Forage Production School 2014

A forage production school is being offered by the Ohio State University Extension Dairy Working Group at six locations around Ohio. 

The school is geared to anyone producing hay or silage to be fed to ruminate animals. Dairy, Beef, and sheep producers will be able to improve their forage production to increase profits and commercial hay growers will learn new information to be able to better meet there customer’s needs and grow more tons on less acres.  

The school is composed of three different sessions,  on Jan. 30, Feb. 4 and Feb. 11 from 12:45 pm to 3:30 pm each day. 

Workshop topics include small grains and double cropping, fertility and manure utilization, agronomic products and additives, precision agricultural technologies for forage production, forage quality evaluation, economics of cutting management, shrink in silage/hay making, forage inventory management and corn silage.
The course will be offered in Ashtabula, Darke, Licking, Mahoning, Morrow, Knox and Wayne counties via interactive video feeds and in-person speakers.

For information on specific class locations contact the following Extension educators:
* Ashtabula County: David Marrison at 440-576-9008 or marrison.2@osu.edu
* Auglaize County: John Smith at 419-739-6580 or smith.132@osu.edu
* Darke County: Sam Custer at 937-548-5215 or custer.2@osu.edu
* Licking County: Ted Wiseman at 740-670-5315 or wiseman.15@osu.edu
* Mahoning County: Eric Barrett at 330-533-5538 or barrett.90@osu.edu
* Morrow County: Jeff McCutcheon at 419-947-1070 or mccutcheon.30@osu.edu
* Wayne County: Rory Lewandowski, 330-264-8722, lewandowski.11@osu.edu 
Registration is $45, which includes a notebook of materials and covers all three workshops.
A brochure about the school and a REGISTRATION FORM can be found at http://go.osu.edu/forageschool.
The deadline to register Jan. 17, 2014.

2014 Ohio Forage & Grassland Council Annual Conference

The 2014 Annual Meeting of the Ohio Forage and Grassland Council (OFGC) is scheduled for February 14 at the Ohio Department of Agriculture located at 8995 E. Main St., Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Registration and refreshments begin at 8:30 am with the program starting at 9:00 am. 

The keynote speaker for this year’s program is Laura Paine, a Grazing and Organic Specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture. Her two topics are entitled: Managing Pastures for Certified Organic Production and Managing Grazing to Benefit Stream Habitats.

Other speakers on the program include: Dr. Mark Sulc, OSU Forage Specialist, providing a Forage Research Update; Dr. Dave Barker, OSU Forage Specialist on Pasture Management Stategies; Chris Penrose, OSU Extension Ag Educator, speaking on Profitable Forage Utilization.

Producers to be featured on the popular Producer Panel are:
Roger High from Richwood,Ohio on Sheep
Chris Hamn from Racine,Ohio on Dairy
Phil Altsetter from Bellefontaine,Ohio on Beef
Austin Wipple from Orient,Ohio on Commercial Hay Production

There will also be a short business for OFGC and several Forage related Industry Awards presented.

Registration cost is $30 for OFGC members and $50 for non-members and is due Feb. 1, 2014.
For online Registration goto: http://afgc.associationsonline.com/site_event_detail.cfm?pk_association_event=7971
For more information, please contact Gary Wilson at 419-348-3500 or Perry Clutts at 740-248-1448.