Beef Quality Care and Assurance

Since becoming the Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent in Marion County in January of 2022, I have trained cattle producers in Marion County through the Beef Quality Care and Assurance Program. This program is sponsored by the Kentucky Beef Network and University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension. The Beef Quality Care and Assurance Program is a Kentucky version of the National BQA program. The Kentucky version of this program offers a training on cattle handling and care which sets it apart from the National level.

I became a certified trainer to train beef and dairy cattle producers in Marion County on the latest best- practices handling, vaccination, transportation, and management procedures. This class has been beneficial to the farmers in our county. I know after they complete the class, they can implement the new techniques they’ve learned into their own day to day operations. As an Ag Agent, I feel better about teaching updated information to farmers and knowing they can apply the information they learned. It is always my goal with any program I do in Extension to make sure my participants take away something that will be beneficial to them.

Because I have offered the BQCA program at the Marion County Extension office and had a great success with it, I am now part of a tri-county (Marion, Boyle and Washington) hands-on chute side training with the UK Beef Specialists. This program will take place this upcoming fall. The training also meets the requirements for the CAIP program where farmers are required to attend an educational training in the program area they are doing their project on. There will be more BQCA training's held in the future.

The BQCA program has made an impact on 72+ farmers in Marion County. I have taught two classes and several one-on-one classes to accommodate those that could not make it to the bigger classes. 72 White, 5 female and 67 male.