Want to learn about the new NOP pasture regulations??

 

Attend the Webinar This Thursday, September 16

There's still time to register for this week's free eOrganic Dairy Webinar!
Title: Maximizing Dry Matter Intake on Your Organic Dairy Pastures

Presented by: Karen Hoffman of the USDA-NRCS.

When: Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 2PM Eastern Time (1PM Central, 12 PM Mountain, 11AM Pacific Time).
To Register go to:  http://www.extension.org/article/28807

About the Webinar

On February 12, 2010, the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) published a final rule that establishes pasture standards for organic livestock. The Access to Pasture rule specifies that organic milk and meat products come from organically-raised animals that are actively grazing on pasture. The rule requires that these animals' diets consist of at least 30% dry matter intake from pasture grazed during grazing season, and that the grazing season is at least 120 days.
In this webinar, USDA NRCS animal scientist Karen Hoffman will describe how organic dairy farmers can maximize dry matter intake from the pasture. She will describe the connection among milk production, a cow's rumen and pasture quality, including plant density, number of tillers/plant, pasture height, and species composition. She'll take a look at protein and energy relationships in the pasture and ways to balance them to enhance dry matter intake and encourage high animal performance.

About Karen Hoffman

Karen Hoffman is an animal scientist with USDA-NRCS in New York and is also the NY state coordinator for the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative. Karen received her Bachelor of Science degree from the Animal Science Department at Cornell University and her Master of Science degree from the Department of Dairy and Animal Science at PennState where she studied grain feeding strategies to high producing dairy cows on a rotational grazing system. Karen has worked with dairy and other livestock producers on their grazing systems for more than 15 years including Cornell Cooperative Extension as a dairy management educator and now as animal scientist specializing in grazing nutrition for the USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service.