Released: February 04, 2005

Range Management Workshops Scheduled in South Central Kansas

MANHATTAN, Kan. – A series of three Range Management Workshops are planned for three consecutive Thursdays in Pretty Prairie, Kan., at the Lumber Yard, 100 block of E. Main, in late February and early March.

Each workshop, scheduled for Feb. 24, March 3 and March 10, will run from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., but will be preceded by a lunch at noon for the first 40 people at each event.

The workshops are sponsored by Kansas State University Research and Extension-Reno County, the Reno County Cattlemen’s Association, the Cheney Lake Watershed, the Natural Resource Conservation Service-Reno County and the Reno County Conservation District.

The Feb. 24 workshop’s featured speaker will be K-State researcher Keith Harmoney.

His studies focus on forages that complement native range and on extending the grazing season for forage-based beef production. Harmoney is based with K-State’s Agricultural Research Center at Hays.

The March 3 workshop will feature K-State watershed specialist Herschel George. Prior to becoming a watershed specialist, George spent 30 years as an Extension agriculture agent in Miami County. He has spent much of the last 18 months as a watershed specialist assisting ranchers with the development of alternative water sites.

The March 10 workshop will be presented by Don Koster of Rainbow Ranch and Farming Co. in Minneapolis, Kan. Koster’s family has a herd of 300 cows and 75 replacement heifers. Each year the family backgrounds 400 to 500 head of 500-pound heifers in addition to their own calves.

Their goal is to maintain and grow the animals outside a confinement feeding operation by using a combination of native grass, annual forages and crop residue. Forages the Kosters use include turnips, triticale, cowpeas, BMR sorghum, sudan grass, alfalfa, milo stubble and winter wheat.

For more information about the workshops, interested persons can call 620-665-0231.

-30-

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Mary Lou Peter
mlpeter@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News