Author: Donna Amaral-Phillips
Planning Unit: Animal and Food Sciences
Major Program: Dairy
Outcome: Initial Outcome
Kentucky Dairy Notes, a monthly 4-page extension publication, contains science-based, peer-reviewed articles related to the management of dairy cattle and Kentucky-based dairy businesses. Each issue contains 2 to 4 newly written articles, which are published in the current months newsletter and also loaded and indexed on the UK AFS Dairy Extension website for long-term access. In addition to the articles, a tip of the month is provided. This publication is mailed electronically to all UK Agriculture and Natural Resource agents, who then can reprint and mail (electronically or hard-copy) a copy to their local dairy farmers and dairy allied industries. (Mailing lists with physical mailing addresses of current farmers with Grade A milk permits are provided to agents when requested.) Mailing of hard copies is important since approximately 40% of KY dairy farmers represent an underserved audience that choose not to receive electronic communications and for some is the preferred method of program delivery. Besides mailing each issue to KY agents, each issue is emailed to those on a UK electronic listserv list (June 2020 - 364 recipients). Although it is impossible to measure the impact of written materials directly, we can review look at electronic views and average time spent per page as a preliminary indicator of usage and initial impact. Several dairy articles consistently are some of the top viewed articles each month (i.e. one article- 1210 pageviews for June 2020) on the UK AFS website. As importantly, the majority of these articles from the month’s newsletter are reprinted in their entirety or summarized in multiple national dairy magazines. In the last couple of months, two different articles were in the top, electronically viewed articles on a daily e-newsletter for a national dairy magazine. This illustrates that these written materials not only help Kentucky dairy farmers, but also are viewed by farmers and industry partners on a national basis; thus, greatly expanding the viewership and potential impact of these materials on dairy management practices.
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