Rachel Bauer of Bastrop County has received a 2014 Superior Service Award in the county agent category. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)
COLLEGE STATION — Rachel Bauer, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent for agriculture and natural resources in Bastrop County, has received a 2014 Superior Service Award in the county agent category.
Superior Service Awards recognize AgriLife Extension faculty and staff members who provide outstanding performance in AgriLife Extension education or other outstanding service to the organization and to Texans. The award was presented Jan. 6 during the Texas A&M AgriLife Conference in College Station.
Bauer has worked for AgriLife Extension for 21 years in Comal, Hays, Caldwell and Bastrop counties. According to her nomination, she has provided leadership in beef cattle, forages, pecans, horticulture and natural resource education for landowners through educational programs, tours, mass media and the Master Naturalist volunteer program.
“Bastrop County is still considered rural, but is dealing with population growth, land fragmentation issues, drought/wildfire recovery, groundwater issues and maintaining agricultural profitability,” the nomination states. “Under the guidance of (her) agriculture and horticulture program area committees, Bauer has done extensive in-depth programming in these areas in the past five years of her Extension career in the county.”
In 2008, Bauer began meeting with the Bastrop County emergency management coordinator, who requested a drought task force be formed to discuss drought impacts on agricultural producers and businesses in the county. Under Bauer’s leadership, the task force has met every other month, keeping county officials abreast of drought conditions, and guiding the need for state requests for disaster assistance for the county. As the drought continued into 2008 and 2009, she worked with local veterinarians on cattle health issues in the county and surrounding area relating to drought and unmet nutritional needs of cattle.
As drought conditions worsened and brought another disaster — the 2011 wildfires – Bauer worked with the county, Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Department of Agriculture, Independent Cattlemen’s Association of Texas, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and many other organizations and volunteers who contributed feed, hay, equipment, staging, storage, fuel, transportation and manpower resources to support affected livestock producers.
She mobilized a county livestock supply point, which was in operation for 22 days, She also worked with the Texas Department of Agriculture’s “Operation No Fences” program to provide additional funding of over $55,000 for fencing materials to affected landowners. Currently, she continues to work with landowners in post-fire revegetation efforts and invasive plant and pest management.
In 2013, Bauer worked with Dr. Larry Redmon, an AgriLife Extension specialist in soil and crop sciences, in addition to a local veterinarian to investigate an instance of prussic acid poisoning in Tifton 85 that was theretofore undocumented in the county. She provided support to owners of Tifton 85 pastures, addressed the situation at educational meetings and handled media inquiries and questions from concerned landowners.
She also helped address the recent vesicular stomatitis outbreak in Bastrop County by informing landowners of its potential impact through her newsletter and work with the Texas Animal Health Commission. Bauer also has conducted a series of programs each year on drought recovery, drought management, beef cattle nutrition and rebuilding the beef herd. A total of 941 landowners attended 16 educational series programs during this time, and evaluations show attendees gained economic benefit from increasing production and reducing management costs.
Bauer also conducts annual soil and hay testing campaigns to test forages bought or produced in the county, as well as testing forages nitrate levels. She also has been active in feral hog control, conducting a hog damage survey in which 55 landowners participated. She also conducts yearly pecan field days and programs on home vegetable gardening, organic gardening, and olive and pomegranate production, plus conducting annual water well testing campaigns and supporting the Lost Pines Master Naturalist chapter in their training and community service efforts across the county. Additionally, she has assisted 4-H youth involved in livestock and leadership projects and has given subject matter training to youth on various agricultural and horticultural topics.
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