Grassworks invites you to celebrate this year’s special 25th Annual GrassWorks Grazing Conference that will help you to improve the resilience of your grass, animals and farms. Their message is that resilience is the ability to recover from or survive change and adversity over time. Although grazing in one form or another has been around for millennia, simple pasturing as often practiced is neither resilient nor sustainable.
From February 2-4, 2017, hundreds of people from around the Midwest will gather in at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells, WI to learn how managed grazing can improve your farm. Topics will include silvo-pasture, grass-based dairy management, and the connection between the soil, plant and animal. Sessions will cover dairy, beef, horse, pig, sheep, goat, and chicken enterprises. There will be over 45 sessions and a tradeshow with over 40 exhibitors. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear thought-provoking and inspiring speakers. In keeping with grass-based leadership in local and sustainable farming, the meals offered at the conference consist almost entirely of seasonal, local, grass-fed selections from the best graziers and farmers from around the region.
Three nationally-known keynote speakers will be featured at the 2017 conference:
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Tom Frantzen, farmer from New Hampton, Iowa, will talk about “Better Questions for BetterDecisions” - Thursday, Feb 2
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Joyce Turk, former USAID Senior Livestock Advisor, will discuss “Understanding and Enhancing the Roles of Grazing Ruminants in Meeting Projected Human Food Demands by 2050” - Friday, Feb 3
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Jim Gerrish, with American Grazing Lands Services LLC, will enlighten us about ”Linkages at the Soil, Animal, Plant Interface” - Saturday, Feb 4
GrassWorks is working with Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship to roll out a great lineup of speakers to offer resources to help dairy graziers. Three of the major sponsors for this conference include Byron Seeds, the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship and Simple Soil Solutions. Conference registration includes workshops, general sessions and admission to the exhibit hall, as well as dinners, lunches, snacks and evening entertainment. For more information on registering, volunteering, exhibiting and other opportunities, you can visit the GrassWorks website at (www.grassworks.org). To request a conference flyer with complete information, contact Heather Flashinski at 715-289-4896 or grassworksheather@gmail.com , or continue to check out the website www.grassworks.org to find conference information.