Many small and minority farmers in Kentucky raise beef cattle with most selling weaned calves at their local stockyards.  Although some farmers use up-to-date and Extension recommended production methods such as deworming, vaccinations, and implants, most of the small farmers do not have handling facilities to work the cattle, are not aware of up-to-date practices, or feel that the costs are too high or they are too small to do the recommended practices.

In May of 2018, the  Kentucky State University Land Grant Program initiated a Fourth Wednesday Night monthly beef cattle workshop at the Blue Grass Stockyards and Regional Marketplace for small and minority producers.   Blue Grass Stockyards and the Kentucky Cattlemen's Association requested these workshops for small and minority farmers because many of the cattle coming in to the sale were sub-standard or underconditioned.  They offered assistance to Kentucky State University Extension to help host the trainings by providing the location for the workshops andproviding presenters for some of the trainings.  They also provide cattle,as needed, for hands-on training.  In 2018, the workshops were offered on the Fourth Wednesday night, May through October.  The attendance ranged from 55 to 15 participants for each workshop.  In 2019, the workshops were expanded to March through October.  In addition to support from Blue Grass Stockyards and the Kentucky Cattleme's Association, Southern SARE, the USDA Office of OPPE 2501 Outreach and Assistance to Socially Disadvantaged abd Veteran Farmer Program, USDA Risk Management Agency, and others contributed to the success of this initiative,  Patterned after The Third Thursday Thing, small beef cattle producers learned up-to-date research and practices.  The attendance averaged 35 paricipants with 25% being socially disadvantaged, 55% being women, 10% being beginning farmers, and 15% being military veterans.

To quote some of the participants:  1) The Kentucky Cattlemen's and Stockyards believe that the program is beginning to improve the quality and condition of the cattle sold by participants; C. Hastings, retired school teacher and beginning farmer stated ". this is so informative...I have learned so much... my son needs to attend..."; R. Miller, African American farmer, "...This is excellent.  I will come to every one even though it is a 90 minute drive..."; and R. Tudor, retired military and beginning cattle producer "...I need this information.  It is answering many of my questions.. this is great spinoff from Third Thursdays..."

KSU plans to continue these workshops into the future and to make the Fourth Wednesday Night beef catlle meetings one of its regular programs.