The 1st Annual Beef & Range Field Day, hosted by SFREC was a great success. Over 120 students from 4-H and FFA programs in Butte, Nevada, Placer, Yuba and Sutter Counties participated to learn about livestock production and natural resource management. 

The event kicked off with an inspirational address from California State Senator, Jim Nielsen, who applauded students for taking an interest in agriculture and encouraged each of them to actively support agriculture and food production in their future endeavors.

Participants had the opportunity to venture out onto the SFREC landscape and engage in workshops that focused on how livestock producers work to carefully manage the resources in their care. UC Davis veterinarian, Bret McNabb demonstrated practices for safe cattle handing and led students through a beef cattle health evaluation activity.  Students participated in activities led by Theresa Becchetti,

UCCE Livestock & Natural Resource Advisor, that highlighted the factors that can impact water quality. While discussing pasture management techniques, Roger Ingram, UCCE County Director, engaged students in an exercise to calculate the stocking rate of specific pastures. Finally, Andrew Brown of the UC Davis Soils and Biogeochemistry program talked to attendees about the importance of soil and the factors that can impact soil quality. 

SFREC would like to sincerely thank the presenters and volunteers who helped to make this event such an outstanding learning opportunity for local high school students. 

Thank you to the 1st Annual Beef and Range Field Day sponsors:

Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau

Farm Credit West

On Wednesday, October 8^th, over 125 high school students from FFA and 4-H programs in Butte, Nevada, Placer, Sutter and Yuba counties will gather in Browns Valley for the 1^st Annual Beef & Range Field Day.  This event, hosted by the Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center (SFREC) will provide students with hands-on, practical experience with livestock production and natural resource management.

California State Senator Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, a key proponent for supporting agriculture education and careers will address the attendees in the morning. The students will then learn from industry experts about topics critical to the livestock industry, including cattle health, pasture management and issues related to water and soil quality.  The goal is to demonstrate how ranchers and livestock producers work to carefully mange the resources in their care.

The future of agriculture and the way in which society views food production centers on youth knowledge and understanding.  4-H and FFA are excellent educational platforms for youth who are interested in raising livestock. SFREC staff and volunteers are excited to complement this training by connecting students with the concerns and issues commonly dealt with on working ranches.

A big thank you to the Beef & Range Field Day sponsors: Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau and Farm Credit West.

Raising livestock at any age requires an array of skills and knowledge in areas ranging from animal health, nutrition and proper handling to resource and business management. It is certainly not a job that can be taken lightly, which is why it is so important to lay a foundation of education for those who are interested in livestock production at an early age. In fact, the future of agriculture and even the way in which society views food production, is highly dependent upon properly educating our youth.

Programs such as 4-H and FFA are excellent training platforms for youth who raise livestock on a small scale. In the last two weeks nearly 800 youth across three different counties exhibited livestock at either the Yuba-Sutter Fair or the Nevada County Fair. Exhibitors ranging from 9-19 years old, have been working tirelessly over the last year to prepare project animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, poultry and swine for competition and market. The process involves more than feeding and grooming animals on a daily basis, which in itself is not always an easy task.

“Youth gain a tremendous amount of life skills from raising livestock,” explains Rita Boyes, 4-H Program Representative for the Sutter Yuba 4-H Youth Development Program. “Among these skills, team work, and decision making rise to the top.”

Jake Williams (15) of the Smartsville 4-H Club, recently exhibited and sold his seventh steer at the Yuba-Sutter Fair. As a way to market his steer, Williams, like many other exhibitors, hand-delivers letters to businesses and community members who will potentially support the Junior Livestock Auction. Such tasks develop public speaking and communication skills, and remind young people to keep the primary goal in sight. “The most important part of raising a steer is creating a quality product for the buyer,” says Williams. “It's a lot of fun and I've learned a lot, but it is definitely hard work.”

Upcoming educational opportunity:

To help meet the needs of students looking to take their knowledge one step further, SFREC is developing an ongoing educational program focused on livestock and natural resources. The 1^st Annual Beef and Range Field Day will be held on October 8^th, 2014 for high school students in 4-H and FFA. The program will help students make clear connections between beef cattle, range management and water quality and availability; issues commonly dealt with on a working ranch. Stay tuned for more information as we roll out this program!

Youth and adults looking for additional resources, can visit the 4-H Youth Development Program for free curriculum and project sheets pertaining to animal and environmental sciences. Guides for livestock care can be found for several animal species through the UC Davis, Veterinary Medicine Extension program.

SFREC was in need of a pair of interested, capable, and flexible hands for the summer to help with a renewed effort to communicate the broad array of activities currently underway and outline the many opportunities for research, education and outreach at the Center.  We were fortunate to hire Maddison Easley for the job.  With strong roots in the local agricultural community and an accomplished Agricultural Communications student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, she is a perfect fit for the position.

This summer she will be working towards developing a program at SFREC that better facilitates efforts with the local 4-H, FFA and Farm Bureau communities.  Some of Maddison's broad goals include:

1)      Communicate what SFREC has to offer researchers, educators and the broader agricultural community

2)      Connect those interested in rangeland management, watersheds, beef management, and other focused agricultural and natural resource based topics with SFREC

3)      Confirm relationships to encourage long-lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships

When asked about a guiding philosophy for her career development Maddison quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”  Many of us can relate to this mindset as a stimulus of agricultural innovation and the larger entrepreneurial mindset driving our agricultural and natural resource communities.  She is off to great things, wish her well when you have a chance.