Beef production is one of Henry County's largest commodities at almost $11 million in sales of cattle and calves and over 27,000 in cattle inventory. Many of the farmers who once relied heavily on dairy and tobacco as their main income transitioned to beef in the late 90s and early 2000s. Extension programming has matched that transition. Through a partnership between Extension Agents and Cattlemen’s Associations in Henry, Oldham, Shelby, and Trimble Counties, the Regional Beef Field Day was created in 2005 as an annual event rotated between the four counties. The goal of the Regional Beef Field Day is to bring novel hands-on production techniques to our producers.

The topics for this year's Regional Beef Field Day were selected based on what the agents believed would be the most relevant to the producers. Pregnancy-checking cattle is essential to any cow/calf operation, and more recent advancements have been made to allow instant pregnancy checks to be done on-farm. Genomic testing has been a hot topic the past few years in the industry, especially with it becoming a CAIP requirement to purchase bulls. Working facility design and watering techniques may not be novel topics, but these basic management practices are always of interest. All the topics had stations at the host farm. With live cattle being used for demonstration at the pregnancy diagnosis station. In addition to the educational topics, 16 vendors and government organizations were set up at the field day in our pre-planned trade show area for participants to visit. 22 sponsorships were secured for the event, totaling $2,790.00 to cover all expenses. 

Speakers included University of Kentucky Beef and Agricultural Engineering specialists. Extension Agents served as group leaders for the program. Timing, group exchanges, and volunteer management were meticulously planned beforehand. 

According to one of the speakers, the 2023 Regional Beef Field Day was “the best field day that [he] had presented at in quite a while.” In his words, he attributed the success to the design of the event stating it “created a more personal environment, and I had incredible interaction with each group. I think the key was topic and, perhaps, time. The topics you chose seemed to really resonate with the attendees.” Another speaker said, “I was most amazed by the level of engagement of the producers. Even though my talk was long and a bit technical at times, they stayed with me and seemed to get a lot out of it. Lots of good questions and discussions afterward.” 

Around 250 people attended the field day. I hear that a large number of attendees typically don’t participate in tours at the field days. This was not the case for this event. I witnessed almost every person get on a wagon to go hear the presenters speak. There was excellent participation. In the days following I heard nothing but praise for the event. All of the painstaking planning beforehand had fully paid off. 

I anticipate a lot of positive outcomes with this event based on the level of engagement from producers. Particularly in the areas of pregnancy diagnosis and genomic testing. I heard multiple producers show genuine interest in implementing instant pregnancy checking into their operation.