Iowa beef producers, mark your calendars! There are a number of educational meetings being held around the state in July and August concerning improved grazing management and related topics. You are welcome to attend.

July starts off with the second round of sessions of the 2014 Iowa Certified Grazier program. They will be held July 8 in eastern Iowa and July 9 in south central Iowa.

ATTENTION GRAZIERS: The Iowa Certified Grazier Program will hold sessions at Maquoketa July 8 and at Winterset July 9. Grazing is also the topic of a July 15 meeting at Chariton, and the 2014 Iowa Grazing Series workshops will be held in August at five different Iowa locations.

The July 8 Certified Grazier meeting will be at Jackson County Extension office in Maquoketa in the morning; a pasture walk will be held at the Louise and Harold Horst farm at noon. The farm is at 52919 17th Street, near the town of Miles. The Certified Grazier program is designed for experienced graziers and others looking to upgrade their forage management skills and knowledge, says Denise Schwab, ISU Extension beef specialist. The program includes both classroom and in-the-field sessions.

Featured speakers for the July 8 meeting are Virgil Schmitt, ISU Extension field agronomist, discussing pasture fertility management; Lori Schnoor, Jackson County NRCS director, on using the web soil survey; and Jesse Jackson, NRCS forage specialist, on soil and forage interactions. The pasture walk will feature Alan Horst and Dustin Johnson discussing pasture seeding, livestock watering systems and paddock improvements that have recently been made to the Horst farm.

Iowa Certified Grazier program is a bargain for attendees
Maquoketa meeting: The July 8 program starts at 10 a.m. at Jackson County Extension office in Maquoketa. Registration for Certified Graziers is $100 for the full year program, which includes participation in any or all of the Jim Gerrish grazing programs to be held in August at various locations in Iowa. After the July 8 workshop, the dates for the rest of the Certified Grazier program at Maquoketa include August 21 (a Gerrish series workshop), and September 9, November 13 and December 9.

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Interested cattle producers who can't attend the morning meeting on July 8 but who want to attend just the pasture walk starting at noon at the Horst farm are welcome to do so. For more information or to register for the July 8 Maquoketa meeting and pasture walk at Miles should contact Denise Schwab at 319-472-4739, or e-mail [email protected] or go to the iowabeefcenter.org website.

Winterset meeting: An Iowa Certified Grazier Program meeting will be held July 9 at 10 a.m. at the Madison County Extension office in Winterset in south central Iowa. Joe Sellers, ISU Extension beef program specialist will review pasture condition scoring, asking the question—What do your pastures look like? Dan Morrical, ISU Extension livestock specialist, will compare the pros and cons of different grazing systems. Chris Clark, ISU Extension livestock field specialist, will discuss internal and external parasite control on pasture. Mark Carlton, ISU Extension field agronomist, will explain the importance of soil testing and fertility programs for haying and forage production.

Mineral recommendations for grazing livestock will be covered by Dan Morrical at the July 9 meeting. Fescue management will be discussed by Joe Sellers to end the morning session. After lunch, the group will take a pasture tour of a local farm. Sponsors of the Iowa Certified Grazier Program include ISU Extension, the Iowa Beef Center, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Dow Agro Science, Agri Labs, Southern Iowa Forage and Livestock Committee, Iowa Forage and Grasslands Council, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

"Greenhorn Grazing" is another grazing management workshop
Another grazing management workshop series conducted by ISU Extension this summer is called "Greenhorn Grazing." It will be held July 15, 2014 at ISU's McNay Research Farm, 45249 170^th Ave., near Chariton in south central Iowa.

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Starting at 10 a.m., the first session of this daylong program will review the grazing discussions from the June "Greenhorn Grazing" class. Brian Peterson, retired NRCS grasslands specialist in Iowa, is the speaker. Also on the program is Shawn Shouse, ISU Extension ag engineer, who'll talk about "Watering systems for grazing livestock." Brad Cochran of Gallagher USA will discuss how to use electric fence technology in grazing systems. The final morning session will cover "Pasture and brush management" with Brant Mettler, a pasture management specialist with Dow Agro Sciences.

After lunch, the grazing session will resume and go from 1 to 3 p.m. with a pasture tour to look at fencing equipment (Brad Cochran speaker), thistle identification and weed management (Brant Mettler) and fescue renovation using spray/smother/spray (Joe Sellers, ISU Extension beef specialist).

Fee to attend July 15 meeting is $15 per person, which includes lunch. To register call Joe Sellers at 641-203-1270 or Lucas County Extension at 641-774-2016. The July 15 session is part of the Greenhorn Grazing Series. To register for the entire Greenhorn Grazing series, contact Joe Sellers.

Also, the 2014 Iowa Grazing Series clinics are set for August
In August, another series of 2014 Iowa grazing meetings will be held at five different locations around the state. The featured speaker at each of these meetings will be Jim Gerrish, a well-known forage and grazing expert from the University of Missouri who recently retired and is now a consultant. Here are the dates and locations for the upcoming "Gerrish Grazing Series" in Iowa:

* August 18—ISU McNay farm at Chariton, Iowa; 10:30 a.m. will be the annual forage plots tour, then lunch followed by the Gerrish Workshop. At 5 p.m. a tour and BBQ will be held at the Jeff Lutz farm at Powersville, Mo., just across the Iowa border.

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* August 19—Dan Hostetler farm at Grand River, Iowa; 10 a.m. pasture walk will be followed by 12 noon lunch at Clarke County Fairgrounds in Osceola. The Gerrish workshop will take place in the afternoon. At 5 p.m. at the Justin Rowe farm an evening pasture walk and BBQ will be held.

* August 20—Maxwell Community Center at Maxwell, Iowa; Meeting starts at 1 p.m. with the Gerrish workshop. At 4:30 p.m. a pasture walk and evening BBQ will be held at Bruce Carney farm near Maxwell.

* August 21—John Schulte farm at Norway, Iowa; pasture walk at 9 a.m., then at 1 p.m. the Gerrish workshop will be held at Jones County Extension office in Monticello, Iowa. Beginning at 5 p.m. a pasture walk and evening BBQ will take place on Dave Lubben farm near Monticello.

* August 22—Lee County Extension office, Donnellson, Iowa; This event begins with a Gerrish workshop at 1 p.m., followed by a pasture walk at 4:30 and an evening BBQ.

The fee to attend any of these five "2014 Iowa Grazing Series" events held August 18-22 is $20 per day for members of Iowa Cattlemen's Association, Practical Farmers of Iowa or Iowa Forage and Grassland Council; cost is $40 for non-members. For more information and details on topics covered each day of the "2014 Iowa Grazing Series" visit the iowabeefcenter.com website or contact Joe Sellers at 641-203-1270 or [email protected]. More information about Jim Gerrish and his consulting firm, American Grazing Lands Service LLC, is available at the website.