You Don’t Have to Be Big to Be Profitable: Teaching Youth How to Meet Community Needs, Maintain a Farm System, and Treasure Family

View the project final report

Commodities

• Animals: goats, poultry
• Animal Products: dairy, eggs, meat

Practices

• Animal Production: grazing management, grazing - multispecies, grazing - rotational
• Education and Training: mentoring, youth education
• Farm Business Management: agritourism, apprentice/intern training
• Sustainable Communities: analysis of personal/family life, quality of life, sustainability measures

The Grace Heritage Farm Youth Internship Program featured goat microdairy and meat herd management. Two high-school aged youth were offered a competitive position as a paid intern in an 8-month educational intensive, where they gained highly individualized counseling and education regarding herd management of both dairy and meat goats. Interns participated in hands-on experiences catered to teaching regenerative agriculture, targeted rotational grazing, livestock health, farmer/rancher partnerships for proactive weed management between species, budget management, and direct value-added, and consumer marketing through agritourism. Students were required to develop and present educational material to the public on a county-wide farm tour.

Throughout the internship, interns will:

1. Describe three basic herd management practices of meat and dairy goats.
2. Plan and execute the managed grazing of meat and dairy goat herds through seasonal needs.
3. List and explain five benefits of targeted grazing with goats.
4. Have seven hours of direct-consumer points of contact, with four of those hours being during a county-wide agritourism event.
5. Visit three local agritourism-focused farms to understand direct-to-consumer marketing and production.
6. Participate in value-added production of microdairy products and consumer education.
7. Budget for, prepare, and present an educational project to agritourism event attendees.