What was covered?
Creating Excellent Pasture from the Soil Up
Jim Gerrish – American GrazingLands Services
Excellent pasture is high in energy, adequate in protein, mineral rich, diverse, palatable, and durable. The foundation for creating excellent pasture is living, biologically active soil. Current research and producer experience is showing there is a much closer link between living plants and the soil biome than we ever knew of even just 20 years ago. Active photosynthesis drives not only plant growth but also the thriving microbiology below ground. Our daily grazing management choices are what determine how effectively we use the natural linkages between soil, plants, and animals. Understanding and effectively managing the soil-plant-animal interface is a key component of ranch profitability.
Data Dive: A look at the Return on Investment from smarter grazing using water & wire
Bart Davidson – MaiaGrazing Agronomist
There really are only three ways to improve grazing production numbers, and that is by changing forage quantity, quality or utilization.
Everything else is noise or related to these three. Too often we get drawn into conversations about buying more land, re-sowing improved forages or fertilizing … before we take a good hard look at doing better with what we already have, and at a fraction the cost.
Bart examined some simple data showing the return on investment from improving grazing practices that increase existing forage yield by as much as 100% without needing to talk to your bank manager.
About The Speakers
Jim Gerrish – American GrazingLands Services LLC
Jim Gerrish is an independent grazing lands educator and consultant providing service to farmers and ranchers on both private and public lands across the US and internationally. He currently lives in the Pahsimeroi Valley in central Idaho and works with numerous ranchers using both irrigated pastures and native rangeland as well as working in high natural rainfall environments. His past experience includes over 22 years of beef-forage systems research and outreach while on the faculty of the University of Missouri. His research encompassed many aspects of plant-soil-animal interactions and provided the foundation for many of the basic principles of Management-intensive Grazing.
He typically speaks at 40 to 50 producer-oriented workshops, seminars, and field days around the US and internationally each year. Jim keeps his day-to-day grazing tools sharp through the management of a ranch unit consisting of 450 center pivot irrigated pastures, 100 acres of flood ground, and several hundred acres of rangeland.
His research and outreach efforts have been recognized with awards from the American Forage and Grassland Council, Missouri Forage and Grassland Council, National Center for Appropriate Technology, USDA-NRCS, the Soil and Water Conservation Society, Progressive Farmer, and American Agricultural Editors Association.
https://www.americangrazinglands.com/
Bart Davidson – MaiaGrazing Agronomist
Bart is an agronomist and Co-founder of MaiaGrazing, an industry leading grazing management software. He has a broad range of experience working across cropping, horticulture and grazing with a focus on understanding soils and plants. Bart is a sought-after speaker here and internationally due to his extensive knowledge on improving soil productivity.
