BERRIEN TOWNSHIP — Drive past Seldom Rest Farms at 11893 M-140 just outside of Niles Charter Township, and one might see it nationally recognized Angus breed cows.

Drive past Wednesday, and one might see a host of area livestock farmers, university employees and a state workers intermingling.

From 4 to 8 p.m., Seldom Rest Farms will be the site of Farm Field Day, a free educational program offered by Berrien Conservation District.

“It’s actually helpful for anybody even if you’re considering doing livestock,” said Suzanne Forraht, the conservation district’s Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program technician.

The field days are meant to teach attendees, typically farmers, about best practices for farm management. Past programs have focused on field crops, fruit, forestry and vegetables. Wednesday’s livestock focus is a first.

“We’ve had a few people request it, plus we’ve had some Right to Farm issues come up through townships,” she said. “It’s getting people educated if they were to do an expanded livestock facility, [such as] what kinds of things they would have to do to make that happen.”

The Right to Farm Act is a Michigan law that designates Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to respond to nuisance complaints involving farms. Staff evaluate the farm to determine if it follows Generally Accepted Agricultural and Management Practices, known as GAAMPs.

“GAAMPs are the go-to if you have a question on how you should do things,” Forraht said. “It’s what MDA[RD] feels is reasonable.”

Issues from intense manure odors, chemical spray drift and zoning issues are all common complaints that the Michigan Department of Agriculture and farmers resolve together.

Right to Farm acts can be confusing, however, which is partially why Forraht created the livestock field day for farmers.

“We’ll be talking about what the farmer’s options are and what the process looks like for Right to Farm,” she said.

The event is also meant to provide insights into GAAMPs to help farmers limit nuisance complaints while making their farms the best they can be, Forraht said.

First, Michigan’s Right to Farm laws will be discussed by employees of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Michigan Farm Bureau.

It will walk farmers through the process of responding to a nuisance complaint and getting a government employee to the farm to verify if the farm goes against GAAMPs, Forraht said.

An employee of Michigan State University Extension will speak about cover crops for forage and soil health. Another employee will later talk about manure and odor management.

Then, an employee of the Michigan Department of Agriculture will speak about Forraht’s specialty: environmental verifications on farms.

“We look at manure storage, making sure you have a good setback from wells, look at pasture rotation, soil testing, things like that,” Forraht said.

Seldom Rest Farms will also be present. Andrew Foster will speak about breeding and selection technology in beef.

“They run events here and there,” Forraht said of the farm. “They were happy to do this.”

The livestock field day’s registration has ended, but Forraht said there will be future farm education events with the Berrien Conservation District, as there are every year.

Additional sponsors include Berrien County Farm Bureau, American Electric Power’s Heart of Cook fund and United Federal Credit Union in Berrien Springs.

The event comes after an Aug. 1 tour provided by the Berrien Conversation District and Berrien County Farm Bureau. Elected officials of the area went to numerous farms to learn about how they functioned.