In the fall of 1996, Paul Rohrbaugh and Bob Baum listened as farmer Marty Kleinschmit told them about the Nebraska Ag IMPACT project. IMPACT farmer groups around the state were coming together to increase profits, improve the environment, and increase their quality of life. The groups were doing all this by trying alternative practices, a different way of doing things called sustainable agriculture. To Rohrbaugh and Baum, it made sense.
Afterwards, Rohrbaugh and Baum discussed how the IMPACT project could address their mutual concern for the state of grassland management in the Tecumseh area. They wrote a letter inviting local farmers to a meeting where they would organize a group to improve their pasture management. In early 1997, twenty people showed up and 16 of them eventually formed the Southeast Nebraska Grassland Association (SENGA).
The main goal of SENGA is to make local farmers aware of alternative grassland enterprises and their potential profitability. The members are concerned about overgrazed pastures and the resulting runoff, soil erosion, loss of productivity, and poor financial returns. With a lot of land coming out of the Conservation Reserve Program and low profits from marginal cropland, the group wants to promote reestablishing, retaining, and improving local grasslands. The incentive is the potential increase in profits that comes from a more intensive management system. Their hope is that improved grasslands would also provide environmental and financial stability in the community.
During the summer of 1997, the group held seven pasture walks at members’ farms. Open to the public, these walks became informal conversations about the problems facing everyone who manages grasslands. The walks often lasted over four hours, with up to 30 farmers, family members, and neighbors attending. They discussed their observations on animal/plant interactions, management styles, fencing, watering systems, and the risks and benefits of high intensity/short duration grazing.
Rohrbaugh, who raises cattle, sheep, and chickens near Tecumseh, says the walks are a social event for group members, but they learn a lot too. One thing that they hadn’t planned on learning about was goal setting. "With the range in ages from eight to eighty, we found out that people had different goals, for different reasons." Rohrbaugh says they discovered "that every operation is unique," even though they shared similar characteristics and concerns.
During the 1997 summer, several SENGA members attended workshops at the Forage Systems Research Center in Missouri and at other locations. They learned about grazing alfalfa, low stress animal handling, and grassland management. On returning, they reported to the group what they had learned. In this way the whole group benefited without everyone having to take the time for travel to the various workshops.
In January, SENGA organized a workshop which addressed some of the questions that arose during the pasture walks. Jim Gerrish, a grazing expert from Northwest Missouri, spoke on Management Intensive Grazing. Fifty farmers, old and young, male and female, filled the meeting room to capacity. Rohrbaugh says the feedback was great, with several people wanting to join SENGA and others wanting to form their own groups.
Following through on the some of their questions, SENGA members plan to have demonstrations and on-farm research projects during the 1998 grazing season. They want to look at fertility management, insect and parasite control, weed management, watering systems, pasture supplementation, and interseeding. They will also continue to hold their popular pasture walks.
To complement the pasture walks and workshops, SENGA has created its own library. Housed in the local NRD office, the library has videos, audio cassettes, and books. Over half of the SENGA members have taken advantage of this resource.
Being an IMPACT group has been "a tremendous experience" says Rohrbaugh, and "getting farmers talking together has been good for the community."
The challenge, as Rohrbaugh sees it, is "to break old ways of looking at pasture management," without being too judgmental.
Contact: Paul Rohrbaugh, Steinauer, 402-335-3325