Join Birgit Martin, Joe Dickenson and Mike Swidersky to explore how cover crop grazing can extend your grazing season. Learn about land access, fencing, equipment, stockpiling and the best crops to keep your livestock grazing longer.

About the speakers

Birgit Martin

Birgit Martin farms with her husband Jim and their two sons Nick and Alex on western Manitoulin Island. They operate a large cow-calf through-to-finish operation producing both grain-finished and grass-finished beef under their brand Pure Island Beef. They also custom graze 300–400 steers each summer.

Grazing is integral to the entire operation, whether for the cow herd, replacement heifers, grass finishers, their own stockers or custom grazed steers. The farm includes a range of pasture types, from extensive shallow-soiled “ranch” land to highly managed improved pastures, with management adapted accordingly.

Before farming full time, Birgit worked for 20 years as a CCA in a crop inputs business. She holds a degree from the University of Guelph with a major in agronomy and a focus on forage management. She also completed a co-op semester on a dairy farm in New Zealand and grew up on a dairy farm that emphasized intensive pasture management for the herd.

Joe Dickenson

Joe Dickenson is a birth-to-beef farmer in Lambton County. He grew up on a dairy and beef farm on the edge of Sarnia, later expanding and moving the beef herd to Oil Springs in 2008. Since then, he has continually adjusted his grazing methods to improve farm productivity and better utilize his land base.

Joe has served as a Feedlot Director with the Beef Farmers of Ontario since 2020 and has been a sessional professor at Lambton College since September 2021 and at the University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus since October 2022.

Mike Swidersky

Mike Swidersky and his wife Amber own and operate their farm with their two children Warren and Grace. They established the farm in 2003 after completing agricultural programs at the University of Guelph.

Mike has spent the past 18 years refining the farm’s production practices and stewarding the land, raising and growing their flock of sheep with support from Amber, who has experience in the animal nutrition industry.