Grazing Management and Stockmanship Workshop Addresses Profitability and Performance

With presentations any rancher, cattleman, horse owner, or landowner would want to take back to their successful ag operation, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) co-sponsored a Grazing Management and Stockmanship Workshop held on Sept. 25, 2009, at the Navarro County Exposition Center in Corsicana, Texas.

The workshop accommodated 110 attendees and focused on beef cattle production, reducing animal stress to increase their performance, and the actual profitability of an ag operation utilizing classroom presentations and live demonstrations.

“This stockmanship and stewardship program was well received by local ranchers, and the speakers at the workshop are very effective educators and related their messages to the audience that truly hit home,” said Jeff Goodwin, NRCS rangeland management specialist in Corsicana and Blackland Prairie Grazing Land Conservation Initiative (GLCI) coordinator.

A few nationally recognized speakers were invited to the workshop, including Curt Pate, who is known as the “cow whisperer”, and a renowned stockmanship instructor and horseman delivered hands-on demonstrations on how to reduce animal stress and cattle handling techniques.

Pate has more than 15 years of teaching public horse demonstrations, as well as being a lifelong rancher and named 2009 Clinician of the Year by the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA).

Plus, Dr. Ron Gill, PhD, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service livestock specialist and professor at Texas A&M University in Stephenville, a lifelong cattleman, and an expert in cattle management showed the audience cattle handling and chute side demonstrations while teaming up with Pate.

Pate acknowledged both men have a passion for increasing the knowledge about stockmanship and stewardship for cattlemen and horsemen across the nation, and particularly for educating the consumer to become better resource managers.

“We both truly believe in a message for better resource and livestock management, and we all must also focus on the consumer,” Pate said. “The consumer will help us in this trade become better resource managers and stockman.”

Other noted presenters included Dr. Dennis Sigler, Texas AgriLife Extension Service equine specialist and founding member of the Stock Horse of Texas (SHOT), discussed grazing strategies and impacts of horses, along with the nutritional needs of horses. Also, Mark Moseley, NRCS rangeland management specialist in Boerne and Texas State GLCI coordinator, presented a discussion about grazing management for beef cattle producers.

“Horses require the same nutrients as cattle, which includes energy, protein, vitamins, minerals and water,” Dr. Sigler said. “Therefore, it’s amazing the difference in the quality of hay – if it’s Coastal Bermuda or native pasture – that can be improved with excellent nutrient management and fertilization.”

Besides NRCS, sponsors for the Grazing Management and Stockmanship Workshop included Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas State GLCI, Blackland Prairie GLCI, Central Texas Quarter Horse Association, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers, Purina, Mid-continent Livestock Supplements, Miraco, Merial, Tru-Test, Priefert, AQHA, Livestock Marketing Association, National Cattleman’s Beef Association, Beef Checkoff, Bluebonnet RC&D, and Leon-Bosque RC&D.
 

Presenting a discussion about grazing horses and nutrition for horses, Dr. Dennis Sigler addresses the 110 attendees at the Grazing Management and Stockmanship Workshop on Sept. 25, 2009, at the Navarro County Exposition Center in Corsicana, Texas.	At the Grazing Management and Stockmanship Workshop, some nationally recognized speakers participated, including Dr. Ron Gill shown waiting to address the audience during a cattle handling and chute side demonstration at the Navarro County Exposition Center in Corsicana, Texas, on Sept. 25, 2009.
Young and old ranchers, cattlemen, horse owners and landowners all assembled at the Navarro County Exposition Center on Sept. 25, 2009, to learn how to increase their profitability through reduced animal stress and get improved performance from their animals at the Grazing Management and Stockmanship Workshop in Corsicana, Texas.	Curt Pate, forefront on horse, who is also known as the cow whisperer, readies to deliver a cattle handling demonstration with Dr. Ron Gill, background, for the 110 attendees during the Grazing Management and Stockmanship Workshop held on Sept. 25, 2009, at the Navarro County Exposition Center in Corsicana, Texas.