Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
If you are in the cattle business and you are looking at reducing your livestock production costs, or even at entering into mutually beneficial business relationships with crop producers, you may want to take in one of the four 2006 Cow-Calf Management Schools that will take place around the province later this month.
Kathy Lang, a beef economist at the Western Beef Development Centre (WBDC), is one of the organizers.
“The WBCD has been the main planner for the last six years, but we are working with an organizing committee this year that includes three representatives from Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF), livestock and forage agrologists, and we have a producer on our organizing committee. So it is truly a collaborative effort.
“These are one-day schools. They will start at 10:00 a.m. to allow producers to have a chance to finish their chores in the morning. It’ll start out with a marketing and economics session and two speakers.”
The first session is entitled Market Timing with Bob Brady at 10:00 a.m.
“It’ll run for an hour and a half,” explains Lang. “He will talk about market trends and historical trends in the cattle market that can help you make your decisions on when to take your calves to the market.
“Following up, I will be speaking on the importance of knowing your costs of production and record keeping, and getting yourself enrolled in the Verified Beef Production Program that is available through the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and Quality Starts Here.”
Then, WBDC Senior Research Scientist Bart Lardner will elaborate on implementing winter-feeding sites into beef operations in order to decrease winter feeding costs.
“He will be referencing some research conducted at the Termuende Research Farm winter feeding sites on both pasture lands as well as some research trials on barley cropland involving feeding the cows on the cropland,” notes Lang. “Following this, we hope to have a veterinarian coming to talk about herd health issues.
“We will also have SAF beef economist Sandy Russell. She will provide a cattle market update for participants. She will go over some of the markets as they stand at the end of February, when the schools are on. The day will wrap up with a producer from the area or elsewhere in Saskatchewan who will share his or her insight on management practices implemented on their operation, that have brought them financial and production benefits.”
The interest in winter-feeding may have been around for some time, but a renewed need to compile research numbers seems to have emerged lately, in order to measure successes in this field, says Lang.
“In the current research trial, we are feeding those cows on cropland. We’ll be looking at impacts such as the possibility of working out agreements with neighbours with available cropland, thereby bringing the benefits of the manure that the cows are leaving out there to the landowners, while producers get the benefit of a cheaper feed source without the extra labour of feeding cows behind their barn.”
These schools have been going on since 2000. So far, close to 700 producers have taken advantage of the knowledge that is shared at those events. It is a way for them also to hone their business skills, concludes Lang.
The schools this year will take place in Tisdale, February 21; Lloydminster, February 23; Swift Current, February 28; and Weyburn, March 2.
The agenda and registration form can be downloaded on the WDBC website at: www.wbdc.sk.ca
For more information, contact: