After the loss of income from tobacco sales in our area, many Laurel County farmers shifted their focus to beef production.  As beef farming operations continue to grow, so does the need for training opportunities to help producers increase their revenues while decreasing operating expenses.  The Laurel County Cooperative Extension Service and the Laurel County Cattlemen’s Association identified a need for training opportunities in which local producers could learn the latest advances in animal reproductive science, and this ongoing project has continued to grow for the past eight years.  Utilizing reproductive study research strategies developed with the University of Kentucky, on-farm demonstrations were conducted and producers learned state of the art techniques in the synchronization of the cycles of breeding animals as well as artificial breeding.   These technologies help producers to shorten their calving season and improve the quality of the genetics in their herd.  Each demonstration involved regular farm visits over a period of three weeks to check the health and status of the animals and to conduct the next step in the overall process.  The program increased the conception rates and number of live births within the herds of all participants.  In the past year, forty more area producers were added. Now over two hundred producers have participated in the program with over 6,000 head of cattle in Southeastern Kentucky.  The use of artificial breeding has allowed producers to use superior genetics to improve herd health, growth rates and carcass quality.  The participants have reported a decrease in the number of calving difficulties due to the use of small birth weight bulls.  All have reported that the conception rate within their herds has increased from 80% to 90% through the utilization of these new practices.  The calving season for these producers has also been narrowed to sixty days or less.