Thanks to the encouragement of our partners during our five-year strategic planning process in 2023, we at Richland Soil & Water Conservation District (Richland SWCD) saw a clear need to re-focus on agricultural outreach. In the past, our district has found it difficult to do this due to financial and staffing limitations. Now, thanks to community support, we are able to offer these services again. Most notably, support for these services was generously provided by a grant from the Richland County Foundation.
St. Mary’s Farm Field Day
We hit the ground running this summer. On May 28, as the school year drew to a close, Richland SWCD was invited to the McKown farm for St. Mary’s (Shelby) Farm Field Day. Technician Jordan Keller brought along the rainfall simulator to discuss how different land uses impact water quality.
Each of the five groups of students ages K-6 grade buried a pair of (clean) underwear for our Soil Your Undies experiment. Locations where students buried the underwear included: Woodland Edge, Turf Grass, Conventional Tilled Cropland, Pasture, and a Hay Field. The students had a blast with the Soil Your Undies experiment and a pair of underwear seemed to end up on a kid’s head in every group.
Don’t forget to stop by our booth at the fair this year to check out our county wide “Soil Your Undies” challenge! What is this? Click or tap at the bottom of this page and scroll down the the article from the last newsletter!
Grazing Field Day for Plain Growers
On June 14th Richland SWCD hosted a Field Day for Plain Growers emphasizing grazing management practices. State Grazing Specialist, Megan Burgess – United States Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), led a field day where participants enjoyed learning about pasture weeds and forage identification, grazing equipment, rotational grazing, and a pasture visit.
A HUGE thank you to the Randy and Eileen Eisenhauer for letting us use their pasture, last-minute, for demonstrations on how to use a grazing stick. Randy was more than happy to discuss the management decisions he’s made on his pasture and highlighted how Richland SWCD and USDA-NRCS have assisted with improving his operation.
If you feel like you missed out on your opportunity to learn about grazing, you’re in luck! Richland SWCD will be hosting a three-part grazing school series called Pastures for Profit Grazing School July 23rd & 25th from 6-9 pm with a pasture walk at Eisenhauer farm scheduled for July 27th from 9am-2pm. The cost is $30 for the series and includes a grazing stick and USB with course manual. Registration is requested by July 19.
Links! Click or tap below:
