AGLC Annual Conference
Speaker Biographies
2013 Conference
Dr. Bruce Anderson is a native of a small dairy and row crop farm in Minnesota. He received his B.S. in Agronomy from the University of Minnesota and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Missouri. He resides on and operates a small, pasture‑only farm near Lincoln where he has practiced mob grazing, windrow grazing, and various rotational grazing strategies using both cool- and warm-season grass pastures with legumes. Dr. Anderson has led forage extension and research at the University of Nebraska since 1979. His extension emphasis focuses on pasture management and alfalfa production and marketing. His Hay & Forage Minute is heard on major farm radio stations throughout the region and its content is distributed nationally. Research emphasizes utilization of warm‑season grasses, forage quality in hay and pasture systems, and pasture legumes. Dr. Anderson is recognized nationally as an authority on native warm‑season grasses, forage‑livestock systems, alfalfa production techniques, and hay quality management.
Clint Borum is a Private Lands Wildlife Biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. His position is a partner position with NRCS. He works with private landowners in central Tennessee writing wildlife management plans for their properties. Clint helps to guide these landowners through the maze of conservation programs that are out there and help them obtain cost share funding to implement those plans. He attended school at the University of Tennessee at Martin and graduated with a degree in Wildlife Biology in May 2002. He immediately began work with TWRA and held multiple positions within the agency until 2007 when he took his current position. Clint is the son of a 38 year veteran wildlife officer and co-manager with his father on a 200 acre beef cattle and wildlife farm which they purchased in 2003.
Greg Brannis the Tennessee Grazing Lands and Soil Health Specialist. He received his B. S. Degree in Plant Science from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He has 34 years of experience with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is a Certified Crop Advisor and received the Outstanding Young Men of America award. On his farm he has 350 acres of pasture for beef cows, stockers, goats, and hair sheep and grows tobacco and Christmas trees. Greg is a member of the American Sheep Industry Targeted Grazing Committee.
Joshua Dukart is a Certified Educator of Holistic Management who speaks and teaches regularly throughout the United States and Canada. Joshua’s career path started as an Agricultural & Bio-systems engineer, but has evolved into a professional role of educator, facilitator, and mentor. Through this progression was born a consulting business that works with land managers, families, and organizations in assisting them with achieving sustainable balance of people, finances, and resources.
Joshua has the good fortune of working with some of the most innovative and progressive holistic managers in the United States and Canada. His travels have afforded him the opportunity to observe and learn through direct management of challenging whole situations in many different environments.
Owning livestock of his own and providing grazing and financial planning for various ranches and farms has allowed Joshua to stay directly involved in production agriculture. This connection to reality provides the foundation to his teaching, consulting, and speaking activities. It also allows him to share both the conceptual basis and applied techniques of the regenerative agriculture he promotes.
Joshua stays involved with management of the family ranch where he grew up, which concentrates on meshing grazing and forage cropping for enhancement of all animals, wild and domesticated. This family-focused business annually combines land, cattle, and resources with other ranches to provide greater financial, ecological, and social benefits then each ranch could achieve alone.
Joshua also works for the Burleigh County Soil Conservation District and the North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition. These entities serve as education and support networks for agricultural producers in developing grazing, cropping, gardening, and cover cropping plans for the purpose of enhancing soil, plant, animal, and human health.
Karen Hoffman attended Cornell University and received a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science in 1988. Her area of interest within her major was dairy cattle management and nutrition. She then attended Penn State University where she received her Masters of Science in Animal Science in 1991. Her thesis project investigated various grain feeding strategies to high producing dairy cows on a rotational grazing system.
Karen worked for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango County, NY as a dairy management educator for 6 years. She now serves as Resource Conservationist - Animal Science for the USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service, where she has been for 15+ years. Karen provides advice on feeding management to farmers to help them keep their costs of production low. She also troubleshoots nutrition and management problems when needed, as well as provides educational presentations on grazing and feeding.
Karen is a co-author of the publications “Prescribed Grazing and Feeding Management for Lactating Dairy Cows” and NOFA-NY’s “Transitioning to Organic Dairy Self-Assessment Workbook” and “The Organic Dairy Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Transition and Beyond”. She writes for Graze magazine addressing feeding questions, and participates in grazing research projects with Universities and USDA-Agricultural Research Service.
Karen also has a small, grass-based farm in Chenango County where her family raises polled Dorset sheep, heritage breed turkeys, laying hens, and a registered Holstein calf. She has a small number of milking Holsteins on a friend’s grass-based dairy farm as well.
Matt Hunnicutt grew up on a family farm 5 miles south of Berryville, Arkansas were his family has had a planned rotational grazing system in place since 1995. He graduated from Arkansas Tech University in December of 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business and Animal Science. In November of 2008 he started his own cattle operation by leasing 100 head of cows and renting 200 acres of pasture. He now runs around 200 cows, 40 replacement heifers, and 200 stockers on 100 owned acres and 800 rented acres. Cattle are moved daily onto fresh pasture and do not return until it has fully recovered. Matt believes rest is the most important factor when it comes to good grazing management.
Ron Morrow recently retired as the state grazing lands specialist with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Arkansas. He presently raises beef cattle and direct markets grass-fed beef (Ozark Pasture Beef). Ron spent 20 years at the University of Missouri (Animal Sciences Department) where he taught beef cattle production, introductory animal science classes and classes in grazing management. His research focused on cow-calf management with an emphasis on grazing systems and interactions with body type in cattle. He and Jim Gerrish developed the Missouri grazing workshops. Ron also previously worked for the ATTRA project.
George Rheinhardt received his B.S. in Forest Management from University of Missouri in 1974 then worked as an Industry Forester for Green Bay Packaging and International Paper Co from 1974 to 1985. From 1985 to 2007 he worked for the Arkansas Forestry Commission and in 2007 he took his current position with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. George raises trees and cattle on 103 acres in Conway County. Approximately 40 acres was planted in 2003 in silvopasture configuration and 35 acres was planted in 2004 under CRP.
Tony Rickard is a native of Kentucky, receiving his BS from Western Kentucky University and his MS and PhD from Cornell University in ruminant nutrition. Previously he was a State Extension Dairy Specialist at the University of Maryland and accepted his current position in 1982 as an Extension Dairy Specialist with the University of Missouri. During the past 20 years he has focused his efforts on pasture-based dairy systems with research at the MU pasture-based dairy at Mt. Vernon, monthly discussion groups and other educational efforts. Since 2005, over 10,000 new cows have been added to pasture systems in MO with over $100 million in new investments.
Craig Watson practices law in Sherman, TX. In 1999 he moved to the country and started raising cattle in addition to practicing law. He currently runs up to 300 commercial stockers and 20 cow/calf units on 450 acres of owned and leased land. Stockers are marketed in truckload lots and raised calves are marketed as all natural grass finished beef. Craig’s ranch goal is to have an economically sustainable operation (i.e. profitable) balanced with ecologically sustainable land use practices to conserve the resource.
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