Spots available at Butler grazing school

Area cattle producers can sign up to participate in a two-day management intensive grazing school scheduled Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 7-8, at the Bates County USDA field office, 625 W. Nursery St., Butler. Classroom and field sessions are scheduled to run from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm both days, and will cover topics such as stockpiling, fencing installation, watering systems, pasture fertility and water quality. On Wednesday afternoon, touring a local producer’s rotational grazing system will provide opportunities for producers to learn from their peers.
The $35 registration fee covers the cost of all materials for the course (grazing manuals, printed materials and grazing sticks). Participants will have 45 minutes to an hour each day for lunch on their own.

The school is sponsored by the Osage Valley Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council’s Mound Branch Restoration Project and Cass County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Upper Big Creek Special Area Land Treatment (SALT) Project. Both projects aim to improve water quality within specific watersheds by offering cost-share opportunities to landowners for implementing best management practices such as rotational grazing systems and stream protection.

Successful completion of a grazing school is required to receive Mound Branch cost-share funding for implementing a grazing system. Grazing system practices eligible for cost-share include:

· Developing a water source such as a well or pond

· Distributing water to paddocks with pipeline

· Installing fence to intensify a system

· Applying lime and inter-seeding legumes to pastures

Registration forms are available at the Bates County USDA field office, the Osage Valley RC&D office upstairs in Butler City Hall, and online at www.osagevalleyrcd.com. Please include your mailing address and phone number when you register. The registration fee of $35.00, payable to Osage Valley RC&D, can be mailed in advance to Osage Valley RC&D, PO Box 420, Butler, MO 64730, or paid at the door before the first session begins at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7.

For more information, contact Mackenzie O’Neill, Mound Branch project specialist, at (660) 679-4332.

The Mound Branch project is partially funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7, through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act.