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Dear Readers. Dan Hudson, MSUE educator from Ingham County organized this workshop last night which sounded like a real success. Congrats Dan. Also he is offering various books that may be helpful to farmers planning their pasutrues and farm. Here they are for your use. I can say the "Builidng a Sustainable Business" is a great tool for those designing their farm plan. It is offered on line at www.sare.org but you can also go there to order it hard copy, It offers several spreadsheets and checklist along with guidance to identify goals and objectives for the business. Hope you can benefit from Dan's contributions. Also Here is a list of additional resources that may be helpful too. Sincerley, Vicki Morrone From: Dan Hudson [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 2:17 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: follow up information from the Mid Michigan Grazing GroupKickoff Meeting Mid-Michigan Graziers: We had a great meeting last night with about 39 attendees! Several participants asked for links to sites where they can find or purchase some of the resource material that we had on hand yesterday, so here they are: The book Modern Corral Design can be purchased at: http://www.mwps.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=c_Products.viewProduct&catID=73 6&productID=6372&skunumber=OKE-938 The book Forage Utilization for Pasture-Based Livestock Production can be purchased at: http://www.nraes.org/nra_order.taf?_function=detail&pr_id=161&_UserRefer ence=72CA2C288B5D993A47DAB937 This is the document that has a chapter written by Ben Bartlett (a veterinarian and MSU livestock specialist in the UP). An outline of the table of contents is available at this site. You can view the results from the MSU Forage Variety Trials and find timely information on forage-related topics at: http://web1.msue.msu.edu/fis/ The book Watering Systems for Grazing Lands ($3) is only available through Ben Bartlett: [log in to unmask], 906-439-5880 At the meeting last night, there was significant interest in the USDA Web Soil Survey website. This service can help you get started planning for fence installation. You can outline an area of interest (AOI) and it will tell you how many of acres of which soil types are contained in that area. A tool is also available to trace out fields to determine perimeter distances. You can access this free service at: http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx If you have trouble using it, please contact me or your local USDA-NRCS office. For those of you who are in the process of developing your farm from the business side, and could benefit from some guidance, the book Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses is available free online (or a hard copy can be purchased) at: http://www.misa.umn.edu/vd/bizplan.html I strongly encourage you to peruse this document. A good business plan can help us all to avoid tragic mistakes and to capitalize on ripe opportunities. Finally, for those of you who are interested in direct-marketing, Marketing Your Beef can be downloaded (free) or purchased from http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/thisweek/2006/020806/susag32.html. This publication focuses on marketing beef, but because it talks a lot about the bigger topic of direct-marketing strategies, there is much to be learned no matter what you are selling. Thanks again to our speakers, all of whom did an excellent job. Their contact information follows: Richard Leep: [log in to unmask] Kevin Gould: [log in to unmask] Don Nevill*: [log in to unmask] or (989) 386-4522 *Don Nevill is one of several livestock production equipment dealers/installers in Michigan. Clearly MSU can/does not promote or endorse any particular business. Thanks for your help, Don! Thanks also to Dave Robison/Brian Haynes of Cisco Companies for contributing the 50 pounds of Midwestern Grazier seed as a door prize. "Foraging for Knowledge" Resource List Access this list from our website: http://ingham.org/ce/ag/home.htm MSU Forage Information Systems: variety trials, current research, current topics: http://web1.msue.msu.edu/fis/ MSU Extension Bulletins: http://www.msue.msu.edu <http://www.msue.msu.edu/> click on 'publications,' search by keywords 'forage' or 'pasture' * E2288: Controlled Grazing: Balancing Forages, Livestock and Management * E2880: Steps to Successful No-till Establishment of Forages Forage Utilization for Pasture-Based Livestock Production ($27): http://www.nraes.org/ type 'forage' in the search box at the top Missouri Grazing Manual ($17): http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/manuals/m00157.htm Watering Systems for Grazing Livestock: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1604.pdf ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas): http://attra.ncat.org/ Forage Information Resources from Other Local Land-Grant Universities: * University of Wisconsin: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/forage/ * Resource list: http://iowa.uwex.edu/ag/documents/UsefulGrazingResourcesrev508.pdf * Ohio State University: http://forages.osu.edu/ * University of Minnesota: http://www.extension.umn.edu/forages/ * University of Illinois: http://www.livestocktrail.uiuc.edu/pasturenet/ * Iowa State University: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/crops/forages/ * University of Missouri: http://aes.missouri.edu/fsrc/ * University of Kentucky: http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Forage/ * Penn State University: http://www.forages.psu.edu/ * Cornell University: http://www.css.cornell.edu/forage/forage.html * Purdue: http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/ Trade Magazines GRAZE Magazine: www.grazeonline.com/ 608-455-3311 * [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ; Stockman Grass Farmer: http://www.stockmangrassfarmer.net/; 1-800-748-9808 We hope you have a great start to your grazing season! Dan Hudson Daniel Hudson Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator Ingham County MSU Extension 121 E. Maple Street P.O. Box 319 Mason, MI 48854 Office Phone: 517-676-7207 ext 7291 If you would like to access previous postings to the Mich-Organic listserv you can copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar http://list.msu.edu/archives/mich-organic.html