From the Pastures: Meeting season

Well, it’s time to come inside and learn something. The Driftless Region Beef Conference will be held Jan. 22-23 at the Grand River Convention Center in Dubuque, Iowa. Also at the same time, Jan. 22-24, is the GrassWorks Grazing Conference at a new location, the La Crosse Center, in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

The Northern Indiana Grazing Conference is Feb. 6-7 at the Michiana Event Center, the MEC, in Shipshewana. For more information, call 260-463-3166, ext. 3, or check out https://lagrange-swcd.wixsite.com/lagrangeswcd/nigc.

The Southern Indiana Grazing Conference is March 13 at the Shiloh Community Building in Odon. Event speakers are: Peter Byck — “Roots So Deep: Stories of Forage, Fertility and Farmer Ingenuity;” Greg Halich — “Bale Grazing Done Right: Soil Gains with Less Mud Pains” and “Outgrowing Fertilizer: Strategies for Improving Soil Health and Profit;” Peter Ballerstedt — “Where’s the Meat? The Global Diet Is Falling Short” and “The Other Side of the Plate: Why Animal-Source Foods Matter;” and Barry Fisher — “Grazing with the Soil in Mind: From Pastures to Cover Crops.” For more information, call 812-254-4780, ext. 3, or register at https://sigc2026.eventbrite.com.

The Heart of America Grazing Conference is moving to the end of June or the beginning of July, a first for this event. So, stay tuned for more updates.

After going over last year’s and this year’s hay tests, I decided to not only add shelled corn to the ration, but also mix in a protein pellet. If I had not tested the hay, I would not have known how much and which kind of pellet to use. Those hay tests have saved me some real money.

The Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition will be sponsoring several webinars this winter. Topics to be discussed will be: soil health and why it’s important, infrastructure, stored feed and maybe a live webinar from the Heart of America Grazing Conference.

Merry Christmas!