An educational program was developed to assist beef producers with making informed bull purchasing decisions. There are two core pieces to this decision: targeting the bull’s genetics to the producer’s management and resources, and paying a price that maximizes the return on investment. This was a two-part educational program; the first session was classroom instruction with topics related to proper bull selection. At the conclusion of this session producers were assigned one of five management scenarios and received a sale catalogue with 60 bulls. Videos of all bulls were made available, along with all production information, including adjusted measurements, EPD and indices. The producers were tasked with returning the next week to attend the mock auction and purchase the best valued bull for their assigned scenario. At the conclusion of the auction, each scenario was discussed and the individual that purchased the best value bull in each scenario was recognized. Value was determined as the price paid for the bull compared to a price determined through an “economic selection index” equation. Beef producers (n = 322) participated in the program over 9 locations; in locations with less attendance, a reduced sale catalogue was used. Of the post-program survey respondents (n = 155), 71% were commercial beef producers, 27% were seedstock producers and 5% were Extension agents (n = 10, were cross classified). When asked how much time they spent reviewing the materials before the mock sale 8% said they made their decision at the sale, 16% spent 30 minutes or less, 58% spent 30 minutes to 2 hours and 18% spent over 2 hours preparing. When asked if the program would help with their next bull purchase, 88% said it would probably or definitely help. The conclusion was that this was a valuable educational program.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all in-person Extension programs in Kentucky were canceled in March 2020. In order to continue reaching beef producers, a webinar series was developed. The initial series was eight weekly evening sessions. Sessions were streamed live on a video meeting and social media platform and were recorded for future viewing. Programs consisted of a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session, covering multi-disciplinary topics related to beef management. Following each session, participants were asked to complete a survey to gauge the effectiveness of the programs using a series of questions with responses on a 5-point Likert scale. The average number of responses was 17 and ranged from 4–31 respondents per session. Knowledge level before and after the presentation was asked for a given topic to assess the increase in subject awareness/understanding (1: not very knowledgeable; 5: very knowledgeable). The average response across all respondents (n = 138) for pre-program knowledge was 2.98, and the average response post-program was 4.37. This represented a 46.6% change across all topics covered in the post-attendance surveys. The most common age demographic represented by survey respondents was 50–59 years of age, and 84% of respondents reported previously participating in a webinar. Participants were asked to evaluate the webinar technology in terms of its ease of access (1: not very easy; 5: very easy), and the average response was 4.64. Participants were asked to evaluate the material presented in each session for its usefulness (1: not very useful; 5- very useful), and the average response was 4.71. When asked if the webinar was an effective use of time (1: not very useful; 5: very useful), the average response was 4.8. Overall, webinars were an effective means of delivering Extension education related to beef cattle management in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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