Two ladies were interested in purchasing a farm and raising cattle. They had no farming experience except at being at a relatives farm where he was growing vegetables and having a small cow calf herd. 

They told their relative they wanted to buy a farm and raise cattle. He told them before they buy a farm and buy cows they need to go to the Extension office and talk with the Small Farm Assistant, because he had helped them in growing their vegetables.

They called the Extension Office and talked with the Small Farm Assistant about farming and raising cattle. During the conversation the Small Farm Assistant said there was an upcoming program coming up that was called Master Cattlemen Program. The program consist of having ten- three hour sessions covering issues on cattle production and the cost is $75.00 for all ten sessions. 

The Small Farm Assistant told the ladies this program would be in four counties consisting of Clinton, Cumberland, Russell and Wayne Counties and each county could have two to three sessions each, and transportation would be provided from Wayne County to the other counties when they have the sessions at their locations.

The topics include management, herd health,marketing, nutrition, reproduction, genetics, forages, facilities,environment and end product. These sessions would be taught by University of KY Beef and Forage Specialist.

The ladies attended all ten sessions of the Master Cattlemen's Program and were very interested each night with the information they received. Great conversations was had in the van traveling to other locations concerning raising cattle with other cattle farmers and Extension personnel in the van. 

After learning about beef cattle farming from the Master Cattlemen Program, the ladies decided not to buy a farm or cattle at this time. Their occupations were owning and managing home rental properties which they thought they would continue to do. 

By educating themselves before they bought a farm the could have saved themselves from making a $100,000.00 mistake. A lot of beginning farmers buy a farm and come to the Extension Office and ask how can I make money with this farm that I just bought. They should do the research before they buy a farm, like these ladies did and avoid the mistakes a lot of people make.

One of the other farmers that did The Master Cattlemen Program with the ladies said" I wished I had the opportunity to educate myself before I had bought my farm".