Fresh thinking shapes rotational grazing at Kummer Homestead

Michael Kummer is bringing a fresh perspective to rotational grazing at his family’s homestead in Georgia. 

Although relatively new to raising cattle, Michael has embraced the challenge with enthusiasm, researching different approaches, trying new ideas and learning from the way the land and animals respond.  

Behind it all is a desire he shares with his wife, Kathy, to take greater responsibility for their family’s food and health. 

“Along the way, we realised that food is such an important aspect of living well that you don’t want to outsource it to someone who doesn’t care about your health as much as you do,” Michael says. 

“There is so much done to traditional food products from the time they leave the farm to the time they end up on your table. We decided we wanted to take control of our family’s food supply.” 

They are putting that belief into practice on their 45-acre homestead in northwest Georgia, caring for the soil, raising animals well and knowing what happens between pasture and plate. 

Michael hosts The Primal Shift podcast and, with Kathy, runs MK Supplements. Seven years ago, however, the former IT security specialist would have laughed at the idea of becoming preoccupied with soil tests, pasture recovery and moving cattle. Without a conventional farming background, he has researched, experimented and found his own approach. 

Originally from Austria, Michael moved to the United States in 2007. Kathy is from Costa Rica. They now share the homestead with their children and German shepherd, Ribeye. 

Taking responsibility for their food 

The Kummers began raising poultry, rabbits and honeybees on a 1.26-acre property in Fulton County. Michael’s 93-year-old grandmother, whose family kept animals in Austria, still laughs at his new direction. 

“Never would anyone have expected that I would circle back to where she came from,” he says. “It still gives her the giggles.” 

Although Michael is new to cattle, he is not new to managing animals or using regular moves and rest periods to improve the ground. 

“We saw dramatic improvements in soil quality and forage diversity on our old property with the chickens,” he says. “We turned what was basically a Bermuda grass lawn into pasture in just a couple of years, where everything was growing, insects were coming back and all of those good things.” 

With little room to keep moving the poultry, the family began looking for more land. They found 45 acres of former hay country in Chattooga county with just eight trees. 

“I thought the more grass the better,” Michael says. “It turns out animals prefer shade as well, especially in summer.” 

They brought cattle onto the land in March 2026 and now have seven Black Angus and South Poll cattle. 

Farming from the soil up 

Michael took a methodical approach, studying pasture management, grass and soil health before the cattle arrived, then developing a system he could adjust as he learnt. Without fixed ideas about how things should be done, he was willing to try new approaches and see how the land and cattle responded. 

Rotational grazing could help the family use grass efficiently while giving the land time to recover. It is also part of a chain that affects the food they eat.  

“The eye-opener was the first couple of soil tests,” he says. “If certain nutrients aren’t in the soil, they’re not going to be in the meat. Whatever we do, we need to improve the soil, so the downstream products become better and ultimately, we become healthier at the end of that chain.” 

Michael divided three grazing areas into lanes and used portable cross-fencing to create daily paddocks, giving each area around 30 days or more to recover. He did not want to lock himself into a fixed layout while he was still learning how the herd and pasture would respond. 

A flexible system for daily moves

Learning from the land