January 8, 2018 Comments are off Montana Stockgrowers Association
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Montana Grazing Lands Education and Demonstration Project Funding Available

The Montana Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) is accepting applications for mini-grants and demonstration projects.

The mini-grants will provide funding for educational events throughout the year and support partners and organizations with an interest in the conservation, education, and awareness of grazing lands and natural resources in Montana.

Limit mini-grant funding requests to a minimum of $50 and a maximum of $1,000. There is no application deadline. Submissions will be considered year-round by the Montana GLCI steering committee.

“The GLCI mini-grants and demonstration projects help organizations to both test and implement advanced resource solutions, as well as educate Montanans young and old about those advancements and the value of our grazing lands,” said Kirt Walstad, Montana GLCI co-coordinator.

Demonstration project applications are due February 16, 2018. The current focus is on innovative projects addressing grazing management, soil and rangeland health, concentrated animal feeding operations/animal feeding operations, or noxious weeds on private Montana grazing lands.

Applications will be accepted from groups of individuals, non-governmental organizations, and state or local units of government. The Montana GLCI steering committee places special emphasis on cooperative efforts working with partners. Individual projects will be considered only if the project provides broad-scale, community-wide impacts and education.

Projects must be initiated in 2018. Funding will be allocated on an annual basis, which is dependent upon the yearly Montana GLCI budget allocation. Application submission does not guarantee project funding will be available. All applicants must show a one-to-one match for project cost.

Get more information about both the mini-grant and demonstration project funding opportunities, including application requirements and forms, at www.mtglci.org.

December 3, 2014 Comments are off Montana Stockgrowers Association
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Grazing Management Tools for Young Stockgrowers | Annual Convention Speaker

We’re excited to have a great line up of speakers for the 2014 Annual Convention, Dec. 11-13 in Billings. The featured speaker during our Young Stockgrowers meeting on Thursday night will be Tyrrell Hibbard with Montana Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative. Earlier this year, GLCI released a new web program to assist with grazing management. Tyrrell will be discussing this new tool and other uses of technology Young Stockgrowers can utilize when managing pastures and grazing forages. To learn more about the Annual Convention speaker line up, click here.

New Grazing Recordkeeping System Offers Ranchers Better Tool

Bozeman —The Montana Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) recently launched a new web-based planning and record keeping program for ranchers and grazing managers. GrazeKeeper is an electronic tool to manage livestock and pasture inventory, grazing plans, and grazing records.

“We are very glad to see GrazeKeeper become a reality,” said Chase Hibbard, Montana GLCI committee member who helped develop the program. “This will offer ranchers a tool they have not had before to make their recordkeeping and grazing decisions easier.”

GrazeKeeper, on the web at www.grazekeeper.com, allows users to inventory resources, track in- and out-dates of numerous herds, automatically track weather and precipitation using NOAA data, and map the ranch and pastures with Google Maps. GrazeKeeper is uniquely capable of providing reports by management group (animal herd) or by pasture and mining several years of data to compile in-depth reports.

Key Features of GrazeKeeper:

  • Simplifies the task of keeping pasture records
  • Simplifies the process of creating grazing reports, either by pasture or management group
  • Facilitates making informed decisions regarding stocking rates, carrying capacity, and grazing movements
  • Customizes pasture, livestock, and grazing reports

grazekeeperInterested users can sign up for GrazeKeeper at www.grazekeeper.com under a free 90-day trial period, which offers full functionality of the program and its valuable reports to users. After the free 90-day trial period, users will receive a payment window to purchase the product. Depending on the number of pastures a user wishes to track with GrazeKeeper, subscriptions run from $12 per month (for 10 pastures or less) to $48 per month (for unlimited pastures).

For more information about GrazeKeeper, and to sign up for a free 90-day trial, please visit www.grazekeeper.com.