Pastureland Ecology II (000031)

Overview

This course is designed to train employees who assist pasture based diaries in natural resource planning and application. It provides instruction in basic understating of the dairy animals nutritional requirements, and pasture feeding systems. The course discusses farm management trade-off, and cost-benefit analysis of going back to pasture feeding lactating cows and their offspring. It examines nutritional and physiological requirements of dairy animals, pasturing, natural resource constraints and how they affect dairy farming. Participants design a dairy farm plan which integrates pasture, stored forage producing crops, hay acreage, dairy production targets, and conservation objectives.

Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• understand nutrition and health issues faced by dairy farmers using pasture as a feed source
• understand how to provide standing forage in concert with stored feeds to meet dairy animal performance goals
• understanding principles of setting up a pasture system to feed the dairy animal while protecting resources of ecological value
• develop conservation plans that coordinate pasture and stored forage production to meet dairy producers’ production and conservation objectives

Prerequisites

None

Duration

1 week

Target Audience

Those who provide direct assistance or technical support to pasture based dairies

NEDC Contact

Stanley Sackeyfio, Training Specialist

Technical Specialist

George Peacock, Grazing Lands Team Leader, CNTSC

Enrollment

Go to AgLearn to request enrollment in Pastureland Ecology II (000031).