| |
| |
|
|
| |
Top Stewards Honored
At the Cattle Industry Convention being held in San Diego, Calif. in late January, seven ranches will be honored for their environmental stewardship efforts. Learn more about the operations being recognized through the Environmental Stewardship Award Program at http://environmentalstewardship.org/newsroom.aspx
Applications for future honorees are due March 6, 2016. Find the application HERE.
|
| |
Ranch Sustainability Forum March 8-9, Sheridan, Wyo.
Discussions on soil health, measuring the “BCS” of land – for management and markets, as well as understanding the changing economies of the beef industry are highlighted topics for the Ranch Sustainability Forum to be held March 8-9 in Sheridan, Wyo. Speakers include Scott Sims, Greg Simonds, Jill Clapperton and John Nalivka. For more information and to register, visit:
http://www.agwingroup.com/ranch-sustainability-forum/
|
| |
2016 Grassfed Exchange to Be in Georgia
Activities are being planned for April 27-29, 2016, in Perry, Georgia, for the Grassfed Exchange. The event will include farm tours on April 27 and speakers and vendors on April 28-29. Direct marketing, ranch profitability, forages and cover crops and nutrition are among the topics to be discussed. For more information and to register, visit:
http://www.grassfedexchange.com/conference/
|
6NCGL Conference Attendees Have Opportunity to Provide Feedback
The National Grazing Lands Coalition asks conference attendees to provide feedback on the 6th National Conference on Grazing Lands. Please visit http://www.cvent.com/d/brqsxm/7E and provide the email address you registered with to complete the survey.
|
|
| |
| |
 |
Jan - Feb 2016
Volume 21, Issue 1 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More than 600 grazing enthusiasts from across the country (pictured at left) and representing diverse farm and ranch operations gathered Dec. 13-16 in Grapevine, Texas, for the 6th National Conference on Grazing Lands (6NCGL). The event featured a variety of speakers and poster sessions – many of them producers themselves, as well as a trade show with vendors representing everything from forage seed and fencing to farm/ranch organizations. Several state grazing land coalitions also had booths to share with others their activities and efforts.
Opening the conference was a keynote address delivered by Texas Congressman K. Michael Conaway who is currently chairman of the House Ag Committee. Conaway shared comments related to the 2014 Farm Bill and the federal budget and provided an overview on current topics being addressed by the House Ag Committee, including a review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, country-of-origin-labeling, and the biotech labeling issue. Conaway noted that the next Farm Bill won’t be put in place until 2018, but in preparation for that he said, “All of us have to help urban America understand the symbiotic relationship between a vibrant production agriculture and their pocketbook. We’ve got to help American consumers understand they pay less for their food than anywhere in the world. They benefit from production agriculture’s hard work, they just don’t know it.”
Conaway added, “We can’t have a strong vibrant America without the storehouse of values maintained in rural America – and strong production agriculture is key to a vibrant rural America.”
The opening session of the 6NCGL event also included a “passing of the chairmanship gavel” when Chad Ellis, a rancher from Ardmore, OK, assumed the role of National Grazing Lands Coalition chairman from Bob Drake, who has moved to an emeritus role after serving 17 years as chair of the GLC Steering Committee. Drake, a rancher from Davis, OK, was given a standing ovation for his longtime service to the National Grazing Lands Coalition.
In his comments, Ellis noted the important improvements the national and state grazing lands coalitions have helped make on the land through educational programs and technical assistance. He added, “Grazing management is the most integral part of successful operations.”
|
|
|
|
How can first generation ranchers get started – and get established – in the business? Several producers shared their experiences during sessions at the 6NCGL.
Ryan Sexson, Kilgore, NE, shared his 20-year journey with attendees during one of the concurrent session. Pictured at left is Sexson with one of his friends and mentors Lynn Myers, Lewellen, Neb. Sexson, who has a wife and three young children, said his family and his children’s love for ranch life are what have kept him going. He noted that the ability to build honest relationships has been essential to helping him achieve his goal of leasing land and owning his own cows.
Sexson worked as contract labor and with a bank loan was buying cows from the sale barn on the side. But a little over a year ago, he had 40 head of cows, and no place to go. When it looked as if he might have to sell his cows, he credits a few long-time ranchers in the area for providing him additional work opportunities, land and cows on shares to finally get established.
As he reflects on the past two years, Sexson says his biggest obstacle to getting started was not physical, it was mental. “You have to switch your mind and thought process. It’s not about you – it needs to be about ‘us.’” He explains, “We have such a tendency to be so concerned with ourselves that we don’t have thought process for someone else. But these arrangements need to work for everyone involved.”
He credits the ranchers who have assisted him by saying, “What others have done for us is they’ve gone outside of the box and did things for us they would have done for their own children – and we have no relation. They have an interest in our family and our success. We’ve built relationships with them and been honest always in our dealings – that’s a core value that has helped us.”
He also offered this advice: “If your kids want to come home to the farm or ranch, do everything you can to make it possible. If they don’t want to come home, make sure they are treated equitably and then do everything you can to get someone else started and keep that small business going. Do all you can to help someone. It will be rewarding.”
But he adds, “It has to be equitable, because there will be no reason for your children or grandchildren to keep that business if it’s not.”
Michael Vance, cattle manager for Stark Ranch at Gainesville, TX, noted that he did not inherit land or livestock. As he’s built his own herd of Red Angus cattle, Vance has worked a variety of side jobs – including real estate agent and property manager.
He shared that his Number 1 rule in pursuing your ranching goals is this: Learn to ask. Vance says, “If you don’t ask, you’ll never get the help. You are not begging, just asking for opportunities.” He adds that from his own experience, asking has led to loans, leases and learning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Throughout the 6NCGL, an abundance of information was shared. Following are several notable highlights, with links for more information.
- The 100 Ranchers organization, a non-profit started in Texas in 2006, was credited with helping provide outreach and education to minority ranchers. http://www.100ranchers.org/
- Several ranchers shared their positive experiences with Integrity Beef Alliance, which was established in 2000 by the Noble Foundation. The alliance aims to simplify cow/calf producer management decisions and increase marketability of calves through the production of high quality, uniform, and Age and Source verified preconditioned cattle. http://integritybeef.org/
- Since 1999 Jon Taggert has been learning the grass-fed beef market through his Grandview, Texas-based business, Burgundy Pasture Beef. Taggert offers home delivery, retail and web sales. See their marketing efforts at http://burgundypasturebeef.com/public_home.php
- One of the most popular demonstrations at 6NCGL was the “Rainfall Simulator” which illustrated how water erosion can occur if adequate forage cover is not left in-place above ground. In 2015, NatGLC was awarded $279,720 in Conservation Innovation Grant funds and will work with the states of Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina, New York and South Dakota to purchase rainfall simulator demonstrator trailers. Watch this short video to see how the rainfall simulator works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IIoyFYEcBc
-
Every four years the International Rangeland Congress is held – and the 2016 Congress will be in Saskatoon, Canada, July 17-22. Learn more at http://www.irc2016canada.ca/#sthash.VXgNirnT.dpbs
-
Would you like to enhance the efforts of your state grazing land coalition? A six-part webinar series titled Creating Sustainable Statewide GLC’s is being created offering ideas and advice. Log on and watch 1-5 in the 6 Part series at http://bit.ly/SustainableGLC. Part 6 is slated to be released in April 2016.
|
|
|
 University of Kentucky Professor Emeritus Garry Lacefield (pictured at left) provided a personal perspective of gratitude and patriotism during the 6NCGL. Lacefield, who has traveled extensively around the world studying forages and sharing management tactics, noted that if you have food in the fridge, some money in the bank, the ability to read and your health, you are more blessed than millions of people in the world.
He noted, “No country in the world has the cheap, safe, abundant food supply like the United States…even in bad conditions, we are more blessed than most parts of the world.”
Lacefield called for attendees to take time for gratitude for six “F’s:” food, farmers, family, friends, faith and freedom.
Lacefield emphasized the importance of telling family and friends how much they mean to you. As well, he advised remembering how special the freedoms Americans enjoy are. “Americans can grow up to be whatever they want to be, that’s not the case everywhere.”
Regarding food, he said, “We [Americans] have the most abundant food of any country in the world. The variety we have is unbelievable. It’s also the safest food supply – so many places I’ve gone, the people don’t drink the water.”
Lacefield added, “It’s also the cheapest. Americans spend less than 10% of household income on food. In 1950 it was 22%. No country in the world has that kind of cheap, safe food supply.”
Lacefield also noted that “no one is more unappreciated than farmers.” He added, “Productivity is important to feeding our world.” Lacefield shared the statistic that in 1950 a farmer raised enough crop to feed 18 people. In 2014, the average farmer feeds 163 people from his crop. “We need to do a better job of telling our story,” said Lacefield.
Likewise, new NatGLC Steering Committee Chair Chad Ellis, who is also on staff with the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, recently penned an article emphasizing the continuing need for ag producers to share their ag stories. Read it at http://www.noble.org/ag/announcements/share-your-ag-stories/
|
|
|