Beginner Grazing School - 2025

January 7 – 30, 2025, Tuesdays and Thursdays
7 – 8:30 p.m.ET

 Virtual

The beginning grazing school will cover a comprehensive list of topics and provide many tools that beginning graziers will need to get started in their grazing operation. There are many grazing management strategies. The school will discuss the differences in management and the effects of various practices.

Sessions and Descriptions

Tuesday, January 7 - Introduction to Grazing and Graziers are Grass Farmers
Speakers: Kim Cassida & Kable Thurlow
Participants will receive an introduction to the different grazing methods and terminology that will be used throughout the 8 different sessions and learn how pasture plants grow in response to environment and management, and how to balance grass yield, nutritional value, and persistence with livestock performance in a perennial pasture base.

Thursday, January 9 - Pasture Establishment and Renovations
Speaker: Kim Cassida
Participants will learn how to evaluate whether a pasture needs renovation or replacement. Specific methods for accomplishing each goal will be outlined, including species and variety selection, site preparation, and planting.

Tuesday, January 14 - Soil Health and Fertility
Speakers: Christina Curell & Phil Kaatz
Soil health and fertility are key ingredients in a productive grazing system. Participants will learn about soil health basics and how they can develop and maintain better soil health. Soil fertility in pastures will also be covered including an introduction to pasture fertility needs, fertilizer types and uses, and soil testing and report interpretation. 

Thursday, January 16 - Nutrition, Health, and Welfare of Grazing Animals
Speakers: Richard Ehrhardt & Frank Wardynski
Participants will learn the factors that determine nutrient requirements and pasture intake and learn how to meet requirements with grazing management and strategic supplementation. Health issues unique to grazing will be reviewed along with mitigation strategies.  

Tuesday, January 21 - Fencing and Water Systems for Grazing Management
Speaker: Kable Thurlow
Fence and water systems are key components to grazing management success. This session will touch on product options, applications, and feasibility of many of the water and fence systems available to grazers.

Thursday, January 23 - Simple Accounting and Basics of Determining if Grazing is Profitable with Year Farm Financial Analysis
Speaker: Frank Wardynski
This session is designed to help graziers, capture their financial information into a useful form. This will cover accounting systems to account for dollars coming into and out of the checkbook. It will also cover and simplify the process of developing a beginning and year-end balance sheet to measure the net worth. It will bring the accounting system and balance sheet together to develop a year-end financial analysis.

Tuesday, January 28 - Regenerative Principles
Speaker: Dr. Morgan MathisonSlee
In this session, we will talk through the principles of Regenerative Agriculture specific to grazing livestock. While traditional approaches often focus on teaching practices, the focus of this session will be on understanding the foundational principles of Regen Ag especially:

• Seeing systems and exploring human-ecosystem relationships 
• Planning for what you want, not reacting to what you have
• Landscape multi-functionality
• The relationships between humans and grazing lands 

Thursday, January 30 - Working with NRCS, MAEAP, and What is the Right-to-Farm
Speaker: Sarah Fronczak  
In this session, participants will learn the basics of working with government agencies to plan for soil and water conservation on their farms. Agencies can be an important source of technical information as well as costshare, grants and loans to help with implementing sustainable practices. We will also explore how your Right-to-Farm is influenced by your compliance with Generally Accepted Agricultural Management Practices (GAAMPs) including manure management and farm siting.

Cost: $85 to attend all sessions
Cancellations on or after Jan. 6, 2025, are non refundable.