Muskingum Soil and Water Conservation District Hosts Sustainable Grazing Event

Submitted by WHIZ Intern Maddie Luebkert

ZANESVILLE, OH – Hold on to your horses, cattle, sheep, ponies and other grazing animals. The Muskingum County Soil and Water Conservation District will hold a sustainable grazing event at the Rural Service Building on Thursday June 26 at 7 p.m.

The conversation will center around how to keep livestock healthy through proper grazing management. The science behind grazing is especially important for farms facing droughts and intense heat, so livestock will not run out of food.   

“It’s at the Rural Service Building so you can come in for the air condition. We received a grant from the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District to receive some books, it’s The Art and Science of Grazing by Sarah Flack, so we have books to hand out to people and we are going to be watching a YouTube video of her discussing some things that are discussed in the book,” Agriculture Resource Specialist Melissa Devore said. 

The Conservation District will share sustainable grazing tips including rotational grazing, which consists of limiting the amount of pasture livestock can graze to a smaller area and switching that area with fresh pasture so the plants may regrow. The talk will also cover animal behavior and how healthy pastures can lead to healthier animals. Additional recommendations will be tailored to the current heat wave. 

“Water is always important, so making sure you have water available to the animals and at a close distance so you don’t have to walk so far to get to the water. That’s a big issue too,” Devore said.

For more information about this event, call the Muskingum Soil and Water Conservation District at (740)-454-2027.