Market Timing is Focus of 2025 Driftless Region Beef Conference in Dubuque

With the national beef cow herd at record low numbers and fed cattle numbers still decreasing, marketing and the future of the cow herd expansion is the timely focus of the 13th annual Driftless Region Beef Conference.

The university extension services in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin team together to offer this conference to educate beef producers. The 13th annual event will be held Jan. 23-24, 2025, at the Grand River Convention Center in Dubuque.

Two keynote speakers will be featured the first afternoon, Dr. Derrell Peel from Oklahoma State University and Dr. Troy Rowan from the University of Tennessee.

Peel will focus on the current cattle cycle, cow numbers, economics, and prospects for herd rebuilding. He'll also give an economic outlook presentation on Friday.

Rowan will discuss the importance of using genetics to build the perfect cow and exploring the essential traits and genetic tools as the industry aims to breed long-lived, productive, and profitable females. He will talk about commercial genomics, and how commercial herds and feeders can take advantage of the additional information generated by genomics. He'll also discuss how commercial herds can leverage crossbreeding to build more productive cows and higher-performing calf crops on Friday.

Also on Thursday, Dr. Marta Kohmann from the University of Wisconsin will speak about pasture and forage planning.

Friday morning will feature four breakout sessions for both cow herd and feedlot topics. Cow room topics are value of crossbreeding, pasture management, heifer development, and weed control. The feedlot room topics are risk management, feeding to a market end point, beefxdairy cattle management, and the impact of erratic feed intakes. The conference wraps up with Peel's market outlook.

The conference’s ever popular “Bull Pen” discussion on Thursday evening after dinner will feature a panel of locker plant managers talking about marketing beef locally.

The early registration fee of $120 per person must be received prior to midnight, Jan. 10. After that date, it increases to $145. See more information on topics, speakers, and lodging on the conference website at https://www.regcytes.extension.iastate.edu/beef/.