By Caitlin Hayes
On an evening in late July, eight heifers awaited inspection at Hidden Canyon Farms, a 60-head beef cattle farm in Lyons, New York, in front of an audience of 35 New York state beef producers. With a cowboy hat and Southern accent relaying his rural Virginia roots, Adam Murray, Cornell’s new beef cattle extension specialist, stepped in to perform a live assessment of the animals as well as analyses of DNA test results and other metrics, to demonstrate how livestock farmers can integrate multiple tools to improve their animals.
It was just the kind of programming that New York state beef producers need, according to Sue Olson, who co-owns Hidden Canyon Farms with her husband, Steve Olson.
“You could actually see things instead of looking at a PowerPoint,” she said. “That transferred knowledge of what’s coming in the industry, what’s working and doesn’t work, is vital to us as U.S. beef producers, and I know how important universities are in that knowledge transfer.”
The talk in July was one of many outreach efforts laying the groundwork for PRO-LIVESTOCK, a new Cornell program that aims to support New York state livestock farmers, beginning with cattle, goat and sheep farmers. The Department of Animal Science, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), launched the program earlier this year and put out an official press release this summer.
Source : cornell.edu