Taking Livestock Projects Beyond the Show Ring

TAE4-HA State Meeting

August 5, 2009

Acknowledge the Obvious

• The County Stock Show is the most important thing we do

• In some counties major shows are a close second

• There are only so many hours in a day

Leverage Your Resources• Time Multipliers– Train the Trainer– Asynchronous Communication/Education– Prioritize– Make a plan

• Work Smarter not Harder– Time spent at home is time spent wisely– Use discretion in your decisions

Train the Trainer• Managing County 4-H Livestock and Horse

Projects for Show– The teaching outline and resources are done– The intended audience is new

agents….Volunteers?– Resources are available to everyone: • http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/agents/4Hlivestockprog.html

Train the Trainer (cont.)

• District and Regional Opportunities– Leader College– Multi-County Workshops– MENTOR (QC Gold)• Every office should have one Copy

Asynchronous Communication(pedagogy term)• What is Asynchronous Communication?• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous

(advantages/disadvantages)• Examples of Asynchronous Communication– Youtube– Blogs– Newsletter– Other…..

Prioritizing Work Load

Urgent Not Urgent

Important A•Remove cattle from alfalfa hay•Cattle out of water•Meet deadlines•Replace employees

B•Planning Ranch Buget•Long Range- Ranch Plan•Interview new cowboy•Spend time with family•Exercise•Repair fence•Proper nutrition (me and the cows)

Not Important C•Return phone calls•Some meetings

D•Unannounced visits from sales reps•Some phone calls•Some mail•Television•Lunch at the sale barn

Prioritizing Work Load

Urgent Not Urgent

Important A B

Not Important C D

Make a Plan -POW• Include your workforce• Don’t expect things to be done your way• Set Expectations• Be realistic

Work Smarter not Harder• Where do you focus your time?– Beginning feeder– Experienced feeder– Rules and Regs…Validation– Education

• Use Discretion– Say Yes when you can– Say No when you can’t

After all of this, what’s available?• Vet Science• Beef and Horse Quiz Bowl• Swine Skillathon• Livestock Sweepstakes• Invitation Judging Contests at Roundup