The Trigg County Cooperative Extension Service in Cooperation with the Trigg County Cattlemen's Association partnered to help livestock producers better manage their herds and meet their individual goals.  One way we help producers is through our IRM mineral program.  Three times each year the ANR agent in cooperation with a committee of Cattlemen’s members collects bids from local feed suppliers on free choice minerals formulated per the UK IRM specs.  The best prices are then offered to producers.  UK regulatory services also assists us in this process by testing the mineral delivered to out producers. The producers are assured that they are buying a good quality mineral and generally it is at a better price point than what they’d been buying previously.  This year marked my 7th year of working with the program.  We had 83 total producers that took part in the mineral order, they were from 9 different counties in both Tennessee and Kentucky.  

Working with our mineral suppliers and using the IRM specs from our UK specialists allowed producers to select minerals that would meet their animal’s requirements at a competitive price.  The mineral order has continued to grow each order we add a few more to our mailing list it is a good opportunity for agents as well as other cattlemen's groups to work together and help each other improve Ky cattle and their bottom lines.  Currently about half the mineral we order is for Trigg County producers the other is out of county and state this is an excellent demonstration of just how much cooperation we have among our fellow agents and cattlemen's associations.  With producers reporting an average savings of around 5.50 per bag participants in this program have saved $28,600 over the course of a year and also allowed us to educate them on what is important in their mineral supplementation program and where they might trim some fat.