CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Are you an Illinois-based beef producer hoping to improve your environmental and economic outcomes? Or a row crop farmer looking for a herd to graze your cover crops, or looking to add livestock into your rotation? Or, maybe you’re a landowner exploring additional revenue streams? Regenerative grazing could be an option for you to achieve these goals while building healthy soils and supporting farm profitability.
The Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District, The Land Connection, University of Illinois Extension, and The Pasture Project at the Wallace Center are excited to offer an online series via Zoom exploring regenerative grazing this winter. This series will feature Kent Solberg, a Livestock and Grazing Specialist with the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota, as well as Illinois graziers Jill Vonder Haar and Jim Isermann.
The series, “Regenerative Grazing: Fundamentals for Farmers,” will take place over three sessions, with the first session kicking off from 9-10:30 am CT on February 11, 2021. The topic, “The Why: What is Regenerative Grazing?” will include discussions of what regenerative grazing is and how it differs from continuous grazing, as well as the multiple benefits that can result from regenerative grazing.
The second session, “The How: The Nuts and Bolts of Regenerative Grazing on the Farm,” will take place from 9-10:30 am CT on February 18 and will dive into the details of regenerative grazing, including paddocks, fencing, water, forage basics, and grazing cover crops. An, “Ask Me Anything!” session will conclude the series on February 25 from 9-10 am CT and allow participants time to ask additional questions and have live discussion with Mr. Solberg and the Illinois grazier presenters.
“Finally, a meeting which goes beyond row crop production and includes the fifth soil health principle we often don’t discuss, livestock integration,” said Joe Rothermel, farmer and Chairman of the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District. “I think this series is a great idea and probably overdue.”
Registration for the series is currently live on The Land Connection’s website at https://thelandconnection.org/event/grazing-series/. There is a $30 registration fee. You will receive links to the Zoom meetings upon completing registration. Please contact Cassidy Dellorto-Blackwell at cassidy@thelandconnection.orgor 217-840-2128 if you have registration questions or accessibility requests.
The planning committee of this series hopes to have an in-person pasture walk in April within or near to the Embarras River Watershed in East Central or Southeastern Illinois. Please stay tuned for details about this in-person event as the committee monitors the ever evolving COVID-19 crisis.
— University of Illinois Extension
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