Strengthening Agriculture Production, Management, and Marketing Skills
Strengthening Agriculture Production, Management, and Marketing Skills
Traci Missun, Kelly Woods
Beef
Equine
Forages
Local Food Systems
Farms make up a little less than half of the land in Oldham County. Farms here include a wide variety of enterprises, including grain crops, livestock, horses, hay and pasture, nurseries, greenhouses, poultry, fish and shellfish. With growth of Farmers Markets and Community Supported Agriculture locations, there has also been growth in vegetable, sheep and poultry production over the last 10 years, according to the 2012 Ag Census.
The Oldham County Extension Council and Ag Advisory Councils reviewed county needs and identified Agriculture Production, Business Management and Marketing as top priorities in educational programming. These skills are necessary for producers to be financially viable individually, and also to support the county's economy as a whole. Production programs also meet the needs of many residents who desire to produce their own food.
Participants will experience long-term viability in farming.
Participants will reduce expenses and/or increase profits of farm operations.
Youth will pursue a career in a horse related program or study.
Participants will implement recommended production practices to successfully produce food and agriculture products.
Participants will implement recommended forage management practices to increase utilization of forages and reduce dependency on purchased feeds and hay.
Participants will use information about local market opportunities to sell products.
Youth apply a practice or technique discovered during their horse educational sessions.
Participants will indicate understanding of research-based production practices.
Participants will recognize the importance of forage management practices.
Participants will have increased awareness of new marketing opportunities.
Youth will build equine knowledge and complete six hours of horse educational sessions.
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Audience: 4-H Members age 9 to 18
Project or Activity: Horse educational session
Content or Curriculum: Content identified by 4-H Club
Inputs: CES Staff, Participant fees
Date: April 2020
Audience: Horse Owners and Farm Managers
Project or Activity: Master Horseman, 4 sessions hosted in Oldham, Henry, Shelby, and Spencer Counties
Content or Curriculum: Extension Equine materials
Inputs: Agriculture Agents, UK Horse Specialist, Local Experts
Date: November - December 2019
Audience: Producers and Consumers
Project or Activity: Oldham County Ag Connection (Agriculture Education for producers and consumers; concentration on local food, plus all Oldham County Agriculture Activity)
Content or Curriculum: UK/KSU Extension materials; Producer Stories; Ag Census Data; KY Department of Agriculture resources
Inputs: Agriculture Agent, Local Producers, Local Experts/Guest Speakers
Date: Quarterly meetings beginning September 2019
Audience: Livestock Producers
Project or Activity: Pasture Seeding & Management
Content or Curriculum: UK Extension Forages
Inputs: Agriculture Agent, UK Forage Specialist
Date: August 2019
Audience: Farmers/Residents
Project or Activity: Beginning Beekeeping School
Content or Curriculum: UK/KSU Extension Beekeeping materials
Inputs: Agriculture Agent, Local Beekeepers, possibly Extension Specialists
Date: Fall 2019 (Four Saturday classes)
Audience: Cattle Producers
Project or Activity: Regional Beef Field Day (team effort of Oldham, Henry, Shelby, Trimble Ag Agents)
Content or curriculum: UK Extension Resources
Inputs: Agriculture Agents, UK Specialists, Farm Hosts, Other local experts
Date: October 2019
Audience: Cattle Producers
Project or Activity: Oldham County Cattlemen's Association meetings - all meetings include educational speaker
Content or curriculum: UK Extension and other related agency information
Inputs: Agriculture Agents, UK Specialists, Farm Hosts, Other local experts
Date: Meets Quarterly 2019-2020
Audience: Cattle Producers
Project or Activity: Beef Quality & Care Assurance Certification/Cattle Handling and Care Certification
Content or curriculum: UK Extension materials and videos
Inputs: Agriculture Agent
Date: Fall 2019 - Winter 2020 (Offer 3 times)
Audience: Farmers
Project or Activity: Private Pesticide Applicator Training/Certification
Content or curriculum: UK Extension materials
Inputs: Agriculture Agent
Date: January - March 2020 (Offer 3 times)
Audience: Farmers
Project or Activity: Produce Best Practices Training
Content or curriculum: UK Extension materials
Inputs: Agriculture Agent
Date: March 2020
Author: Traci Johnson
Major Program: Forages
Educational programs that strengthen agriculture production skills are a continued priority identified by the Oldham County Extension Council and Agriculture Council. In Oldham County, pasture makes up one-third of available farmland and provides grazing for livestock. Livestock are important to Oldham County’s economy, with cattle and horses representing over 12.5 million dollars in sales in 2017, according to the last Census of Agriculture. Pastures play a major role in
Author: Traci Johnson
Major Program: Beef
Educational programs that strengthen agriculture production skills are a continued priority identified by the Oldham County Extension Council and Agriculture Council. In Oldham County, pasture makes up one-third of available farmland and provides grazing for livestock. For cattle farmers, one of the greatest challenges is successfully managing pastures, especially winter feeding areas in pastures which are easily damaged by excessive rainfall and traffic. Excessive rainfall du
Author: Traci Johnson
Major Program: Equine
Educational programs that strengthen production skills of agriculture operations in Oldham County are a continued priority identified by Oldham County’s Extension and Agriculture Councils. Equine operations continue to be the top agriculture enterprise in Oldham County with a market value of sales at $6,317,000 according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, ranking 6th in Kentucky. Extension continues to reach out to assist horse owners through programs that can improve their pr