Join us for a fun and informative day learning about multi-species rotational grazing practices you can use on your farm. Beneficial management practices like well-managed grazing can help to build soil, sequester carbon, improve pastures, increase crop yields and create a diversified ecosystem where plants and animals can thrive. Beginners are welcome but this field day is geared towards more experienced grazers who are interested in optimizing their systems and improving their management practices. We will send out recommended reading/viewing material to all registrants before the event.

Rotational grazing is a set of techniques used to control the time aspect of grazing that typically leads to overgrazing in a continuous grazing system. Livestock are moved into a defined area, typically called a paddock, where they have access to graze the plants in that area. They are then rotated to a new paddock while grazed plants have a chance to recover. The livestock are not moved back to that paddock again until the plants there have fully recovered. In this field day, we will discuss the key tools that you need to ensure a successful rotational grazing program:

Continuous Movement
Portable infrastructure
Balance between grazing and rest
Correct stocking rate & stocking density
Appropriate species/breed

In addition to classroom learning, there will be hands on workshop stations and demonstrations on building, maintaining and troubleshooting electric fence infrastructure including:

Permanent high tensile fencing
Buliding braces
Tying knots
Installing insulators
Grounding, energizers and troubleshooting
Portable electric fencing and rotational grazing infrastructure

Farm tour including:

Moving cattle & poultry in a rotational grazing system
Managing mobile water, mineral, feed
Housing infrastructure

We invite farmers to join us and hear from our speakers, tour Spray Creek Ranch, see a variety of integrated livestock systems and learn about their rotational grazing program. Farmers will be able to meet other farmers in the area and learn about different operations. This will be an opportunity to hear from industry specialists, fellow farmers, and the owner/operator of our host farm. Lunch will be provided.

About the Farm

Spray Creek Ranch is a certified organic and diversified regenerative 600-acre farm using ecological principles to produce wholesome, delicious pastured meats. It is BC Certified Organic, Animal Welfare Approved and Certified Grassfed by A Greener World, and is a participant in the Certified Regenerative Pilot Project through A Greener World. They also operate a growing on-farm abattoir and meat shop, and are moving toward slaughtering all their livestock on the farm and providing slaughter and cut & wrap services to other farms in our region.

Speakers

Tristan Banwell

Tristan manages Spray Creek Ranch, a regenerative, organic, diversified in the Northern St'at'imc Territory near Lillooet, BC. Together with his wife Aubyn and their team, he rotates cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry across irrigated pastures and rugged rangelands along the mighty Fraser River in a resilient agroecological system. Tristan has a decade of experience training a number of ranch employees every year, including meeting learning objectives for seasonal student workers from the Thompson Rivers University Applied Sustainable Ranching Program and Olds College. He has delivered livestock curriculum for agricultural groups from other educational institutions and farm schools. From rotational grazing webinars to hands-on fencing training, virtual field days toon-farm events, Tristan has a gift for sharing his expertise in a relatable way.

Axel Boris

Axle Boris the founder and President of FenceFast Ltd grew up on a cattle ranch in British Columbia’s Northern Interior. After having spent several summers working for his father custom fencing as a youth years later in 1998 he started his own fencing business in the BC interior. Being impressed with how electric fences consistently kept out a wide variety of animals and were a cost effective option for customers; Axle became a dealer for Gallagher Animal Management in 2000.

Julia Smith

Julia is a grazing mentor with the Farm Resilience Mentorship (FaRM) Program. She has been raising a wide range of livestock over the past 12 years and is working to preserve critically endangered Red Wattle hogs at Blue Sky Ranch in Nlaka'pamux Territory near Merritt, BC. She is the Executive Director and Project Manager of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association where she is passionate about supporting other farmers to build resilient, fulfilling businesses.

Bradford Backs

Bradford Backs is the Gallagher Animal Management Territory Manager of British Columbia. Bradford will feature upcoming products and offer hands-on support to demonstrate the use of current products and how they can help manage grazing. Bradford will be there to help answer any questions you may have about electric fencing, weighing, and EID (tag readers). Bradford has his own small ranch in Alberta with a few horses and a small herd of cattle where he practices rotational grazing using electric fencing.

This event is supported by the BC Climate Agri-Solutions Fund (BCCAF). Funding for the BCCAF has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions – On-Farm Climate Action Fund. BCCAF is delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation.To learn more about the BC Climate Agri-Solutions Fund, visit www.bccaf.ca.

A﻿bout the Farm

Speakers

About the Farm

Rotational Grazing Field Day

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