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Annual range management meeting focuses on producer and youth membership Albuquerque, N.M. – The Society for Range Management (SRM) hosted their 75th Annual Meeting in the desert of New Mexico with the theme, “Sustainability Through Culture and Innovation.” In their year-in-review, the society shared in 2021 they “advanced the objectives of the society for years to come,” including the undertaking of several initiatives to “increase the strength, outreach and diversity of the society.” In the 75th year of the society, “SRM is taking better steps to better understand member engagement,” as well as continue their mission to foster collaboration and communication through all channels of rangeland management. Despite challenges presented by COVID-19, SRM “continued its relentless efforts to inform policy makers on rangerelated matters. SRM maintains a full-time presence in Washington, D.C.” The society continues to communicate impactful directives on Capitol Hill in support of the many careers and livelihoods that are directly impacted by rangeland management. Reaching ranchers Throughout the last few years, SRM has placed a focus on promoting on-
the-ground management and working with those who manage rangelands daily – ranchers. SRM President Poncho Ortega shared, “We have a very strong initiative to bring ranchers back to SRM. I was pleased to see in the plenary session, most questions were asked by ranchers.” Ortega said this is something he would like to see continue through the years, noting the benefit of producer input to the society. In addition, the society shared, “SRM staff worked together throughout 2021 to craft the Good Grazing Makes Cent$ Program, which launched in January 2022.” The program “created a new avenue to reach ranchers and land managers in an effort to increase their participation and presence in SRM.” In recognizing the value of the ranchers’ perspective in SRM, as well as the knowledge base of many SRM members, the 75th Annual Meeting hosted Producer’s Day, which included a stockmanship symposia, producer forum and workshops covering forage evaluation, body condition scoring and cattle diet quality. Dr. Ron Gill presented a low-stress livestock handling and work-
For more information, visit rangelands.org
Producer forum – One full day at the annual Society for Range Management meeting was dedicated to producers. The program featured a rancher panel discussion, workshops related to forage evaluation, diet quality and body condition scoring, as well as a low stress livestock handling workshop presented by Ron Gill. Courtesy photo
ing facility design demonstration. After the workshops and livestock handling demonstration, Producer’s Day closed with the first ever SRM Ranch Rodeo.
Student acknowledgement SRM’s Annual Meeting provides many opportunities for students – from the high school through graduate degrees.
Please see MEETING on page C3
Ranch rodeo – At the end of SRM’s Producer’s Day, entertainment in the form of the first ever SRM Ranch Rodeo was held. Four teams comprised of local cowboys and members from across the western U.S. competed in team penning, branding, wild cow milking and the buddy barrel rescue. Courtesy photo
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GGMC takes off Launched in January 2022, the Good Grazing Makes Cent$ (GGMC) program was created for ranchers and land managers to have direct access to useful range management resources. The program was designed to provide “practical, applicable and economically feasible range management practices which can ultimately improve productivity of the land and the bottom dollar of the ranch.” A membership in the GGMC program includes a monthly interactive newsletter, premium educational videos created by producers and experts in land management from across the U.S. and access to additional resources, including academic journals. Additionally, members have the ability to drive conversation by participating in live discussions and asking questions through an easily accessed forum, to be answered by rangeland scientists and producers. Natural Resources Conservation Service Range Management Specialist Hayden Vandeberg says, “GGMC is a way to use information to ensure the sustainability of a ranch from one generation to the next and use small bits of information from videos to implement changes in family ranches overtime.” For more information, visit goodgrazing.org.
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