According to the USDA, Kentucky has the 4^th largest number of farms in the United States with 55% of land designated for agriculture.  As farms continue to consolidate, Agribusinesses’ have made their in-roads into farms and ‘Outstanding’ customer service is key to keeping their business, Extension is no different.  

The Cooperative Extension Service prides themselves in their ability to take care of the customers.   The programming in the county is designed from the request that are made and the questions and concerns that the county residents have and can be directed to a UK CAFÉ Specialists and Extension Agents.   The winter meeting schedule is very intense, with programs sometimes back to back.  We may see a client at four (4) different meetings during one (1) week.  There were 52 classes offered with over 1800 in attendance in 2018-19.  Class topics ranged from production to marketing to basic English to CPR and the presentation avenues ranged from webinairs to a series of in classroom meetings with specialists.  

Many times, once the meeting takes place, producers will come up with more questions that needs further attention from a UK CAFÉ Specialists;  Therefore on farm visits maybe required to help solidify the relationship between an agent and the farmer and the UK  CAFE Specialists.  

Dr. Morgan Hayes and/or Dr. Stephen Higgins visited farms to assist them in the set up and/or location of a new feeding area/handling systems.  The producers that they visited made the statement that ‘bringing in Dr. Higgins and/or Dr. Morgan Hayes brings in that extra set of eyes and the experience that is greatly needed when we are making these lifelong decisions.’   Direction is sometimes the only thing a producer needs to make the first step in the process of building a facility that will improve hay consumption, improve farm safety, improve animal health, improve animal feed gains and decrease hay used and decrease time feeding.

Dr. Chad Lee helped farmers that were reporting poor stands of soybeans in the spring of 2019. Carol Hinton, County ANR Extension Agent set up the field visits and assisted in the field walk through.  The farmer knew how to take stand counts and we confirmed his estimates. We observed some slug damage on soybeans, and stand losses from slugs. The heavy rains had made planting soybeans difficult and heavy rains made walking the fields a challenge, as well; and it began to rain once again during the visit.  They identified one field that did not need to be replanted. We identified another field that did need to be replanted. The farmer said at that point that he could make a determination on other fields and thanked us for our time. A second farmer attended our field visits and said he could do the same with his fields. Outcomes: The farmer gained confidence in identifying which fields need replanting and which do not. The farmer learned what soybean plants from slug damage would survive and not have expected yield loss. Replanting would cost about $40 per acre. Identifying which fields NOT to plant would save a farmer $20,000 on 500 acres. Replanting where necessary would gain a farmer $10,000 to $20,000 on 500 acres.  These farmers then took the information and spread it through out the county when they would run into different farmers.  

Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler has been able to take the hay and feed test results and prepare rations for a pure bred angus breeder and his new business partner (non livestock background) and increase the rate of gain for the bulls.  The producer is increasing his rate of gain by 30% and is able to sell his bull with more information on them, than he has had in 10 years.   We now know to recognize when bad weather is coming to increase the pounds of feed fed to them so they do not lose weight in the tough winters.  This producer learned a valuable lesson, start with a hay and feed test before designing rations.  

Kentucky State University Extension Aquatic Specialists, Forrest Wynne has been able to us in dealing with pond and water quality issues in numerous places.  From the classroom to the on farm visits he works with landowners to give them practical advice when dealing with pond issues.   

For farm families the past three (3) years have been extremely difficult to be able to weather the storm.  It Takes All of Us to make sure we develop and implement plans.  The Cooperative Extension Service is designed to bring the University research down to the counties so the agent, producer or farmer realizes the the UK of College of  Agriculture Food Environment is the back bone of all research being conducted on crops and livestock.  During these trying times, farm visits with clientele have been more involved, more intense and extremely beneficial to the farm families. Coming into the 2019 crop season, farmers knew they needed a good year to remain viable in their present operation, but a very late planted or a preventative planting decision takes more assistance than ever before, and It Takes All of Us to weather the storm.