Berry’s Picks

By Comanche Extension Agent Michael Berry on Wednesday, April 6, 2022
  • Berry’s Picks
    Berry’s Picks

Spring Dairy DOPA Training

Looking back over 10 years of “Dairy Outreach Program Area Trainings” the rapid influx of new technologies and even just ideas discussed amazes me. 10 years ago, we were talking about manure digesters, robotic dairies, and carbon credits, but at the time these concepts had either been tried and failed or were just not economically feasible. Fast-forward a short 10 years later and every one of these ideas and practices are being adopted by Central Texas dairy families. Agriculture and the dairy industry in particular are always at the forefront on testing and utilizing new technologies to become more efficient at utilizing and conserving resources. This year’s program will be held on Tuesday, April 12th at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Center in Stephenville. Registration for the morning session will begin at 9:30AM and the program will begin at 10:00AM.

For this year’s DOPA program we have put together some knowledgeable specialist to cover topics that dairy families have requested more education on. The program will be broken into two sessions the morning session will offer 2 DOPA credits and will run from 10:00 until 12:00.

Topics and specialist on the morning session includes Dr. Dana Porter, Extension Irrigation Specialist discussing “Irrigating with High Salts from Lagoon Water”, both Justin Benavidez, Extension Economist and Dr. Zong Liu, Extension Manure Specialist will be covering “Anerobic Digesters, Function and Feasibility”.

In the afternoon session Dr. Benavidez will be covering “Carbon Credits in the Dairy Industry”, Dr. Liu will be covering “Compost Bedding” and Gregg Easley, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will be discussing “Permitting Digesters and Methane Gas Projects”. The afternoon session will begin at 1:00PM and finish-up around 4:00PM.

There will be 5 total DOPA credits offered, 2 DOPA credits for the morning session and 3 for the afternoon session. There is no charge and lunch will be sponsored by our excellent local agriculture sponsors. This will be an interesting program, hope to see you there.