Goochland workshop to boost soil, forage and herd health

Why the cancelled workshop mattered

The Herd Health & Forage Improvement for Animal Production workshop was set for Wednesday, May 13, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to noon at 2748 Dogtown Road, but Virginia Cooperative Extension marked it cancelled because of low registration. That cancellation matters because the class was not a general lecture, it was pitched as practical training for animal producers who want better results from the land and the livestock that depend on it.

The program’s logic was straightforward and economically important. Extension said better soil health improves forage health and quality, which supports herd health, and that producers would also learn about alternative forages during stress or drought, more efficient grazing, the nutrient needs of different forage species, improved weight gains and higher profits. In a county where margins are tight and pasture quality shapes feed costs, that kind of instruction can translate directly into production decisions.

Why Goochland feels the gap

Goochland has real agricultural stakes in a workshop like this. The county’s comprehensive plan says Goochland should remain 85 percent rural and 15 percent designated growth, and the 2035 plan says the 2012 Census of Agriculture counted 315 farms and 50,142 acres of farmland, about 27 percent of county land. The same plan says both the number of farms and the acreage in agriculture have declined since 2007, which makes producer education more important, not less.

County materials also make clear that agriculture here is broader than cattle alone. Goochland says local agriculture includes livestock, poultry, crops, craft beverages, equestrian uses and farmers markets, and it has paired that identity with the ACRES initiative, meant to improve accessibility, connectivity, readiness, education and sustainability for the agricultural community. In other words, the cancelled class sat inside a bigger county effort to keep rural land productive and profitable.

Why the location made sense

The venue was not random. Goochland County identifies 2748 Dogtown Road as the Central High Cultural and Educational Complex, home to the Goochland County Cooperative Extension office and the Monacan Soil and Water Conservation District. The county says the Agricultural Center at the site includes 6,800 square feet of space, a demo and programming kitchen, lab space and interactive exhibits focused on local agricultural resources and services.

That setup matters because it turns the Dogtown Road campus into a practical farm support hub, not just a meeting room. Goochland County describes the Agricultural Center as a catalyst for sharing and providing information for the agricultural community, and the county’s Extension office is the local connection to Virginia Tech and Virginia State University. For producers who needed pasture guidance, herd-health advice or forage troubleshooting, the class would have been anchored in the right place.

What to do now if you needed the guidance

The most direct contact is the Goochland Extension Office itself. The office lists Skye Brickhouse as the Agriculture and Natural Resources agent, with the office line at 804-556-5841 and email skyeb@vt.edu. If you were planning to attend for herd, forage or soil questions, that is the first number to call for next steps and any update on future programming.

If your immediate need is soil testing, forage sampling or livestock management support, Powhatan’s Extension office offers a useful backup. Its local programs page says soil test boxes and forms are available there, the office has a gas drill and hay probe for forage sampling, and it can help you use digital livestock scales to track cattle, sheep or goats and understand weight gains and production. Rachel Henley is listed as the contact for that resource at 804-598-5640.

Nearby extension options worth watching

For a sooner livestock-related option, Virginia State University Extension still lists a May 14 virtual session called Small Ruminant Guardian Animals: Choosing a Good Protector. The same events page also lists Identifying Weeds on Your Farm for May 20 at 26230 Orange Spring Rd., giving producers another hands-on management class within the same week. Those are not a substitute for the Goochland workshop, but they do offer practical guidance while local scheduling resets.

A more Goochland-specific follow-up is already on the calendar for later in the year: the 2026 Goochland County Virginia Household Water Quality Program. The clinic will have kit pickup on October 6 and sample drop-off on October 7 at 2748 Dogtown Road, costs $70 per kit, and returns confidential results with an explanation of what they mean, plus guidance on correcting problems. For producers who manage wells, springs or cisterns on the farm, that is a useful extension service to keep in view.

The larger lesson for Goochland producers

The cancellation is a reminder that even highly practical farm education can disappear when registration stays too low to run a small class. But the underlying need has not gone away: Goochland still has a county government that says it wants to support farmers, an Extension office tied to Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, and an Agricultural Center built to move information quickly to the people who need it most. The next useful step for producers is simple: use the office, use the testing tools, and watch the county and Extension calendars for the next soil, forage or herd program that fits the farm’s season.