Author: Samantha Saunders
Planning Unit: Robertson County CES
Major Program: Beef
Plan of Work: Livestock Production, Management, Marketing, and Education
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
On October 1, 2018, we held a beef field day at a local beef producer's farm. The event was put on by the Robertson County Beef Association and Cooperative Extension Services. Field Days in this community are critical to the farmers who are interested in implementing new and innovating practices into their operation. This field day in particular focused on beef cattle and the different aspects of reproduction. Since Robertson County was primarily a tobacco dependent county, farmers have had to make the switch to new enterprises and the main one has been beef cattle production. Most rural farmers are not up-to-date on all of the new reproductive work that is becoming a common practice in the beef cattle industry. In order to shed some light on those practices, I was able to bring in three professionals from different areas to demonstrate and educate on some techniques. Of those professionals, one was a University of Kentucky employee speaking on bull evaluations; one was a employee of Select Sires speaking on artificial insemination; and the last was a veterinarian who demonstrated pregnancy ultrasound. By having these three people there to interact with those farmers, it gave many of them a sense of relief in knowing that it is possible to implement some of these practices. With this field day, I partnered with several local businesses (Hinton Mills, Southern States; Farm Credit; People's Bank), the Robertson County FFA prepared and served the meal, and the Robertson County Soil Conservation District to allow CAIP credit for the event. Overall, the outcome of the event was more then I could have ever asked for. There were approximately 90 people in attendance and the event ran very smoothly. I had several people there who complimented the event and how they had learned something new that night. I had a local farmer tell me that he is considering using artificial insemination after coming to the field day. I would consider this event a success if I had just impacted one farmer. But knowing that so many were impacted and learned something new means the world to me. I can't wait to build onto this field day in the future and keep helping my farmers learn and grow in this ever changing field of agriculture.
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