In this episode, we meet producer and Advanced Grazing Systems Mentor, Ron Moss.  Ron grew up in Kelvington, Saskatchewan. When he was young they lived on a farm with crops and livestock such as cows, pigs and chickens. His parents also had a store and post office in our home. Along with these enterprises they also had a mail run, sold cream from milk cows, logged and sawed lumber.

In the early 1960’s Ron’s dad became the Kelvington Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) pasture manager and eventually their family moved on to the pasture. Horses and cattle were a big part of Ron’s life. During his teen years, Ron rode on one provincial community pasture and four PFRA pastures while he was going to high school and university. A lot of weekends were spent competing in horse sports at the small fairs and rodeos.

In 1978, Ron graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon with a degree in Agriculture with a major in animal science and a minor in economics. He also married Yvonne Murrison that year and went on to have three children Alison, Ryan and Andrea. All three of their children also enjoy working with horses. Ron and Yvonne have eight grandchildren, who are now the most important thing in their lives.

Direct out of university, Ron started with PFRA construction based in Regina. He checked contracts on the pastures such as building, fences, breaking and seeding and spent six weeks with an aerial spray crew. August of 1978, Ron came to Dauphin as a land manager which was called pasture supervisor back then and held this position for 25 years supervising the 12 pastures in the north half of Manitoba. 

In March of 2004, Ron took the Technology Transfer Coordinator position and was in this position until he retired in March 2012. One of the goals of the position was to communicate with producers on activities that had worked and some that had not worked. Community pastures were involved with activities or applied research to not only help with their operations but also to benefit the agricultural community. 

Ron and Yvonne bought their first cow in the early 1980’s and built up a small herd using rented pastures and yard sites. In 1989 they bought a quarter section just north of Dauphin and still live there. Influenced by Jim Gerrish’s Management Intensive Grazing and a 2006 Holistic Course with Don and Bev Campbell, the pasture for the cows has 23 permanent rectangular paddocks and they are usually moved twice a day in each paddock with temporary fencing. At the present they are a small cow-yearling operation content to have 30 cows. They have a low management herd on the pasture year round using bale grazing to accomplish this. Calving is in May-June, calves are kept over and grazed at their daughter Alison’s place the following year. The yearlings are sold at the end of September from 13-15 months of age.

Ron strives to produce a healthy landscape, make a few dollars and have fun doing it.

If you would like to contact Ron to find out more about his grazing methods or the Advanced Grazing Mentorship program, please email him at [email protected] or phone 204-647-9271.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

Hydrate the Earth: The forgotten role of water in the climate crisis

By Ananda Fitzsimmons 

Management-Intensive Grazing: The Grassroots of Grass Farming

By Jim Gerrish

Advanced Grazing Systems program online resources: www.farmlearninghub.ca/bundles/grazing-course-bundle-mb

The research programs and daily operations at MBFI would not be possible without the funding from the Province of Manitoba, Government of Canada, and Canadian Agricultural Partnership, as well as the partnership with Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP), Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA). 

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