Sustainable Beef Cattle Production: Ranch to Ribeye

Project Overview

WPDP19-15
Project Type: Professional Development Program
Funds awarded in 2019: $57,310.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2022
Host Institution Award ID: 4W7723
Grant Recipient: Montana State University
Region: Western
State: Montana
Principal Investigator:
Megan Van Emon
Montana State University
Co-Investigators:
Colleen Buck
Montana State University
Callie Cooley
Montana State University
Molly Hammond
Montana State University
Elin Kittelmann
Montana State University
Kari Lewis
Montana State University

Information Products

Commodities

  • Animals: bovine
  • Animal Products: meat

Practices

  • Animal Production: animal protection and health, feed/forage, feed additives, feed formulation, feed management, feed rations, genetics, grazing management, livestock breeding, meat processing, meat processing facilities, meat product quality/safety, mineral supplements, rangeland/pasture management, stocking rate, watering systems, winter forage
  • Education and Training: demonstration, extension, workshop

    Proposal abstract:

    Principal Investigator Van Emon and several program collaborators, Extension Agents, Elin Kittelmann, Callie Cooley, Molly Hammond, Colleen Buck, and Kari Lewis, will conduct web-based educational sessions and two beef production tours to improve the knowledge of Extension Agents on sustainable beef cattle production in Montana and the region.  The aim is to promote sustainable beef cattle production practices and aid Extension Agents in developing new programming information.  The specific objectives for the project:

    • Conduct non-traditional meetings, “Train the Trainer” events, to provide information to Extension Agents on sustainable beef cattle production. Meetings will be presented via web-based programming, such as Adobe Connect or WebEx.  Utilizing web-based programming will allow us to have presenters from regional and national university faculty and industry personnel. 
    • Record web-based education sessions for Extension Agents to utilize in local, livestock producer meetings.
    • Educate Extension Agents in sustainable beef cattle production so they may conduct meetings in their respective counties.
    • Conduct a Montana focused, sustainable beef cattle production tour to provide locally focused sustainability information to Extension Agents.
    • Provide hands-on experiences via distance learning about regional beef cattle production tour to Wyoming and Colorado.

     

    Project objectives from proposal:

    With the funds, we will conduct web-based educational sessions and two beef production tours to improve the knowledge of Extension Agents on sustainable beef cattle production in Montana and the region.  The specific goals for the project are

    • Conduct non-traditional meetings, “Train the Trainer” events, to provide information to Extension Agents on sustainable beef cattle production. Meetings will be presented via web-based programming, such as Adobe Connect or WebEx.  Utilizing web-based programming will allow us to have presenters from regional and national university faculty and industry personnel. 
      • Timetable: Web-based educational sessions will be conducted from November 2019 to March 2020.
    • Record web-based education sessions for Extension Agents to utilize in local, livestock producer meetings.
      • Timetable: Sessions will be available (with speaker permission) for use by Extension Agents in April 2020.
    • Educate Extension Agents in sustainable beef cattle production so they may conduct meetings in their respective counties.
      • Timetable: Recorded sessions will be available for use in Extension Agents by April 2020.
    • Conduct a Montana focused, sustainable beef cattle production tour to provide locally focused sustainability information to Extension Agents.
      • Timetable: The tour will be conducted in April/May 2020
    • Provide hands-on experiences via distance learning about regional beef cattle production tour to Wyoming and Colorado.
      • Timetable: The tour will be conducted in September 2020.
    • Evaluate the success of the educational sessions and tours with pre- and post-session/tour surveys.
      • Timetable: Surveys for educational sessions will be collected immediately following each session. Tour evaluations will be collected following each tour. 
    • Utilize the surveys to determine the potential for future tours with Montana beef cattle producers.
      • Timetable: The final survey will be conducted in conjunction with the regional beef cattle production tour and information will be tabulated by November 2020.
    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.