Two years ago we started transitioning our first 20 acres from corn and soybeans to rotating pasture. This spring we watched a pair of bald eagles carry sticks across our fields to build a nest nearby. That is not a metaphor. That is just what happened when we transitioned row crops to rotating pasture and started managing the land for livestock, hay, and the long-term health of the soil.

From Row Crops to Pasture

Before Mad Horse Meats, most of this land was in corn and soybeans — the same rotation that covers the majority of Salem County's agricultural acreage. Row crop production is productive in the sense that it produces a measurable yield of a commodity crop. But the habitat it provides for wildlife is limited compared to diverse pasture. Bare soil between rows, limited structural diversity, and fewer food sources for most wildlife species mean that row crop acreage supports a narrower range of animals than well-managed pasture.

We started transitioning our first 20 acres to rotating pasture two years ago. Another 20 acres came out of row crops last fall. A third 20-plus acre block will still be in row crops this season — the transition takes time, planning, and investment, and we are doing it at a pace that makes sense for the operation. The hay we harvest from these acres feeds our own cattle and sheep through the winter — reducing our dependence on outside feed sources and keeping the production cycle on our own land. But the changes we have already observed on the acres that have transitioned are striking enough that we wanted to document them.

Surrounded by Wildlife Management Area

One reason the ecological response on our farm has been so rapid and visible is our location. Mad Horse Creek Wildlife Management Area borders our farm on both sides. We are not an island of habitat — we are a working farm embedded within a larger protected landscape. When we create conditions that support wildlife on our acres, there is a source population nearby ready to move in. The wildlife management area provides the reservoir. Our transitioning pastures provide the habitat.

This is an important piece of context for understanding what we have observed. We are not taking credit for creating wildlife from nothing. We are taking credit for removing the conditions that were excluding it — and watching what happens when wildlife that already exists nearby has somewhere new to go.

The Wildlife Response

Wildlife was present on this farm before we began the transition — we are surrounded by Mad Horse Creek Wildlife Management Area on both sides, and wildlife has always moved through this landscape. What has changed since we began transitioning acres to pasture is the diversity and frequency of what we are seeing. Here is what we are observing regularly now:

Birds of Prey

• Bald eagles — present regularly, observed carrying large sticks to build a nest nearby
• Osprey — seen hunting over the farm and surrounding water
• Multiple hawk species — hunting the pasture edges and open ground

Songbirds

• Significant increase in both species diversity and total numbers since transition began
• Multiple songbird species now present that were not observed during the row crop years

Mammals

• White-tailed deer — daily sightings throughout the farm
• Rabbits — daily sightings, thriving in the pasture margins
• Wild turkeys — common and increasing
• Fox — present and observed regularly
• Coyotes — present, heard regularly

Wading Birds

• Great blue herons — observed along the farm's wetland margins

The Ecology of Transition

The wildlife response to our pasture transition is not accidental. It is the predictable result of restoring the ecological conditions that support diverse animal life. Here is what changed and why it matters to wildlife:

Structural diversity. Rotating pasture with cattle and sheep — managed for both grazing and hay production — creates a mosaic of vegetation heights and densities. Short-grazed areas, longer ungrazed patches, pasture margins, and the movement of grazing animals across the landscape creates the kind of structural complexity that supports dozens of species with different habitat requirements. Row crop fields support a narrower range of wildlife than diverse pasture. A well-managed pasture supports a more complete food web.

Invertebrate abundance. Pasture soils under rotational grazing develop rich invertebrate communities — earthworms, beetles, grasshoppers, and dozens of other species. These invertebrates are the foundation of the food web. They feed the songbirds. The songbirds feed the hawks. The hawks and eagles are the apex of a chain that starts in the soil. When you restore soil health you restore everything above it.

No pesticides. On our transitioned acres we manage pasture without the chemical inputs associated with row crop production. As invertebrate life has increased on those acres the animals that depend on them have followed. The insects come back. And when the insects come back everything that eats them follows.

Small mammal habitat. Rabbits, voles, and mice thrive in pasture margins and ungrazed patches. These small mammals are the primary prey base for the hawks, eagles, foxes, and coyotes we are observing. The predator community reflects the health of the prey community. The fact that we have bald eagles regularly present tells us something important about the small mammal population on and around our farm.

Farming as Ecological Restoration

We did not set out to run a wildlife sanctuary. We set out to raise pasture-raised livestock as directly and honestly as possible. But those two things are not in conflict — they are the same thing. Managing land well for livestock means managing it well for the ecological systems that support all life on it. You cannot have healthy pasture without healthy soil. You cannot have healthy soil without invertebrates. You cannot have invertebrates without getting rid of the chemicals that kill them. When you do all of that right the bald eagles show up to tell you.

We still have 20-plus acres in row crops. We are not finished. The transition takes time and resources and we are doing it as deliberately as we can. But what we have already seen on the 40 acres that have come out of row crops is enough to confirm that we are heading in the right direction.

We are surrounded on both sides by Mad Horse Creek Wildlife Management Area — protected public land that will never be developed or farmed intensively. Our farm sits between those two protected corridors. As we continue the transition we are gradually connecting those two pieces of habitat with working agricultural land that functions, at least in part, as a wildlife corridor. That is not a small thing in a region where much of the agricultural land is in row crop production.

The bald eagles carrying sticks across our pastures to build their nest are not visiting us. They are using us. That is exactly what we are here for.