Nebraska Grazing and Training Event
T
he Peterson Holistic Grazing Event in August at Chad Peterson’s Ranch near Newport, Nebraska included a mob grazing seminar, a pasture ranch tour and walk, and Holistic Management trainings in Grazing Planning, Biological Planning and Monitoring, and Holisticgoal Setting. Over 125 attendees came from 14 states and three countries to hear about Holistic Management. Certified Educator Terry Gompert facilitated the event. Ten of the eleven Holistic Management® Certified Educator Trainees, who are under the supervision of Terry, were present to help during the holistic grazing event. They are scheduled to graduate in September of 2010. Chad Peterson is one of the trainees who comes to the training program with exceptional grazing experience. He has eight years of experience with high stock density grazing. His herd size has varied from 300 to 900 head. Chad has pushed the limit of stock density grazing, up to two million pounds per acre. His preference, however, is 500,000 pounds per acre (more in highly productive areas). To accomplish these high stock densities, the cattle moves per day range from three to seven times. With cow/calf high
Fritzler’s Ring
continued from page fifteen
Percent Leaf 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
TDN Estimate 35 40 45 50 55 60 75
Another consideration is digestibility of plant. The higher the fiber the lower the digestibility. A simple general measuring of fiber is to pull on the leaf until it breaks. The harder you have to pull to break it, the greater the fiber and the lower the quality. Another simple tool to determine forage quality is a refractometer which measures Brix level, estimated sugar content, and mineral density. The higher the reading, the higher the forage quality. Brix Level 0 6 10 12
Est. Sugar Poor Fair Excellent Sustainable
The Fritzler’s Ring has been very helpful as a teaching tool. I use it to determine: • Dry Matter (DM) forage available/per acre, per inch, per cell. • Animal days per acre (ADA) available • Estimate DM, TDN, Fiber, and Energy Terry Gompert is an Extension Educator for Knox County Extension in Nebraska and is a Holistic Management® Certified Educator. He can be reached at: tgompert@unl.edu or 402/288-5611. 16
Land & Livestock
November / December 2009
Chad Peterson and Terry Gompert
Mae Rose Petrehn, a graduate student at Ames, Iowa, gave a monitoring demonstration at the Peterson ranch. Mae Rose has been monitoring at the ranch for the past two years. She is also one of the eleven Holistic Management® Certified Educator trainees. Other trainees include: Katie Rosing, Ralph Tate, Trey Shelton, Danielle Shelton, Erin Wilson, Chad Peterson, Torray Wilson, Kevin Harold, Joshua Dukart, and Tom German. Trainees are from Iowa, Colorado, North Dakota, Montana, and Nebraska. stock density grazing, the conception rate is higher, but the weaning weights are slightly lower. The land has gained too from the high stock density grazing. There is more diversity, better water infiltration and sponginess, and more tonnage resulting in increased profits. Chad mostly custom grazes other individuals’ cattle mainly in the open season. At tour time he had one Scottish Highlander herd that approached 800 total head (cows and calves). They were moved four times per day at about 300,000 pounds per acre. The Peterson Ranch has the longest, continuous buffalo grazing experience in Nebraska, dating back to the mid-’40s. Peterson says that the Scottish Highlanders are the closest cattle that resemble the good buffalo characteristics, yet are not hard on Sandhills’ pasture as the buffalo are. The Highlanders are easy keepers, winter hardy, good mothers, produce tender meat, and can be fattened on grass. Chad has been practicing Holistic Management for about five years and is fully convinced Holistic Management® decision making process is superior. HMI Board Chair Ben Bartlett attended and noted, “I am especially encouraged to see the Certified Educators in training with Terry because their age tells me that they are the future of Holistic Management and it indicates to me that Holistic Management has a bright future. This is not to disregard their skills, experience, or expertise, but 20 years in the life of soil is a blink of an eye and we need young (younger) people active in Holistic Management. Community dynamics has taught us that we need a diversity of people for the health of the Holistic Management organization just like we need a diversity of age and kinds of plants for health of the soil.” Terry Gompert is an Extension Educator with the University of Nebraska. He has Black Angus cows that are developed for grassfed genetics. You can contact Terry at tgompert1@unl.edu.