How to get more out of grazing and protect grass resources is the focus of the Basics of Rangeland Management workshop Thursday, Sept. 7, at the Lance Creek School/Kremer’s Ranch northwest of Lusk.
The session is 8 a.m.-4 p.m., said Ashley Garrelts, University of Wyoming Extension educator.
“Ranchers and rangeland managers will learn skills that will allow them to improve their rangeland resource while maintaining their grazing animals,” said Garrelts. “The combination of classroom and field discussions will allow participants to learn the why and how of these skills.”
Garrelts said the morning session will cover soils, ecological site descriptions (ESDs), plant response to grazing, rangeland plant nutrition, grazing distribution and grazing response index.
The afternoon will be spent in the field discussing ESDs, plant identification, rangeland monitoring, on-the-ground forage production estimates and infrastructure design.
Speakers include:
* Garrelts is the east-central Wyoming range management educator. She works with and develops programs for women livestock producers and range managers and helps ranchers integrate new technologies into their operations.
* Livestock systems extension educator Dallas Mount helped develop the High Plains Ranch Practicum School, a ranch management school focused on people, economics, range and forage production.
* Derek Scasta is the extension range management specialist and is experienced in how fire and drought and stocking rate and timing of grazing influences cattle distribution; plant community composition and structure; plant succession; shrub regeneration; and production.
UW Extension and the Niobrara Conservation District are sponsoring the workshop. RSVPs are requested by Friday, Sept. 1. Call 307-358-2417 or 307-334-9957.
Source: University of Wyoming
