “I try to keep them purebred Angus so I can rebuild the herd or retain the heifers,” Wes says.
Before their farm became what it is today, Wes and Martha met at the Logan County fair, a mutual friend introduced them. During the evening with friends, Martha was in Wes’s way on his way to the bathroom, so he threw her over his shoulder, and they have been together ever since. “I was a gentleman and put her down before I went in,” he says.
Martha could tell he was a very outgoing guy who was fun to be around. Her friend convinced her they would be perfect together. “She was right,” she says.
She recalls jumping into her role as a farm wife, saying her athleticism made her ready for the new challenge of throwing bales and helping with whatever was needed. She calls herself a “right-hand man” to her husband as they use team work to make their business a success.
After thirty-eight years of marriage, the couple has three children – Adam, Amanda and Ashley – and seven grandchildren. Martha liked the idea of raising her kids on tractors and in 4-H, and still today the kids help when needed.
Paths of Environmental Stewardship and Attaining Goals
Diamond G Farms has two goals: maternal cows and freezer beef.
There are a few practices that help them reach these goals. One of them is the forage side of the business – another way the Green’s display their environmental stewardship. It started with new equipment for their farm, then people in the community started calling Wes to come do work for them. Now they do a lot of custom work and partnered with ProHarvest in 2007 to add seed sales to the forage business.
The Green’s forage success earned them the 2022 Outstanding Producer Award through the Illinois Forage and Grasslands Coalition.
Wes says it keeps their forage customers from having to source seed. “And it is a good quality seed as well.”
Betsy Pech has known the Green’s for at least 25 years. She says that alongside their successful hay business is their cattle operation. “They utilize rotational grazing not only for the cows but to protect and keep the soil healthy,” she says. “Wes and Martha also make use of different types of forages so the cows can graze almost all year, providing biodiversity to the soils.”
To Wes, being an environmental steward means leaving land better than when it first became yours. This is where his second stewardship practice plays an important role.
“That is what I am trying to do by incorporating cover crops.” His overall goal is to build soil health.
Thirdly, rotating the grazing of their herd also helps with soil and plant health, and promotes overall economical sustainability too. “Two and a half days is ideal,” Wes says.
This started in 2005 when they began expanding their herd and participated in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
“We got the EQIP grant, did the whole perimeter and five strand high tensile,” he says. “Each paddock is subdivided with two strands, or one strand of high tensile.
In their rotational grazing, they mostly use the cattle to manage weed infestation, and they prioritize a water source in each of the 21 individual paddocks, whether it be a hydrant and tank or something else.
“If you are not using rotational grazing right now, I think you are missing out on a lot of benefits, because your animals are going to graze that one spot, find that sweet spot, and just keep after it,” Wes says. “With the rotational grazing, you can kind of make them eat and utilize all of the ground a lot better.” They do soil testing to prove the success of rotational grazing on their soil’s health.
Martha sees other farmers feeding hay before they have to because of their rotational practices. She could sing the praises of the effectiveness these practices have had on their soil’s health and fertility. “You can see from year to year how much better it is.”
Beyond the farm, Wes is also a road commissioner for the Atlanta Township, and served in the U.S. Marines, and is also involved in 4-H and Heartland Beef Association. He enjoys helping others in whatever capacity. Martha was a 4-H leader for 25 years and also taught Sunday School, she often helps her husband with road commissioner work.
In being recognized as IBA Environmental Steward of the Year, Wes says, “I guess that shows that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing with our soil health and everything pertaining to the animals.”
“God only gave you one world to live in, and if you’re not taking care of it, nobody else is,” Martha says.
“What I am most proud of is, Wes and I started with nothing, and we have built,” she says. “We have worked our rear ends off.”
