Three Iowa Beef Center Team Members Recognized at Extension Conference

Dec 11, 2023

By Erika Lundy-Woolfolk and Sherry Hoyer

Three Iowa Beef Center team members were recently recognized for programming and reporting excellence in Agriculture and Natural Resources with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. The awards were presented during the annual professional development event in October.

Extension beef specialist Erika Lundy-Woolfolk and former Iowa Beef Center director and extension feedlot specialist Dan Loy received the ANR Program Innovation Award for the Feedlot Short Course.

The three-day event began in 2017 and has since attracted 160 participants from 12 states representing more than 12 million head of cattle. In the first five years of the limited-attendance program, participants reported an estimated $90.2 million return to producers.

Extension beef specialist Chris Clark and Boone County extension staff member Jessie Soderstrum received one of two ANR Success Story Awards. They used a variety of methods to identify the needs of young, beginning and small producers, and for youth to get started in agriculture and livestock production.

Their Beef Management 101 program was the result and 100% of attendee respondents said they were at least somewhat likely to adopt new practices or make changes in their operations based on what they learned.

Lundy-Woolfolk and Mike Witt, an extension field agronomist based in Guthrie County, received the second of the two ANR Success Story Awards. They worked together on the Stalk Testing in Western Iowa program, created in response to drought conditions to increase awareness and share information to farmers and cattle producers on managing risks of feeding silage with high nitrate levels.

Representing 6,000 acres of silage in western Iowa, surveys showed every participant understood they could contact an extension specialist with questions about feeding silage, and 95% said the knowledge they gained from the program improved their operations.

Source : iastate.edu

Video: Season 7, Episode 1: Managing Risk and Seeing Opportunities in U.S. Pork Production

Today’s episode features three guests discussing the similarities and differences between pork production in the United States and Brazil, along with strategies for managing risk in today’s industry while recognizing and acting on opportunities. First, Dr. Anne Caroline de Lara, executive manager of live pig production at Seara Alimentos, a JBS company in Brazil, is joined by Dr. Matthew Turner, head of operations for JBS Live Pork. Together, they discuss how labor, climate and ventilation challenges vary between Brazil and the United States, while underscoring their shared commitment to raising healthy pigs. They also point to lessons producers in both countries can take from one another’s systems and on-farm experiences. Then, Brady Reicks, risk manager at Reicks View Farms, shares his perspective on risk management, drawing from his background in markets and his transition into farming. He discusses how protecting margins varies by operation and offers practical approaches producers can use to make marketing and business decisions with greater confidence rather than hesitation.

Both conversations were recorded at recent industry events focused on swine livability, including the International Conference on Pig Livability and Iowa Swine Day.