Whoa, you're using an old browsers aren't you? This site would look better if you upgraded. We recommend Mozilla Firefox

WCC110: Improving Ruminant Use of Forages in Sustainable Production Systems for the Western U.S.

Annual/Termination Reports (SAES-422): [08/20/2002] [08/27/2002] [09/09/2002] [10/07/2003]

Date of Annual Report: 08/20/2002

Report Information:
  • Annual Meeting Dates: 08/22/01 to 08/26/01
  • Period the Report Covers: 07/2000 to 08/2001

    • Participants:
    Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:
    MINUTES
    Evening Meeting
    Western Coordinating Committee
    Aug. 22, 2001
    Pray, Montana

    8:00 PM: The meeting of WCC-110 was called to order, with Chairman Pat Hatfield, Montana State University, presiding.

    Introductions were made of members.


    The annual station reports were passed out. The question was raised as to whether we want to include pending research in the station report. It was decided that we will want to discuss future ideas. This may prevent someone from overlooking something in a study design. These research proposals will be emailed out to members prior to next year‘s meeting so that members will have time to review the proposals. Next year‘s secretary will have the responsibility to do this.


    We need to send books to official state reps not in attendance at this meeting. The secretary for this year was charged with making sure this is done.


    The planning committee for Grazing Livestock Nutrition Conference (GLNC) has not met to discuss their future symposium.


    The minutes for the 2000 meeting were accepted as submitted. A notation was made that we need to add an address for Dr. Henry Tyrell.


    Kelvin Koong complimented the annual station report. He commented on the difficulty of arranging approval for the pack trip venue for this year, but he really supports this field trip type of program. When you do report, stress the academic and talk about the future ideas for conferences. We have an opportunity for some scholarly interaction from the guest speaker on the pack trip, Dr. Carl Wambolt, an expert on sagebrush ecology. We will add value to the WCC-110 committee by this pack trip venue.


    New Business:


    Our thanks to Jan Bowman for organizing the pack trip. The pack trip is envisioned as a retreat to revitalize interest. Will be at Dwayne Neal‘s house before 8 AM. There are 11 people going. It is 15 mile trip, passing over a 9,800 ft. pass. We will arrive at the campsite around 5 PM on Thursday August 23 and depart on Sunday August 26 around 8 AM. Dr. Wambolt will discuss the ecology, history, and policy of the greater Yellowstone area.


    Election:


    The nominating committee consists of the immediate past chairs: Ed Huston, Pat Hatfield, and Bret Hess. The tradition is that the secretary ascends to the chair. We should be open to where we would like to have the meeting. It doesn‘t have to be in the home state of the chair. Jim Sprinkle mentioned he would like to see some of the research in eastern Oregon. It was reported that this was looked at 5 years ago.


    Nominees for officers:


    Chairman: Jim Sprinkle

    Secretary: Ken Olson

    Treasurer:


    Officers were elected by acclamation.


    Kelvin talked about the Oregon water issue. The water rights were never adjudicated, although promised by the feds. In 1982 there was a drought, and water appropriations were worked out in 1984, but not now. The biological opinion was reviewed by several OSU faculty, often with opposing conclusions.


    The renewal of this WCC-110 project is in Sept. of 2004.


    There is slightly more than $300 in the WCC-110 but Kelvin has not received bill yet for printing the station reports which should be around $300.


    As next year‘s secretary, Ken Olson will handle mailing out the research proposals members of WCC-110 wish to have reviewed by this committee. This will be done prior to next year‘s meeting. The station reports will continue to be handed out at the meeting and will also include these research proposals.


    There are 11 western states is in this region. The Dakotas are in the central region. You can belong to a committee in another region. The WCC‘s are managed by the directors in the region. Some directors will fund coordinating committee travel out of the immediate region. Some states will only pay for one person to attend the WCC meetings.


    There was some brainstorming on a grazing animal nutrition conference. All these discussions over the next few days will be send out on the WCC-110 email list.


    Symposium theme: Open


    We shouldn‘t limit ourselves to the Western Section symposium. That symposium needs to appeal to a general audience. We can submit a proposal to the Symposium Committee. It would be a good idea to use WCC committees in the execution of symposia. We could fit the with Pacific NW Nutrition Conference. This committee is not talking about sponsoring a GLNC. There is some idea that the GLNC may occur in CO. The GLNC is a copyrighted term. This committee may have something to add in addition to the GLNC. The Western Section ASAS Strategic plan is to involve WCC committees in symposia. Some members of this committee may be involved in the execution of the GLNC. We will continue to support efforts by the GLNC to host another symposium.


    What kind of symposium can we do that‘s not competitive with the GLNC? But lets not worry too much about this, since it may not be relevant (we may be at a different location and time with a different topic). We probably a small chance of overlap, especially if we are going to do a symposium in 2004. We need to try to do something that will generate a proceedings. It may be that a symposium could be held at the meetings in Oregon in 2004. There might need to be a symposium on techniques like the GLNC held in Jackson Hole.


    Audience:


    Peers?


    Ed Huston said that the GLNC meetings in Steamboat Springs, CO and SD were unique. He doesn‘t want to see us diminish this uniqueness. International speakers can be an asset. Some guidelines for a symposium are encompassed in the objectives listed in the front of the station report.


    The animal science and range production people appreciate broadening the topics covered in a symposium. Inclusiveness of production and industry people as speakers is good.


    Derek Bailey has an IAAFS grant for which he will need to do a symposium on grazing behavior. Where is the best forum?


    International speakers are very expensive. That is one advantage of GLNC, in that it can stand alone and support international speakers. With out a stand alone conference like GLNC, partners are needed for symposia with international speakers. Maybe we need to start small. If we have talent in this room, let‘s use it. Maybe we should do something smaller scale to start with.


    Scott Kronberg stated that ranchers don‘t think that what we do makes a difference with ranchers for their breaking points. We need to better understand each other. It is a good idea to have someone to rattle the cages. A panel of ag people to roast academia can be a refreshing change.


    What if Derek and others talked about some behavior things, a producer were to talk about what kinds of things he or she were doing, and an economist were included as well.


    Theme: e.g. Grazing Behavior
    academia
    producers
    opposing viewpoints


    Ed Huston suggested there are two populations they are trying to reach in Texas: (1)ranchers that have been struggling and that have been in the business for years, and they want technical info and; (2) neophytes that want technical info.


    Derek Bailey mentioned that another audience is agency people (NRCS, etc.).


    What do we have to offer as a group. A topic? Expertise? Our expertise will determine topic.


    We can email about each other about topics, etc.


    A motion was made that we meet in Flagstaff next year and seconded. The motion carried.


    Meeting adjourned.


    Please see minutes for pack trip following which discussed the planned symposium further.

    MINUTES
    Pack Trip
    Western Coordinating Committee
    Aug. 23-26, 2001
    Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Montana


    The first morning after arrival at the base camp, we had an informative two hour discussion with Dr. Wambolt about some of the history, issues, wildlife herbivory, and ecology of summer and winter grazing areas of Yellowstone.


    Meetings were held in the morning and evening on the pack trip to discuss symposium plans. All meetings were chaired by Pat Hatfield. The discussions of the committee present at the pack trip are to be sent out by email to the WCC-110 committee for added input.


    Place and Date for Symposium: The committee (here and throughout the committee refers to WCC-110 members present on the pack trip) thought that the February 2003 Society for Range Management Meeting in Casper would be a good audience to target and would furnish an acceptable timetable for a symposium.


    Preliminary Themes Suggested: We talked about partnering with NRCS to do something with NIRS and NRC methodology for grazing nutrition. Another topic advanced was that of grazing behavior. Many other possible topics wre suggested, which are too numerous to mention here.


    The first meeting adjourned with the encouragement of the Chairman that we individually consider the issue of the theme of the symposium.


    Informal discussions following the meeting centered around Elaine Grings‘ five year project to quantify some inputs and outputs inherent with different seasons of calving. Several discussed problems in determining calf forage intake and different approaches. Also discussed were problems inherent with researching large systems and ways to counteract this.


    Narrowing of Symposium Theme: Ed Huston suggested that the symposium focus on some aspect of what we do - but not necessarily us. He suggests a symposium on behavior and distribution of grazing livestock; how this impacts diet quality and livestock production; how it influences wildlife habitat; and how this impacts vulnerable areas.


    Discussion of Ed‘s Proposal: We should be focused in our own area of expertise. Ed and Elaine have tried to ground us. We should not stretch outside our area of expertise. We should look at grazing distribution and what‘s driving it. The symposium should emphasize our strengths. Distribution in the Northwest can be predicted by water and thermal effects. We can predict where cattle will be and when they go to water. We need to include ecological effects and Ed‘s topic will include ecological effects. Ed‘s topic will help pull us back on the ecological aspect so that we don‘t get too far out. We don‘t want to say that we‘re ecologists.


    General Notes about Symposium: The three topics Ed suggested will probably need to be followed by a summary session and have a concluding talk by a discussant who will look for the common ground among all the speakers. We must very careful in the selection of this individual. The time line for speakers manuscripts must be so that the discussant will have time to review the different papers and publish his or her summary response to the manuscripts in the proceedings.


    We also need to have an introductory talk to discuss some of the basic principles of grazing behavior and livestock distribution. This can be a fairly short talk of around 30 minutes.


    There may be several speakers we would want to include for each section, but time will not allow this to happen. The solution is to invite the chosen authors to collaborate on a paper to be delivered by one of the authors. The paper will be printed in the proceedings and will have the distinction of an invited paper. There will probably be a maximum of two speakers for each session. We would like the invited speakers to address the topic beyond their own work. It is very important that they do this.


    We will designate a committee person to be responsible for each of the sessions and arrange for talks. They will be given freedom to develop the talks they choose for each section. These people are listed below.


    A request was made by Pat Hatfield and others in the committee that the person who is the final discussant be an agency person or someone associated with the Rocky Mountain Experiment Station. Jim Sprinkle mentioned that he knew of someone with the Rocky Mountain Expt. Sta. in Flagstaff who did research in wildlife, riparian, fisheries, and livestock areas and was a dynamic speaker. Jim will pursue trying to get Al Medina to fulfill this role.


    Suggested Topic for Symposium and Time Schedule and Moderator in Charge


    Length of Symposium: 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM


    Title: Animal Behavior and Distribution of Grazing and Its Influence on the Environment


    8:00 - 8:30 An Overview of Grazing Behavior and Livestock Distribution
    Pat Hatfield and Jan Bowman will pick this person

    8:30 - 10:00 How Animal Behavior and Grazing Distribution is Related to Diet Quality and Livestock Production
    Elaine Grings

    10:00 - 10:30 BREAK

    10:30 - 12:00 How Animal Behavior and Grazing Distribution is Related to Wildlife Habitat
    Ken Olson

    12:00 - 1:30 LUNCH

    1:30 - 3:00 How Animal Behavior and Grazing Distribution is Related to Vulnerable Areas
    Tim DelCurto

    3:00 - 3:30 BREAK

    3:30 - 4:30 Pulling It All Together

    Common Themes for Animal Behavior, Grazing Distribution and the Environment
    Questions to Panel of Speakers from the Audience
    Jim Sprinkle


    Other Assignments:

    Ed Huston: To follow up on details of symposium and remind people of their duties.
    Elaine Grings: Find out about approval for symposium and SRM printing proceedings.
    Bret Hess: Local arrangements for the symposium.

    Timeline:

    Speakers identified and committed by moderators: Sept.- October, 2001
    Drafts of talks by main speakers to WCC-110 moderators: April 15, 2002
    Draft of concluding discussant manuscript to moderator: June 10, 2002
    Drafts of all talks distributed to WCC-110 active members by email June 14, 2002
    Final draft of manuscripts to printer November 15, 2002


    Next Year‘s Meeting: Next year‘s meeting will be shorter. There will be a short meeting at the Western Section, ASAS to make sure everyone is on tract. The drafts which have previously been sent by email will be reviewed by the WCC-110 committee to ensure the symposium speakers are adequately addressing the topic assigned. It is imperative that we have drafts in hand by that time.


    The meeting in Flagstaff will probably be an 1 = day meeting. The evening before will include station reports concerning pending research. Ken Olson will email out those papers to the WCC-110 committee prior to the Flagstaff meeting so members will have time to review them. The following morning we will have a meeting to iron out any loose ends about the symposium. Following this, there will be a tour in the Flagstaff area.


    Respectfully submitted,


    Jim Sprinkle
    Secretary

    Accomplishments:
    In accordance with Objectives I, II, and III of our Petition, we published a 123 page Bulletin, "Strategic Supplementation of Beef Cattle Consuming Low-Quality Roughages in the Western United States" in November 2000. This report consolidates in one place much of the research information regarding range livestock nutrition, making it easier for producers and other stakeholders to access this type of information.


    Discussed and evaluated research proposals. This annual activity has proven effective in helping satisfy Objective I of the original Petition.


    Published the 2001 Annual Report (115 pp).


    Contributing authors to the 2001 Annual Report have authored or coauthored 34 peer reviewed journal articles, 12 extension publications, 56 proceedings or abstracts, 3 book chapters, 1 research report, 1 invited paper, 1 workbook, and 1 electronic spreadsheet nutritional program. Members reporting have also served as advisors for 10 theses or dissertations. All three Objectives in the original
    Petition are addressed through these scholarly research and extension efforts.

    In accordance with objective II related to extension work, we developed a strategic plan for execution of a premier symposium on livestock grazing distribution and its effect on ecology and sustainability. The symposium will be held in 2003 at the Society for Range Management Annual Meeting in Casper. Much of the coming year will be devoted to planning this symposium.

    Impact Statements:
    1. Strengthened collaborative ties among the different participating institutions for reserch, extensionm, and education.
    2. Distributed Station Bulletin SB 683 to clientele throughout the Western Region.
    Last Modified: unknown

    Date of Annual Report: 08/27/2002

    Report Information:
  • Annual Meeting Dates: 08/14/02 to 08/15/02
  • Period the Report Covers: 09/2001 to 08/2002

    • Participants:
    Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:
    Chairman Jim Sprinkle called the business meeting of WCC-110 to order at 7:50 pm on August 14.

    Jim Sprinkle announced that the field trip would start at 8 a.m. on the Northern Arizona University campus. The field site had to be moved to a new location closer to town because of pending litigation associated with the original site.

    The annual report was distributed among the attendees. Reports will be mailed to representatives of stations that did not have anyone in attendance.

    The minutes of the 2001 meeting were approved.

    Comments by C.Y. Hu:

    1. The committee needs to submit an electronic file of the annual report within 60 d for posting to the National Information Management Support System (NIMSS) database. This is coordinated through the Western Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (WAAESD) and their web site (http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/WAAESD). We also need to submit electronic versions of previous reports for the same purpose. Recent past secretaries and I will coordinate submission of these materials.

    2. Everyone needs to have his or her Agricultural Experiment Station Director forward Appendix E so it gets recorded electronically. I am to pass a summary to Dr. Hu to be used to fill in for those that do not respond.

    3. The Regional Coordination and Implementation Committee (RCIC) of WAAESD evaluates coordinating committee performance. Forms for these evaluations are Appendices J, K, and L, found on the WAAESD web page. The key words associated with these evaluations are accountability, impacts, and outcomes. For committees to fulfill the evaluation criteria, they must do more than provide printed annual reports with lists of published papers. The impacts and outcomes of the research must be prominently provided in the front of the annual report. The committee needs to show that we are fulfilling our objectives to receive positive evaluation results from RCIC. The RCIC includes both Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) and Extension people, so we need to show that we have integrated activity across AES and Extension. The secretary needs to incorporate this information into future annual reports, and I will do so for the 2002 report before submitting it to the NIMSS database.

    4. Biosecurity is a big issue. We need to think about what we are doing in relation to biosecurity issues.

    5. We need a web site that includes annual reports and photo galleries. Dr. Hu could host the web page if we put material together. This WCC web page should become a clearinghouse with links to our institution and personal web pages. Criteria for content of the WCC web page are on the NIMSS web page.

    Comments by Henry Tyrrell:

    1. The new farm bill passed. It included reauthorization of IFAFS with a substantial increase in funding. However, this created a squabble between the House and Senate. The intent of Congress is for Senate legislation to provide authorization and House legislation to appropriate funding. The disagreement is that the authorization language from the Senate reallocates funding to support IFAFS. The House doesnt like this infringement on their responsibility, so they included a sentence in the appropriation bill that prohibits spending on IFAFS. This blocked implementation of IFAFS. To counteract this move, the Senate Agriculture Committee inserted verbiage into their version of the appropriation bill to provide the money they intended for IFAFS through other programs, namely formula funds, NRI, and integrated programs such as other mandated competitive grant programs and section 406 (section 406 includes water quality, food safety, and pest management programs that used to have separate research and Extension funding but are now combined). Thus, language will be added to these programs that mirrors what IFAFS would be. If this passes the Senate (which it will because Senate passage is basically protocol), it will be different from the House appropriations bill. This will send it to conference committee to reconcile the differences. This essentially locks the anti-IFAFS people from the House out of the process. Ultimately, funding for IFAFS should be available, although it may be in other programs.

    2. The Appropriations subcommittee wanted agriculture commodity groups to get their act together to provide a unified voice. Thus, FASS combined efforts with plant commodity groups. The combined group asked for doubling of funding for agriculture research and Extension over the next decade.

    3. Our WCC needs to work as a group on obtaining IFAFS funding.

    The Symposium to be held at the 2003 Society for Range Management meeting was discussed. We reviewed the agenda. The symposium will be held on Tuesday, February 4. We will need to adjust the schedule to accommodate the schedule for the overall SRM meeting. In particular, we need to move our start time to 8:30 and match the SRM lunch break. Deadlines were discussed:

    7 Speaker outlines are needed immediately. Submit them to Jim Sprinkle.

    7 SRM abstracts will be due on September 30.

    7 Manuscripts will be due on October 1. Submit them directly to Gary Frasier and Elaine as soon as they are available so Elaine can initiate the review process.

    7 Al Medinas manuscript will be due January 1.

    Ridley Block will sponsor the breaks. They will be allowed to use their cups and other advertising media in the breaks. Bret has circulated the mini-proposal that he prepared last winter to many agencies and organizations in Wyoming. He has received some donations and is waiting for decisions from others. Jim circulated a tentative budget that was discussed. All of us need to contact our AES to solicit a contribution. Bret has already established a revolving account at the University of Wyoming. Gary moved, Pat seconded and the committee passed a motion that all expenses and income associated with the symposium be allocated through that account.

    Gary Pulsipher was elected as the secretary and chair-elect.

    The location and time for next years meeting were discussed. Ken Olson, the chair elect, presented ideas for 2 options. One was to rent a houseboat on Lake Powell; the other was to meet at a resort in Logan Canyon. Educational program opportunities associated with each location were indicated. Estimated costs associated with each were also provided. It was also mentioned that we might want to move the meeting date into the fall if we meet at Lake Powell because of high temperatures in August. The group indicated that both were worth pursuing and that the entire membership should be surveyed by email to determine which to plan.

    The business meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m.

    We reconvened for station reports after the field day on August 15.

    Accomplishments:
    Outcomes: The following are organized by the expected outcomes written in our petition:

    1. Station reports were presented in both oral and written form. Included in these station reports were proposals for future research. This provides those with proposals the opportunity for critical review to improve the quality of the proposal before research is initiated. It also allows the opportunity to modify similar research intentions to increase regional collaboration, as well as the opportunity to identify efforts that could be combined into a more competitive package for proposal submission to granting agencies.

    A field day about Antelope Population Decline in Arizona: Possible Causes and Solutions was conducted during our annual meeting. This field day was open to the public with invitations sent to most land and wildlife management agencies in Arizona as well as to all other local Extension clients. This allowed the opportunity for interaction among committee members and invitees concerning the topic, which contributed to identification of key issues associated with the antelope problem.

    2. See above for discussions that could potentially lead to development of regional research topics with opportunity for extramural funding. Henry Tyrrell provided input during our annual meeting concerning upcoming opportunities for USDA funding of regional research.

    3. Station reports were combined into an annual written report that provides a comprehensive review of research and extension contributions by participating institutions during the past year. The report summarizes research and extension contributions to development and improvement of livestock management strategies that are both economically and ecologically sustainable. The report was distributed to all members of the committee and to all AES directors of contributing institutions. Additionally, see publications of contributing members of the committee elsewhere in this report.

    4. As previously described, the field day on Antelope Population Decline was sponsored. Additionally, plans are ongoing to sponsor a symposium on Livestock Grazing Distribution to be held during the Society for Range Management meeting in February 2003.

    5. As reported for outcomes of this committee in previous years, the publication of strategic supplementation has been published and several contributions to the Cattle Producers Library are published. Additional contributions to the Cattle Producers Library have been written by members of the committee that are currently in review.

    Educational activities: The following are organized according to the Education Plan in our petition:

    1. As previously described, we sponsored the Antelope Population Decline field day and are planning the Grazing Distribution Symposium.

    2. Four of the participants at our annual meeting were graduate students. We will continue to invite graduate students to our meetings and educational events.

    3. Besides the extension specialists that are members of our committees, other extension specialists and industry representatives are regularly invited to our meetings and the education opportunities that we sponsor. For example, Connie Swenson, a representative of Zinpro Inc., participated in our 2001 meeting.

    4. See previous comments on outcomes concerning publications.

    Plans for the upcoming year:

    1. Conduct the Livestock Grazing Distribution Symposium at the 2003 Society for Range Management annual meeting.

    2. Create a web site for our committee.

    3. Conduct an annual meeting during the summer of 2003 that will include an educational event appropriate to our membership, graduate students, and extension and industry colleagues, as well as coordination of research and extension efforts through station reports.

    Impact Statements:
    1. Influenced management of Antelope in Arizona via conduct of Field Day.
    2. Developed and transferred innovative livestock management strategies by research and extension efforts of committee members.
    Last Modified: unknown

    Date of Annual Report: 09/09/2002

    Report Information:
  • Annual Meeting Dates: 06/23/00 to 06/24/00
  • Period the Report Covers: 04/1999 to 06/2000

    • Participants:
    Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:
    The meeting of WCC-110 was called to order by Chairman Ed Huston. Station reports were given by all members in attendance.

    After station reports there was discussion of the goals of WCC-110 and the benefits of attending coordinating committee meetings which is the interchange of ideas, but we must provide our advisors with documentation of accountability. Ken read the Educational Plan section of the petition, which stated that we will publish an experiment station bulletin on strategic supplementation and make contributions to the Cattlemans Library. We had also indicated that we would explore the possibility of dissemination of research using a web site(s) or CD-ROM libraries.

    Pat motioned for members to submit written reports. This motion was seconded by Tim and passed unanimously. Reports are to be submitted to the secretary before our annual meeting. These reports will be a one-page summary of research events with itemized contributions to the coordinating committee, and should be limited on graphics. Both a hardcopy and electronic copy of the reports will be required, as will a list of publications. The secretary will see that the reports are consistent in format, bind them, and distribute them at the annual meetings.

    New officers were elected to serve for next year:
    Bret Hess (UW), Chairman
    Pat Hatfield (MSU), Secretary

    Accomplishments:
    The objectives of the WCC-110 are to share results of recent research efforts, foster new research ideas, coordinate future cooperative scientific efforts, and to facilitate the transfer of technology to livestock producers, extension personnel, and others in animal industries. To this end, the WCC-110 identifies critical/key research issues related to forage utilization by ruminants and helps members develop specific research programs in priority areas. In addition to the advancement of individual research, teaching, and extension programs, the group is active in publishing and sponsoring symposiums on topics of current interest

    Impact Statements:
    Last Modified: unknown

    Date of Annual Report: 10/07/2003

    Report Information:
  • Annual Meeting Dates: 08/04/03 to 08/07/03
  • Period the Report Covers: 08/2002 to 08/2003

    • Participants:
    Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:


    URL: Copy of minutes

    Accomplishments:
    The following outcomes are organized by the objectives in our petition.

    1)Station reports were presented in both oral and written formats. The presentation of station reports allows the members of the committee to discuss recent research efforts as well as proposed research efforts in the area of improving forage utilization by ruminants. In addition, discussion of the station reports often fosters new research ideas and potentially leads to collaboration on research among committee members. Station reports were combined into an annual written report that provides a comprehensive review of current research being conducted by members of the WCC-110 committee. This report was distributed to all members of the committee as well as AES directors of contributing institutions.

    1 & 2) A field tour of the Deseret Land and Livestock Company was conducted. This field tour not only allowed us to discuss potential research with a producer fostering new ideas it also allowed us to present technology to the producer.

    2 & 3) The WCC-110 produced a symposium titled Livestock Grazing Distribution: Impacts on Enterprise and Environmental Sustainability. This symposium was held in conjunction with the 2003 SRM meetings in Casper, WY. Over 200 people attended the symposium. Attendees included range and livestock researchers, extension personnel, government agency personnel, and livestock producers. The symposium provided not only a means to transfer technology but also a means to promote implementation of management strategies to increase sustainability of grazing livestock production.

    Plans for the upcoming year

    1) Develop a web site for the WCC-110 committee that will further enhance the ability to share research results and proposals as well as improve our ability to transfer technology to our stakeholders.

    2) Rewrite and submit a new petition to improve our ability to serve our stakeholders.

    3)Conduct an annual meeting during the summer of 2003 that will include an educational event appropriate to our membership, graduate students, and extension and industry colleagues, as well as coordination of research and extension efforts through station reports.

    Impact Statements:
    1. Transferred technology to livestock producers, extension personnel, government agency personnel, and producers through a symposium
    2. Developed and transferred innovative livestock management strategies by research and extension efforts of committee members
    3. Created an opportunity for range scientist to gain continuing education credits related to livestock distribution through a symposium
    Last Modified: unknown
    Back to Top