Progress report for ENC22-214
Project Information
This project’s goals are to engage farmer advisors (crop consultants, private sector grazing technical service providers, and agency staff) in building skills in managed grazing and forage production systems that use diverse annual and perennial forages to meet livestock needs. In recent years, agriculture in the North Central Region has become increasingly specialized. Recent interest in soil health has led livestock and grain farmers to explore opportunities to reintegrate managed grazing of cover crops and perennial forages into their systems. No single forage species performs well across all seasons, soil types and climate conditions. A forage chain is a planning process to design a calendar of diverse forages that ensures availability of forage throughout the year. The project brings together two unique target audiences for co-learning and professional development: certified crop advisors who work primarily with cash grain and confinement dairy farmers and grazing technical service providers who work primarily with livestock graziers. Working closely with these audiences’ professional organizations, the Wisconsin Association of Professional Agricultural Consultants and the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association, project partners will plan and carry out educational activities to increase the availability of forage chain and grazing planning expertise. By training certified crop advisors and early career conservation professionals, building a user-friendly grazing planning website, and engaging all participants in the statewide Grazing Team network, the project will ensure farmers interested in adopting managed grazing of perennials, annuals, cover crops, or crop aftermath will have access to the information and support they need.
Partnerships
A key output of the project will be new partnerships among organizations that serve technical service providers and those that serve certified crop advisors and cross-programming among these organizations. Through these new partnerships, there will be increased information sharing on incorporating annual and perennial forages into crop rotations. Conservation and agricultural professionals will add to their toolbox resources and expertise in managing forage chains.
Website
A page will be added to GrassWorks website that will contain all the pertinent information needed for technical service providers to create grazing plans to NRCS standards. The page will include checklists of requirements, links to specific resources needed to include in the plans, sample grazing plans, and other information to assist TSPs in creating approved grazing plans that will allow their clients to access NRCS EQIP cost-share funding for managed grazing.
Educational activities
Educational activities coordinated by the G-Team will include 2 to 4 events annually, advertised statewide and showcasing a diversity of landscapes, soils, and farming operations. Events will include workshops on grazing planning, grazing infrastructure design, and forage chain development; field days and pasture walks on farms implementing these practices; and other topics requested by participants. GrassWorks’ annual conference will incorporate workshops on these topics as well. All educational activities will be registered for continuing educational units through the American Society of Agronomy Certified Crop Advisor program.
Mentoring
The project will create an informal mentoring network among experienced grazing technical service providers and early career NRCS and Land and Water Conservation staff around the state. Each RC&D will work with their local Conservation Agency offices to determine need and pair interested staff with experienced RC&D staff or farmers. Mentees will gain from shadowing technical assistance providers on visits with farmers, having someone to call with questions, and gaining hands-on experience working with graziers on their farms. Farmer mentors will receive an honorarium for their participation.
Cooperators
- - Technical Advisor
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- - Technical Advisor
- - Technical Advisor
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Education
We are providing multi-faceted learning methods such as workshops, discussions, demonstrations, and field experiences through cross-training of certified crop advisors, technical service providers, and other agriculture and conservation professionals. These professionals have historically sought training and networking opportunities in different places. Providing educational opportunities in one setting will provide them the opportunity to learn from each other’s specialties and develop skills in the context of managed grazing and forage chains. Crop advisors will learn the agronomy of forages, experienced grazing TSPs will benefit from education on new NRCS requirements for grazing planning, and a new generation of early career NRCS and other agency staff, many of whom don’t have a farming background, will gain experience with the mechanics of managed grazing and livestock farming.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Offering diverse educational opportunities to certified crop advisors, technical service providers, and other agriculture and conservation professionals
Increase learning and proficiency of ag professionals in managed grazing and forage chains to support farmers in implementing these practices. Educational activities coordinated by the G-Team are offered, advertised statewide, and showcase a diversity of landscapes, soils, and farming operations. Events included workshops on grazing planning, grazing infrastructure design, and forage chain development; field days and pasture walks on farms implementing these practices; and other topics requested by participants. GrassWorks’ annual conference incorporated workshops on these topics as well. All educational activities were registered for continuing educational units through the American Society of Agronomy Certified Crop Advisor program.
- Three G-Team events were held on the following topics:
- Jan 12, 2023, Heifer Grazing Compass: a decision support tool that compares the financial outcomes of raising dairy heifers on pasture compared to other approaches.
- Aug 7, 2023, Introduction to Audubon Conservation Ranching and Managing Pastures in Drought
- Dec 14, 2023, Winter grazing, cover crops with livestock integration, new NRCS cost-share practices available.
- Additional conference sessions included:
- Dec 7-8, 2023, One conference session at the WWASH conference on reintegrating livestock into crop rotations.
- Feb 2-4, 2023, 16 sessions during the GrassWorks Annual Grazing Conference providing CEU credits and learning for a wide range of agricultural professionals.
- Regional RC&Ds carried out 16 additional events including pasture walks, demonstrations, and one conference. These educational activities promoted professional development for attendees including agency, nonprofit, and extension staff, researchers, crop advisors, and TSP. Partners also identified farmers to host field days and serve as mentors for early career agency staff.
These events covered a range of educational topics and brought together agricultural professionals of diverse backgrounds.
Build new partnerships and connections among organizations that serve technical service providers and those that serve certified crop advisors as well as building networks between individuals.
Through these new partnerships and professional connections, increased information has been shared on incorporating annual and perennial forages into crop rotations. Conservation and agricultural professionals have added skills to their toolbox of resources and expertise in managing forage chains
- The G-Team events drew a broad range of professionals:
- 19% Agency
- 9% Extension
- 10% NGO
- 13% NRCS
- 9% Researcher
- 18% Service Provider
- 3% Crop or Soil Consultants
- 2% Corporate
- 17% Farmers
- Partner events exhibited similar attendance diversity, but the majority of attendees were farmers.
- The goal of developing a session at the Wisconsin Water and Soil Health conference was to connect to a conference that largely focuses on concerns of soil health and resilient cropping systems but does not have a large part of the program dedicated to livestock grazing. This session gave an introduction and overview of the benefits and opportunities to integrate livestock into cropping operations, ideas on how to partner with neighboring farms, winter management, custom heifer grazing, and water and soil improvements. A panel discussion provided information on the economics of integrating livestock, how simply it can be done, and situations to avoid.
- The GrassWorks Grazing Conference provided 44 sessions over three days with exposure and opportunities for educational and social networking.
- These events promoted co-learning and cross-training for a range of attendees, all of whom have been added to the G-Team database, which supports mutual communications. 53 new agricultural professionals have been added to the contact database. 23 email newsletters were sent out promoting GrassWorks and partner events.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
Outcomes during this reporting period focus on Awareness Outcomes including gaining awareness, knowledge, and skills in:
- Integrating annual forages, cover crop grazing, perennial forages, and building forage chains
- Participants gain skills and knowledge in planning grazing and forage management systems using annual and perennial forages and cover crops
- Participants gain knowledge of NRCS grazing planning standards and skills in writing grazing plans
- Diversity in agricultural professionals attending and CEUs offered.
Event topics for GrassWorks and partners included pasture systems and animal carrying capacity, managing pastures in drought, warm season native perennial pastures, managing for wildlife habitat, grazing cover crops, extending the grazing season, winter grazing, soil health and nutrient management, promoting grassland bird habitat, grazing on public lands, and grazing multiple species.
- Evaluations were performed for GrassWorks-hosted pasture walks and workshop events with a total of 44 respondents, all indicating they had increased knowledge, the majority indicating they increased knowledge by at least 2 points on a scale of 1 (very little knowledge) to 5 (expert knowledge).
- 8 of 19 events held by GrassWorks and partners reported participation or engagement of mentors and early career mentees.
- GrassWorks’ Annual Grazing Conference continued to be a focal point event with a total of 499 registrations at the February 1-3, 2023 event with 16 sessions providing CEU credits. Highlights of session topics closely related to this SARE-PDP project included: Oak savannah on prairie, outwintering and feeding, entomology and grazing, latest forage research, nutrient management, grazing warm season native grasses, developing a forage chain, soil carbon considerations, soil health and nutrient management, grazing planted prairie, multi-species grazing, and weeds talk.
- 110 conference attendees responded to an evaluation. 93% indicated that session topics were very or extremely relevant. Average knowledge on a scale of 1-5 was 3 before the conference and increased to 3.9 after the conference. The target session on forage chains was well received with 13 evaluation respondents indicating that the session was helpful or very helpful.