By Erika Lundy-Woolfolk Sherry Hoyer
The Iowa Beef Center at Iowa State University and South Dakota State University Beef Extension are partnering to showcase, demonstrate and discuss a variety of new tools and techniques in beef production at a northwest Iowa field day.
The event will be hosted by Aaron Alons of Tallgrass Cattle Company, located at Getting Farms, 2859 Pierce Avenue, Sanborn, on Thursday, June 25. The field day will start at 10 a.m. and wrap up at 2 p.m.
Alons, who raises grass-fed and finished beef for direct sale to consumers, will demonstrate the use of NoFence virtual fencing collars he has been using on the cow herd for more than a year. In addition, he’ll share his experience with securing Environmental Quality Incentives Program funding to implement the collars, as well as incorporating annual forages into the grazing rotation.
Erika Lundy-Woolfolk, beef field specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach, said a unique feature of this event is the SDSU technology trailer packed with a variety of livestock technologies.
“The trailer has animal health monitoring software, water monitoring software, a handheld feed analyzer, drones and much more,” she said. “Additional topics include cybersecurity awareness and applicable precision technologies research and we’ll have a designated time for technology demonstrations.”
Beth Reynolds, program specialist with the Iowa Beef Center, and Randie Culbertson, assistant professor and extension cow-calf specialist at Iowa State, will share updates on ongoing Iowa State research utilizing various technologies, such as 701x ear tags for monitoring grazing behaviors.
Source : iastate.edu