Kentucky is the largest cow and calf producing state east of the Mississippi River. Simpson, Allen, Warren and Logan Counties rely heavily on income from cattle with just shy of 60,000 beef cows located in this four county area according to the most recent county estimates from the USDA. Cattle producers in these four counties voiced a need for in-depth beef cattle educational programming to help increase profitability.  

Therefore, Extension Agents for Agriculture in the aforementioned counties offered the Master Cattleman Program. 35 producers enrolled in the program, which consisted of 10, 4-hour classroom sessions that focused on the following sessions: Management Skills, Forages, Nutrition, Facilities and Animal Behavior, Environmental Stewardship and Industry Issues, Genetics, Reproduction, Herd Health, End Product and Marketing and Profitability. The sessions were held in each of the participating counties to accommodate all participants. 

At the conclusion of the program, evaluations indicated that 100% of participants rated the program either “good” or “excellent”. The vast majority have expressed an interest in participating in the Advanced Master Cattleman Program to further increase knowledge and improve production practices.  Two producers from Simpson County that participated in Master Cattleman worked with the Extension Agent and UK Ag Engineers to design cattle handling facilities on their farm.  One of these was also able to receive a grant for a high traffic feeding pad due to work with UK and the Master Cattleman Program.