Jun 6, 2011

Jim Gerrish to Speak on Grazing in Five Kansas Communities during August

Jim Gerrish, well known Idaho rancher, researcher, grazing educator and co-founder of the Missouri Grazing School will deliver five workshops across Kansas in August.   Each presentation will be tailor made for the grasses, forages, rainfall, growing conditions and grazing potential in that area of the state.  

Jim is author of two books Management-intensive Grazing: The Grassroots of Grass Farming published in 2004 and Kick the Hay Habit: A Practical Guide to Year-Around Grazing published in 2010. Jim writes for The Stockman Grass-Farmer magazine.

Topics to be covered: Getting the Most from Your Pastures and Building a Better Solar Panel, Kick the Hay Habit, and Grazing System Design.

 The itinerary for August 16-20, 2011 is as follows:

Tuesday, August 16 – Atwood, Aberdeen Steakhouse (note change from Colby)
Wednesday, August 17 – Hays, Whiskey Creek Restaurant Meeting Rooms.
Thursday, August 18 – Garden City, Lee Richardson Zoo, Finnup Center  
Friday, August 19 – Emporia, in conjunction with Beef Fest, Lyon County Fairgrounds.*
Saturday, August 20 – Holton, Evangel United Methodist Family Life Center 

Registration and networking among ranchers will start at 9:00 a.m. with the workshop running 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

*The August 19th Emporia workshop, held in conjunction with Flint Hills Beef Fest, will start at 7:15 a.m. with a free breakfast and additional speakers; Jim will start 10:30 or so.

Ranch managers will learn grazing information and management skills that will improve production and profitability. Bring any questions and Jim will answer them. 

This workshop is made available due to a grant award to the Kansas Rural Center from the USDA Risk Management AgencyKansas Farmers Union along with Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition and Kansas SARE are joining KRC as co-sponsors. 

Registration Fees:
    First Registrant $35
    Additional Registrant: $25/person
    Student: $15
    Special pricing for Emporia: $10

To register online,  click on your preferred workshop date by the August 12 deadline:

Questions?
Contact Mary Howell, email, 785-562-8726

About our speaker
Jim has over 20 years of beef-forage systems research and outreach while he was on the faculty of the University of Missouri and 20 years of commercial cattle and sheep production on his family farm in northern Missouri.  Besides workshops and seminars, he provides an on-ranch consulting service which helps farmers and ranchers more effectively manage their grazing lands for economic and environmental sustainability.  From his present location at May, Idaho, Jim writes a monthly column Grassroots of Grazing for the Stockman Grass Farmer Magazine and is a contributing editor to Beef Magazine.