Dig in your soil, not in your pockets! Join us as we discuss how to get the most out of your pastures by extending the grazing season in multiple climates. For this discussion, we welcome Deanne Vallad, cattlewoman and seed distributor. We’ll also review Deanne’s involvement in the Neilson Project, an innovative and successful wildfire recovery undertaking in central Idaho.
Reed Anderson is the well-known owner of Anderson Ranches — a 5th generation grass-based operation in the Willamette Valley. He raises grass seed, sells grass-fed lamb throughout the West Coast under the label “Anderson Ranches”, and owns a modern, up-to-date processing facility near Brownsville. We’ll discuss the current market situations affected by the pandemic, sustainable ways of raising sheep and cattle on pasture, and marketing grass-fed animals.
This is an exciting panel on “How to make Oregon State University an attractive educational destination for the next generation of dairy farmers.” Jon and Brad are progressive grass-based dairy farmers in Western Oregon. We will discuss various ideas on changes and enhancements that can be made by Oregon State University to attract the next generation dairy farmer.
Douglas Poole is a dryland farmer working 15,000 acres of cropland and 14,000 acres of pasture near Mansfield, WA where they get about 11 inches of precipitation a year, mostly in the form of snow. Through hard work, ingenuity, and a willingness to try new things he has been able to successfully integrate cover crops into his dryland small grain systems and uses it as an additional revenue source by renting the land to graze cattle as a cover crop termination method. This integrated systems approach has increased his soil organic carbon, increasing its ability to cycle nutrients and to hold water later into the spring growing season thereby increasing productivity and profit from his grains. We will discuss practical solutions and the approach he took to figure it out a system that works.
Troy Bishopp, affectionately known as “The Grass Whisperer”, is a 35-year well-seasoned grass farmer, a grasslands advocate, and a voice for grass-fed livestock producers. He has coined the term “Linger Grazing” to describe how noticing little things will help the bigger things. Troy owns and manages Bishopp Family Farm in Deansboro, NY — a 100% grass-fed, custom grazing operation that raises dairy heifers, grass-finished beef, and backgrounds feeder cattle.
Jim Gerrish, Ph.D., is a legendary grazing expert, author of two books on grazing management, and private grazing lands consultant now living in Idaho. Known worldwide for his down-to-earth knowledge and scientific expertise, Jim has taught thousands of farmers and ranchers about Management Intensive Grazing and helped revolutionize our understanding of saving money with grass. We’ll discuss critical issues in the grazing world and new developments about forage management. Join us for this exceptional conversation.
Dr. Racheal Bryant, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in Animal Science, Lincoln University. Racheal will be joining the OFGC e-Forum from Christchurch, New Zealand. Racheal is passionate about sustainable pasture dairy systems, and an expert on pasture, endophyte, and livestock ecophysiology interactions. We’ll cover topics ranging from forages for reduced nitrate leaching, implementing forage diversity at the farm scale for both improved environmental and livestock production performance, and next-generation dairy systems.
Graeme Hand has worked as an industrial chemist, international marketer, meat industry consultant as well as farm consultant to many family and corporate farmers. Based in the Huon Valley in southern Tasmania, Graeme has a special interest in working with family farms helping to create profitable, sustainable farm businesses that are enjoyable to work in. Graeme farms beef cattle in Tasmania and NSW and is the CEO of Stipa Native Grasses Association. Graeme will discuss how to implement practices in a planned way that is “safe to fail” – reducing risk, allowing experimentation & learning, and scaling up to the farm level.
Derrick Moot is a Professor in Plant Science at Lincoln University in New Zealand. He and his research team quantify crop and pasture responses to the biophysical environment to provide agronomic advice that can be applied to solve on-farm problems. His main focus has been on dryland pasture research including defining alfalfa grazing management rules to increase its use on rainfed properties in summer dry regions of New Zealand. Legumes and arable crops are also part of his research activity.
Daniel Olson is a dairy farmer and forage consultant from Lena, Wisconsin. His focus is on increasing the profitability of progressive operations (primarily dairy farms) all across the US by utilizing high yielding and high quality forages. Our discussion will center on the concepts of planting warm and cool-season forages together to reduce seeding costs, ways to improve feed efficiency, and some thoughts on annual versus perennial forages.
