United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service		 Louisiana Go to Accessibility Information
Skip to Page Content





EQIP Success Story

Success it Comes With Work and Knowledge


By Kevin Stilley
NRCS Grazing Lands Specialist
This is a success story of a small scale cattleman by the name of Antonio “Tony” Barcellona. Mr. Barcellona retired from Bell South after 30 years of service. His farm located in East Baton Rouge parish near Zachery, Louisiana, is approximately 72 acres. Over a third of the acreage which he and his wife, Andree, have called home for 23 years is forestland. Since 1990, he has owned four or five cows. In 2007, he decided to become more involved in the cattle industry by expanding his herd to include 13 cows and a bull.

Mr. Barcellona was made aware of NRCS and its services after talking with the Louisiana State University Cooperative Extension Service. I first met Mr. Barcellona when I visited his farm with Mr. Sam Willis, district conservationist in the Denham Springs field office, to conduct a construction check of the following items: fence, heavy-use pad, and watering facility. These items had been completed using cost-share assistance from the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) to allow better grazing utilization.

Once Mr. Barcellona discovered I was a grazing lands specialist, one of the first items we discussed was ryegrass for winter supplementation. Mr. Barcellona’s neighbors would plant an acre of ryegrass for each mature cow owned, but Mr. Barcellona wanted to know if there was a better way which would make his expanded cow-calf operation profitable. I offered him an alternative to planting one acre of ryegrass per cow. This alternative included planting no more than the six acres he had already planted, instituting a combination plan of limited access, and time limited rotational grazing on the six acres. I drew a simple sketch of my recommendation that included a 50 ft. wide lane with six paddocks adjacent to the lane. I also defined the amount of time to graze the animals in a day and the recommended amount of residual height to leave on the grass.

Mr. Barcellona said, “ I set up the fences as you suggested, grazed the cattle no more than two hours per day, and when the grass reached three inches, I moved them to the next paddock. Rotational grazing really works great. It helps me maximize the grass I have for my cattle and all it cost me was some additional time.”

Mr. Barcellona is currently addressing other concerns on his farm including control of invasive and noxious weeds such as thistles, Chinese tallow trees (Sapium sebiferum), and smutgrass. He is spot spraying with proper herbicides at recommended rates to control these species. Because he is also doing rotational grazing of his summer pastures, along with timely pasture mowing, the base grass is becoming a more desirable species capable of filling the nutritional needs of his cattle. Mr. Barcellona likes the results. As he so eloquently stated “This is God’s land, I am just here to be its steward.” With the assistance of NRCS, he is being a good steward while increasing his profits.

In closing, please contact the local Natural Resources Conservation Service office near you if you have questions. We are here, “Helping People Help the Land.”
 		 Kevin Stilley and Mr. Barcellona standing in a field

Kevin Stilley and Mr. Barcellona

 

Last Modified: 08/12/2008

 

< Back to Louisiana NRCS News