Grazing school (1/2 day intensive) at the NOFA NY Annual Conference Jan 20 – 21 Saratoga

Intensive (1/2 day) Grazing School

This workshop will cover the basic principals of good grazing management systems, first from the perspective of the plants, and then from the perspective of the livestock. Once we put those two important pieces together, we will discuss how to monitor pastures and animals so that we can maximize dry matter intake from pasture and use grazing to improve pasture quality and productivity.  Using examples of real farm grazing systems we will cover system design, fence, water systems, lanes, paddock sizing and acreage requirements. We will talk about how to use different stocking densities, pre and post grazing heights, length of rest periods, different plant species to improve pasture and strategies to maximize dry matter intake from pasture. We will use photos of pastures, sheep, goats and cows to talk about how to observe and monitor pastures and cattle so that we can better understand if our grazing systems are working the way we want them to.