Author: Jeffrey Lehmkuhler
Planning Unit: Animal and Food Sciences
Major Program: Beef
Outcome: Initial Outcome
County agriculture agent, Megan McCoun organized an Applied Master Cattleman Nutrition course with beef cattle specialist, Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler which was held at the Henry County Extension office on January 24, 2024. There were 12 participants that registered for the program and 11 completed the post-program evaluation. Topics covered included items such as how to interpret a forage quality test, estimating hay intake, reading mineral tags, and other nutrition-related topics. Using a Likert scale from 1-10 (1 = very poor and 10 = excellent), participants were asked to rate the session overall. The average response was 9.5 for overall rating of the session. As this is an advanced program, participants were asked to rate the level of the technical information shared with 1 = Not Challenging and 10 = Over my head. The average response was 7.3 which is interpreted as the material may have not been conveyed in the most appropriate fashion and needs refined. Participants were asked to indicate what was needed to improve the session from a list of responses. The majority of respondents (5 of 11) indicated “No changes, it was informative” while the next highest response (3 of 11) was “More hands-on calculations”. Additionally, to our surprise, several indicated the program should have been longer. Fact sheets and nutrient requirement tables provided in the program were the most frequently indicated resources the participants believed would be helpful in the future. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = poor and 10 = excellent), participants were asked to rate the format, method of delivery and how the speaker presented the material covered for the session. The average response for delivery was 9.5 which suggests that the content was delivered find but may have been a bit too advanced or rushed in delivery. Participants were then asked to briefly share what their learned and what they would like to learn more about in future sessions. Responses for take aways included: better utilization of forage test results, better understanding of the value of forages, and calculations in nutrition. Future items to cover included: creep feeding, feeding by-products, pre-weaning and backgrounding tips, feeding methods, common feed mixes, software, stress management, and health care. Overall, this program was very successful in increasing the knowledge of how to utilize forage testing and results in balancing the nutritional needs of beef cattle.
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