The event focus was on Pasture, Water and Weeds.

On the first day, participants met at the Weld County Extension Office building in Island Grover Park in Greeley. They were introduced to Don Hijar, owner/manager of Pawnee Buttes Seed, Inc., and Fred Peterson, director of CSU Extension Weld County.

Hijar has more than 33 years of experience and expertise working with native grasses, reclamation, turf, shrubs, forbs and pastures. He provided a hands-on experience for the participants as they visited sites throughout Weld County.

The first site participants visited was north of Latham Reservoir, located east of Kersey. Discussions were on establishing grass before irrigation water was removed and how adaptable native grasses can be in the situation.

After a quick box lunch at Dillard's Grocery in Galeton, participants were given a lecture on pasture grasses at Aurora Organic Dairy. Hijar and the dairy pasture specialist reviewed what was planted, how the cattle adapted to the grass fields and how hardy the field had become between grazings.