By Dr. Bruno Pedreira
Leading the UT Beef and Forage Center (UTBFC) this past year has been a rewarding experience, made possible with the great support of David McIntosh as our coordinator. Over the year, I’ve learned more about Tennessee’s forage and livestock industries, built strong connections with agents and farmers, and worked to improve the Center’s activities. Our goal remains the same: to support Tennessee’s beef and forage producers by providing research and sharing practical, science-based information.
In 2024, we reached some exciting milestones. We launched the Live.Stock Podcast and Companion, which you can find at utbeef.tennessee.edu/live-stock, giving producers access to helpful and engaging content. Our YouTube channel also grew, with 23.2K views, over 1,000 hours of watch time, and an increase in subscribers from 322 to 641. The UTBEEF.COM website received 171K views from 139K unique users. Social media allowed us to share timely information, including a post about armyworms in pastures that reached over 70,000 people and was shared nearly 300 times. We also continued sharing articles with Tennessee Cattle Business Magazine, which reaches over 7,000 producers across the state.
The Forage Laboratory analyzed more than 1,500 forage samples for producers and processed over 9,000 research samples using NIRS technology, saving nearly $400,000 compared to traditional testing methods.