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Profitable Livestock Production (Luna County)

Plan Goal

To be able to help the Livestock producers here in Luna County make their operations more profitable and user friendly.

Situation Statement

Luna County continues to be faced with drought, we have to continue to feed our livestock on pasture. Luna County's livestock producers have had to perform these practices for the past fifteen years or so. They are losing a great deal of money every year trying to keep a seed stock base operating. Here in Luna County we deal mostly with Beef cattle production and the problems related to grazing cattle. As the agent I'm faced with bridging the gap between the University and the local producers.

Target Audience and Actions

My target audience is all Livestock producers here in Luna County and surrounding areas. I will reach them by holding workshops dealing with nutrition, feeding and grazing practices. Provide information to the producers that is important to managing a livestock operation. With Luna County having a high percentage of Hispanics I will have to have some help communicating with them. This will be done with the help of a translator and written information in Spanish.

Short-Term Objectives

I will begin with awareness worhshops and get a feel of what the livestock producers are wanting. By bringing in guest speakers and presenters to help convey the knowledge I will be able to reach the producers. Local livestock producers will be able to help me develop my starting point for the workshops and information to cover. From the workshops local livestock producers will be to better manage their livestock herds and profits.

Medium-Term Objectives

Local producers will given enough information to know when to add nutients to livestock add when not. For examople it may be better to feed alittle along the way vs. feeding only when it gets dry and no forage is present. I have a few local ranchers that can help me explain the concepts of this practice and how to observe cattle before it is to late. By getting the county involved in this we can learn a little bit from each other and local producers are more likely to respond to a person who has a management practice in place.

Long-Term Objectives

By improving the range conditions a person would be improving the ecosystem and improving their profit margin. This helps to save the producer more money in the long run and improve the range conditions for grazing. By having management techniques in place the producer will become a better land and livestock steward throughout the year. Local producers will be able to work together to help each other make these techniques work.

Evaluation Plan

Group discussions or a end of the year meeting to observe how the techniques worked for producers. Evaluations would be handed out at each workshop to get feedback from the group. One on one meetings with producers to observe their management practices on their place.