Loading....
Interested in multi-species enterprises, organic certification, managed grazing, or all three? You’re invited to a field day hosted by Alden Hills Organic Farms on September 24, 2025 from 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The farm is located at N237 Alden Rd, Walworth, WI. After a farm-to-table lunch, we’ll hear from Ethan Heelein, Alden Hills Organic Farms Livestock Manager, and Jason Cavadini, Grazing Outreach Specialist, on topics like managed grazing, pasture assessment, multi-species enterprises, and organic certification. The afternoon will be spent on a guided pasture walk featuring several of Alden Hills’ enterprises.
Alden Hills Organic Farms manages over 300 acres of pasture in Walworth, Wisconsin, where they raise certified organic cattle, pigs, turkeys, and broilers on pasture. They rotationally graze across enterprises, helping them to provide the highest quality meat possible through their direct-to-consumer meat sales, while also ensuring the health of their animals and the soil. With transparent practices and a deep respect for the land, Alden Hills demonstrates a scalable model for sustainable livestock production.
About the presenters, Ethan Heelein and Jason Cavadini:
Ethan Heelein:
Ethan started at Alden Hills as summer help during the summers of 2021 and 2022. With a background in Agricultural Education, he became the Livestock Manager in 2022. Ethan’s creativity and ambition have led to exciting projects on the farm. With improvements to farm integrated pest management & multi species grazing. He is extremely passionate about Certified Organic Production with real world experience in organic animal treatment and compliance.
Jason Cavadini:
Jason is the Grazing Outreach Specialist with the UW-Madison Division of Extension. He conducts research, outreach, and educational programming focused on perennial forages, livestock-integrated cropping systems, and managed-grazing for farms of all scales. Jason is a Certified Professional Agronomist, serves as an advisor to GrassWorks Inc., and operates a cow-calf to finish grazing operation with his wife and five children near Stratford, WI
Agenda:
11:00-11:15: Registration, Lunch Starts
11:15-11:40: Welcome & Introductions
11:40 - 12:20 - Grazing Season Wrap-Up: A Good Time to Assess your Pastures, Management, and Enterprises
12:20 - 12:40 - Alden Hills Strategies in Action
12:40 - 1:00 - Organic Certification & Compliance
1:00-1:15: Break & Network
1:15-3:00: Pasture Walk
Registration is required for this event, and maximum capacity is 30 participants.
This event is free, but consider making a donation to Marbleseed through one of the ticket options available! We greatly appreciate your support (especially during this time of federal funding upheaval). Your dollars go directly to help fund our farmer hosts and allow us to continue to offer these events for free or low-cost to our community.
This Field Day is supported through the USDA Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a program of the USDA Organic Transition Initiative administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service National Organic Program.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming in compliance with state and federal law. You may request an interpreter, materials in an alternative language and/or format, and/or other services to make this event more accessible. Contact us at oaic@extension.wisc.edu, or you may include your request on the registration form. To help us serve you best, please contact us as early as you can. Make your request at least 25 days before the event so there is enough time to make sure everything is ready for you. Services are provided at no cost to you.
If you have any questions about the event, please reach out to Tay Fatke at 888-906-6737 Ext. 724 or tay.fatke@marbleseed.org.
| , , |
| , , |
| , , |