In Adair County, 52,000 acres or roughly 30% of the land used for agriculture is utilized for pasture.  In recent years, several farmers had reported an unfamiliar troublesome weed invading their pastures.  With the diagnostic assistance of UK Weed Scientists, the weed was identified as Arrowleaf Sida.  As many of the farmers had already discovered, Arrowleaf Sida is very difficult to control.  Very little research data existed evaluating the effectiveness of different herbicides.

To educate farmers about Arrowleaf Sida control and pasture improvement, two demonstration plots were conducted comparing the effectiveness of multiple herbicide strategies.  A field day was then held to allow farmers to view the effectiveness of each herbicide.  The 25 farmers in attendance where also educated on long term management of forages to decrease the incidence of weeds in pastures.

One beef farmer in attendance summarized the efforts best, " I realize now I need to spend less time trying to figure out which herbicides to use and more time taking better care of my existing grass to prevent weeds in the future."