A Grazing Club is a community of rotational graziers who work together to improve the management of their pastures. The number of Grazing Clubs has risen steadily since 1999 when Ducks Unlimited Canada initiated the first Grazing Club Program in the Brandon area. As of December 2011, there are 30 clubs in existence.

Clubs hold informal meetings to acquire information on local grazing issues from expert speakers and researchers. Pasture tours are utilized to provide hands-on exposure to new forages, livestock watering systems, and pasture management techniques. Clubs may also provide members with financial incentives to establish forage and develop livestock watering systems.

Look on our Events page for upcoming tours!

Your local Grazing Club can assist you with:
• Grazing management options;
• Pasture design;
• Tame pasture forage mix selection; and
• Water system development.

Through Grazing Clubs financial support may be available to:
• Organize grazing events and workshops;
• Establish grazing demonstrations;
• Convert cropland to tame pasture; and
• Develop livestock watering systems.

Club members have the opportunity to:
• Visit with local cattle producers and tour their pasture systems;
• Explore innovative pasture management techniques;
• Hear the latest from experts and specialists concerning pasture management;
• Discuss local issues and find solutions;
• Attend pasture management courses and conferences; and
• Access grazing library (books, video, audio).

Resources

The following free resources are available to download:
• See our Technical information page for Grazing/Pasture Management help.
• Find out how you can make the most of your pasture plan – the 2008 Pasture Planner contains valuable information, diagrams, examples & worksheets for you to use to revise or develop your Pasture Plan.
• Download interactive spreadsheets and examples and input your figures for your own operation. There  are examples and worksheets for forage establishment, pasture assessment and fencing costs.

Interested? Select your region on the lefts side menu to see if there is a club near you. Then contact the Grazing Club Coordinator or your Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Representative for more information.

Grazing Club Coordinator

Michael Thiele: Ph: (204) 759-3309

MAFRI Contacts

Please refer to your local MAFRI office for Grazing Club contact information or click on a Grazing Club link for your area.

The activities of the Grazing Clubs are supported by:
Ducks Unlimited Canada, Manitoba Forage Council, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives,  Covering New Ground Program,  Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,  Greencover Technical Assistance Program, Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program in partnership with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Soil Conservation Council of Canada, Manitoba Cattle Producers Association and Promark Seed.

Establishment of Perennial Native Grass Species in the Black Soil Zone of Manitoba and Saskatchewan

A project funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Greencover Canada program was carried out over the period of May 2007 to March 2008.

The objectives were to seed six, 40 acre sites (on producers’ land) across the black soil zone in Saskatchewan and Manitoba to perennial native plant blend, providing field scale demonstrations of how cultivated land converted to perennial cover using native plants (grass and forbs) could be successfully integrated into a producer’s land base. Once established, these fields (post-establishment) will be utilized by producers and may be hayed or grazed.  Five sites were sucessfully seeded in the black soil zone across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Some of the uncertainties of these stands will be the agronomic performance relative to tame stands, stand competitiveness to weed pressure, stand longevity and their other uses such as stockpiled feed. Many of these questions will be answered in subsequent years.

Project partners include Ducks Unlimited Canada, Greencover Canada, Manitoba Forage Council and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.

A summary of this project entitled Establishment of Perennial Native Grass Species in the Black Soil Zone of Saskatchewan and Manitoba was developed and made available online.

Click here for an article published by Ducks Unlimited Canada describing the need for this project.

A copy of the final report is also available for download, or you may contact: