Farmer Michael Vittetoe guides one of his cows to a different grazing area on his Washington County farm to unite her with her calf.
By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
Farmer Michael Vittetoe, wearing a T-shirt speckled with sweat, jeans and rubber boots, walks into the yard of his home in Washington County a few minutes late for a Saturday Morning Prayer service. His tardiness, he explains, is due to trying to reunite a calf with its mother in the pasture that spreads out behind the house.
No problem! Deacon Kent Ferris puts on his alb, adjusts his stole, and begins the Sept. 14 prayer service on the Vittetoe farm as part of a month-long commemoration of prayer and action that unites Christians worldwide to care for their common home.
Deacon Ferris and Vittetoe met seven months ago through their connection to the late Janis Vittetoe, who died in February of cancer. “She expressed a dynamic faith,” said Deacon Ferris, who became acquainted with Janis years ago in the diocesan Ministry Formation Program. While paying respects to her husband Denny and their family at her visitation, he met their adult children, including Michael Vittetoe.
Janis’ love of life and ability to cultivate personal relationships and her son’s regenerative farming practices inspired the Season of Creation prayer service. Later, “When I asked if we could come together and pray at his farm and learn more about how he does things, ‘he said, ‘Sure!’” Deacon Ferris recalls. Vittetoe, a member of St. James Parish in Washington, is an award-winning farmer, the recipient of the Iowa Soybean Association’s 2022 Environmental Leader Award.
After the short prayer service, Vittetoe is eager to get back into the pasture to resume his rescue mission. The calf and its mama separated unintentionally the day before when Vittetoe moved the cattle to another foraging area. Deacon Ferris and I, The Catholic Messenger’s editor, joined Vittetoe.
A balanced diet
The 70-acre pasture, sectioned off in segments by electric fence to manage grazing and the pasture’s health, teems with tall grass, alfalfa and goldenrod, among other plants. The telltale sign of a recently grazed section is the shorter length of grass and sparsity of plants. After the field regenerates, it will be available for grazing again, Vittetoe says.
“I try to keep ‘em (the cattle) on the smallest area … to give ‘em a balanced diet so that they eat everything rather than overgrazing on their favorite stuff,” Vittetoe explains as he and his guests trudge through thigh-high grass and plants.
This grazing method prevents the cattle’s less favorite forage from overtaking the field. When the cattle have grazed the field down to short stalks (about a day or two), the field gets a “rest,” Vittetoe says. “We try to make it 95-98% of the time we’re in rest mode for the grass, so everything can recover.” The typical grazing practice on farms is a 50% rest period, he says.
The Belted Galloway cattle that graze the rolling hills of this pasture are part of “Long Creek Pastures,” a business that Vittetoe and his wife, Kelsey, started in 2018 as a way to diversify their farm.
Vittetoe also farms corn and soybeans on the 1,400-acre multigenerational farm he operates in partnership with his family. In an “Iowa Front Forty” video produced the year Vittetoe received his Environmental Leader Award, he talks about his family’s farming practices. Among them are no-till and the introduction of more cover crops, such as cereal rye, which helps maintain the soil condition.
“We’re actually in my pasture field right now,” Vittetoe says in the video. “This is an old CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) strip I’m standing in right here. There’s also annual forages in here whether it be the cereal rye, (or) the oats. So we can do sorghum, sedan grass, we can do cowpeas, clover, everything, you name it. If a cow will eat it, we can grow it out here.” He adds, “Contrary to what a lot of people think, soil in Iowa can actually grow things other than corn and soybeans. So what we’re trying to work on out here is to get some more biological diversity and really try and jump start the system and kind of see what we can do with the land.”
Participants of a Season of Creation Morning Prayer service Sept. 14 pose on the Washington County farm of Michael Vittetoe. From left are Lori Ferris, Audrey Reed, Bethany Glinsmann, Michael Vittetoe, Deacon Kent Ferris, Rosemary and Leo Vittetoe and Margaret Marie.
‘Class field trip’
“Michael is so dedicated, so passionate about being a farmer, about caring for the land, leaving the land better for future generations,” says Aaron Putze, spokesperson for the Iowa Soybean Association. Iowa Front Forty, which created the video featuring Vittetoe, is a program of the Iowa Soybean Association that strives to generate greater awareness of good stewardship practices within the context of improving soil, water and habitat quality.
Vittetoe continues his “class field trip” for his guests, cautioning them to step back as he moves toward the herd where the calf’s mama is grazing. Mama is one of two 12-year-old cows in the herd. “I call her one of the grandma cows.” Vittetoe guides mama down the hill before walking ahead of her to move the electric fencing aside. Once he has her settled near the creek, he advances up another hill, where he spots the calf, who is crying out for his mama. She responds, as if reassuring her baby.
“I moved ‘em (the cattle) across the creek yesterday but a couple of babies did not make it across the creek,” Vittetoe explains. “Crossing the creek is the hardest part (for the cattle) … this guy was born over here and hasn’t had to cross the creek yet.”
Mama calls out to her baby. “The calf is hungry and the mom wants it to nurse. She’s got milk in her udders.” As Vittetoe leads the way, the calf moves quickly toward its mama and latches onto her udders.
Mission accomplished. Before he was a farmer, Vittetoe was an engineer for five years, advancing in his career. The tug toward another calling beckoned. “I couldn’t handle sitting in a cubicle for the rest of my life. I wanted to be outside … I never really had a strong connection to the farm as a kid, but I started to feel pulled there.”
Mission accomplished! Farmer Michael Vittetoe has just reunited a mama and her baby in a grazing area on his farm in Washington County. Vittetoe was an engineer before he felt called to farming.
A balancing act
His passion for farming leads to his commitment to making the world a better place for his children and all people for generations to come. “I was blessed with a family that was pretty progressive on everything,” he says. “Instead of just saying what we’re doing is good enough, it’s like, OK, what’s the next step, or the next two or three steps?”
“What’s the production/agricultural method that’s going to be sustainable as possible, that will keep humans on the earth and make the system work the way it’s supposed to? I use chemicals, pesticides, and whatnot. I try to use as little of them as possible because that stuff’s not natural… It’s a tool in the tool box,” he says. “A lot of the systems are completely reliant on it and that’s where we start to see problems. I just look at all the health problems that humans have. You can’t just completely blame agriculture but that’s the field that I’m involved in.”
He asks himself, “What can we do to make things as healthy for humans as possible? Healthy soil, healthy crops, healthy livestock, healthy food, healthy humans? His stewardship sensibilities connect to his faith. “The whole ecosystem was designed by the Creator and (it is a matter of) trying to figure out how to best work with that system instead of trying to control it the way that we need to control it.”
However, “we do need to make money to be a sustainable business. It’s a balancing act… If you’re not able to make money doing it, you’re not going to be doing it for long in this type of system. There is that part of it. At the same time, you have to have motivation to use a (regenerative) system like this and a lot of times that motivation is spiritual.”
