UW-Extension Dennis Cosgrove

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

Agriculture and Natural Resources Specialist

Dennis Cosgrove

Plant and Earth Science Department
UW-River Falls
410 So. 3rd Street
River Falls, WI 54022
715-425-3989
dennis.r.cosgrove@uwrf.edu

Dennis is an Extension Forage Specialist. His areas of expertise include: forage establishment methods, stand evaluation techniques, no-till and reduced tillage forage production, pasture improvement methods, grazing management and species selection.

UW-River Falls is the only campus to utilize rotational grazing as a primary source of feed for livestock in summer.

Recent Highlights

Conducted the first of two grazing schools, funded by a Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) education grant (August 2002). Topics included plant identification and selection, fencing and watering, system design, nutrition, herd health, and soil fertility.

Initiated a research project to determine the carbon sequestration potential of management intensive rotational grazing (MIRG)

Co-authored Extension publication: Pastures for profit: a guide to rotational grazing (A3529)

Made 20 presentations to various grower groups

Authored Forage Establishment, a chapter in Forages: the Science of Grassland Agriculture, with Michael Collins of the University of Kentucky. This is the standard textbook used in forage courses by colleges across the country.

Traveled twice to Romania as part of a USDA Feed and Forage project

Co-chaired the Grazing Systems work group of the UW-Extension Forage Team.

Facilitating Communication

Dennis manages the Team Forage website which serves as a major source of rotational grazing information for producers in Wisconsin, and an important communication vehicle for the 30 different grazing networks in the state. Producers have found it to be one of the most complete sites on rotational grazing in the country.

Education

Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Crop and Soil Science
M.S. from Michigan State University in Crop and Soil Science
B.S. from Eastern Michigan University in Biology