By John F. Grimes
A prominent theme that was discussed at great length at last week's 2014 Cattle Industry Annual Convention in Nashville, TN was the need to grow cattle numbers across all segments of the beef industry. The nation's beef cow herd is at its lowest number in over sixty years. A smaller cow herd has obviously yielded a smaller calf crop which has had a significant impact on the entire industry. Tighter supplies of animals have led to a significant price increases with all classes of cattle. Smaller numbers of cattle have also jeopardized industry infrastructure as there have been significant closings of feedlots and harvest facilities in recent months.
The bottom line is that we simply need more beef cattle produced in the United States to meet domestic and export demand and preserve a healthy long-term infrastructure for the beef industry. The second session of the 2014 Ohio Beef Cattle School will provide important information to help prepare cow-calf producers to produce more high quality calves to help meet the growing nutritional demands of the world's population.
The Feb. 18, 2014 program will feature the topic "Producing More High Quality Calves in a Shorter Amount of Time." Dr. Mike Day, Professor, OSU Department of Animal Sciences and Supervisor of the OSU Beef Center, will address the use of heat synchronization programs, herd sire management, and pregnancy diagnosis as a means to increase conception rates while reducing the length of the breeding season. John Grimes, OSU Extension Beef Coordinator, will review the strategic use of genetics in planned breeding programs to improve fertility and increase calf crop performance.
Jeff Fisher, Extension Educator, ANR, OSU Extension - Pike Co., will be teaching the Beef Quality Assurance portion of the Feb. 18 program. In the Feb. 18 session, Fisher will discuss "Carcass Quality Issues, Cattle Handling and Facilities, and Market Cows and Bulls." Individuals that participate in all three sessions of the 2014 Ohio Beef Cattle School will have received sufficient training to qualify for Ohio's Beef Quality Assurance Program. Participants wishing to become certified for the program will pay a $20 fee to complete the process.
The Ohio Cattlemen's Association (OCA) will also be participating in the Beef School. During each session, representatives from OCA will update the audience about current beef industry issues and upcoming OCA events.
These sessions will follow a similar format used in the past as each session will be broadcast locally via an internet link at a variety of locations around Ohio. If interested in attending one of these host locations, go to the following link to find the list of host locations around the state: http://go.osu.edu/BeefSchool.
Source:osu.edu