On July 27, the Central Kansas Extension District and the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition will be teaming up to host the Central Kansas Small Ruminant Tour.
This event will feature three progressive sheep and goat operations in Ottawa and Saline counties.
Starting at 8:30 a.m., participants will visit Max Trahan at his ranch located southeast of Delphos. Trahan will highlight his commercial goat operation with emphasis on marketing, health, rotational grazing, and facilities.
Then, at approx. 10 a.m., the next stop will be a couple miles down the road where folks will see multi-species grazing of goats and cattle in a pasture owned by Levi and Jessica Ebert. The Ebert’s will discuss fencing, economics, water and brush control. From there, the group will gather just north of Tescott, which is home to the Ebert and Ahlquist families. This stop will focus on facilities and general herd management.
A noon lunch is planned at the Lions Community Building in Tescott. At 1:30 p.m., attendees will meet northwest of Bavaria at the headquarters of Weston Dent. Dent has used a variety of forages including native grass, cool season grass, residues, cover crops, and Teff to run his flock of sheep and cow herd. He will explain his experimentation with feed resources and other cost-cutting strategies.
Cost of the tour is $10 per person. Interested participants should register by July 20 at https://tinyurl.com/CKDTour .
A promotional flyer for the tour which includes addresses of the stops can be found at www.centralkansas.k-state.edu and www.kglc.org under “Upcoming Events.”
For questions or accommodations, please contact the Central Kansas Extension District at (785) 309-5850.