This past few days have featured unique opportunities to delve deeper into best management practices in agriculture. It all kicked off on Tuesday evening with an exclusive screening of the captivating documentary, ”Ocean of Grass” at the Fox Theatre in Broken Bow.
On Wednesday, the ‘Resilience & Resurgence’ Nebraska Grazing Tour, a highly successful event, was held north of Anselmo, at the McGinn and Cooksley Ranches. The presentations focused on rejuvenating the landscape after the Cooksley Complex Fire in April 2023, that burned 37,000 acres of grass and destroyed the McGinn Ranch’s historic main home and bunkhouse.
The McGinn and Cooksley families, in a testament to the indomitable spirit of resilience, shared a comprehensive narrative of their journey during and after the fire. They showcased how their innovative grazing management practices were instrumental in their recovery.
George Cooksley stood with the crowd in his family’s pasture as he shared his post-fire strategy. Instead of dwelling on the loss, he focused on grazing spreadsheets to identify what was still available. With this positive outlook, he and his family initiated repairs and began the restoration process.
Matt McGinn told KCNI/KBBN News that the goal of the tour was to bring people back to the ranches post-fire to look at the recovery and see how the different management styles incorporated various strategies to build soil health and resiliency in order to speed recovery and allow them to utilize their pastures sooner. Matt noted that many other aspects of soil care and preservation of grasslands were covered during the day, meeting the organizer’s goal.
The Nebraska Grazing Coalition, Natural Resources Conservation Service, University of Nebraska Extension Lincoln, Custer County Extension, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, USDA Farm Service Agency, and the Community of Anselmo, along with other volunteers, supported the grazing tour event.
On Thursday, producers and other interested parties attended the No-Till On The Plains Nebraska Sandhills Grazing Conference at the One Box Convention Center. Speakers highlighted ways to graze cropland to build rangeland health, the role of forbs in native rangeland, and several other soil-building topics. Following lunch, the attendees traveled to field sites of annual seeded crops and native rangeland.
