The 4th Annual Northeast PA Grazing conference will be held at the Harford Volunteer Fire Company March 26, 2008 from 8:30 am to 3:45 pm.
The lineup of exceptional speakers at this year’s conference include Hubert J Karreman VMD from Penn Dutch Cow Care, Jerry Cherney from Cornell University, a local farm family, and Kris Ribble a grazing specialist with USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service.
Dr. Karrenman will discuss “the connection between healthy soils and healthy livestock & “Pasture & Animal health and tying it all together”. Dr. Karreman is a nationally recognized expert in organic dairy health care. He is a clinical practitioner who works with 85 certified organic and transitioning herds in Lancaster County, PA. He is a much sought after speaker and during the last year has been an invited speaker at the annual meetings of the AVMA, AHVMA and the New York State Veterinary Medical Society as well as the spring clinics of the Maine Veterinary Medical Association and the Veterinary Botanical Medical Association; he also has given scores of talks to farmers across the country. In 2005, Dr. Karreman was appointed by USDA Secretary Veneman to a 5 year appointment on the National Organic Standards Board and in 2007 became Chair of the Livestock Committee.
Jerry Cherney, will give us an overview of grass biomass energy and its potential impact here in northeast PA. Can you imagine heating your homes and farms with a low cost, environmentally, and nearly carbon-neutral energy source like grass that you could grow on your farm? Find out from Jerry just what you might be missing out on.
All of the topics at this year’s conference will focus on fine tuning our grazing systems in order to promote the use of grassland farming here in northeast PA while keeping family farms alive and viable for generations to come. We hope to see you at the conference this year. For registration please contact Sue Berkowitz at the Pocono Northeast RC&D, 570-282-8732 Ext. 604 Please direct questions about the conference to Kris Ribble, NRCS, at 570-784-4401 Ext. 111 or kris.ribble@pa.usda.gov
The cost for producers will be $20.00; this includes the cost of all breaks, lunch, and materials given out at the conference. Registration deadline is March 17. Click here to view and print a conference brochure and registration form.
