The foundation of a profitable forage and livestock operation is healthy soil. Luke Jones of Understanding Ag joined Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition Director of Producer Programs Logan Karcher in February 2026 for a 35-minute discussion of building and maintaining healthy soil.

Highlights from the Discussion

00:00 Introduction

00:36 Background of Luke Jones, Understanding Ag

03:41 Soil Biology: What exactly is going on underneath the ground? What’s the biology? What's it doing? Why is it there? “It's essentially the process of eating and being eaten.”

05:33 “Our job as grazing managers is simply that how can we how can we grow that habitat for that that biology to proliferate and do its job.”

05:47 Interconnection of life under the ground to life above ground. “Healthy plants, healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy animals, healthy humans.”

07:35 Is the management of weeds like thistle and foxtail needed? “The minute we can turn those into an income stream instead of an expense, then that's money back in our pockets.”

11:12 Foxtail. “Unless it's in vast quantity, that's really good free summer annual feed.” If you're dealing with it in pastures, since it’s an easy growing plant, it tells us that you've probably bared up that area a little too much… It is feeding biology, right? So, it's not a wasted plant or a worthless plant. It’s stimulating biology in some way, shape, and form.”

12:42 Foxtail can cause issues with horses.

13:36 Why soil health matters: Weather events and drought. “If we've done a good job with soil health management in the past, even with a little bit of rain, those plants and everything are going to respond a lot faster and a lot stronger than our neighbors will.”

16:04 Water cycle during droughts. “Biology in the soil lives on and in the thin films of water between soil aggregation.”

17:30 Soil health and its impact on input costs, grazing, and pasture productivity. “Letting that biology do its job should help us pull away from the amendments. The more we get aggregation built, the more armor we get built, the less invasive weeds or forbs that we're going to have to battle or the things that we're actually going to be able to utilize. So, you know, as biology is working, we're getting more nutrient-dense plants, which means our animals are going to be healthier.”

20:31 Mowing or clipping hay. “I want my plants just to for run their natural cycle. I don't really try to worry about clipping seed heads or anything. They don't affect me.”

23:46 6 Principles of Soil Health: Understanding your context. Living roots. Soil armor. Minimizing disturbances. Diverse biology. Livestock integration.

27:23 3 Rules of Adaptive Stewardship: Rule of Diversity. Rule of Disruption. Rule of Compounding

29:39 4 Ecosystem Processes: Energy, Water, Mineral, Community Dynamic

29:59 Feeding hay.

32:54 Building pasture from former row crop ground.

36:27 Getting rid of old fescue without using a plow.

38:09 When should you turn out livestock after seeding?

39:04 What to seed after oatlage?