A 12-month pasture and harvested forage management planning workshop designed for livestock producers, land managers, and natural resource students will be conducted annually at the red office building of the NDSU Dickinson Research Extension Center. The building is located on the corner of State Avenue and Empire Road in Dickinson, ND.

The workshop will be offered on the first Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after 1 January each year, unless New Year’s Day falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, then the workshop will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the following week. The workshop will run from 1pm to 9 pm on Tuesday, from 8 am to 9 pm on Wednesday, and from 8 am to 5 pm on Thursday. Dickinson, ND is in the Mountain time zone.

The workshop instructors are Lee Manske, NDSU DREC range scientist, and Toby Stroh, DSU assistant professor of agriculture and ArcGIS instructor.

The workshop will scientifically address the persistent problems in livestock agriculture of high production costs and low profit margins resulting from the asymmetrical mismatch between the quantity of forage nutrients required by modern, high-performance cattle and the quantity of forage nutrients provided from traditional type forage management practices causing both the cattle performance and the land resource productivity to be at less than potential levels.

During the workshop, each participant will learn how to develop and properly operate a biologically effective management strategy with twice-over rotation grazing on summer pastures in conjunction with a complete 12 month complementary pasture and harvested forage sequence specific for his or her ranch. These science based management strategies meet the nutrient requirements of livestock during each production period, meet the biological requirements of grass plants and rhizosphere microorganisms, increase the quantity of forage nutrients produced, improve the efficiency of forage nutrient capture, and improve the efficiency of conversion of forage nutrients into saleable animal weight commodities. These biologically effective 12-month management strategies generate greater new wealth from the land natural resources without depleting future production. Information related to the workshop material is available at http://www.GrazingHandbook.com.

To design pasture and harvested forage management strategies specific to individual ranches, maps with each pasture and field for the entire land holdings, including owned and leased land, need to be made and acreages of each soil type in each parcel of land need to be calculated prior to the start of the workshop. This information can be developed by two methods. The first method is the old-fashioned hard way: each participant prepares from aerial photographs a complete set of land holdings maps with calculated acreage for each pasture and parcel of land and acreages of forage type and soil type within each parcel. Instructions for this method are available on the web at http://www.GrazingHandbook.com, scroll down to the third large red button, and go to pages 2 to 6.

The second method for development of ranch land holdings maps is to have this information compiled electronically for participants by a crew of ArcGIS mapping specialists. Location descriptions of land holdings will need to be provided to the specialists one month prior to the workshop to give sufficient time to develop the maps.

The workshop has minimal costs. The instructors’ time and preparation is provided at no charge. Lodging, transportation, and most meals are participants responsibility. There is a nonoptional lab fee of $25 per person to cover costs of supplies, refreshments each day, and a working supper on the second day. A three volume set of textbooks is available at the printers cost of $75.00. The optional, but highly recommended, ArcGIS map set will cost $75 per ranch. An option for professional development with one or two graduate credits for this continuing education course is available from NDSU at a cost of $50 per credit. Participants will supply their own calculators and notebooks.

Registration is limited to twenty ranches and is open between 1 September and the start of the workshop. Participants requesting ArcGIS maps to be developed for their ranch MUST register before the 7th day in December. For workshop information or to register call Lee Manske at 701-483-2348 ext. 118 or email at llewellyn.manske@ndsu.edu.