BROKEN BOW – The second consecutive “Herd That!” conference will stampede through Broken Bow’s One Box Convention Center and Custer County Fairgrounds for a whirlwind day on September 21.
Technically, though, according to organizer Jessica Groskopf, the events will get underway on September 20. “We start out actually the day before with a pre-conference event that discusses farm and ranch transition planning. We have a great educator named Allan Vyhnalek, and he’s going to be paired with a rock star attorney named Pam Olsen, and they’re going to walk you through how to get started on that farm or ranch transition plan.”
The upcoming conference, sponsored by the Nebraska Extension Office, focuses on women in agriculture; according to Groskopf, the width and depth of the conference’s structure provides exceptional, pointed learning opportunities.
“We do breakout sessions. We have three sessions with three workshop options per session, so there’s a little bit of everything in there, giving you the opportunity to kind of pick and choose what you’re most interested in.”
The conference is returning after a successful 2021, with some familiar faces peppered among new experts in their respective fields; of the newer events, Groskopf highlights one she is particularly intrigued by.
“The one I’m most excited about is the prescribed burning workshop with Ryan Benjamin. I think this is a really unique opportunity to talk about prescribed burns, and he actually has some really cool drone footage that he’s going to be showing of a recent study that UNL did.”
Groskopf says the conference also offers veterinary medicine continuing education credits for attendees. “If you have some expertise in the veterinary medicine area, there are 4 total credit hours that are available for your continuing education.”
The feather in the conference’s cap, though, for Groskopf, is the afternoon cattle handling demonstration, slated for 2 p.m. at the fairgrounds. “The cattle handling demonstration is the cherry on top. Ron Gill is a nationally-renowned animal behavior specialist, and he’s going to be walking through with Ruth Woiwode how to do low-stress cattle handling. We’re actually going to show you how to work those cattle through a system, and how to do it calmly to provide the least amount of stress on those animals.”
Registration after September 5 is $90, which includes the cattle handling demonstration; a link can be found here.
