E06. Principles of Grazing Management with Jim Gerrish

05/01/23 • 71 min

Grazing operations benefit the animals, the farm, and the environment. In this episode, Jim Gerrish joins Jared to talk about Grazing Management to restore soil health.

Jim Gerrish, is an independent grazing lands consultant providing services to farmers and ranchers on both private and public lands across five continents.
Jim was co-founder of the very popular 3-day grazing management workshop program at FSRC. These schools were attended by over 3000 producers and educators from 39 states and 4 Canadian provinces from their inception in 1990 through 2003. Fifteen other states have conducted grazing workshops based on the Missouri model and Jim has taught in eleven of these states. He is an instructor in the University of Idaho’s Lost River Grazing Academy held annually near Salmon ID. He typically speaks at 20 to 25 producer oriented workshops, seminars, and field days around the US and Canada each year.
For 22 of the years he spent in Missouri, he stayed in touch with the real world on a 260- acre commercial cow-calf and contract grazing operation. In this setting, he took a worn out marginal crop farm and converted it to a highly productive grass farm. After the move to Idaho, Jim keeps his day-to-day grazing tools sharp through management of a ranch unit consisting of 450 center pivot irrigated pastures, 90 acres of flood ground, and several hundred acres of rangeland. He was deeply involved in the Green Hills Farm Project, a grassroots producer group centered in north-central Missouri and emphasizing sustainability of family farms. His research and outreach efforts have been recognized with awards from the American Forage and Grassland Council, Missouri Forage and Grassland Council, National Center for Appropriate Technology, USDA-NRCS, the Soil and Water Conservation Society, Progressive Farmer, and American Agricultural Editors Association.

For more information, you can contact him at:
Website: https://www.americangrazinglands.com/
Learn more about his books:
1. Management-Intensive Grazing: The Grassroots of Grass Farming
2. Kick the Hay Habit: A Practical Guide to Year-around Grazing

Grazing operations benefit the animals, the farm, and the environment. In this episode, Jim Gerrish joins Jared to talk about Grazing Management to restore soil health.

Previous Episode

E05. Holistic Management with Tony Malmberg

In this episode, Tony Malmberg joins Jared to discuss about integrating Holistic Management in your decision making process to make your ranches and farms more successful.
Tony Malmberg is a third-generation rancher. He has received many honors from agricultural organizations and environmental and wildlife interests, including the National Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen’s Association. Tony demonstrates profitable ecological land use that adds value to his community.
Tony has been a practitioner of Holistic Management for over thirty years and has supervised the implementation of Holistic Management on ranches in Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Oregon, and Hawaii. Tony and his wife, Andrea, sold their Wyoming ranch in 2009. They used the “Holistic Decision Making Framework” in selecting northeastern Oregon and now ranch in Union County Oregon. They raise Beyond Organic Beef: Grown to Enhance the Land that Creates it and the People who Enjoy it.
For more information, you can contact him at:
Website: https://www.holisticmanagement.guide/
Email: [email protected]
Learn more about his book "Green Grass in the Spring: A Cowboy's Guide to Saving the World" here: https://www.holisticmanagement.guide/greengrassinthespring

Next Episode

E07. The Role of Ruminants in Reversing Global Warming with Seth Itzkan

The fight against climate change is a global issue that requires open and honest dialogue to resolve.
In this episode, Seth Itzkan joins Jared to discuss the role of ruminants in reversing global warming. They talk about how ruminants can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve soil health, and increase biodiversity. They also discuss some of the challenges that ruminants face, such as climate change and deforestation.

This episode is for anyone who is interested in learning more about the role of ruminants in the environment. It is also for anyone who is interested in finding ways to reduce their impact on the planet.

Seth Itzkan is Co-founder and Codirector of Soil4Climate. He is an environmental futurist investigating innovative means of land management that offer hope for reversing global warming. He is a TEDx speaker on restoring grasslands and with planned grazing. He has consulted for The Boston Foundation, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and the US Bureau of the Census. He is a graduate of Tufts University, College of Engineering and the Studies of the Future Program at University of Houston-Clear Lake. His private consultancy is Planet-TECH Associates.
For more information you can contact him through:
Website: https://www.soil4climate.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-j-itzkan-4939a6260/
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