The Benefits of Attending Grazing Cover Crop Workshops James Byrne, Beef Cattle Specialist, OMAFRA, Technology adoption
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esearch by Gabre-Madhin et al, (2003) has demonstrated that there is a clear relationship between technology adoption by producers and increased farm profitability. Technology adoption includes using new physical tools, farming methods and ways to analyze farm performance that either directly increase farm output or improve productive efficiency leading to increased farm profitability. Adopting new methods and practices often have a bigger impact on improved farm profitability through greater producer efficiency than a new physical technology, whose benefit is often masked by the increased capital cost in acquiring the new technology in the first place.
workshops since 2017. The workshops provided attendees with the opportunity to see first-hand the benefits of grazing cover crops to livestock producers, how effective grazing can be carried out and some of the challenges encountered. The workshops provided an opportunity for attendees to discuss the practice with the host producers, other attendees and OMAFRA specialists.
OMAFRA in collaboration with Beef Farmers of Ontario and Ontario Sheep Farmers will be running a series of Grazing Cover Crop Webinars in November 2020 Each workshop involved an on-farm presentation by the host producer and technical presentations from OMAFRA livestock and crop specialists. As the presentations took place in the field, attendees could see, in-person, the cover crop, the cattle grazing the cover crop, grazing management, fencing and how water is provided.
Survey results from the workshops showed that about 70% of attendees have experience with growing cover crops but only 35% graze their cover crops. Of those producers who grazed their cover crops, 90% grazed with Fig. 1. Beef cows and calves grazing a cover crop, OMAFRA/BFO Grazing Cover Crop Workshop, beef cows, where the Elmwood, Ontario. intention was to extend (Photo credit - Andrew Barrie, OMAFRA) the grazing season as late into fall as possible. The remaining 10% of attendees grazed their cover crop with Grazing Cover Crop Workshops either weaned calves, dry ewes or dairy heifers. When asked Grazing cover crops is a practice that offers producers what producers planned to do after attending the cover crop the opportunity to increase farm profitability either through workshop, responses were split 50:50 between those who extending the grazing season and therefore reduce the amount hadn’t previously grazed their cover crops but planned to and of stored feed that must be fed or by providing livestock those who either plan to sow a cover crop for the first time or access to high quality pasture, at a time when high quality plan to expand the number of crops sown in their cover crop pasture may be in short supply. To facilitate and promote mixtures. the uptake of this practice OMAFRA, in collaboration with Beef Farmers of Ontario, have organized several on-farm 8
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