Kerrville – 8th Hill Country Land Stewardship Conference

Registration is now open for the eighth annual Hill Country Bennett Trust Land Stewardship Conference, hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, on March 14-15 in Kerrville. The event will be held at the Y.O. Ranch and Hotel and Conference Center, 2033 Sidney Baker St. Registration is $125. To register and for additional conference details, visit https://tx.ag/Mar2024BennettTrust. There will be a total of three general Texas Department of Agriculture continuing units available and all meals and refreshments are included in the registration fee.

There also are four sponsorships available and sponsors can visit  https://tx.ag/Mar2024BennettTrust to register.

Conference goal and agenda

The conference’s goal is designed to help current and future landowners and managers to learn about the unique needs for managing land in the Hill Country region. This year’s keynote speaker will be Rick Machen, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Animal Science and Veterinary Technology and Paul Genho Endowed Chair in Ranch Management, Texas A&M-Kingsville. There also will be an equipment showcase where vendors and demonstrators will have 30 minutes each to demonstrate the latest fire tools and herbicide equipment. The Mar. 14 sessions begin at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast and the main program starting at 8 a.m. Speakers and topics will include:

• Brush management tools – Morgan Treadwell, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension range specialist and associate professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, San Angelo.
• Top laws – Tiffany Dowell-Lashmet, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agriculture law specialist, Amarillo.
• Sheep and goats – Reid Redden, Ph.D., director, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at San Angelo, San Angelo.
• Managing whitetail deer – Larry Redmon, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension program leader and associate department head, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Bryan-College Station.

Mar. 15 will begin at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast and participants will have the choice of touring either the Diamond V Ranch in Mountain Home or the Hillingdon Ranch in Comfort.

For more information, visit https://agrilife.org/bennettrust/, or contact Linda Francis at linda-francis@ag.tamu.edu.