Establishing a Demonstration - Electronic Media Training Center for Farmer-Educators in Pasture-Based Livestock Production

Establishing a Demonstration - Electronic Media Training Center for Farmer-Educators in Pasture-Based Livestock Production

Objectives/Performance Targets

Objectives:
1. To effectively train farmer-educators in pasture-based livestock production by coupling electronic media with demonstration and interactive application.

Objective 2. To provide timely, localized, quality training for farmers that will significantly impact the level of expertise in pasture-based livestock production in the agricultural community locally and regionally.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Three workshops were held to provide intensive training to farmer-educators. They included:
I. Farm Planning and Assessment
Subjects included :
· estate planning
· direct marketing of pasture-based products
· farm financial analysis
· fly and past control on farms
· setting personal and business goals
· community relationships for agriculture and non-ag residents
· non-farmer perspectives on agriculture and the environment
· nutrient management assessment
· farm site assessment
· budgeting grazing enterprises
· accessing markets for livestock
· riparian and water resources
· effective use of the WEB
· phosphorus cycling and assessment
· phosphorus management with livestock
· nitrogen cycling
· soil testing and interpretation
· using digital photography and videography
· water sources for pastured livestock
The overall evaluation of the program by the participants was 9.0 out of a possible 10. The delivery methods identified as most effective included demonstrations and teleconferencing.
II. Agronomic Factors of Grazing and Pasture Management
Subjects included:
· fencing and fence construction
· laneways
· water delivery systems
· forage variety determination
· physiology of plant growth
· sward assessment methods
· seeding drill calibration
· seeding depth and spacing
· fertility management
· weed control
· legume seeding
· Three farmer presentations on forage variety decisions

Eighty percent of the participants rated the level of instruction for a farmer audience as fairly to very high, and 80% of the participants found the workshop to be very helpful to extremely helpful as an extension educator.

III. Livestock Grazing Systems
Subjects included:
· internal parasite control
· poisonous plants
· fly control on livestock
· metabolic diseases of grazing livestock
· dairy grazing economic profiles
· beef grazing economic profiles
· meeting nutrient needs of grazing dairy cattle
· grazing management for forage intake of dairy cattle
· condition scoring dairy cows
· determination of paddock size for dairy cows
· pasture budgeting
· estimation of beef cow nutritional requirements
· estimating forage dry matter available in the pasture
· handling excess forage production in pastures
· breeding programs for pastured cattle
· grazing behavior and plant selectivity
· supplementation of grazing cattle
· horse fencing
· condition scoring horses
· grazing management for goats
Overall evaluations for the workshops were 9.0 of a possible 10. One hundred percent of participants found the information to be very useful in presentation to farmer audiences.

The training has been provided to the farmer-educators in the project for objective 2, and the next step is to provide the educational opportunities to farmers. Specific information delivery methods have been tried and evaluated, and the educators have determined those most appropriate for farmers. This will include a combination of teleconferencing and computer-enhanced information delivery at a high level of expertise with experiential demonstrations and participatory projects on site. Participants have committed to providing one or more educational opportunities in grazing and pasture management using the methods found in the workshops to a farmer audience, performing a uniform and a complete evaluation of the training, and reporting the results to the entire group. Secondly, most of the training sessions were captured on digital photographs, were audiotaped, or both. This material will be assembled into a curriculum for teaching grazing and pasture management programs to farmers.

Collaborators: