Sept. 24 workshop helps ranchers weather drought :: Posted on September 7, 2012 :: NWC News Desk :: Northwest College

Posted September 7, 2012

By NWC News Desk

POWELL, Wyo. - Montana and Wyoming ranchers can learn how to plan for and manage through drought at a half-day workshop Monday, Sept. 24, in Northwest College’s DeWitt Student Center in Powell.

Check-in begins at 7:30 a.m. for the 8:30 a.m. "Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch," a drought management workshop designed for ranchers, ranch advisors, other range professionals and students. Participants are given the tools needed to plan for drought, working with both financial and natural resources. Participants receive a copy of a Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch handbook with worksheets.

The workshop is sponsored through a partnership between the Northwest College Agriculture Department and the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Speakers’ fees are underwritten through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency.

"The goal is to come through the drought with both your finances and resource base intact, as much as possible," said NDMC researcher Tonya Haigh. "We’ll address both the natural resource concerns and the financial and business planning end of drought."

In addition to Haigh, other workshop speakers include:

Harlan Hughes, Laramie resident, retired North Dakota State University livestock economist and author of the monthly "Market Advisor" column that appears in BEEF magazine;
Emily Kachergis, research ecologist with the USDA-ARS High Plains Grasslands Research Station in Cheyenne;
Jerry Volesky, extension range and forage specialist with the University of Nebraska;
Lynn Myers, owner and manager of the Tippets-Myers Ranch, a cow/calf operation located in western Nebraska;
JD Radakovich, general manager of the Hoodoo Ranch, part of the agribusiness operations of the Hoodoo Land and Cattle Company in northwestern Wyoming.

The workshop starts with a 7:30 a.m. continental breakfast and sign-in. The program starts promptly at 8:30 a.m. and concludes midday with lunch and an opportunity to visit with the speakers.

It will be broadcast live and recorded using webinar technology. To view the workshop remotely via webinar, contact the National Drought Mitigation Center. The handbook, workshop materials and webinar link are available online.

Cost to attend is $20 for the main registrant per family/ranch and $10 for each additional person. Students are encouraged to participate and pay a reduced registration rate of $5.