OSU Cooperative Extension honors three from SW District

Friday, January 31, 2014

Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service agricultural educators Marty New of Comanche County, Max Galloway of Stephens County and Aaron Henson of Tillman County have been named the 2014 recipients of the statewide organization’s Outstanding Field Staff and Program Contribution Team Award.

“Marty, Max and Aaron are much deserving of this award, one of the most prestigious recognitions we confer,” said James Trapp, OCES associate director. “The three were honored for their leadership roles in making the Cattle Trails Cattle Conference one of Extension’s great success stories.”

A joint effort of Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, the conference takes full advantage of expertise at both land-grant institutions to help cow-calf producers and stocker cattle operators maximize the profit potential of their specific business enterprises by providing the latest science-based knowledge relative to a wide range of key production and management aspects.

Evaluations indicate 64 percent of responders intended to make a change to their current production or marketing plans based on knowledge gained through the conference. Since its inception, the twice-a-year conference has had an estimated economic impact of more than half-a-million dollars. Conference sessions held in early fall concentrate on stocker cattle enterprises while those presented in January focus on cow-calf operations.

“It isn’t uncommon for one state’s Cooperative Extension Service to utilize another state’s faculty, specialists and educators for speaking engagements; what is rare is for two states to come together to plan, design, implement and evaluate an entire program,” Trapp said.

Bob LeValley, OSU Cooperative Extension director for the state’s Southwest District, agreed, adding while the logistics involved may have been daunting, the benefits to each state’s cattle producers and related agribusiness clientele have been worth the effort.

“Each member carried with them a ‘failure is not an option’ mentality, recognizing the need to provide solutions to what was and remains regional challenges relative to cattle production and management not bound by state borders,” LeValley said. “The whole really has been greater than the sum of its parts, and the success of our Cattle Trails Cattle Conference helped foster the creation of this year’s initial Red River Crops Conference in January.”

Cattle and calves are the number one agricultural commodity produced in Oklahoma, accounting for more than half of total agricultural cash receipts, according to National Agricultural Statistics Service data.