Categorized | Agriculture

Ranchers invited to join in Kapulena lands grazing project

[jwplayer config=”550×310-16:9″ mediaid=”53657″]
Time-lapse movie of the Kapulena Agricultural Park. Video courtesy of the Office of the Mayor, County of Hawaii

MEDIA RELEASE

The Hamakua Farm Bureau is inviting ranchers to join in a cattle grazing program in the first agricultural project launched at the County of Hawai`i agricultural park at Kapulena.

The program will be operated by the Hamakua Farm Bureau on a portion of the County-owned Kapulena lands just above the Hamakua ditch between Honoka`a and Waipio Valley. The county has cleared old cane haul roads, installed fencing, installed heavy gates for security, and provided water infrastructure to support grazing on this portion of the Kapulena lands.

This pilot initiative will open the first 85 acres of the Kapulena lands for a cooperative grazing arrangement, with animals provided by participating cattle producers. The project is open to ranchers from anywhere in the county, and will accommodate up to 50 cull-type cows at a time.

The cooperative grazing program will provide grazing opportunities to allow local cattle producers to remove their cull cows from their herds for fattening before marketing them. The project will also help clear thick vegetation on former sugar cane lands that have lain fallow for more than 15 years. Once the lands are grazed down, they will be made available for more intensive farming projects proposed by the community.

The Hamakua Farm Bureau is inviting interested cattle producers to a briefing on the details of the pilot project at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 15 at the North Hawai`i Education and Research Center (NHERC) in Honoka`a. A drawing to determine the first group of participating cattle producers will follow.

For more information, contact Hamakua Farm Bureau President Jill Mattos at 960-5605, or Hamakua Farm Bureau Vice President Jason Moniz at 960-8409.

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