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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.

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.  

 

 

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


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