Grazing School is planned for Aug. 2-4 at Douglas County Sale Barn in Squires.
“Better utilization of forage and improving livestock operations, through better grazing management is what our Grazing Schools are all about,” according to Stacy Hambelton, ag business specialist with University of Missouri Extension.
Classroom sessions and on-farm tours will be used to demonstrate the principles and variations of designing a grazing system. The school lasts for approximately 2½ days.
Topics taught during grazing school are: Soil Fertility Management, Designing Fence Systems, Farm Resource Inventory, Designing Water Systems, Wildlife Habitat in Grazing Systems, Pasture Condition Scoring, Using a Grazing Stick Economic Considerations for Grazing Systems, Matching Livestock & Forages, Livestock Nutrition, Grazing System Layout and Design, Pasture Growth & Plant ID, Electric Fence Construction and Demonstration.
Then during the last day the participants are divided into groups and they design and present a planned grazing system. This gives producers a chance to build confidence and use the knowledge that they have acquired. Now they can go home and plan their own farm.
To producers interested in cost sharing for planned grazing systems, your local Soil and Water Conservation District has a program to cost share in “Planned Grazing Systems (DSP-3).” To participate in this program you are required to attend an approved grazing school. For more information on this practice or other cost share programs call your local Soil and Water Conservation District at: Ava (800) 434-0366, Gainesville (417) 679-4876.
An evaluation is done at each school and participants are asked: “Would you recommend this grazing school to other producers?” The class has received a 100 percent “yes” to this question.
Previous classes have involved young and old, male and female, experienced and inexperienced, and they all enjoy and learn from this program.
For registration call the University of Missouri Extension office in Gainesville at (417) 679-3525.
