The problem - Agriculture teachers throughout the state have expressed a desire to learn more about beef cattle production and develop tools to better equip their students to work in the beef industry or continue their education and support the beef industry

The educational program response - This program allowed Agriculture teachers throughout the state to become BQCA (Beef Quality and Care Assurance) certified and receive resources to ultimately be able to train their students to become BQCA certified. 

The participants/target audience - The target audience for this program was Kentucky agriculture teachers (middle and high-school) 

Other partners (if applicable) - This program was delivered in partnership with the Kentucky Beef Council and the Kentucky Beef Network, and fellow UK Beef Extension specialists. 

Program impact or participant response - The result of this program was that all participants were able to complete their Beef Quality and Care Assurance training. To become BQCA certified participants can either complete all modules on-line or attend an in-person or chute side demonstration. This training gave teacher's some tools and resources to complete parts of the in-person or chute side training in their classrooms when live animals or beef cattle handling facilities may not be available. For example, in this program we discuss the use of ear tags for identification and the value of administering hormonal implants to increase weight gain in beef cattle. Teachers were given the opportunity to practice both techniques using cadaver cattle ears from a local meat processor. One of the main reasons these practices are included in BQCA is to teach the importance of proper technique and sanitation to limit any infection sites on the ear, so teachers were also shown proper techniques for sanitation. Other topics that were covered with teachers was proper techniques for administering vaccine and cattle handling to limit the likelihood of carcass deformities. Teachers also attended a session covering the basics of cattle nutrition and were given resources to develop and administer a lesson around hay testing and ration formulation with their students. At the end of the day, teachers were given the BQCA exam to become BQCA certified and were also given the additional steps needed to become a BQCA trainer so that they could train and certify their students in the future. This certification will continue to be important in the beef industry and is already a co-requirement for some cost-share funding opportunities and other educational programs such as Master Cattleman. Thus, training and certifying middle and high school students through the BQCA program is an important step in developing career ready graduates.