source: Farm and Food Report
Environmental sustainability has always been front and centre to the way Herschel’s Leam Craig practices agriculture. Two years ago, Craig joined the Herschel Grazing Club, a group of cattle producers who meet regularly to share solutions and, at times, stories about wrecks.
Recently, the Club welcomed Glenn Barclay, a Forage Industry Development Specialist from Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization, and Jeremy Brown, a Range Ecology Technician from the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority.
“We used them as resource people to learn from,” explains Craig. “I used to continuous crop 2,500 acres every year. Then we started to seed 300 to 400 acres a year back to grass. For the first two years, things went great. The grass just grew as it was supposed to. But the two next years were something else. We were hit by drought — we had to reseed everything. After that, I realized we needed all the knowledge we could get access to.”
That is where the North West Environmental Stewardship Project comes in. Jeremy Brown has been employed to deliver this multi-agency approach to promoting the adoption of beneficial management practices on rangelands and riparian areas. It is funded under the Greencover Technical Assistance Component, which falls under the Agricultural Policy Framework’s environment chapter. Besides SAFRR and SWA, Ducks Unlimited, Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association, Western Applied Research Corporation and Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration are all active partners.
“During the next four years,” explains Brown, “we will conduct field days and winter extension meetings to help producers learn more about sustainable land-use practices in North West Saskatchewan. We will also conduct grazing schools to assist producers in developing a management plan for their farm or ranch; and we will address riparian, rangeland and tame forage issues with a view to increasing productivity and general carrying capacity in those pastures.”
SAFRR’s Glenn Barclay supports the initiative. “Production issues often have an associated environmental stewardship component, especially where riparian areas are involved.”
“ Society and the media are very concerned with having cattle near water sources, but the solution need not be complete exclusion,” explains Brown. “Providing alternative watering sources, combined with rotational grazing programs that give vegetation located in riparian zones a rest — particularly during sensitive periods like spring — can alleviate some of the less beneficial impacts on the environment.”
It has long been established that riparian areas produce above average amounts of biomass; they play a key role in sediment trapping, nutrient filtration, stream and wave energy dissipation — not to mention erosion control, streambank stabilization, and groundwater recharge.
Cattle producers are increasingly aware of these functions; as they are also aware of how rangelands, woodlands, and perennial cover contribute to soil moisture conservation, nutrient cycling and erosion control. When these functions are occurring, benefits in the form of improved livestock performance, opportunities for herd expansion, improved water quality and the provision of wildlife habitat are realized.
Grazing clubs provide an ideal forum to share and seek knowledge. The North West Environmental Stewardship Project partners can make this knowledge more accessible, but a good place to start is from within.
At the Herschel meeting, Jeremy Brown suggested to Grazing Club members that each make a presentation to the group about their own successes and failures as graziers. As grazier Leam Craig said himself, “we can all learn from our collective experience and improve our skills that much faster if we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
For more information, contact:
Jeremy Brown, AAg
Range Ecology Technician
Saskatchewan Watershed Authority
(306) 446-7460
Glenn Barclay, PAg
Forage Industry Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization
(306) 446-7650
Environmental sustainability has always been front and centre to the way Herschel’s Leam Craig practices agriculture. Two years ago, Craig joined the Herschel Grazing Club, a group of cattle producers who meet regularly to share solutions and, at times, stories about wrecks.
Recently, the Club welcomed Glenn Barclay, a Forage Industry Development Specialist from Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization, and Jeremy Brown, a Range Ecology Technician from the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority.
“We used them as resource people to learn from,” explains Craig. “I used to continuous crop 2,500 acres every year. Then we started to seed 300 to 400 acres a year back to grass. For the first two years, things went great. The grass just grew as it was supposed to. But the two next years were something else. We were hit by drought — we had to reseed everything. After that, I realized we needed all the knowledge we could get access to.”
That is where the North West Environmental Stewardship Project comes in. Jeremy Brown has been employed to deliver this multi-agency approach to promoting the adoption of beneficial management practices on rangelands and riparian areas. It is funded under the Greencover Technical Assistance Component, which falls under the Agricultural Policy Framework’s environment chapter. Besides SAFRR and SWA, Ducks Unlimited, Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association, Western Applied Research Corporation and Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration are all active partners.
“During the next four years,” explains Brown, “we will conduct field days and winter extension meetings to help producers learn more about sustainable land-use practices in North West Saskatchewan. We will also conduct grazing schools to assist producers in developing a management plan for their farm or ranch; and we will address riparian, rangeland and tame forage issues with a view to increasing productivity and general carrying capacity in those pastures.”
SAFRR’s Glenn Barclay supports the initiative. “Production issues often have an associated environmental stewardship component, especially where riparian areas are involved.”
“ Society and the media are very concerned with having cattle near water sources, but the solution need not be complete exclusion,” explains Brown. “Providing alternative watering sources, combined with rotational grazing programs that give vegetation located in riparian zones a rest — particularly during sensitive periods like spring — can alleviate some of the less beneficial impacts on the environment.”
It has long been established that riparian areas produce above average amounts of biomass; they play a key role in sediment trapping, nutrient filtration, stream and wave energy dissipation — not to mention erosion control, streambank stabilization, and groundwater recharge.
Cattle producers are increasingly aware of these functions; as they are also aware of how rangelands, woodlands, and perennial cover contribute to soil moisture conservation, nutrient cycling and erosion control. When these functions are occurring, benefits in the form of improved livestock performance, opportunities for herd expansion, improved water quality and the provision of wildlife habitat are realized.
Grazing clubs provide an ideal forum to share and seek knowledge. The North West Environmental Stewardship Project partners can make this knowledge more accessible, but a good place to start is from within.
At the Herschel meeting, Jeremy Brown suggested to Grazing Club members that each make a presentation to the group about their own successes and failures as graziers. As grazier Leam Craig said himself, “we can all learn from our collective experience and improve our skills that much faster if we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
For more information, contact:
Jeremy Brown, AAg
Range Ecology Technician
Saskatchewan Watershed Authority
(306) 446-7460
Glenn Barclay, PAg
Forage Industry Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization
(306) 446-7650
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