During the COVID pandemic, the District 1 ANR Agents hosted an educational series for our farmers. A seven series virtual Master Haymaker program was developed and offered in winter of 2021 using Zoom.  .  The seven sessions covered topics such as:  weed control in forages, producing quality hay, warm and cool season forages, soil fertility, marketing hay, machinery options for hay production, and the production of baleage.  The option was given for folks to either attend sessions via ZOOM or watch recordings via DVDs.  95% of the 124 registrants opted to join via ZOOM.  Approximately 70% of the registrants for ZOOM, attended all seven sessions.

Sixty-six registrants provided feedback on their current management of forages.  Approximately 50% of the registrants that provided feedback have 50 acres or less of forage land that they use for hay production.  With 17% of folks having greater than 150 acres of land for hay production.  Additionally, we asked registrants how they utilize the hay they produce.  Seven percent of folks produce hay solely for selling to others.   25% of folks use all of the hay they produce on their farm for their livestock.  34% of the farmers sell hay to others as well as use on their own farm for livestock.

Attendees asked many great questions during each session of the Master Haymaker series.  A few folks had some follow up questions at the end of the series in which we provided a question and answer (Q&A) document via email to the group.

At the end of the last session, we polled the group with questions to gauge how folks liked the program as well as to gain some insight on things they learned throughout the series and/or plans they are putting in place to improve their production.  Overall 85% of the 47 folks that responded to the poll rated the program as excellent.  Additionally, 79% of the folks stated that they gained a considerable amount of knowledge from the Master Haymaker series.   Approximately 10% of the folks have never soil tested before, but plan to start after attending the series.  72% of folks plan to test their hay this year to have a better understanding of the quality of hay they are producing.        

Farmers have reported different practice changes to their operation due to the information that they learned during the class: two farmers made changes to their fertility management going from using 200 pound of 10-10-10 to following a soil test recommendation, 3 farmers adjusted there  the height on their mower  to 4 inches, 1 farmer applied large rock to their hay storage facility, 2 farmers are utilizing herbicides in their hay fields to control weeds.