Grazing Educator
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Presenter Biographies

Doug Gucker   |   Vance Haugen   |   Gene Schriefer   |   Caroline Van Schaik

 

Doug Gucker

Doug Gucker is a Local Food Systems and Small Farms Extension educator with University of Illinois Extension. He works with local producers and consumers to increase the availability of locally grown foods. In addition, his duties include being a local resource for agricultural issues within the DeWitt, Macon, & Piatt County unit.

Doug has bachelor degrees in biology and agronomy and a master's degree in agronomy. He is an Illinois Certified Crop Adviser (CCA). His professional affiliations include the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil and Water Conservation Society.

 

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Vance Haugen

Vance J. Haugen is a University of Wisconsin Agriculture Extension Agent (since 1985) and is currently a county based faculty member located in Crawford County, Wisconsin. Vance was raised on a dairy farm near Thief River Falls, Minnesota and earned both his B.S. (1979) and M.S. (1984) degrees from the Ag. Engineering Department at North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota. For the last 25 years pasture education has been the main focus of his extension work. In addition, since 1993 Vance, with his wife, Bonnie and three children, Inga, Olaf and Thor has operated a 230 acre, grass based dairy near Canton,Minnesota.

 

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Gene Schriefer

Gene Schriefer has been the Agriculture Agent with the University of Wisconsin – Extension for the past 6 years working primarily in Iowa County in the Driftless Region. He organizes and leads the Southwest Wisconsin grazing network which hosts a dozen pasture walks a season and the spring and fall grazing workshops. He is an early adaptor and advocate for cover crops and mixtures for improving soil health. Prior to his extension position, he was the Grazing Specialist for Southwest Badger RC&D developing grazing management plans and grazing education for farmers and land owners in the seven southwestern counties of the Driftless region. Gene owns and manages a small farm in Dodgeville, WI grazing a white faced, commercial flock and crossbred beef herd focused on grass finished beef. Grazing is a life-long passion since adolescence.

 

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Caroline Van Schaik

Caroline van Schaik works with farmers and landowners in the Root River watershed of southeast Minnesota as an organizer with the Land Stewardship Project. While cover crops, field research, conservation leases, healthy soil, custom grazing, and other aspects of agriculture occupy her with both men and women, part of her time is focused specifically on the needs of women and their expressions of land management. She and her family run sheep on an intensely managed grazing farm near the Mississippi River.

 

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