Jana Mellott

I have been a livestock producer all of my life, 60 plus years.  I worked for the USDA NRCS for over 30 years and establishment, improvement and management of grazing lands was always on the top of the list when I met with a producer that had grazing animals.  My passion then was so strong that I moved away from general conservation planning and became a knowledgeable conservationist that promoted grazing land management through conservation planning, field days, articles for magazines and practicing it at my own operation.  When I attended The Pennsylvania State University I took a few agronomy courses and the last one I took was a Forage Management course that concentrated on management of forages for grazing animals.  I was hooked.  Little did I know then where that passion that was developing would take me.  

Even today after retirement I am managing my own cow/calf operation which includes a few grass-fed beef and some replacement heifers.  My friends and neighbors pick my brain about how to do better all the time.  

Agriculture has many and huge bumps in their road of profitable production.  Producers need all of the knowledge and opportunities to improve their quality of livestock, their profit margins, and diversity of income related activities that could be on their operation.  (i.e. wildlife habitat expansion for hunting opportunities just to mention one).   

When I was employed by the USDA NRCS and traveled to the National GLCI conferences I was and am a firm believer that these learning opportunities are not as readily available as they should or could be.  Without them producers do not have the opportunity to learn or network with other producers to share their success stories and their failures that would help another producer grow or avoid a disaster.  Grants are another area that is a great way to give a new producer a chance to succeed, or a producer group to fund a field day, or data gathering, etc.  

What the National GLC is doing to promote grazing management is exciting and I would like to help.  I am a firm believer that we all need to give back.  Whether it is to your church, your family, or your life’s passion, we need to appreciate what we have and how we got there and share what we have learned along the way.  So, I would like to share my time and knowledge with the next generation!

I believe like an old friend of mine, Gretchen Samus, once said, “I will have cows until the day that I die”. And mine will have some great forage to eat.