MOSCOW — A University of Idaho meat science research team has secured a three-year grant to provide training for beginning ranchers throughout the Northwest.
The $479,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture will fund a series of regional workshops titled “Beef 101: Pacific Northwest Beginning Rancher Development Program.”
The team’s goal is to host about six workshops serving 180 producers combined per year. One-day workshops will focus on issues relating to livestock production. A workshop will be hosted in late May in Moscow, covering topics such as livestock breeding, genetic selection, animal health, grazing, land management, diversifying a business, financial planning, beef quality assurance, vaccinations, food safety, beef markets and livestock evaluation.
The UI team includes Jessie Van Buren, Michael Colle, Lauren Christensen, Meranda Small, Audra Cochran, Brett Wilder and Phil Bass. Participants in the workshops will have the opportunity to have soil and forage samples from their operations analyzed. The grant will also pair new ranchers with experienced mentors in the industry and will cover site visits, during which experts from the team will go to individual operations to make assessments.
Grant funds recently helped Small, who is the extension agent in Idaho County, provide training to young producers with the Student Idaho Cattle Association. Some funds will be used to purchase teaching tools and props, such as a replica cow used to demonstrate fetal dystocia, which occurs when abnormal fetal size or positioning complicates delivery.
The Idaho Cattle Association authored a letter of support for the grant, vowing to help recruit beginning producers to participate.
“Everybody on the team has connections with younger producers in the state, so that was one of the targets,” added Van Buren, a UI Extension Educator serving Latah County, who had the primary responsibility for writing the grant.
