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Grassland stewards are seeking a better understanding of the complex interactions occurring in their pastures. Information is readily available to assist producers but each farm provides its own unique challenges and opportunities. A diverse scope of knowledge and skills are required to build resilient grazing systems. To address this need Amazing Grazing conducted a webinar series (April 2023) followed by on-farm workshops in July/August 2023. Webinars were held on consecutive Wednesday evenings with 237 average number of registered attendees and 78 average number of actual participants. Topics covered during the first webinar were pasture ecology basics, plant growth principles, livestock forage demand and grazing management principles. The following week covered pasture layout and design, pasture renovation techniques and pasture soil health concepts. The final evening featured topics on electric fence basics, grazing systems for horses and small ruminants and a synopsis. NC Extension Livestock Agents assisted in the sight selection and execution of workshops (n = 8) that were held on working farms. These events provide the opportunity for hands-on instruction to demonstrate the concepts covered in the webinar series. Total workshop registration was 196, with 148 evaluations completed. Participants were 72% farmers, 1% extension agents, 10% Soil and Water Conservation District Employee, 7% NRCS employee and 10% other. The total number of pasture hectares grazed by participants was 3,217 with 1,257 ha as hay. Livestock inventories for attendees were 4,323 beef cattle, 1,366 sheep, 455 goats and 51 horses. Attendees were asked about their pre- and post- workshop knowledge (1 = Very Low; 5 = Very High) of topics presented. Participants indicated a knowledge gain (average pre = 2.78 and post = 3.91) in Concepts of Pastureland Ecology, Adaptive Management, Managing Nutrient Distribution, Pasture Renovation, Temporary Electric Fence, Troubleshooting Electric Fence and Pasture Plant Identification. Workshop impact was determined by asking attendees their post workshop intentions regarding management practices (1 = No, 2 = Maybe, 3 = Yes, 4 = Already Doing). Attendees plan to spending more time walking pasture to determine plant condition, learn more about soil, plant, animal and human interactions, increase use of temporary electric fence and adopt an adaptive management style (average score = 3.91). Continued workshop participation indicates the demand for hands-on education in these areas and that the on-farm format is an effective teaching environment.

Pastureland Ecology 1 is a 2-wk continuing education course taught by cooperating faculty at NC State University for USDA-NRCS Staff. The course was founded in the early 1990s and has been taught 23 times to over 500 participants from all 50 states. Participants primarily include grazing specialists, soil conservationists, and district conservationists. Instruction is split between classroom lectures and hands-on experience with grazing management. Lecture topics include; introduction to pasture ecology, principles of plant growth, determining animal forage needs, pasture design, principles of soil health, principles of grazing management, and grazing management systems for small ruminants, horses and cattle. Small groups of students work with groups of goats, sheep, horses, and beef cattle throughout the course, learning concepts of forage allocation, temporary electric fence, and adaptive management. Popular demonstrations developed over the years include; the reel race, dung beetle buckets, burying underwear to demonstrate soil health, exploring root diversity, and troubleshooting electric fence. Farm tours are conducted to show how concepts being taught are applied on commercial farms. In 2023 there were 29 students from 13 states including VA (4), MD (4), PA (3), OK (4), MI (1), UT (2), TN (3), WV (1), MA (1), OH (1), NM (1), WA (3), and RI (1). Participants had 8.4 ± 1.39 (AVG ± SEM) years of experience with NRCS with a range of 1 to 27 yr. Students self-assessed their understanding of major concepts before and after the course. On a 1 to 5 scale students increased their understanding by an average of 1.05 ± 0.129, averaged over all topics. Topics more familiar to participants had less increase including; Soil Health (0.38), Pasture Condition Evaluation (0.51), and Grazing Management for Beef Cattle (0.79). Less familiar topics had greater increases including Grazing Management for Horses (1.27) and Small Ruminants (1.27), and Temporary Electric Fence (1.43). Pastureland Ecology 1 remains a critical part of the Amazing Grazing Program at NC State University, impacting pasture-based livestock producers across the country. This educational model has proven to be an effective way of teaching the principles of pastureland ecology.

Objectives of this study were to determine the influence of five donor cow diets that differed in source of fiber on true in vitro DM digestibility of eight forages. Test forages included two alfalfa (31.2 and 38.3% NDF), corn silage (50.2% NDF), oat forage (48.2% NDF), perennial rye (62.1% NDF), two reed canarygrasses (55.9 and 68.1% NDF), and timothy (68.2% NDF). Sources of fiber in donor cow diets were alfalfa haylage or alfalfa haylage plus either corn cobs, cottonseed hulls, oat hulls, or soy hulls. In addition, the effect of filtering through sintered glass crucibles or filter paper (two replicates each) was evaluated. There were differences (P< .01) among feeds in in vitro DM digestibility, but there were no interactions (P> .05) between test forages and either source of fiber in donor diets or filtration method. There was an interaction between source of fiber in the donor diet and method of filtration (P <.01). Samples inoculated with ruminal fluid from cows fed diets with oat hulls or soy hulls had lower (P< .01) in vitro DM digestibility when filtered on crucibles than on filter paper. Filtration method did not affect (P> .05) in vitro DM digestibility of samples inoculated with ruminal fluid from other diets. The in vitro DM digestibility of samples inoculated with ruminal fluid from cows fed alfalfa haylage was less than the in vitro DM digestibility when other inocula were used. The source of fiber in the donor cow diet and filtration method can affect in vitro DM digestibility, but relative ranking of forages was unaffected by these variables.

Forty-eight Quarter Horse geldings (3 to 8 yr of age) were used to determine the effects of dietary chromium (Cr), in the form of Cr propionate (Cr Prop) on insulin sensitivity. Horses were blocked by age, body condition score, and glucose response to concentrate feeding on day 0 and randomly assigned to treatments. Treatments consisted of 0, 2, 4, or 8 mg Cr/d from Cr Prop. Horses were fed daily a concentrate mix at a rate of 0.2 kg/100 kg body weight (BW) and grass hay at 1.75 to 2.0 kg/100 kg BW. All horses were fed the control diet for 7 d prior to the initiation of the study. After an overnight fast, blood samples from the jugular vein were obtained at 0, 2, and 4 h after concentrate feeding on days 0 and 28 for the determination of glucose, nonesterified fatty acids, and insulin. A glucose tolerance test (GTT) was conducted on day 42. Glucose was infused via jugular vein catheters, and blood samples were collected at various times relative to dosing for glucose and insulin determination. Plasma glucose on day 28 was affected (P < 0.05) by treatment, time, and treatment × time. Horses fed 4 mg Cr/d had lesser (P < 0.05) plasma glucose concentrations than those in the other treatments at 0 h. At 2 h post-feeding glucose concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) in horses fed 0 or 8 mg Cr/d than in those given 4 mg Cr. Horses fed 2 mg Cr/d had lesser (P < 0.05) plasma glucose at 4 h post feeding compared with those fed 0 or 8 mg Cr. Plasma glucose did not differ among horses receiving 2 or 4 mg Cr/d at 2 or 4 h. Serum insulin was affected (P < 0.05) by treatment, time, and treatment × time. Insulin concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) in horses fed 0 or 2 mg Cr/d than in those given 4 or 8 mg Cr at 0 h. At 4 h post-feeding insulin concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) in horses given 0 or 8 mg Cr than in those fed 2 or 4 mg Cr/d. Plasma glucose was affected (P < 0.05) by treatment and time, but not by treatment × time following the GTT. Mean plasma glucose (across sampling times) concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) in controls than in horses fed 2 or 4 mg Cr/d. Glucose concentrations following the GTT did not differ among controls and horses given 8 mg Cr/d. Following glucose infusion, serum insulin concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) in horses fed 2 or 4 mg Cr and tended to be greater in those fed 8 mg Cr/d compared with controls. The results of this study indicate that 2 or 4 mg Cr/d from Cr Prop increased insulin sensitivity in adult horses following oral carbohydrate consumption.