Farm Visits, Bees, Fair clean up and more.

Here at the Madison County Extension Office we have been staying busy. Last week started with the second meeting of the Madison County Beekeepers group that I started. Between the two meetings over 75 different beekeepers are involved with the group. I had no idea that there was this much interest in the county for this, it is great and I hope the group continues to grow. Brandon and I have even planned a beekeeping field day for them in August with speakers and open hive demonstrations; I am excited and hope it goes well. Tuesday and Wednesday of that week Brandon and I made countless farm visits to tobacco producers who were having trouble with the wet weather. We also made visits to producers on my summer project list that were starting to get some pinkeye break out issues. With the way the weather has been this year it has been shaping up to be a late pinkeye year in the county, but cases are starting to appear now that I am contacting producers. Thursday of that week Agriculture Commissioner James Comer came down to the Richmond Stockyards again, to speak about issues with P.I. calves in the state. The state veterinarian Bob Stout was there along with several other local veterinarians, talking about the issues of P.I. and what options may be looked at for eradication of the problem in the future. It was very neat to see how the Commissioner worked with the producers in the audience and how the meeting went off without a hitch. The Commissioner was also very proud of the newly announced Udderly Milk 100% Kentucky produced milk program. Later on that evening I attended the county’s Cattlemen’s board meeting with Brandon, that also seemed to go very well.

 

The following week began with more farm visits, mainly to those who were having pinkeye issues so I could get some face fly counts, and pictures of active cases. Tuesday Amanda (Horticulture Agent) and I went to visit one of her demonstration plots, which is showing the use of black plastic, the plot is a great way to introduce producers to black plastic production of vegetables. Tuesday and Wednesday were late nights as everyone was getting ready for the fair, we had cleanup of the fairgrounds, and much of it looked as if it hadn’t been touched since last year’s fair. The fair is starting this Thursday for us, and won’t be over until the next Sunday, so the next two weeks will be very busy for us here in Madison County. Thursday of last week we hosted a Chinese delegation for the afternoon and explained to them what we do at the extension office and what extension does across the state and how it is set up. They thoroughly seemed to enjoy the meeting and had plenty of questions. Later that evening Brandon had his Ag council meeting, at the Berea college farm, where the fall field day will be held. The group was able to identify topic areas as well as issues of concern. Well I am excited for another two weeks of extension!