December 13, 2001

Year-Round Livestock Pasture-Forage Management Planning Course Set for January

A course on 12-month pasture forage management will be offered Wednesday through Friday, Jan. 2-4 on the campus of Dickinson State University. The course will run from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Jan. 2, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Jan. 3 and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on January 4.

The course is for livestock producers and students who want to learn more about developing ranch management plans. Space is limited, so participants are encouraged to register as soon as possible by calling (701) 483-2185. The cost for producers is $88.06 ($43.06 registration, $25 application, and $20 laboratory fee). College students attending the course will receive one credit from Dickinson State University and the cost of the course will be included in regular tuition and fees, plus a $20 laboratory fee. The text for the course is $20. Continuing Education graduate credit is also available for the course from North Dakota State University.

"Students in the course will develop a grassland management strategy for their ranch which will provide the forage needs for their livestock for a full 12-month period," says Lee Manske, NDSU range management researcher and one of the course instructors. "The course will also provide basic information and principles in range ecology, livestock nutrition and forage production that will permit participants to understand and operate their 12-month ranch management plan."

North Dakota rangelands and pasture lands comprise over one-third of the land base of the state. Rangelands provide a multitude of benefits to the citizens of the region, which include forage for livestock, economic return for the landowner, habitat for plants and wildlife, and open spaces for recreation and sightseeing. The unique attribute of rangelands is that they can provide all these valuable benefits at the same time when they are properly managed with sound ecological principles.

Manske notes that agricultural production from rangeland can be substantially increased without sacrificing non-agricultural benefits by implementing management strategies that take into account range ecosystems and processes while capturing available nutrients. He also noted that the interrelationships and interactions between livestock and the rangeland ecosystem are complex.

A team of instructors for the course will lead discussions and explain basic principles and concepts of land and resource inventories, rangeland ecosystems, grass growth, effects from defoliation, livestock nutritional requirements, nutritional value curves of forage plants, grazing systems, economics of systems, production of annual forages, by-products of feed, winter rations and the development of 12-month management plans.

Other instructors are Kevin Sedivec, NDSU extension range management specialist; Toby Stroh, DSU assistant professor of agriculture; and Greg Lardy, NDSU extension beef specialist. The course is offered by the DSU agricultural department in cooperation with the NDSU animal and range sciences department and the NDSU Dickinson Research Extension Center.

Participants will need to prepare a complete set of maps and provide copies of aerial photos for their entire land holdings, including owned and leased land, and calculate the acreage of each parcel of land and forage type prior to the start of the course. Pens, pencils, note paper, and a calculator will also be needed for the course.

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Source: Lee Manske, (701) 483-2076, lmanske@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu