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Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-6342 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu |
For Immediate Release
Story Contact:
Dallas Mount
(307) 322-3667
Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor
Phone: (307) 766-6342
E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu
Archived News Site www.uwyo.edu/agadmin/news/news.htm
Date: Feb. 13, 2007
UW offers High Plains Ranch Practicum in June
A new educational program for livestock producers will begin this spring.
The High Plains Ranch Practicum is an eight-day, five-session, hands-on program designed to give participants the skills and application of management tools needed to be successful in today’s complex ranching industry.
The class is a joint effort of the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service (UW CES) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Extension.
The High Plains Ranch Practicum will begin in June and conclude in January 2008. Sessions will be at the UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center near Scottsbluff, Neb., and at the newly developed 3,400-acre James C. Hageman Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center near Lingle, Wyo.
The course will provide ranchers tools to understand and integrate four areas of ranch management: range and forage resources, range beef cow production, unit cost of production and cattle marketing. Ranchers able to integrate these four areas into decision making will find they can use a systems approach to improve the sustainability of the ranch operation, according to Aaron Berger, UNL extension educator who is one of the instructors for the practicum.
Participants will also benefit from instruction and current research in range livestock production, financial management, and marketing systems from nationally recognized experts.
Dallas Mount, UW CES educator for Goshen, Laramie and Platte counties, said attendees will enjoy the camaraderie with other participants, instructors and facilitators throughout the three seasons of the practicum.
Mount said friendships and exchanges of ideas among participants will be some of the most-valued aspects of the program. High-quality educational materials are used in the program and include software, notebooks with laminated field guides and an outstanding collection of university publications.
The High Plains Ranch Practicum is limited to 35 participants. Participants must submit an application form by May 1. A $500 fee covers materials, instructor costs and meals. An application and additional information is available at http://HPRanchPracticum.com.
The course is an approved borrower training course by the Farm Service Agency and can be taken for credit through UNL.
For more information, or to obtain an application, contact Berger at (308) 235-3122 or aberger2@unl.edu, Mount at (307) 322-3667 or dmount@uwyo.edu, or visit the Web site.
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