2005 Year in Review

Upper Midwest Grazing Conference Set

The Upper Midwest Grazing Conference is coming to the Best Western Midway Hotel, August 2nd-4th, 2005 in Dubuque, IA. This summer grazing conference will feature speakers from the Upper Midwest and will include farm tours, a trade show and an abundance of networking opportunities. “Many producers, organizations and agencies have cooperated to make this opportunity a reality,” according to Larry Tranel, ISU Extension Dairy Field Specialist.

Day one will kick off with a “How I Profit From Grazing” producer panel with grazers Lee Kurtenbach, Mechanicsville, IA; Pete Winch, Fennimore, WI; Ken Nimrick, Stronghurst, IL; and Dan French, Dodge Center, MN. This will be followed by “How to Qualify for Your Conservation Security Program Dollars?” by Jim Ranum, NRCS grazing specialist. Then, “Using, Converting and Renovating Crop Ground for Pasture” will be covered by a panel consisting of Brian Lang, ISU Extension Field Crop Specialist; Charlie Opitz, dairy grazer, Belmont, WI; and Gene Schriefer, sheep grazer and grazing specialist, Mineral Point, WI. The afternoon will finish up with “Those Darn Thistles” by Dr. Jerry Doll, Agronomist, UW-Madison.

The commentator for our evening keynote will be Joel McNair, editor of GRAZE magazine. Joel will set the stage for Dan and Ruth Vosberg of South Wayne, WI who seasonally milk 150 crossbred cows in a low cost milking and housing system on 320 acres in the rolling, droughty hills of Lafayette County. Their topic is “Staying Out of Boxes and Taking the Middle of the Road Has Led Us to Profitability” promises to be an enlightening experience.

Day two will feature morning breakouts for dairy and other livestock. On the dairy side, Jon Zander, Extension Ag Agent, Trempealeau County, WI will present a “Parlor Planning Update” followed by Dale Thoreson, ISU Extension Dairy Field Specialist on “Cow Comfort and Feeding Facility Design”. The breakouts will conclude with “Supplementing Pastures” by Dr. Dave Combs, Dairy Nutritionist, UW-Madison.

The livestock breakouts with focus on “Pasture Beef Nutrition” by Dr. Dan Faulkner, Beef Specialist, University of Illinois followed by “Livestock Health Issues on Pasture” with Bob Leder, DVM.

Tour buses will then be boarded, as the conference will take to the road to visit the Russell Brothers and Mike Ensch dairies near Shullsburg, WI and then onto the Terry Beyer/Dennis Hesse Beef Operation near Elizabeth, IL. The tour will return late afternoon with evening networking opportunities.

Day three will feature “How Diverse Should Your Pasture’s Be?” by Jim Morrison, University of Illinois Extension Crop Educator followed by a panel discussing “Kura Clover—Does it Fit on Your Farm?” with Dr. Ken Albrecht, Dept of Agronomy, UW-Madison; Don Boland, Seneca, WI; and Bob Baehler, Mineral Point, WI. The conference will conclude with “Baleage, Feed Pads, Forage Piles and Cattle Lanes” by Dr. Brian Holmes, Extension Biosystems Engineer, UW-Madison.

Registration is due July 21st by mailing $75 per person (payable to Grant County Extension) with name, address and phone number to Dave Wachter, Grant County Extension, Box 31, Lancaster, WI 53813. Single day registrations are available for $45 per person per day. After July 21st, registration fees are increased $15 per person. Tuesday evening meal and Wednesday lunch is included. A block of rooms is available until mid July at the Best Western Midway Hotel, 3100 Dodge Street by calling 563-557-8000.

To request a registration brochure in Illinois contact Jim Morrison at 815-397-7714 or email morrison@uiuc.edu; or see the PastureNet web site Illini Pasturenet; in Wisconsin contact Dave Wachter at 608-723-2125 or dave.wachter@ces.uwex.edu or Ruth McNair, CIAS at 608-265-6479; in Minnesota contact Vince Crary at 218-385-3000 or crary002@umn.edu and in Iowa or other states contact Larry Tranel at 563-583-6496, Ext. 14 or email tranel@iastate.edu . Brochures can be downloaded from the website at Upper Midwest Grazing Conference

by  Editor, theCity1.com
June 14, 2005