Soil Structure & Production Field Tour at Gemstone Cattle Company will feature Dr. Abbey Wick; an expert in soil organic matter dynamics/ nutrient cycling, soil structural development and microbial ecology.

We will begin the day at Gem Community Centre for registration at 9:30am, followed by some information given by Dr. Wick. Lunch will be provided. After lunch we will drive down the road (3km) to Gemstone Cattle Company. Daniel Doerksen of Gemstone Cattle Co will give us a field tour on the following sites:

1. Barley under seeded to rye grass for feed after the barley is harvested for grain. Under irrigation.
2. Corn inter-seeded with clover. It will have only been planted a few weeks prior, but it will be interesting to dig around in as they have been using manure from the feedlot. We can look at another field that has had conventional fertilizer as soil structure comparison. Under irrigation.
3. 'East Place' is a perennial pasture that is a sacrifice area. It is flood irrigated then used in a more continual grazing system once they are short on grass in other areas. They also calve on this field every May.
4. 'Penner Place' is a perennial pasture that was reseeded to a perennial blend 5 years ago. It is a mix of smooth brome, orchard grass, clover, vetch and more. This has been managed under intensive rotational grazing and is under irrigation. It will be interesting to compare the 2 perennial pasture sites for differences in soil.

Wrap up around 3:00pm.

*Please dress appropriate for the weather and conditions as we will be outside for half of the day*