Noble Research Institute, an educational resource for farmers and ranchers since 1945, Kansas State University and Hy-Plains Feedyard are partnering to launch a three-year educational program designed to promote sustainable grazing practices in the Flint Hills region of Kansas and Oklahoma.

Through this partnership, led by Kansas State University, Noble will develop educational programming and a grazing support tool with regional knowledge and expertise from the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition. Hy-Plains Feedyard will provide research and dedicated educational facilities in the Kansas Flint Hills region. Funding for this project was made possible through a $998,195 grant from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

In an additional partnership with the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition, scholarships funded by this grant will allow series attendees to participate in the KGLC's annual range academies.

The Noble Grazing: Flint Hills Series will provide ranchers with a tailored, hands-on educational experience that combines grazing management, business strategies and region-specific tools for lasting success.

The series, priced at $585, consists of three targeted courses for 2025, with the inaugural participant group beginning this May, including, Noble Grazing Essentials, Business of Grazing and Grazing Plan Workshop. Noble Grazing Essentials, set for May 20-22 in Council Grove, Kan., will utilize real-life and region-specific examples, including maps of the participant's farm or ranch, to give Flint Hills ranchers a framework to view and utilize their soil and forages framed by soil health principles and ecosystem function. Practices they choose based on those principles and their operations can help them prevent overgrazing by understanding how to calculate stocking rates through the grazing season.

Business of Grazing, set for July 22-24 in Council Grove, Kan., will give participants a method to align day-to-day grazing decisions with their ranch's overall goals. This course will provide analytic tools for investing to make smart upgrades to fences and water systems with a return on investment. Participants will begin creating adaptive grazing plans that respond to changing weather and market trends. The Grazing Plan Workshop, set for Sept. 9 in Council Grove, Kan., will bring together participants for an interactive workshop that combines technical and business components, offering hands-on support as participants explore technology and create value-added grazing plans.

The program aims to address challenges in the Flint Hills tallgrass prairie, which represents the largest remaining contiguous expanse of tallgrass prairie in the United States.  

"The Flint Hills region is one of the most important resources the livestock industry has for long-term forage-based beef production," said Josh Gaskamp, associate director of outreach and partnerships for Noble Research Institute. "The Noble Grazing: Flint Hills Series provides formal instruction and hands-on guidance related to the overall conservation and regeneration of grazing resources, which impact the profitability of ranches, ecosystem function and community dynamics." 

The three-part series is limited to 35 participants per year, with cohorts expected to attend all three sessions. The program is specifically designed for the region's new and beginning land managers and Native American tribal communities.

Source: Noble Research Institute