Stuenkel to highlight Sept. 12 field day
Lucinda Stuenkel will share her insight and experience with Sunny Day Farms in Palmer, Kansas, during a field day Sept. 12.
Stuenkel became the lead operator of the ranch and conventional crop farm in November 2010 after a wreck claimed the lives of her husband, Daryl, and his brother, Kevin. The accident left behind two wives, five children and a successful ranch that Stuenkel stepped up to manage.
Over the past 16 years, she and Kevin’s two sons, Aaron and Ryan, have carried out plans that were in place and made additions and improvements that made the farm easier for a woman and children to operate. Stuenkel called it “Farming with less muscle.” Over the years, many regenerative and soil health practices have transformed the operation into the learning ranch that it is today.
The tour will start with check-in and refreshments at 9 a.m. on the back porch. The day will include information, an on-site tour, networking, lunch and refreshments. The field day is sponsored by Kansas Farmers Union, Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition, Clay County Conservation District and Kansas Soil Health Alliance.
Lunch and refreshments will be provided, but preregistration is required for lunch. Event-goers are encouraged to bring a lawn chair.
The tour will offer:
- Cattle working areas, maternity and calving barn
- Modifications to equipment, machinery and tools
- Pasture grazing systems, including paddocks, cross-fencing, poly wire and water development
- Various grasses, forages and cover crops
- Pasture cropping; sequential cover crops for live roots at all times; winter vetch cover crop preceding sorghum
- Minimal haying and bale grazing
- Returning marginal cropland to native grass
- Initial use of biological soil amendments
- Pollinator strips
- Quail coveys
- Goats grazing sericea lespedeza
Agencies involved in the research and practices:
- Audubon Certified Bird Friendly Beef
- Sand County Foundation Research Division
- Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
- Clay County Conservation District
Details and required registration information, visit www.kansasfarmersunion.org/news
