Gerrish Grazing Workshops Set for Topeka and Hays
Jim Gerrish, well-known Idaho rancher, researcher, grazing educator, author and co-founder of the Missouri Grazing School, will deliver two 2-day workshops in Topeka and Hays, Kansas in August.
Gerrish will be in Topeka at the Ramada Inn, Lower level meeting rooms, 420 SE 6th St. on Monday-Tuesday, August 13-14, and in Hays at the Whiskey Creek Restaurant West Meeting Room, 3203 Vine St. Hays, Kansas on Wednesday-Thursday August 15-16. Each workshop will begin at 8:30 a.m. and run until 5 p.m. each day, and each workshop will be tailored for the grasses, forages, rainfall, growing conditions and grazing potential in that area of the state.
Gerrish has over twenty years of beef-forage systems research and outreach experience while he was on the faculty of the University of Missouri and twenty years of commercial cattle and sheep production on his farm. In addition to workshops and seminars, he provides an on-farm consulting service which helps farmers and ranchers more effectively manage their grazing lands for economic and environmental sustainability.
He 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. Gerrish also writes for Stockman Grass Farmer magazine and is a contributing editor to Beef Magazine.
Gerrish is back in Kansas at the request of graziers who attended a series of successful one-day workshops last summer. This year he will go into more depth on a range of topics including: getting the most from your pastures, kicking the hay habit, grazing system design, stocking rates, carrying capacity, planning for year-around grazing, balance forage supply and animal demand, and more. Ranchers and graziers will learn information and management skills that will improve production and profitability.
The workshops will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 5:00 p.m. each day. Deadline for registration for food count is August 8.
Registration fees, which include lunch and beverages, are $80 per individual for each workshop; and $50 per workshop for high school or college students.
Attendees are responsible for their own hotel and motel arrangements. The Topeka workshop is being held at the Ramada Inn and reservations can be made there by calling 785-234-5400. Hays has a number of lodging options.
To register go to the Kansas Rural Center website at www.kansasruralcenter.org and click on the 2012 Jim Gerrish Workshop Registration button. From there you can print out a registration form and mail it plus a check to the Kansas Rural Center at P.O. Box 133, Whiting, Ks. Or you can register online via the KRC website by clicking on your preferred workshop location and date.
For more information contact:
Mary Howell, KRC workshop coordinator, at 785-562-8726 or kfu.mary@gmail.com,
or contact KRC at 785-873-3431, or ksrc@rainbowtel.net .
The workshops are made available by a grant award to the Kansas Rural Center from the USDA Risk Manage-ment Agency (RMA). Kansas Farmers Union, Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition, and Kansas SARE are joining KRC as co-sponsors.
Rural Papers is the voice of the Kansas Rural Center, Inc., a nonprofit organization that promotes the long-term health of the land and its people through research, education, and advocacy. The KRC cultivates grass-roots support for public policies that encourage family farming and stewardship of soil and water. KRC is committed to economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially sustainable rural culture. KRC is funded by private foundations, grants, and individual contributions.
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