Alabama Ecology of Grazing Lands Short Course: An Interagency Training Effort on Improved Forage Management Practices.

A series of three, two-day hands-on workshops related to forage ecosystem management and sustainability were held from May 2016 through May 2017 for USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service – Alabama (NRCS) personnel and Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES) extension agents in Alabama. The goal of these workshops was to provide experiential learning opportunities related to forage management for technical service providers with these agencies. Both in-classroom and hands-on demonstrations were used to illustrate grazing management concepts, soil-plant animal evaluation practices, and facilitate group problem-solving and discussion. Topics included understanding basic plant physiology and growth in grazing systems, grazing methods, forage and weed identification, pasture and animal condition scoring, and environmental impacts on these systems. Workshops were held at Auburn University Agricultural Research and Extension Centers around the state (EV Smith Research Center, Shorter, AL and the Black Belt Research and Extension Center, Marion Junction, AL) during different times of the year to illustrate various growing seasons, plant adaptation, and soil conditions representative of Alabama farms. Pre- and post-course surveys (n = 67 responses over 3 trainings) were conducted with the participants at each workshop using a clicker-based response system to determine change in knowledge, behavior, and application of the information within their respective organization. Of the participants from the training series, 55% were from USDA NRCS and 45% were from ACES. Forty nine percent of the participants had less than 5 years of experience with their respective organization, illustrating the program reached a large group of newer employees within each group. Attendees reported that outdoor, hands-on demonstrations related to grazing management concepts were the most effective in improving their knowledge of forage practices (68%), followed by indoor group discussions (17%) and classroom lectures (15%). Field demonstrations on pasture assessment, grazing methods, and silvopasture were listed as the most useful to participants (56%), whereas 17% indicated that weed control and 22% stated that conducting forage mass estimations would be most applicable to their client needs. Participants were highly likely (65%) or likely (35%) to share these practices with farmers during farm site visits and one-on-one consultation with clientele in the next 12 months following these programs. These results indicate that joint in-service training opportunities among university and government organizations may benefit communication, understanding, and application of forage management practices in on-farm settings.