Ag Event: UW Agriculture Experiment Station hosts field day
Lingle – The University of Wyoming (UW) hosted an open house and field day at the James C. Hageman Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center (SAREC) near Lingle on Aug. 10. The event, free to the public, featured field tours and presentations by UW researchers.
Topics included: grass and legume forage production; weed management in irrigated cropping systems; an irrigated crop rotation study focused on forage production; and a global botanical project examining native range characteristics. The event concluded with a complimentary meal from the Pie Tin Catering and dessert from Bee Chilled, sponsored by C Lock Feeders.
SAREC outreach
“We’re one of four research stations from around the state,” said SAREC Director Steve Paisley. “On average, we have about 75 research projects per year out here involving up to 20 to 25 graduate students from the College of Agriculture.”
“Summers are quite busy here and in the fall, we’ll be having more livestock projects,” he added.
SAREC’s mission is to serve the citizens of Wyoming, the region and nation by facilitating innovative discovery, dissemination and dialogue of integrated agricultural systems that are ecologically sound, economically viable and socially acceptable, reads the UW webpage.
“A part of the land grant mission is to not only conduct the research, but make it applicable and extend the information out to the public,” said Paisley. “A big part of our land grant mission is to be visible to the community and hopefully build the relationship with local producers – if they have any questions, hopefully they can come to us so we can research some of the issues they have.”
The event’s goal was to demonstrate some of the research going on at SAREC, but another part of the event was to start conversations with local producers, he noted.
Currently, the research station is conducting a long-term crop rotational study which stemmed from local producers asking questions. In addition, the research station has spent several years trying to grow soybeans, Paisley explained.
“We’ve always kind of thought – let us figure out some of these things and work through some of these problems and hopefully come up with some solutions,” he said. “Hopefully in a few years we’ll have some of these research projects finalized and start to see some of these things happening.”
Future projects
and involvement
SAREC continues to test feed efficiency with a GrowSafe Feed Efficiency System for not only researchers, but also on a contract feeding basis.
“The feedlot is empty right now, but we keep the feedlot full year-round,” shared Paisley.
SAREC is looking forward to utilizing smart feeders. The research station will be receiving the feeders in the coming months and is looking forward to conducting supplement research.
“In addition, SAREC staff will continue to run the bingo stand during the county fair and we hope to be visible and interactive in the community,” he said.
The center also plans to continue with their “Tators for Tots” program, working with third and fourth grade students from the region this fall.
“We give the students a tour of the facility and we allow them to go and dig up a sack full of potatoes to take home with them. We have sweet corn this year as well,” he said.
This year, SAREC has four acres of potatoes, as they plan to work with the Cent$ible Nutrition program and donate to the Food Bank of the Rockies. New for this upcoming year is SAREC’s leadership role in coordinating the Goshen County Ag Expo educational program.
“We hope to stay relevant and interactive with the community as we move forward,” said Paisley.
Event outcome
During the field day, participants heard updates from UW personnel, listened to poster presentations and spent the afternoon touring SAREC fields to listen to several research projects graduate students are working on.
“We had good attendance but more than anything, we had a lot of good interaction with the poster session between industry representatives, local producers and university personnel – there seemed to be a good reaction among these groups of people – that’s what it takes, communicating some of the issues and some of the challenges,” Paisley concluded. “I’m excited about what’s going on out here at the station – we have great staff, but I also appreciate the administration we have in the college. We have a lot of support from the campus and opportunities with Eastern Wyoming College – I’m excited about the future of our station.”
A date is yet to be determined, but SAREC is looking to host a livestock field day later this fall. For more information on upcoming events, visit uwyo.edu/uwexpstn/centers/sarec/.
Brittany Gunn is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
