SARDINIA, Ohio – Increase your profits, improve forage production practices and extend your livestock grazing season by attending the upcoming 2010 Southwest Ohio Grazing School in October.
The three-day program teaches a broad range of rotational grazing management techniques including fencing, paddock design, maximizing grazing pastures, forage selection, water management, pasture fertility, winter feeding, soil quality, and meeting nutritional requirements, among other topics.
The school is designed for any grazing animal including beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep and goats.
The event, sponsored by Ohio State University Extension and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, will be held Oct. 19 and Oct. 26 from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. and Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at Eastern Brown High School, 11519 US Rt. 62, Sardinia, Ohio.
Registration is $50 per person and $25 for each additional family member. The fee includes all program materials, lunch and light refreshments. Registration deadline is Oct. 5.
"Producers who have attended the school indicate that they think rotational grazing is a better lifestyle not only for them but also for the animal," said Cliff Little, OSU Extension educator in agriculture and natural resources. "The system improves farm production, reduces feed costs and increases the carrying capacity of the farm."
Topics being covered during the program include plant physiology, environmental benefits, livestock nutrition, species and fertility, economics, annual forages, crop residue, hay storage, stockpiling and paddock designs.
Presenters include OSU Extension educators Jeff McCutcheon, John Grimes, David Dugan, Chris Penrose, Rory Lewandowski and Latham Farley; University of Kentucky forage specialist Ray Smith; and NRCS grazing specialist Bob Hendershot.
Little estimates that the grazing school has reached over 2,000 producers across the Midwest throughout its 15-year history.
"It's rewarding to see producers have success with the program," said Little. "Rotational grazing has so many benefits: It helps protect the environment; increases production per acre, thereby increasing farm profits; and it improves water and forage quality. And the best part is that it's a socially accepted practice. People like to see animals outside, grazing on fresh forages. They see that as being healthy for the animal."
For more information, or to register contact the OSU Extension Brown County office at 937-378-6716.