Education to extension agents, veterinarians, and other professionals in complementary treatments and preventive management for organic livestock farms

Education to extension agents, veterinarians, and other professionals in complementary treatments and preventive management for organic livestock farms

Summary

The goal of this grant is to broaden the knowledge and understanding of holistic approaches to animal health specific to the needs and requirements of organic livestock producers. The target audience will be extension agents, veterinarians, college students studying veterinary medicine and animal sciences and other resource professionals working in the field assisting organic and transitioning livestock producers.
We will organize a workshop and offer it in two locations within the Northeast. The workshops will be formatted in a way to provide classroom style learning, round table discussions, reading materials, interactive problem solving exercises, and hands-on learning. General practices and concepts will include: an overview of the National Organic Program, preventive management for optimum livestock health, complementary therapies approved for use on organic farms, continued learning resources and animal welfare. These workshops will qualify for continued education credit for veterinary professionals and extension agents.

Participants will be encouraged to initiate additional research with their farmers. Information on funding resources and training in the proper conduct and analysis of ‘on-farm clinical trials’ for the evaluation of management strategies and complementary therapies will be provided. Continued learning will be facilitated through an on-line discussion group and opportunities will be made for participants to spend a day with a practicing veterinarian knowledgeable of the National Organic Standards and willing to provide first hand experience in approved complementary therapies. Attendees will reconvene one year later to build on their knowledge base and share experiences.

Objectives/Performance Targets

1. Of the 80 veterinarians, extension specialists, vet students and other professionals attending one of the two regional organic livestock health workshops, 60 will become more knowledgeable of organic farming methods and proven therapies and treatments, 25 will reconvene in a year to discuss case studies, on farm trials and build on the new resources and information that was learned at the organic livestock health workshop, and 20 will actively engage in using at least 2 new management practices or complementary treatments with their clients.
2. Of the 80 veterinarians, extension specialists, vet students and other professionals that attend one of the two organic livestock health workshops, 25 participants will reconvene in a year to discuss case studies, on-farm trials and research priorities. Of those, 8 will develop research proposals and 2 will receive funding.

Accomplishments/Milestones

1. (Performance Target #1)

   1) 1000 veterinarians, extension specialists, vet students and other professionals from around the Northeast receive information about the organic livestock health workshops.
   Over 600 brochures were sent by direct mail to veterinarians, extension, NRCS and other professionals, and the Press Release and brochure were made available at numerous meetings and conferences in the Northeast. Information was provided through veterinary (AABP-L), dairy (Dairy-L/O-Dairy) and extension listserves.

   2) 200 ask to receive registration materials, video recordings and/or written proceedings.

   The Webpage containing conference registration information, sponsorship forms, directions, lodging and other relevant information received over 700 hits prior to the conference dates. In addition the NOFA-VT office and the conference coordinators sent information to at least 100 interested parties.
   Conference proceedings and powerpoint presentations were promoted and marketed through the NOFA-VT website, the QMPS web page and through various publications and email discussion lists.
   Video recordings have been made and are in the final editing process. They will be made available for sale by January 2008.

   3) 80 professionals attend the workshops, actively engaging in new resources and learning.

   We surpassed our performance target of 80 veterinarians, extensions specialists, vet students and other professionals. The total attendees for both conferences meeting our target audience description was 137 people. The breakdown for each conference location was:

   Alfred State College Location, February 14 – 16, 2007: 77 attendees of which 13 were Extension specialists or educators working for NESARE, NCAT, or NRCS, 11 were veterinarians, 29 were organic milk processors, or professionals providing a service to the organic dairy sector: (feed dealers, seed dealers, nutritionists, health products), 6 worked for organic certifiers, 5 were producers and 13 were presenters or event coordinators. 15 students from Alfred State College came and audited the conference for portions of each day. They did not formally register and were not charged to attend.

   University of New Hampshire Location, March 6-8, 2007: 104 attended of which 27 were Extension educators or NRCS staff, 16 were veterinarians, 25 were organic milk processors or professionals providing a service to the organic dairy sector (feed dealers, seed dealers nutritionists, health products), 10 worked with organic certification, 10 were producers, 3 were writers, and 13 were presenters or event coordinators. 4 students from UNH came to audit certain portions of the conference. They did not register and were not charged to attend.

   4) 25 participants reconvene for a reunion class to share new experiences, learn new concepts and discuss possible on-farm trials.

   A second conference is being planned for the fall of 2008. We are considering the location right now and possible dates in October and November as it was determined that this time of year of best for extension and veterinarians. The conference will happen in only one location and will be promoted through the same forums and mailing lists that we used before. We will be inviting newcomers to this conference, but will make sure to identify any of our first year attendees and document accomplishments, changes or developments since the first conferences in the spring of 2007.

   5) 20 participants actively engage in using at least 2 new management practices or complementary treatments with their clients.

   Feedback has been received from six veterinarians and two veterinary students. All are currently working with clients in organic dairy and appreciate the connections and networking opportunities provided by the conferences. All have plans to attend the 2008 conference and will encourage their colleagues to attend as well.

   (Performance Target #2)

   1) 80 veterinarians, extension specialists, vet students and other professionals attend an organic livestock health workshop.

   A total of 137 veterinarians, extension specialists, vet students and other professionals attended the SARE granted Conference: Understanding Organics: Livestock Management and Health. Feedback on the conferences were very positive and we feel that the 2008 conference will draw many of the same attendees plus new attendees.
   2) 40 Participants learn important criteria and possible topic areas for performing on-farm trials.

   Since there are few randomized, controlled clinical trials for complementary treatments at this time, participants will need the skill to correctly evaluate treatments and management interventions on the farms with which they work. A session entitled: Basic Clinical Trial Design and Considerations for Conducting On-Farm Evaluations of Complementary Therapy provided basic knowledge and discussion on evaluating current literature, the basics of good study design and evaluating outcomes.

   3) 25 participants reconvene for a reunion class and discuss possible on-farm trials

   The second conference will take place in the fall of 2008. We anticipate good attendance and are planning the location, speakers and content right now.

   4) 8 participants seek funding to conduct ‘on-farm’ trials evaluating management practices or therapies with their farmers.

   Two collaborations for potential studies have been formed as a result of contacts made at this conference. A NESARE grant proprosal evaluating a botanical intramammary mastitis treatment, was authored by participants from the conference and submitted this fall. A second proposal evaluating another potential intramammary treatment was developed and will be submitted to the Integrated Organic Program in June, 2008.

   5) 2 participants are awarded funding to perform an on-farm trial on livestock management or a complementary therapy.

   Has not happened yet.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Participants and speakers were asked to evaluate each day of the conference and the conference overall. They were also asked to elaborate on what they felt was missing from these sessions and what material they would like included in future meetings.

Based on the evaluations from our 2007 conferences, 30% of our attendees felt that they had quite a bit or knowledge in the area of health management on organic dairies, 27% had some knowledge, 41% had a little and 2% came with no background prior to attending. After the conference, 38% felt that their knowledge had increased quite a bit, 53% felt that their knowledge increased somewhat and 5% said that their knowledge increased a little. Participants were also queried on what their intentions were to do something different in their approaches to working with organic farms. 22% said they had a strong intention to change, 31% had a moderate intention, 39% had some intention, 7% had a little intention and 1% had no intention to change. Most felt they would begin using their new knowledge within a month of attendance.

At the close of each conference a participatory session was held with speakers, project personnel and attendees to debrief and to explore additional ideas for future conferences, and research priorities and thoughts on how to maintain the momentum from these meetings.

The conferences ‘Understanding Organics: Livestock Management and Health’ were conceived to be the first step in a continuous cycle of education and extension for agri-service professionals in the organic livestock industry. We are pleased with the success of this first conference and hope that excitement generated in Alfred, NY and Durham, NH will have ripple effects that will last much longer than the three days participants were together. Before the meetings were adjourned, we asked participants to join us for a final working lunch to reflect on the past three days and to help us generate ideas for the future. Below are summaries of both the reflections and the directions for future learning.

Comments for future conferences:
a. Consider two day conference with a multi-track system (one for extension, one for veterinarians) but include general sessions to build and utilize the group dynamic.
b. Consider theme days (Soil day, nutrition day, vet/health day) so that participants can enroll for a single day or the whole conference depending on their interests.
c. CE time for veterinarians is precious and the number of organic clients serviced is low compared to conventional. Consider regional day long rather than 3 day conference.
d. Need to have fewer speakers but more time allotted per speaker so they can really have the opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise.
e. Increasing depth of knowledge across days (start basic and move to more advanced
f. Work to keep conference research oriented
g. Consider having conference proximate to organic dairies and use farm tours as a breakout option.
h. Collaborative venue (with group appropriate tracks) for veterinarians, farmers, agriservice
i. Incentive to bring farmer to bring their vet (decreased registration fee for farmer if they bring their vet?)
j. Organic/Local foods served at conference
k. Potential locations:
i. Syracuse
ii. Vermont
iii. Bethel Inn, ME
iv. Bar Harbor
v. Cornell or other vet school
vi. Berkshires, MA (Jim Pitt)
vii. Albany
viii. Culinary Institute of America
Subjects for future conferences:
a. Soils
b. Additional homeopathy
c. Calf raising
d. Alternative types of feeds
e. Animal behavior (Temple Grandin)
f. Grazing nutrition (Tom Weaver)
g. More animal welfare
h. More scientific data (important for extension and vets)
i. Data comparing organic and conventional systems
j. Include other species: Beef, dairy, small ruminant, poultry, swine
k. Plant science and its impact on animal health
l. Farm business planning/economic for organic dairies
m. Pharmacologist, apothecary, herbalist
n. More NRCS involvement
o. Animal health and diet selection for continued health (Fred Provenza at USU

Attendance:
a. Work to bring in more vet students
i. Cornell
ii. Penn
iii. Tufts
iv. Guelph
v. St. Hyacinthe
vi. Montreal

b. Veterinary Medical Associations
i. Consider combining with one of their meetings
ii. Consider pre-conference seminar at AABP or session at ADSA

c. Coordination between Canada and US groups
d. Coordination between UNH/Alfred University/College d’Alfred
e. Include researchers active in organic research
f. Agricultural educators (FFA, 4H, high school ag teachers)

Sponsorship:
a. Organic Valley check-off dollars for research, advocacy, education
b. NESARE speaker grants
c. Retailers: Wegmans, Whole Foods
d. Pharmaceutical industry support
e. Government support

Website Content:
a. Using it at a clearinghouse for research reports
b. Resource database for veterinarians and agriservice professionals
c. Minnesota Organic Farmer Information Exchange for farmer mentoring

Research priorities:
a. Calf hood diseases and treatment: scours
b. Mastitis treatments
c. Parasite management
d. Lameness
e. Reproductive health management
f. Characteristics of end-product quality: what is the difference between organically and conventionally produced milk?
g. Breeding/ Genetics: looking for characteristics beyond just milk production
h. Can DHIA include a checkbox for organic status so that we can pull out some of that data?

Collaborators: