Building Soil for Fat Cows & Ranch Profit

Learn how healthy soil leads to more productive rangeland and a healthy herd at Powder River Basin Resource Council’s online panel discussion Building Soil for Fat Cows & Ranch Profit on Thursday, April 29 from 6:00 – 7:30 pm.

Rancher, author, and soil regeneration pioneer Gabe Brown is one of the foremost experts in building soil health for farms and ranches. Brown, his wife, and son own and operate a diversified farm and ranch near Bismarck, ND. The ranch includes several thousand acres of native perennial rangeland along with acreage in perennial pastureland and cropland.

The Browns holistically integrate their grazing and no-till cropping systems, which include a wide variety of cash crops, multi-species cover crops along with all natural grass finished beef and lamb. They also raise pastured pork, laying hens, and broilers.

Brown transitioned from traditional grazing and high chemical input farming, hoping to improve soil and profitability. His success in this venture eventually led to his decision to share his on-the-ground expertise with ranchers across the nation. Brown has written a book about this journey, Dirt to Soil, One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture, and appears in the award-winning documentary film on soil health, Kiss the Ground.

Ann Fischer has served as a District Conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Baker, MT for 25 years. She and her husband own and operate their family farm south of Rhame, ND where they raise a commercial herd of Red Angus. The Fischers run 250 pair on 3,000 acres and have been using grazing rotations, cover crops, and bale grazing to improve soil health—and thus increase productivity – on their land while reducing their inputs.

Soil health has been an integral part of her life at home and in her career for the last 15 years. Focusing on a systems-approach to farming and ranching, she has seen many operations improve their net profit and begin to regenerate their landscapes. Fischer will be discussing how to meet watering needs in rotational grazing.

The online event is free but requires advance registration, and attendance is capped at 100. Registration is available at: www.powderiverbasin.org/events. The event will begin at 6 pm, and following the speakers’ presentations there will be a question-and-answer period.

For more information on the soil health panel discussion contact Powder River at 307-672-5809 or email info@powderriverbasin.org.