North American Manure Expo week!
I spent most on Monday and Tuesday at the expo site helping with various set up tasks. All the equipment was being dropped off and all of the registration materials were getting organized. Throughout this experience I got to meet all the other volunteers who were from extension programs throughout the US. On Tuesday afternoon I went to a train the trainer program where we were taught how you can teach farmers about manure management in an interactive engaging way. Leslie Johnson from the University of Nebraska developed a board game style class where participants can visualize everything that needs to be considered when applying and transporting manure. There are also worksheets and soil sample results so farmers can practice calculating nutrient needs for specific soils and crops. Although we only had time for some of the exercises I think it is a very effective teaching method to engage class attendees and have them realize their own knowledge gaps. We also spent time talking about how this game could be adapted to our own state since some of the information is focused on Nebraska specific rules.
Wednesday and Thursday I got to the manure expo site by 6:45am and started by getting the first set of continuing education credit sheets ready. On Tuesday I also spent some time helping Frank make sure the education session tents were set up with all the necessary technology working. Throughout the rest of the day I was helping wherever needed and organizing the next credit sheets. I spent a lot of time walking around during the demonstrations with credit sheet clipboards so that people could easily scan or sign them.
Overall the manure expo was very successful. It was fun to see all the different people that came. There were mainly farmers and agricultural consultants but I also saw lots of other people who had professions within soil and water conservation. I also enjoyed the poster session since I got to see people throughout Pro Dairy and NMSP to present their work. At the end of the expo there was a manure spill demonstration where they spilled some manure and added lots of water to show how it would move if it entered a waterway. Then they used a variety of different damming techniques to show how you can prevent spilled manure from entering downstream water inlets.
