The “Lost River Grazing Academy” is aimed at farm and ranch operators, state and federal agency representatives, and others in the private and public sectors who are interested in improving their understanding and skills in integrated management of pastures.

“We have thousands of acres of irrigated pasture that could be making their owners and operators a lot more money than they currently are,” says Chad Cheyney, UI Extension educator in Butte County and workshop coordinator. “With a little more management and not a lot more purchased inputs, we can improve harvesting efficiency, growth rate, carrying capacity and profitability.”

Jim Gerrish, a research assistant professor with the University of Missouri’s Forage Systems Research Center who has more than 20 years of experience with management-intensive grazing, will lead the workshop’s 11-member faculty.

Other faculty will include Tom Griggs of the University of Utah, who is an expert on grass morphology, physiology and species adaptation; Mark Olsen, district conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Salmon; and soil fertility specialist Jason Ellsworth, veterinarian Jim England, animal scientist Benton Glaze, economist C. Wilson Gray and educators Jim Hawkins, Shannon Williams and Scott Jensen, all of UI Extension.

The workshop will cover grazing management principles, fencing technology, forage allocation, forage plant anatomy and physiology, pasture economics, forage quantity estimation, resource inventory, feed banking, grazing cell design, ecological basis of management, livestock health considerations, bloat management, livestock nutrition and feed allocation, body condition scoring, and pasture operation and trouble shooting.

The cost of the program is $250 per person and includes seven meals, breaks and all workshop materials. The second, third and fourth members of farm and ranch management teams will be admitted for $100 per person. Scholarships for up to 100 percent of the workshop cost, including travel and lodging, are available to qualified participants.

For more information on the workshop and scholarship, call Chad Cheyney or Sharon Sluder at 208/527-8587 in Arco, Jim Hawkins at 208/879-2344 in Challis or Shannon Williams at 208/756-2824 in Salmon.

Workshop co-sponsors include the Butte, Custer and Lemhi Idaho Soil and Water Conservation Districts, USDA Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.