Discovering the World of Livestock
If you haven't been out to farms often, there is a lot to learn, and the livestock industry can be especially complex. From managing a dairy herd to ensuring the health and safety of a poultry flock, the challenges animal husbandry, providing a consistent food supply, and maintaining the health of the herds and flocks all rest on the shoulders of farmers and ranchers. Understanding how it all comes together is central to building customer and colleague trust. Grounded in Ag has the courses to take you from day one in agriculture to a place of deep understanding and critical thinking in the details of livestock production and use, diving into beef, dairy, pork and poultry all in-depth.
Learning from the Experts
One of the pieces that drives the impact of Grounded in Ag is that all of the courses and lessons include perspectives from people in the industry who live this day in and day out.
Each course provides decades of experience from trusted experts who live ag, and we ground it throughout the development and publishing process with team members who have recently joined agriculture to ensure the material is understandable and accessible. The full list of experts is on our website, but take a look and you'll see we are loaded up on expertise! You will learn from all of these folks.
A Systems Approach to Building Knowledge Focused on Livestock Production
Our courses are designed to meet people where they are and begin developing the depth of knowledge, vocabulary, and understanding of agriculture that can be elusive to build without focused, structured efforts. For people seeking to understand livestock, we offer our our foundational courses, followed by deep dives into each of the primary livestock sectors in the United States: beef, dairy, pork, and poultry.
Ag 101 Builds the Foundation
The Ag 101 course provides multiple sources across the US to provide you with the basic building blocks you need to understand agriculture, but more than that, we give you the context you need to put that information to work right away. The video modules in this course are designed to help you understand:
- Farmers from the way they set up their businesses to the changes they see happening, and their communities, our roundtable of farmers share insights
- The industry and business as it works in the real world, with individual experts speakings to topics including cash flow, mental health, market channels, and farming organizations
(more than 4 hours running time)
Sustainability Creates the Connections
The Sustainability course will help you understand the intersection of agriculture and sustainability and what that means for people and planet.
- A panel of people involved directly in sustainability from multiple perspectives discuss varying approaches to several critical focus areas – soil, water, carbon & climate, pollinators & wildlife, and people.
- For the panelists who are farmers, we have video visits on each farm highlighting how farmers apply sustainability concepts to their daily work and business decisions
(more than 2 hours running time)
Depth in Livestock Comes Into Focus
Once you have the foundational knowledge of agriculture, we begin layering in depth. The lessons in this course lay the groundwork for livestock and are taught by farmers and experts who have spent years, many even decades in their fields or fields of study. The course is geared around two major areas:
- Day-to-day management - feed, pastures, the decision to keep livestock indoors or out, feed sourcing, genetics and more.
- Animal care and handling - Dr. Temple Grandin talks about maintaining low-stress environments, and veterinarian Dr. Marybeth Feutz talks about health management
(almost 2 hours running time)
Dive Deep Into Each Livestock Sector
Each of our livestock courses give you the depth of knowledge you need to work confidently within each of the segments and builds on all the previously discussed courses. These commodity-specific courses bringing depth of knowledge on producing beef, dairy, poultry, and pork. There are lessons which provide the following basic information:
- Facts and Trivia – Provides entry into the topic connecting to some of the most basic and interesting pieces of information.
- Production for a Year – A visual look at the various points of a "typical" year and animal lifecycle.
- Organizations, Media, and Events to Know – Resources you may want to join, subscribe to or put on the calendar.
In addition to these shared elements, we've collaborated with trusted experts help you see deep inside the sectors and learn beyond what's visible on the surface. Every course includes lessons and interviews with 3-4 of these experts, and every lesson is supplemented with carefully considered downloadables and vetted online resources to reinforce and extend the learning so you can go as deep as you need on each subject.
Take a look below to see what you can expect to learn in each course:
Discover Dairy and Milk Production
- Getting to Know Dairy Farms – We visit two dairy farms and hear from the farmers about the similarities, differences and common goal of producing healthy food.
- Deeper in Dairy Farming – With a lifetime on the farm and studying dairy, Ashley walks us through some of the commonalities & differences layering in more of the why and how decisions are made.
- Dairy Veterinary Health – A veterinarian shares about the critical role vets play on dairy farms and the major health priorities.
- Getting Dairy to the Market – How is the dairy industry set up to get milk from farm, through processing to the market? Let's hear from a coop.
Explore Cattle Management & Beef Production
- An Overview of Beef – We sit down with someone who's worked on farms, ranches, with associations and branding to hear about the various pieces of the industry and how they come together.
- A Look at Cow-Calf Production – A cow-calf operator talks through what happens on family-operated operations like theirs.
- The Role of Feedlots – We visit a family’s backgrounding operation and feedlot, sharing lessons on feed, movement of cattle, etc.
- Connecting Farms to the Market – A look at how beef goes from farm to butcher and retail markets through the microcosm of one farm & meat market.
Get the Lowdown on Pork Production
Our Pork course is in development and will be coming in 2025!
Look forward to courses on managing swine herds, the special challenges that come with biosecurity and animal health, and much more.
With all the other content, you have plenty of to work through until this course drops.
Explore the World of Poultry
Our Poultry course is in production and will be coming soon in 2025!
You can expect insight on both broilers and layers, biosecurity, the challenges of managing chickens, and much more.
Again hours of "prerequisite classes" will be building your knowledge for this course's arrival.
Need More? Learn Both Crops and Livestock
Grounded in Ag has programming that dives deep into livestock sectors and commodity crops. Each livestock and crops course takes a similar approach, building the basics before moving into greater depth and insight, and the full package (more than 30 hours) comes at a reasonable rate. Our full slate of courses includes:
Get the Scoop on Lessons in Our Livestock Program
Want more information? We have a PDF that gives you the detail on lessons built into the Ag 101, Sustainability, Focus on Livestock, and the livestock sector courses. You can also find information on our blog and social media (LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook).
New to ag or taking on a new role in livestock? This program can help you avoid mistakes!
Getting new talent into agriculture is important to help address food production needs and the challenges facing the planet. But without a background in ag, it is far too easy to walk straight into something that leaves a mark on you.
