Reaching New Audiences with Oklahoma’s Master Cattleman Program Damona Doye, Agricultural Economics David Lalman, Animal Science Oklahoma State University

Motivation and Planning Motivation  Area and county educators requests  Manual in need of update  Risk Management Agency education funding possibility Planning  Multi-disciplinary: ag econ, animal science, plant and soil sciences, biosystems and ag engineering, vet med, entomology and plant pathology  County, area, state staff, district director planning team

Program Components, Requirements 4 hours each from:  Business planning and management  Marketing and risk management  Nutrition and production management  Animal health and quality assurance  Managing natural resources  Genetics and reproduction (cow-calf producers) plus  Electives, 4 to 8 hrs and/or a special project  28 credit hours Must pass quizzes on individual chapters to earn credit hours Must complete an initial assessment survey and final assessment survey No more than ½ of credit hours in any segment by correspondence

Resources Manual Educator Guidebook PPTs Lesson plans Quizzes Brochures Posters Website

Marketing and Promotion The usual  News releases  Brochures Oklahoma Cattleman’s Association district meetings, annual Cattleman’s college Word of mouth

Participants receive Information/education Oklahoma Beef Cattle Manual MC farm gate sign MC certificate MC notebook Local incentives

Participants Many small, part-time producers new to Extension Some large producers Some with no cows

Participation by year YearNumber of sessions Number of new MC Groups Number of MC students Number of MC grads to date Total

Evolution of program December 2003 in-service, some chapters drafted March 2004, manual draft completed December 2004 in-service, Educator guidebook, PPTs for most chapters, bulk manual distribution 5,000 manuals distributed August 2005, updated manual December 2005, in-service with more training for educators to present chapters July 2006, AAEA paper from cow/calf assessments (poster at these meetings) September 2006, Master Cattleman summit March 2007, in-service on Electronic Based Cattle Management April 2007, Beef Industry conference September 2007, Master Cattleman summit

Program evaluation Initial assessment survey End of course survey Post-participation survey underway

Funding support RMA  : $107,800 (personnel, manuals, travel, conference)  : $124,073 (manuals, travel, video-, students)  : $143,774 (manuals, video-, travel, undergrad and grad student assistants, in-service travel)  : $114,638 (student assistants, travel, laptops and personal response systems, software) Fees of $75 per person or couple if sharing materials Scholarships to graduates: 2 per county in East Central OK FCS trade area (54 of 77 counties)

Program Delivery  Ag Econ  Mostly state and area specialists, occasional Extension Educator  Animal Science  Extension Educators, Area Specialists, and State Specialists  Plant and Soil Sciences  Extension Educators, Area Specialists, and State Specialists

Important lessons learned Well-developed curriculum plan was key Website has been critical management tool  Events proposed, approved, listed  Quizzes, credit hours recorded  Hard to anticipate all the flexibility needed Multi-disciplinary efforts are always a management challenge.

New programs added to follow-on Master Cattleman summit Beef Industry conference Occasional s with upcoming events

Comparison to other programs OKTNKYAL/MS Participant Cost $75$150*$75 Other fundingRMADept of AgTobacco $ Hours28 credits, more hours 12 sessions8 sessions, 32 hours 8 sessions, 20 hours OtherSummitsBQA certification reduces fee CowPokes, Advanced MC, Master Grazer Distance