Grassfed Farminar

Last night was the final installment of the Practical Farmers of Iowa "Fishbowl Webinar" series that paired a beginning farmer with an experienced farm. Each presenter (the beginner and the old hand) had some time to share a little bit about their operation (or proposed operation) and then the beginner, along with those viewing the webinar, asked questions. I have watched a few of these after the fact because I haven't been by a high speed connection in the evenings when the happen, but since it dealt with grassfed beef last night I wanted to watch it live. I'm glad I did because there was some good stuff!

You can check out this link to watch the archived webinar (and this one to check out the other topics covered this winter). Let me just say this though if you take the time to watch the archive. The first part is great with Dave the beginning farmer and the last section is great with Doug the experienced grass finishing farmer. But, in the middle there were some technical difficulties that lead to "this guy" filling in and not sounding very intelligent because I'm just a beginning farmer too!

Nevertheless, these farminars/webinars are a great resource and I encourage you to check them out.

Snow Bull and Other Quick Hits ...

Since the temperatures have been slowly coming out of the single digits above and below zero I have been carrying a camera around with me a lot more and I have enjoyed taking many pictures. The above picture is one I took of our bull Sundance the other morning as he was on his way back to the shed from the water tank. It's a morning ritual for the herd (and myself) to water at the tank. I hook up the hose and fill it up while the cows come over and drink. Then I have to unhook and drain the hose ... I'll be glad when I don't have to drain the hose any more!

Anyways, I think he is looking pretty nice in the morning sun. Now ... for the quick hits. This winter the Practical Farmers of Iowa are continuing their "Farminar/Webinar" series with all sorts of great topics that you can get in on. I've been able to catch some of them live, but they also record them and put them up on the website. Here are some links.

#1 :: Next Generation Farminars - This is a series of eight farminars dealing with everything from whole farm planning to financing a farm operation. It was specifically put together for beginning farmers or transition farmers. Check out the link above for the whole series.

#2 :: Winter Farminar Series - The winter series has a variety of topics dealing with soil, vegetables, poultry, and so much more. I've really enjoyed the one on pastured poultry and I'm looking forward to the farminar on grass-fed beef production. Not all of these farminars have taken place yet, so you can check out the link and get in on it live to take full advantage of the presenters knowledge.

#3 :: Niche Pork Webinar - Finally, I've mentioned this one before but I enjoyed these so much I thought I would mention it again! Lots of good information from a variety of niche pork farmers ... in fact I think I'll watch one again soon.

Also, if you are looking for all sorts of other resources check out the Resources Page on the Practical Farmers of Iowa website.