COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • OCTOBER 2018


27 Non-traditional forage mixtures promising


Quesnel ranch demonstrates the benefits for other producers by TOM WALKER


QUESNEL – Jim Gerrish of American GrazingLands Services LLC of Idaho headlined the successful BC Forage Council field day at Sheri and Dwayne Schweb’s Roddie Creek Ranch outside of Quesnel in late August. “Jim’s focus is on how to


create excellent pasture,” says council general manager Serena Black. “The BCFC has been working to bring back our field days,” notes Black. “Jim was excellent. His presentation connected well with the forage council’s aim to support on-farm research and the goals of the province’s forage action plan around soil health.” The field day gave


producers tips they could use, adds Black. “A lot of the things Jim demonstrated in cooperation with the ranch are things that have been talked about over the years, but you don’t actually get to see them in place in a local context,” says Black. “We know that producers are looking for this kind of information, but it’s time-consuming, costly and risky for them to go out and try something on their own.” Over 70 attendees heard


Gerrish talk about “excellent pasture from the ground up,” then took a pasture walk. “Roddie Creek Ranch put in a lot of work in advance of the field day,” says Black. “They planted variety trials


Roddie Creek Ranch was host to an excellent turnout of area ranchers and forage producers at their field day in August. BC FORAGE COUNCIL PHOTO


specifically for the field day in the spring in a combination of dry land and irrigated land. Jim took us around to different parts of the ranch and dug up the soil so we could actually see the soil health and he was able to relate it to the land use history from the ranch and show us how the different cover crops had affected the soil.” In the afternoon,


participants rotated through various information stations. Gerrish covered


management of intensive grazing and Black herself explained an in-field soil


Canada’s Verified Beef Production Plus Program


health test kit developed in partnership with the University of Northern British Columbia. John Church of Thompson


Rivers University showed how drones can be used to monitor cattle and provide images that can help assess pasture health while Brian Palichuk, an agrologist from


Northstar Seed Ltd., spoke about the trials of cover crops that had been planted at the ranch. Presenters were funded


through the BC Ministry of Agriculture’s strategic outreach initiative, but the Schwebs hired Gerrish for an on-farm consultation the day before the BCFC event.


“It was a good idea that we


did,” comments Sheri. “With all the organizing for Saturday, I didn’t get to hear a lot of Jim’s presentation.” Dwayne says that one of the important themes for him was the organization of a pasture.


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