Planning My Summer Schedule

Even though I am going to be plenty busy on the farm this summer I am already beginning to plan my summer out around learning opportunities. When it comes to learning I am still reading as much as I can (not as much as in the winter), working with other farmers when I have a chance, and of course the discussion on this blog is a huge plus! But, because of the Practical Farmers of Iowa I will have quite a few opportunities this summer and fall to get out and see what other farmers are doing. Here are a few of the over 30 Field Days they will be a part of this year. Although I doubt I will be able to make it to every single one these are the top on my list.

• Grass-Based Organic Dairy Systems (June 21): This will begin at Radiance Dairy which is a 236-acre, 80-cow, grass-based, and certified organic dairy. They process and sell on farm which is pretty cool. I would like to attend because they will be talking about different watering systems and fly control among other things.
• Grass-Finishing, MOB Grazing, Next Generation (July 16): This one takes place up in Northeast Iowa so it may be more difficult to make it, but I would love to hear what they have to say about the topics of Holistic Management, MOB Grazing, and Generational Family Succession Planning. This event takes place at Herman's Heartland Farm.
• Live Animal Evaluation (July 23): I cannot miss this one! It is only 10 or 15 miles away and will feature Gearld Fry talking about linear measuring and cattle genetics. This event will be at the DeCook ranch which also hosted a pasture walk last year that I attended. I'm really looking forward to this field day.
• Grass-Fed Field Day (August 13): Water systems, grazing summer annuals, handling livestock, and more are some of the topics that will be covered at this PFI event. The farm where the event will take place sells finished beef to Thousand Hills Cattle Company and direct to customers. Should be a informational day.
• Marketing Grass-Fed Beef (August 19): This is probably another one that I shouldn't miss, and it isn't too far away. A couple of interesting topics on this day will be a discussion of deworming with copper sulfate and sorghum-sudangrass for finishing cattle ... along with marketing of course.
• CRP to Grazing (August 21): Since this is what I'm doing (even though I will be started by the time this day comes around) I would love to check out what they do. It is close by and will be covering some of the ins and outs using cost share to put in fencing and water systems.
• Monitoring Cattle Performance (August 27): This one looks interesting because it covers a wide range of topics (not just cattle). They will be talking about grazing summer and winter annuals, multi-species grazing, sheep, and poultry. It would be a nice event to attend.
• Farm Crawl (October 5): I attended this Farm Crawl last year and had a great time learning from farmers in my area. Someday I would love to be a part of this event ... we will just have to see.

You can find all of these events (and more) on the PFI link at the top of this post. I know that I won't be able to get to all of these, but these are the ones that look the most exciting.