CONTACT: Beth Richardson, (803) 534-6280; mrchrds@clemson.edu

DATE: 10/18/2007

WRITER: Tom Lollis, (803) 284-3343, ext. 241; tlollis@clemson.edu

Clemson course to teach landowners about longleaf and Pineywood cattle

BLACKVILLE – The practice of combining livestock, forages and timber into one production system is called silvopasture, and landowners can learn how it is done Nov. 14 at Clemson University’s Edisto Research and Education Center.

“Program participants will hear about silvopasture in South Alabama, where a breed called Pineywood cattle have grazed in the forest for centuries,” said Beth Richardson, Clemson Extension agent for forestry and wildlife in Orangeburg County.

“The cattle are from feral stock descended from animals introduced by Spanish explorers, and they learned to fend for themselves in the longleaf pine forests and swamps of the Southeast,” she said. They tolerate heat and resist parasites and diseases. Cows weigh from 600-800 pounds and bulls from 800-1,200 pounds.

Speakers will tell how to manage longleaf woodlands and how cattle have historically been used in the longleaf forest to control competition and as an alternative income source. Topics will include longleaf history, planting techniques, prescribed fire, thinning, and restoring native groundcover.

The program is for forest landowners, cattlemen, foresters, timber producers and anyone else interested in silvopastures.

Cost is $30 per participant if pre-registered by Nov. 8. Pre-registration will be $40 after that date. Registration will be $50 at the door. The seminar will be limited to 150 people. Make checks payable to CUCES-Orangeburg County and mail to Beth Richardson, CUCES-Orangeburg County, 1550 Henley St., Ste. 200, Orangeburg, SC 29115.

The seminar provides three hours of Category 1 Continuing Forestry Education credits, as well as three hours of SFI credit for the TOP program.

Registration on Nov. 14 begins at 8 a.m. and the program will conclude around 11:30 a.m.

Edisto REC is in Barnwell County, three miles west of Blackville on U.S. Highway 78.

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