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MU Sets Grazing School

published: August 7th 2008
by: Duane Dailey
source: MU News Service

LINNEUS, Mo. - Instructors at the management-intensive grazing school at
the University of Missouri Forage Systems Research Center (FSRC) must
remain flexible in their teaching, says Craig Roberts, MU forage
agronomist.

"This year we will talk a lot about dealing with an excess of forage
growth in a rotational grazing system," Roberts said. "Last year, we
talked a lot about grazing in a drought year."

The school, Sept. 24-26, at the MU research farm in Linn County will
cover basics of rotational grazing. Instructors are MU Extension
specialists from Columbia and rangeland conservationists from the USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

They will be joined by panels of producers who use management-intensive
grazing in their livestock operations.

The school includes both classroom sessions and pasture exercises at
FSRC and a nearby farm, said David Davis, superintendent at FSRC.

The schools are coordinated by Roberts for MU Extension and Mark Kennedy
of NRCS with funding from the Missouri Forage and Grasslands Council and
the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative.

In an opening exercise, participants will learn how much pasture to
allocate for a set of steers. Then they will be given portable fencing,
posts and rolls of poly tape to build electric fencing around a day’s
grazing.

"The school is very practical, hands-on work," Roberts said.

On the first day, the topics covered by Extension specialists include
grazing economics, nutrient cycling, forage selection, livestock and
weed control. The field exercise includes soil sampling and estimating
forage quality and yield.

The next day, participants check how well they allocated forages for
their steers the first day--and then try again.

On the second day, NRCS conservations will teach "graziers arithmetic"
and tell how to develop a grazing plan for a farm. The specialists will
discuss how to match forage supply to animal needs. A grazing system can
be adjusted for drought or wet years.

The last part of the school is devoted to developing a real plan for a
real farm. Participants will divide into teams to draw paddock
arrangements on field maps of a farm.

The heart of a grazing system is dividing large pastures into smaller
paddocks, then rotating the livestock through the paddocks, Roberts
said.

Research at FSRC has shown that carrying capacity on a pasture can be
doubled with managed grazing.

"The main lesson is intensive management, not intensive grazing,"
Roberts said.

Participants are encouraged to bring aerial maps of their own farms for
discussion.

Fee for the three-day session is $250 per person or $375 per couple.
That includes the updated Missouri Grazing Manual and other handouts,
plus three lunches and two suppers.

Reservations are taken first-come and limited to 50 people.

To enroll, contact Joetta Roberts at mfgc@mchsi.com or 573-499-0886.

The grazing school in Linneus is the only state-level school this year.
It will train new instructors for the regional schools held across the
state.

"It’s called our beginners school," Roberts said, "but some graziers who
have attended a regional school come here for the latest updates in
grazing research."

To reach FSRC, go west from Brookfield, Mo., on U.S. Highway 36, then
north six miles on Highway FF to Genoa Road. Go west 1.5 miles to the
headquarters. Signs are at the intersections.

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