Two trainings were held in Kentucky in July 2022 for University of Kentucky Extension agents and Kentucky Natural Resources Conservation Agency employees.   Trainings were held in Russellville and Morehead, Kentucky which were 250 miles apart.  These locations were selected to target areas that minimized transportation for participants and facilitate covering a large region of the state with significant livestock production.

A day long program was held that included both classroom and hands-on field training of electric fence and temporary electric fencing for livestock.  At the Russellville program, a total of 20 participants and presenters were in attendance while there were 46 at the Morehead program.

An evaluation was provided to gather participant feedback and 54 completed evaluations were collected.  Using a 5-point Likert scale, knowledge Before and After the program were assessed for the classroom sessions and overall usefulness of information.  The mean knowledge level BEFORE the program ranged between 2.69-3.79 for the topics covered in the classroom.  Knowledge level AFTER the program increased by 0.71 to 1.68 for the variety of topics with the hands-on session having the greatest increase in knowledge.  The usefulness of the program averaged 4.76 which means the participants found the program very useful.  When asked if participants would incorporate what they learned into local demonstrations, 90.7% indicated they would while 3.8% indicated maybe and 5.5% reported they would not conduct local demonstrations.  All participants, 100%, indicated they would utilize the information shared as part of their job responsibilities and 100% indicated they felt more confident working with clientele on developing and troubleshooting electric fencing systems.  Participants were asked about to indicate the estimated percentage of clients that used some sort of electric fencing on their operation.  Range choices provided to select from were <15%, 16-25%, 26-50%, 51-75%, and >75%.  Percentage of responses were 40.7% for 26-50%, 30% for 51-75%, 13% for both >75% and 16-25%, and lastly 3.7% for <15%.  It is apparent from the feedback that there are several farms utilizing electric fencing on livestock operations.

When asked to share the most valuable tip or information learned from the training, a variety of written responses were received.  A few of these were as follows: learning the basics of electric fencing; proper grounding; don’t mix copper and galvanized materials; amps and voltage explanation; small ruminant fence requirements; fence height consideration for different animals; hands-on activities; connecting fences in parallel; lightening protection; learning how to use a fault finder for testing electric fences.

Participants were sent home with a fault finding fence tester to utilize in working with their clientele and to use in demonstrations.  A training kit assembled by NCSU was left to support future trainings.   Additionally, materials for two smaller kits were created to increase access to materials for demonstrations and trainings since evaluations indicated a high percentage of participants would conduct a demonstration.  Overall, the program was a great success in training NRCS and Extension employees on electric fence systems and troubleshooting them.