AUGUST 2013
Range Plan & Ranch Drought Plan
David Kraft, Dwayne Rice, Doug Spencer and Ted Alexander
Two sessions available:
Monday, August 26: NRCS office at 3020 W. 18th, Emporia
Tuesday, August 27: NRCS Conference Center at 747 Duvall, Salina
Each workshop will begin at 9:30 a.m. and finish mid-afternoon. Developing a Ranch Plan:
- Maps and Farm Information
- Resource Inventory
- Setting Goals and Objectives
- Planning Appropriate Actions
- Creating a Strategic Plan
- Examining Ranch Vision & Objectives
- Taking Inventory
- Identifying Critical Dates & Conditions
- Monitoring Resources
- Developing Strategies
- Implementing & Evaluating Your Plan
SEPTEMBER 2013
Livestock Water and Electric Fencing
Mark Green
September 10
Abilene Civic Center, 201 NW 2nd Street, Abilene
Click here for more information
Mark Green, NRCS Specialist, from Missouri will return to Kansas for a workshop that is always in high demand. Water availability is the number one limiting factor in grazing possibilities. Fence is also extremely important. The use of electric fence offers many more options for managed grazing that in turn benefits the health of the soil and range, as well as improved production and profitability.
What makes Mark such an enjoyable speaker, is that he brings his many years of ranch experience to share with his audience. Mark also has two big wooden boxes of fencing and water equipment options with him. During the presentation Mark will go through his boxes and share the good, the bad, and the ugly of those parts and pieces of equipment. Producers always enjoy his cowboy humor and expertise as he tells it like it is! Nothing like having been there, done that to make one a good teacher! In the afternoon the group will go to the country for some actual fence building exercises. Bring your lawn chair!
Topics to be covered include:
Water Development for Serious Graziers
- Livestock water requirements
- Water Sources: wells, streams, springs & ponds
- Siting water for improved grazing distribution
- Permanent and portable tanks
- Above and below ground pipeline
Fencing for Serious Graziers
- Pros and cons of various electric fence construction materials
- Permanent & temporary fencing installation techniques
Demonstrations
- Fence building
- Floating corner post installation
Short Grass Prairie Grazing Basics and Research
Keith Harmoney & John Jaeger
September 17
KSU Agricultural Research Center, 1232 240th Ave, Hays
Click here for more information
Keith Harmoney, KSU Agricultural Research Center, 1232 240th Ave, Hays has extended the invitation to tour the station and learn from various research trials that have been conducted in the short grass prairie area of Western Kansas. Keith will team the education for this tour with John Jaeger also of the center. The tour will be September 17th. Topics for the day will include: perennial cool-season grasses for grazing in western Kansas, stockpiled native rangeland for winter grazing, distillers grains supplementation for late season stocker production on native rangeland, precipitation effects on animal production and forage yield from native rangelands, early weaning of calves as a drought management strategy, results of the early weaned calf performance studies, along with a tour of the facilities and forages grown there. Registration will start at 8:30 a.m. with the workshop/tour starting at 9:00 a.m. meet at the Auditorium at the center of the station. Registration requested for planning food, facilities and handouts, kfu.mary@gmail.com
OCTOBER 2013
How Animal Selection and Grazing Management Improves Productivity, Profitability and Personal Satisfaction
Jim Gerrish
October 28-29 Salina, Ramada
October 30-31 Pratt, Pratt Community College
Click here for more information and to register.
Jim Gerrish returns to Kansas for two, 2-day workshops at Salina and the Pratt area.
Jim’s will share his knowledge and wisdom of managed grazing, animal production and performance, as well as planning the ranch to also provide profit and satisfaction. His workshops are always well attended with producers leaving with a different way of looking at why they do things the way they do, and perhaps explore ways that make less work and more profit.
Topics for the workshops are:
- What really matters in grazing management
- How to build a better solar panel (for forage growth)
- The dollars and sense of grazing
- Using winter annuals and swath grazing to extend grazing
- Managing beef cow costs
- The cow’s job description: Defining the functional cow
- Why should the cow work for the ranch and not the other way around
- Cow size…feed efficiency…and genetics, breed differences effecting different health and performance factors
- Selecting for disposition
- Setting goals for the individual ranch operation
- To hay…or not to hay…why one should be out of the hay business
- Mob grazing sericea lespedeza: Turning a "noxious weed" into $$
NOVEMBER 2013
Fall Forage Tour: Converting Sunlight, Soil and Water into Beef
Dale Strickler
November 1 at 1:00 p.m.
November 2 at 1:00 p.m.
Courtland
Dale Strickler is a passionate agronomist that loves to teach people about soil, plants and the environment. He is a former college instructor. He now shares his knowledge on a much larger scale as an advisor/consultant/teacher for farmers, ranchers and the seed industry. Every year Dale has a test plot of a very wide variety of forages used for grazing.
His tour last year attracted 108 people, who were able to walk out across the test plot, among his cattle and visualize the grazing results. Cattle know what tastes best and vote accordingly with their consumption. The results were stunning. Some forages were eaten to the ground practically roots and all while others were avoided until all other offered forage had been consumed. Dale will have another test plot this year and invites all producers to come take a look.
To accommodate the working person as well as the rancher his tour will be offered on two days; the first on Friday November 1st, and the second on Saturday November 2nd. The tour will start at his farm 1 mile south of Courtland at 1:00 p.m. Registration is requested, but not required, although we like to have enough handouts. kfu.mary@gmail.com
JANUARY 2014
2014 Kansas Graziers Association Winter Conference
January 25, 2014
Ramada Convention Center, Salina
Join us for the 15th annual conference!
April 2014
Low-Stress Livestock Handling on the Ranch
Lynn Locatelli, DVM
April 12
Ramada, Salina
Topics to be covered include:
- Cattle Behavior
- Basic Principles and Herd Movement Techniques
- Cow Calf Production
- Stocker, Backgrounder and Feedlot Production
- Cattle Handling Facility: Design and Use
May 2014
Olsburg Ranch Tour Highlighting Low-Stress Livestock Handling
Bill Edwards and Alan Hubbard
May 3
Edwards Ranch, 15225 Dry Creek Road, Olsburg
Click here for details and registration.
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