Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Summary of Annual Meeting: The annual SERA 041 business meeting was held at the ASAS Southern Section Meeting in Oklahoma City, OK on January 27, 2019. Shane Gadberry chaired the meeting and introduced members of the executive committee (Ryon Walker – Kunkle Symposium chair, Shane Gadberry – outgoing chair, Daniel Rivera – incoming chair, Kim Mullenix – secretary). Jennifer Tucker (UGA) was elected as the incoming officer for the group. Mark McCann (UGA) and David White (UT) were not in attendance, but were recognized as the administrative advisors for the group. The business meeting focused on planning for future SERA activities, including the need to work closely with the ASAS Southern Section executive committee to possible partner with other symposia as part of the meeting and/or help gather sponsorship support for the symposium. An updated written plan for the SERA 041 group is due in fall 2019. A writing committee was formed (Lawton Stewart, Matt Hersom, Guillermo Scaglia, Daniel Rivera, and David White), and will develop a written directive for the focus area of the group going forward. Future objectives for the group were discussed including multi-state research, Extension, and symposium initiatives. The focus of these areas will be for multiple states to compile existing databases/work to collect demonstration data that could be published as an applied research dataset.

Accomplishments:

Deep South Stocker Conference.  Key Participants: M. K. Mullenix (Auburn), B. Karisch (Miss State),  L. Stewart (Univ. GA). This was the 10^th annual Deep South Stocker Conference, which was held on July 13, 2019 in Greensboro, AL. There were 115 participants at the program. A survey conducted at the program showed that there was a 19% increase in knowledge related to forages nutrition, calf health management, and marketing economics as a result of this program. Overall, the estimated economic impact of this program was $283,800 in savings to farmers attending. Success in meeting attendance, content delivery, and impact is attributed to strong industry-Extension partnerships for this program. 

2018 Southern Section Extension Forum. A two-day forum was held at the University of Tennessee Middle Tennessee Research and Education Center to foster collaborative efforts between Extension specialists and county/area agents with and across state lines. The forum was attended by 28 specialists and 18 agents from across the Southern Section of ASAS. Topics of discussion included: demonstration research, formal educational development for Extension agents, and collaborating across state lines to develop Extension programs. Needed outputs identified included a resource guide for conducting on-farm research and demonstration work, a regional process for formal distance education for agents, and development of online coursework and training tools for agents for continuing education.

2018 ASAS Southern Section Webinar Series. Key Participants: Shane Gadberry (UA), Kim Mullenix (Auburn), Leanne Dillard (Auburn), Marcelo Wallau (UF), John Jennings (UA), Gary Bates (UT), Jennifer Tucker (UGA). Members of the ASAS Southern Section Extension committee developed a series of webinars for Extension agent training that was delivered via Zoom videoconference in fall 2018. There were six webinars presented from October through November 2018 on forage management basics in the Southeast. Webinars were presented by Extension specialists from around the ASAS Southern Section region.

Online Training Course for Agent Continuing Education. Key Participants: Shane Gadberry (UA) and Kim Mullenix (AU). Webinars from the 2018 ASAS Southern Section Webinar Series were archived into an online that is accessible by Extension agents. The online course is hosted through the University of Arkansas Canvas Catalog platform, and offers a certificate of completion for each module completed. Since its release in January 2019, there have been 9 participants to enroll, and 1 completing the end-of-course exam for a certificate in forage management continuing education. Additional modules will be developed annually on topics such as beef cattle reproduction, nutrition, etc.

Leadership and Cattle Handling for Women Producers.  Key Participants:  April Shaeffer (NC), Brandi Karisch (MS), Matt Burns (SC), Lisa Kriese-Anderson (AL), and Jennifer Tucker (GA). This program targeted at women in the beef industry was founded in North Carolina by April Shaeffer in 2010.  The program was presented in two phases, a one-day introduction to Beef Quality Assurance and Low Stress Handling, and a two-day training featuring more advanced BQA training with certification, tractor and truck-trailer operation, and farm safety.  The program has been very successful and is nationally recognized.  As a result of interactions at the Southern Section ASAS meetings (including SERA-41 meeting) other states with interest in the program joined in a multistate grant from the Southern Risk Management Education center to expand the program regionally.  During 2018 course of the grant workshops were conducted in MS, SC, AL, GA and NC. 

Improving Soil Health on Pasture-Based Livestock Farms.  Key Participants:  Matt Poore (NCSU, Project Director and NC-PI), Dory Franklin (UGA, GA-PI), Johnny Rogers (Project Coordinator), Alan Franzluebbers (NCSU/USDA), Dennis Hancock (UGA), Lawton Stewart (UGA). Cooperators:  University of Georgia and North Carolina State University.  The project has both research and extension objectives. This 4-year project was concluded early in 2019.
Research.  Pastures on private and public farms in both NC and GA were monitored for soil health and spatial distribution of soil nutrients.  Intensive grazing vs lax grazing is being compared in GA, while in NC focus is on soil fertility mapping.  A study evaluating N response in stockpiled fescue as influenced by soil health (CO2 burst and N mineralization) has been completed.  In year 1 there were 24 sites in three states, and in year 2 there were 34 sites in 4 states.  This work showed that soil test biological activity was closely linked to response to nitrogen, and this measure could become an important guide to nitrogen fertilization.  On producer farms in NC and on public farms in both GA and NC we compared simple (one or two species) and complex (6 species) of both winter and summer annuals including their impact on effective forage yields and soil health, and final soil samples were taken in 2018.  There was no consistent short-term benefit of planting a complex mix as compared to a simple mix because soil test biological activity was already high on most of the subject farms.  Extension.  Nine workshops were held on producer and public farms in NC during 2018.  Additionally, the Soil Health principles and project results were carried to audiences across the southeast US.  In total 1321 attendees at 19 conferences and other meetings learned the principles of Soil Health and project results.  In NC 296 attendees of 9 field workshops received hands-on learning opportunities focused on managing Soil Health with Adaptive Grazing Management.  In GA over 400 attendees at 8 workshops were trained on concepts of Soil Health and Adaptive Grazing Management.  Results of the project were presented at the SERA-41 sponsored symposium at the Southern Section ASAS meetings in Oklahoma City in January, 2019.

Tri-State Beef Conference.  Key Participants: Andrew Griffith (University of Tennessee), Deidre Harmon (NC State University), and Scott Greiner (VA Tech).  This conference is a joint effort between the University of Tennessee, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and North Carolina Cooperative Extension.  The conference features the best speakers in the southern region and virtual tours of farms in each of the three states.  In 2018, it focused on beef cattle and policy, health management of stocker cattle and grazing management.

Alliance for Grassland Renewal Novel Fescue Workshops.
Extension.  Key participants.  Craig Roberts (MO), Ray Smith (KY), Matt Poore (NC), John Andrae (SC), Gabe Pent (VA), Tony Stratton (Ag Research USA).  Alliance members:  University of Missouri, University of Kentucky, North Carolina State University, Clemson University, Ag Research USA, Nobel Research Institute, Forage and Grassland Foundation, Inc., USDA-NRCS, Agrinostics, Corteva AgriSciences, DLF Pickseeds, Pennington Seeds, Barenbrug Seeds,  and Mountain View Seeds.

The Alliance for Grassland Renewal is a multi-state collaboration between industry and academia focused on improving the adoption of Novel Endophyte Technology.  Much research across the southern region has shown the benefits of Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue in contrast to Toxic Endophyte Tall Fescue.  The Alliance helps provide regulation for seed quality and sponsors educational workshops across the region.  In 2018 workshops were held in SC, NC, VA, MO and KY, with 214 paid attendees.  An abstract was presented at Southern Section ASAS meeting in Oklahoma City in January, 2019.  The Alliance has been a very impactful model for enhancing the adoption of Novel Endophyte Technology and is expected to expand in 2019 with 6 workshops scheduled.