The First New Mexico Cotton Conference was held in Las Cruces. The needs of small farms in an 11-county area are the targets for a project funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and based at the Alcalde Sustainable Agriculture Science Center. Project staff have served as liaisons between community groups and related agencies to improve effectiveness for specific projects. Such groups have included the Northern New Mexico Stockman's Association, Ganados del Valle, the Northern New Mexico Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Costilla Agriculture Producers. The Beef Cattle Shortcourse, Native American Livestock School, Sheep and Wool School, Dairy Producer's Field Day, plus county and area producers' meetings have included topics ranging from herd health to breed selection.
All programs have the goal of increasing profitability.
Herd health practices recommended across the state included control of internal and external parasites, proper vaccination techniques, use of vaccines to develop maximum immunity to diseases, breeding soundness evaluation and pregnancy testing. The Cooperative Extension Service sponsored 14 drought workshops in the spring of 1996. The workshops were designed to help ranchers develop drought survival plans for cattle and sheep enterprises. Approximately 700 livestock managers attended the workshops. Testing of bulls at the Tucumcari Bull Test and testing of rams at the Corona Range Ram Test continues to provide producers with information about the individual growth rate of animals and to compare performance of animals from different ranches.