A course on 12-month livestock-pasture-forage management will be offered Tuesday through Thursday, January 6-8, 2009, on the campus of Dickinson State University.  The course is designed for producers and students who want to learn more about developing pasture-forage management plans.  This planning course is a cooperative project of the NDSU Dickinson Research Extension Center, the DSU Agricultural Department, and the NDSU Natural Resources and Animal Science Departments.
                                                                             
AEach participant in the course will develop a grassland management strategy that provides a full 12-month forage sequence for his or her own ranch,@ says Lee Manske, an NDSU range scientist at the Dickinson Research Extension Center and one of the course instructors. AThe course will present information about range ecology, livestock nutrition, and forage production to help participants understand and operate their 12-month pasture-forage management plans.

In addition to Manske, course instructors include Kevin Sedivec, NDSU Extension Service range management specialist; Toby Stroh, DSU assistant professor of agriculture; and Greg Lardy, NDSU Extension Service beef specialist. The team of instructors will lead discussions and explain basic principles and concepts of land and resource inventories, rangeland ecosystems, grass growth, effects from defoliation, livestock nutritional requirements, nutritional value curves of forage plants, grazing systems, economics of systems, production of annual forages, by-products as feed, winter rations, and the development of 12-month management plans.
           
Previous course material is available on the web at www.GrazingHandbook.com.  A new textbook is being prepared.  ArcGIS maps of participating ranches will be developed by specialists from DSU Ag department.  Location descriptions of land holdings and other necessary mapping information needs to be provided a month prior to course dates.

The course will run from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Jan. 6, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Jan. 7, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Jan. 8. Dickinson is in the Mountain Time Zone. Space is limited, so those who wish to participate are encouraged to register early by calling (701) 483-2185.