Graduate Extension Scholars: Learning the Skills of Silvopastoralism.

Livestock producers often find themselves facing an interesting conundrum: by managing both pastures and forests as monocultures, their livestock suffer from summer heat stress and their woodlands have been invaded by invasive shrubs and trees. Silvopastures, on the other hand, integrate trees for nut or timber with forage livestock production systems, but adoption of this management practice has been limited. However, knowledge transfer has been facilitated through Virginia Tech’s Graduate Extension Scholars program. This program is designed to link the university to high schools by pairing graduate students with agriculture teachers and local county 4H agents around the state. Students prepare and pilot curricula on several topics in coordination with ag teachers “on the ground”. In this specific case, students at Randolph Henry High School (Charlotte County, VA) manage a beef herd and have access to the school’s loblolly pine stand. The curriculum and activities developed for silvopasture implementation included consultation and a site visit with silvopasture resource professionals, timber cruising and determining trees to mark and remove from the stand, soil testing and development of lime and fertilizer recommendations for forage establishment. Learning occurred at multiple levels, as the graduate student gained experience in teaching and curriculum preparation, while the high school students learned about current research topics at one of their state’s land-grant universities along with the forestry and grazing management skills required to implement silvopastures.  Knowledge transfer was not measured directly but is evident, as several parents have asked the high school ag teacher for more information on silvopasture establishment for their farms. The project was compiled into an inquiry-based curriculum for use by other teachers, including sample questions for stimulating student discussion and step-by-step instructions for each activity.