Author: Gregory Drake
Planning Unit: Butler County CES
Major Program: Forages
Plan of Work: Promoting Commodies
Outcome: Initial Outcome
Forage management is an important skill for Butler County farmers. A large percentage of Butler County’s 150,000 acres of farmland is used for forage production. The program focused on forage and farm management. There was a winter feeding are demonstration, a discussion on using poultry litter in a forage production system, a talk on farming on sensitive areas like reclaimed coal mine sites, a demonstration on warm season annuals, and a presentation on the Kentucky Ag. Water Quality Plan. The agriculture agent organized, promoted, secured sponsors for, arranged volunteers for, and facilitated the event. Extension staff provided a demonstration and a booth about healthy meals and provided samples of “plate it up KY” recipes for all in attendance. The 4-H agent used the opportunity to work with the 4-H teen club on food preparation and safety. They prepared, served, and cleaned up the meal for all the participants. The program was delivered in the Jetson community. Jetson is a very rural community in northern Butler County. The event is rotated around the county to give more people the opportunity to attend. The event was held at Richard and Jennifer Tucker Farm. This diverse farm offered an opportunity to see a different management strategy than many farms because it was mined for coal in the 1970’s. Several attendees had never been to Jetson. The FFA facilitated parking for the event. There were 77 registered for the program. 12 of these were children. The target audience is people that farm, families looking to feed their families better, and community members that support agriculture. We had attendees from all parts of the county. We also had elected officials form the county and state level. The new house member who represents Butler County provided a legislative update. A written evaluation was collected from 77 participants prior the meal. This instrument gives participants a chance to report what the learned and will use during this event and also what they are now doing differently as a result of past extension programs. The initial outcome of the program is that 98 percent of respondents indicated that they would attend again, 79 percent said they got something useful from the demonstrations. 49 percent of respondents said they learned something from the field day that they would use this year. There is intermediate impact as 22 respondents listed a specific farming or family living practice that they plan to change because of participation in this program. These ranged from eating more chicken to completing a water quality plan. 5 percent of those in attendance said they enjoyed the program but would not change anything. The field day program has long term outcome. The evaluation responses indicated that 71 percent of attendees have changed a farming or family living practice because of their attendance at a past extension field event. They identified forage management, using craft ideas, Forage Testing, and more as things they have changed or are doing differently or better.
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