Reaching Out While Locked In Beef Webinar Series - Presenter of "Marketing Basics" and "Preparing for Winter Feeding" segments

In the spring of 2020, the governor ordered a statewide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic which effectively closed Extension offices and in-person programming. The beef Extension group, consisting of Les Anderson, Darrh Bullock, Kevin Laurent, Jeff Lehmkuhler and Katie VanValin, initiated a weekly webinar series for Kentucky’s beef farmers that we called “Reaching Out While Locked In”. Our initial effort was to provide five weeks of programming to get us through the pandemic crisis and for things to return to normal, but COVID-19 had other plans. When the lock down continued for months and eventually over a year, we continued to add webinars to give Kentucky Beef producers up-to-date information to encourage best management practices even during a pandemic. When we discontinued, at least briefly, in the summer of 2021 we had produced 29 live programs on various beef topics. Besides beef specialists providing programming we invited presentations from our beef research colleagues in Animal and Food Sciences and other Extension specialists across CAFE, in addition we had two invited speakers from other institutions. Our audience size ranged from around 50 to over 100 beef farmers and Extension agents who were offered the programming as in-service training. We worked with the Agriculture Development Board to offer the programming as a means of satisfying the educational component necessary for farmers to get cost-share dollars through the CAIP program. Additionally, the sessions were recorded and posted on the departments website for farmers to view on demand with some sessions receiving over 5,000 views. Based on a post-program survey and multiple unsolicited comments from farmers and agents this program was an unquestionable success.  Based on this feedback, the beef Extension group is convinced that webinar programming can be a successful part of meeting the educational needs of Kentucky’s beef farmers in the future.