Workshop In June To Showcase 300-Day Grazing System

Gene Schmitz, MU Extension Livestock Specialist, stands in a test plot of switchgrass and explains its potential use as a grazing crop during the summer. Switchgrass was one of six native warm season grasses planted in May 2020 into a field on the State Fair Community College campus in Sedalia, to test their viability in Missouri pastures as well as a haycrop. (Photo by Kyle Hill, Alpha Ag Network)

A workshop and tour next month in Warrensburg will showcase how Missouri farmers could have their pastures in grazing condition for nearly ten months of the year. The June 6th workshop is co-sponsored by University of Missouri Extension and the University of Central Missouri, and will be led by Extension livestock forage specialist Gene Schmitz. He tells Regional Radio that the keynote speaker, Doctor Shane Gadberry of the University of Arkansas, will discuss a similar setup south of the state line.

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The University of Nebraska’s Doctor Mary Drewnoski will present on similar efforts in her state. Schmitz says hearing from two of Missouri’s neighbors will help producers select the varieties of grasses and grazing cover crops to make a 300-day grazing system successful in Missouri.

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The workshop takes place June 6th from 8:30 to 2:30 on the University of Central Missouri’s Prussing Farm, with a tour of the Mitchell Farm to follow. Farmers can register for the workshop before May 31st by calling the Pettis County Extension Office at 660-827-0591. The registration fee is $25.