Three ISU ANR Extension awards go to Iowa Beef Center team members
(top l-r) Jay Harmon, Jessie Soderstrum, Chris Clark.
(bottom l-r) Mike Witt, Jay Harmon, Erika Lundy-Woolfolk.
12/6/23
AMES, Iowa – Three Iowa Beef Center team members were recently recognized for programming and reporting excellence through Iowa State University Ag and Natural Resources Extension. The awards were presented during the annual professional development event in October.
IBC extension beef specialist Erika Lundy-Woolfolk and former IBC director and extension feedlot specialist Dan Loy received the ANR Program Innovation Award for the Feedlot Short Course. The three-day event began in 2017 and has since attracted 160 participants from 12 states representing more than 12 million head of cattle. In the first five years of the limited-attendance program, participants reported an estimated $90.2 million return to producers.
IBC extension beef specialist Chris Clark and Boone County extension staff member Jessie Soderstrum received one of two ANR Success Story Awards. They used a variety of methods to identify needs for young, beginning and small producers, and for youth to get started in agriculture and livestock production. Beef Management 101 was the result and 100% of attendee respondents said they were at least somewhat likely to adopt new practices or make changes in their operations based on what they learned.
Lundy-Woolfolk and Mike Witt, extension field agronomist based in Guthrie County, received the second of the two ANR Success Story Awards. They worked together on the Stalk Testing in Western Iowa program, created in response to drought conditions to increase awareness and share information to farmers and cattle producers on managing risks of feeding silage with high nitrate levels. Representing 6000 acres of silage in western Iowa, surveys showed every participant understood they could contact an ISU extension specialist with questions about feeding silage, and 95% said the knowledge they gained from the program improved their operations.
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The Iowa Beef Center at Iowa State University was established in 1996 with the goal of supporting the growth and vitality of the state’s beef cattle industry. It comprises faculty and staff from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine, and works to develop and deliver the latest research-based information regarding the beef cattle industry. For more information about IBC, visit www.iowabeefcenter.org.
Contact:
Sherry Hoyer, Iowa Beef Center, 515-294-4496, shoyer@iastate.edu
