26 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN September 2026 PEOPLE Nebraska Ranch Prac cum Serving Generations of Nebraska Ranchers TRESSA LAWRENCE | CONTRIBUTING WRITER Each year, Nebraska Ranch Practicum participants from across Nebraska and the United States come together over eight days from June through January to take a deeper dive into understanding their own ranching operations through hands-on experience. The program, which was started in 1999, was designed to give ranchers the opportunity for hands-on learning over the course of three seasons. The curriculum is designed to set participants up for success in today’s ever-evolving and complex ranching industry. “The program is designed to take us through one growing season and then one production cycle and is sequential in nature,” explains Troy Walz, Nebraska Ranch Practicum coordinator and instructor, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) livestock systems educator. Walz participated in the first practicum in 1999 and started working with the program in 2002. “We are able to see how the grass changes in the pasture throughout the growing season. Plant identification is one of the things that we talk about in the ranch practicum,” Walz says. “Looking at the production cycle for the cattle, students get to observe a cow with a calf at side and see how that changes throughout the summer as the forage changes. We teach them how it all works together.” The practicum covers topics such as grazing strategies and systems, calving and weaning dates, cull cow management, methods of managing market risk, feed rations and mineral supplements, reproduction, health, genetics and livestock nutrition. The ranch practicum hosts classes at different locations, one of which is the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory north of Whitman. The ranch is part of UNL and always has a variety of ongoing research projects regarding ranch systems (forage and livestock systems) and how they intermingle, making it the perfect location for the practicum. “As the grass gets more mature and the calf grows, we look at what the body condition score is of that dam at that time,” Walz explains. “Then when we wean, participants can see how weaning a calf affects the cow. She’s able to put condition back on easier once you wean that calf because that calf is a nutrient draw for her. She has to provide milk for that calf. They’re able to see all of that firsthand while on location.” Participants develop plant-identification skills while determining range conditions and monitoring wildlife habitat. Photo courtesy of Karlie Gerlach. CONTINUED ON PAGE 28
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