BROKEN BOW—Approximately 140 people gathered to hear nationally known soil health expert Jay Fuhrer speak during the Soil Health, Cover Crop, Grazing, and No Till Conference hosted by Arrow Seed in Broken Bow. The North Dakota conservationist and lead educator of the North Dakota-based Menoken Farm enlightened attendees with a variety of soil topics.
Jim and Deb Girardin of Arrow Seed wanted to host the free educational event in hopes of providing the opportunity for customers to be successful by learning more about the ever-evolving topics related to farming and ranching.
Jay Fuhrer works with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to integrate cropping and grazing systems, sustain soil health, and maximize rotational grazing and plant diversity.
“One thing about a combination of plants—way safer to graze. The more you go to a monoculture the more issues you can have in terms of prussic acid or nitrates in terms of dropping something dead. But once we move to diversity of plants, a lot of that went away. It was a lot safer to graze,” Fuhrer said.
During Thursday’s conference at the One Box Convention Center, Fuhrer recommended measuring livestock gain per acre, defining specific goal statements for your farming and/or ranching operation, and monitoring soil on a long-term basis.
“Soil monitoring doesn’t mean much unless it’s long term,” the soil health expert said.
Fuhrer also suggests allowing livestock to graze the top half of plants and trample the bottom half.
“Is there a difference in the top half and bottom half of these plants in terms of energy and in terms of protein? Absolutely. Is there a law against grazing it all? No. Should you? No. If you want to build soils, you need to take a look at that. So I try to graze the top half,” Fuhrer said.
To wrap up the morning session of the conference, Fuhrer reminded local farmers and ranchers that when you achieve soil sustainability, you take away stress, which takes away disease for plants and livestock.
The Arrow Seed Soil Health conference also featured UNL Assistant Professor and Beef Systems Specialist Mary Drewnoski, a producer panel, and Rich Russell, Arrow seed Regional Sales agronomist.
