"You can't live long enough to make all the mistakes by yourself. You have to learn from others."
— Vance Haugen
Great River Graziers is a peer-to-peer pasturewalk network serving farmers across southwestern Wisconsin and neighboring regions of Minnesota and Iowa. Since 1993, farmers here have been going to each other's farms, walking the pastures together, sharing what works and what doesn't.
No lectures. No showcases. Just neighbors looking at land together and talking honestly about what they see.
What is a pasturewalk?
A pasturewalk is a farmer-led field visit. The host opens their farm and shares what they're working on — a new grazing rotation, a pasture renovation, a forage mix they're trying, a question they haven't solved yet. The group walks the land, asks questions, and talks. Everyone leaves with something useful.
Great River Graziers averages about 12 pasturewalks a year, at farms across the region. Cattle, dairy, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry — the species mix has shifted over the decades, and the group follows the farmers. All are welcome, including family members, beginning farmers, and neighbors who are just curious.
The principle is simple: positive people, working together to help one another — not compete.
Join the network
Pasturewalks are free and open to farmers, aspiring farmers, and anyone curious about grazing and land stewardship. You don't need to be a member of anything — just show up.
To get on the mailing list: Email grg@crawfordstewardship.org
To host a pasturewalk on your farm: You don't need to have it all figured out — the best pasturewalks are the ones where the host has real questions. Contact Vance at grg@crawfordstewardship.org
Thirty years of neighbors teaching neighbors
Great River Graziers was founded in 1993, when about 30 local farmers gathered at Utica Lutheran Church with Crawford County Agriculture Agent Vance Haugen to organize a group focused on promoting grazing as a way to keep farmers on the land and profitable. Pasturewalk groups had been working in adjacent counties, and farmers here wanted something closer to home. Doug Spany suggested the name Great River Graziers — in honor of the Mississippi — and it stuck.
Vance facilitated the group for his entire tenure as Crawford County Agriculture Agent (1992–2017) and continues as a volunteer in retirement. Over the years GRG averages 12 pasturewalks annually, draws farmers from across the region, and builds connections that extended to Minnesota, Iowa, and beyond.
The group has done more than host walks. GRG members organized a milking parlor raising — modeled on the old barn-raising tradition — that became a model for ultra-low-cost retrofit parlors. They ran a heifer exchange program for beginning farmers. They purchased a no-till drill — funded through member contributions, a DATCP grant, and a Crawford County Land Conservation loan — that has since seeded several thousand acres. They built relationships with GrassWorks, Organic Valley, NRCS, UW-Extension, and the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program. They reached out to Plain People communities — Amish and Mennonite farmers across Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa — over twenty years of slow, patient relationship-building.
The work has always been local and practical. The connections have always been wider than the county line.
"As the old guard moves on, the sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters continue the tradition — folks helping folks."
— Vance Haugen
Resources for graziers
GrassWorks — Wisconsin's statewide grazing network and annual conference
Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship — a structured apprenticeship pathway for beginning dairy graziers
NRCS Grazing Resources — cost-share programs for grazing infrastructure
UW-Extension Grazing Resources — guides, tools, and local contacts
DATCP Farm Center — business planning and financial counseling for Wisconsin farmers
Graze magazine — "by graziers, for graziers" — graze.com
Crawford Stewardship Project provides administrative support for Great River Graziers. About CSP →