The 1st Annual Beef & Range Field Day, hosted by SFREC was a great success. Over 120 students from 4-H and FFA programs in Butte, Nevada, Placer, Yuba and Sutter Counties participated to learn about livestock production and natural resource management. 

The event kicked off with an inspirational address from California State Senator, Jim Nielsen, who applauded students for taking an interest in agriculture and encouraged each of them to actively support agriculture and food production in their future endeavors.

Participants had the opportunity to venture out onto the SFREC landscape and engage in workshops that focused on how livestock producers work to carefully manage the resources in their care. UC Davis veterinarian, Bret McNabb demonstrated practices for safe cattle handing and led students through a beef cattle health evaluation activity.  Students participated in activities led by Theresa Becchetti,

UCCE Livestock & Natural Resource Advisor, that highlighted the factors that can impact water quality. While discussing pasture management techniques, Roger Ingram, UCCE County Director, engaged students in an exercise to calculate the stocking rate of specific pastures. Finally, Andrew Brown of the UC Davis Soils and Biogeochemistry program talked to attendees about the importance of soil and the factors that can impact soil quality. 

SFREC would like to sincerely thank the presenters and volunteers who helped to make this event such an outstanding learning opportunity for local high school students. 

Thank you to the 1st Annual Beef and Range Field Day sponsors:

Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau

Farm Credit West