WARRENSBURG, Mo. – Livestock producers can learn to use native grasses and other forages to improve profits at a June 6 conference in Warrensburg.

The conference, at the University of Central Missouri’s Prussing Farm, features keynote speaker Shane Gadberry of the University of Arkansas, who will speak on the 300 Days Grazing system developed in Arkansas.

The system is based on eight different management practices to extend the grazing season and reduce hay feeding: Improving grazing management, stockpiling fescue, stockpiling Bermuda grass, growing legumes, growing summer annual forage, growing winter annual forage, reducing hay losses in storage and reducing hay losses during feeding.

Other speakers include Mary Drewnoski of the University of Nebraska, who will talk about grazing cover crops; University of Missouri Extension forage specialist Harley Naumann on native warm-season grass management; and David Boatright of Boatright Farms on multispecies grazing.

Following the presentations, participants can tour native warm-season grass plots on the UCM Mitchell Farm in Warrensburg.

The event runs 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Register by May 31 by contacting the MU Extension Center in Cass County at 816-380-8460 or cassco@missouri.edu, or the Pettis County MU Extension Center at 660-827-0591 or pettisco@missouri.edu. The event is sponsored through a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service grant in cooperation with University of Central Missouri and University of Missouri Extension.