| | Grazing schools provide an excellent, hands-on way for producers to learn more about grazing management. Schools are held in various Alberta locations each summer. For instance, a three-day, three-location school was held last June in the Milk River watershed.
“It was a co-operative project that came from Cardston County, the County of Warner, the County of Forty Mile/Cypress County, and the Milk River Watershed Council Canada,” says Tim Romanow, the Extension Specialist from Cardston County. “It had been some time since grazing management principles, new technologies, and practices had been demonstrated to a lot of the producers in the Milk River watershed, which is over all of our municipalities.
“We had a long list of topics, from range plant ID to stocking rates, grazing management strategies, riparian health, watering systems and even issues with species at risk and things like the Canada-Alberta Farm Stewardship Program. We had a split agenda, one program focused on the core principles of grazing management, and he second program, running concurrently, had more in-depth information on specific topics.”
He adds, “It was a bit of a marathon, but it came together really well. And the only way we could pull it off was with all our partners. On top of the municipalities and the watershed council, we received a lot of support through PFRA’s Greencover Technical Assistance Program and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development/Public Lands. And MULTISAR (multiple species-at risk conservation initiative), Cows and Fish, Operation Grassland Community, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada all provided technical support or funding.”
The school’s classroom and field sessions had speakers from agricultural and resource management agencies as well as local producers talking about their innovative systems.
Romanow notes, “Many of the producers came to two days or all three days. They got a bigger picture of range management and all kinds of options to help them make their operations more economically and environmentally sustainable.”
The partners are looking at doing a follow-up project this year with participants from the 2006 school, including possibly working one-on-one with interested producers to develop a grazing management plan for their ranch. For more information, contact Tim Romanow (403-653-4977; tim@cardstoncounty.com). |
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