In Harrison County we are very fortunate to have a strong Beef Cattle Association that is always willing to partner with Extension in all that they do.  Since their inception their focus has been to help the Harrison County farmer no matter if they produce grain, tobacco, vegetables, or livestock.  One way in particular that they have partnered with Extension to make a very large impact in our county is to purchase equipment that producers wouldn't generally be able to justify for their own operation. The Harrison County Beef Cattle Association done this in an effort to preserve our land and help improve producer's operations while focusing on sustainability. The most impactful equipment that they have purchased has been our no-till seed drills.  We started with one several years ago and we now have six seed drills that are constantly being rented out to improve pastures, reseed hay fields, and sew cover crops.  Without these no-till seed drills a lot of our pastures would have seed broadcasted on them which takes much more seed to get the same results if they get any results at all or producers would just let their pastures and hay fields go instead of improving them.  

Despite last year being the wettest year on record we were still able to seed nearly 1,800 acres with our no-till seed drills which is about half to two-thirds less than what is normally seeded in a year.  Producers compliment us all of the time on how nice it is to have a service like this available within the county and at affordable rental prices.  Without this service in Harrison County the quality of our pastures and hay fields would drop with every passing year.  We also provide a lime spreader to help adjust the soil pH according to soil tests, two livestock chutes and four sets of cattle panels to help with working livestock safely, two boom-less sprayers to help control broadleaves in pastures and fence rows, a chain drag to help spread nutrients from livestock around the field, as well as two plastic layers and a waterwheel setter for helping farmers diversify their operations with vegetable or fruit production.  We provide a service for well over 100 producers each year with the rental equipment that the Beef Cattle Association and Cooperative Extension have to offer.