Success StoryFollow-up Post Drought Hay Meeting



Follow-up Post Drought Hay Meeting

Author: Matthew Chadwick

Planning Unit: Calloway County CES

Major Program: Forages

Plan of Work: 2022 Beef Cattle Production

Outcome: Intermediate Outcome


The timely nature of this meeting was able to grab the attention of many farmers that had not participated in extension programing in many years. It has lead to many good conversations and a couple of new farm visits and consultations. Some of the situations that producers have told me:

  1. Cattle Producer 1- Said this meeting prompted him to evaluate his winter hay supply vs. current consumption. When he did this he realized that he would not have the hay to make it to March without making changes. The techniques to limit feed hay that were discussed in this meeting gave him the knowledge he needed to make a change to preserve his hay supply. In his own description, this saved him from a catastrophe in Jan/Feb. and saved him thousands of dollars.
  2. Cattle Producer 2 – Described that he is going to make major changes to where he feeds his hay to reduce the stress on his pastures with hopes that this will extend the lifespan of multiple fields.
  3. Cattle Producer 3- Information learned in the meeting was very valuable and will save him money even in non-drought years. He is going to be renovating drought damaged pastures and will be using recommendations learned in this meeting to make those improvements.

These behavior changes showed the impact of this program and how much timely programs can impact producers.






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