Conservation Chat? What's that?

Ashland SWCD has been hosting monthly “Conservation Chats” on different topics throughout the county. Including our upcoming events: Precise Solutions August 25th and Don’t Fence Me In September 29th.

Our most recent chat was focused on manure management. With over 50 attendees and speakers including Joe Christner, retired technician from Holmes SWCD, participants learned how to determine when, where, and how much manure should be applied to gardens and pastures. Attendees left for the night after having the opportunity to create nutrient application rates with the help of SWCD staff from Wayne, Ashland, and Richland counties. 4H, FFA members, and a few adults participated in the “Manure Olympics” running through a course of obstacles to win prizes sponsored by Centerra Co-op, Sunrise Co-op, Loudonville Equity, Ashland SWCD, Farm and Home, and Holmes County Farm Bureau. Everyone took home a binder filled with resources to manage manure and a free soil and manure test. 

Manure management on a small-scale farms often gets overlooked. Manure is a wonderful way to put nutrients back into your soil if it is managed correctly. Great resources to help guide you in creating nutrient recommendations include the Ohio Livestock Management Guide produced by Ohio State Extension. This guide has book values of manure and is really useful when making nutrient management decisions. We encourage anyone who has livestock whether that is 50 hogs or 2 goats to test their soil and manure to know your nutrients before you spread and to contact our office if you would like more information on how to create nutrient recommendations.

We hope to have another great turnout at our next chat Precise Solutions. Precise solution will focus on in-season crop modeling tools, Adapt-N and Field Forecasting tool. August 25th will be a night of hearing about real farm experience managing and gaining insight on nutrient applications using these tools.

We will switch our focus to rotational grazing practices at Sycamore Valley Farms on September 29th with Bob Hendershot. Participants will be able to enjoy the evening during a pasture walk with an expert and hear more about how Sycamore Valley Farms implements sustainable ag practices on their farm and their experiences with heritage breed livestock. More information on these events can be found of Ashland SWCD’s Facebook page or by calling 419-281-7645.