The Buffalo Trace counties represent a large portion of rural area, and forage production plays a vital role for agriculture across the five counties.   With one of the largest alfalfa producing counties in the state along with high ranking grass hay production, offering a program to focus on improving forage quality would benefit local producers and agriculture operations in the Buffalo Trace Counties.  The area Agriculture and Natural Resources Agents worked with specialist, agents, and local producers to develop and implement a program to offer education on improved forage quality and stored feed sources. 

Thirty area producers registered for the six session program that covered forage topics of:  Soil Fertility, Machinery, Cool/Warm Season Grasses, Storing Forages, Weed Control, and Marketing.   Those registrants represent 10,369 acres across the area, with a total of 5,412 acres of forages for focused improvements.  The group  had positive comments about the educational program.  With only 30% of the participants using weed control methods for hay production, improvements are possible with discussions from those in attendance.  The program offered many facets to those that utilize hay as part of their livestock operation as well as those that produce forages for cash sales for other livestock operations.  

Survey results revealed that producers that responded planned on making changes on their farm that consisted of:  selection of better performing varieties of forages (62%), introducing new forage species (85%), adjusting cutting height during harvest(60%), trying new marking techniques (64%), and improving weed control in both pastures (78%) and hayfields (74%).  The survey results also showed that many of the farmers that responded already were utilizing certified seed (71%),  storing hay inside or wrapping (68%), and soil testing their hay fields (72%).