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July 6, 2001
Beef Cattle Short Course
August 6-8
The 47th annual Beef Cattle Short Course is scheduled for Aug. 6-8 at Texas A&M University and is expected to attract more than 2,000 cattlemen across Texas and the United States.
This year's short course will include expert speakers and discussion on foreign animal diseases, such as foot-and-mouth and "Mad Cow," according to Dr. Larry L. Boleman, conference coordinator and a beef cattle specialist with the Texas Cooperative Extension.
"We're going to bring in speakers from across the state and talk about the kind of (foreign animal disease) program we have in place and what we would do if we had to go into some plan of action," Boleman said. "I've assembled people who have been to Europe and have done case studies on how the Europeans have responded to these outbreaks. We're going to spend a good part of our general session looking at those diseases. Later, Dr. Linda Logan with the Texas Animal Health Commission will put all of what we've talked about together."
The beef short course is recognized as the state's focal point for beef cattle information and education. The two- and-one-half day long beef educational program includes a cattlemen's college as well as symposiums, workshops and live cattle demonstrations.
The educational training will be taught by more than 40 different cattle experts. On Monday, seminars and mini-symposiums will be taught covering a wide variety of topics, including basic ranch management, carcass trait evaluation, grazing management, and management for specialized marketing programs for preconditioned or backgrounded calves. A pesticide applicator training special session is also scheduled the first day of the short course.
Concurrent mini-symposiums and seminars will also be offered the first day. That afternoon at 3 p.m., the opening general session will be held, followed by the Tuesday morning general session. Tuesday afternoon's general session will include beef quality assurance training for producers who have not previously received Level 1 training from across the state.
A specialized in-depth training program for producers who have already completed Level 1 Beef Quality Assurance has been developed by the Texas A&M University Beef Quality Faculty Committee and will include National Beef Carcass Quality, breed type, nonfed cattle and Ranch-to-Rail evaluation.
Cattlemen's College will resume Wednesday morning with mini-symposiums and workshops that will offer producers a more hands-on learning environment. Mini-symposiums will cover replacement heifer selection, development and beef cattle health management. Live cattle workshops will include a beef cattle management working demonstration, training in beef cattle performance and financial record management.
"Attendees may choose between the seminars and workshops based on their specialized needs in training and actually design their own personalized curriculum," Boleman said. "The seminars and mini-symposiums are in-depth management training with the latest technology, and the workshops are more hands-on, visual demonstrations with live cattle and the most current cutting-edge information."
Dr. Rick Machen, Extension livestock specialist, has developed a comprehensive Basic Ranch Management program. The workshop will serve as a training session for new or novice beef producers, with discussions on "Producing a Calf Everybody Wants," "Beef Marketing 101—The Basics," a nutrition program based on producers' experiences, and an interactive discussion of grazing pressures and forage resources.
Dr. Joe Paschal, Extension specialist, will coordinate the Expected Progeny Difference (EPD) and Carcass Trait Seminar with a discussion, including a question and answer session, about herd performance, EPDs and carcass evaluation to enhance production and use in selection programs. The mini-symposium will also cover actual ultrasonic and genomic carcass merit evaluation, with the "how tos" of collection, interpretation and use of data.
Dr. David Bade, Extension agronomist, will coordinate the Grazing Management Seminar, with instructors discussing year-round grazing systems, fertilizer prices and use on pastures, utilization of legumes and rangeland grazing management.
Dr. Ted McCollum, Extension specialist, will coordinate a seminar covering total management concepts for preconditioned calves intended for specialized marketing programs. This seminar will include a discussion about preconditioned programs, source verified, backgrounded calves, VAC-45, nutrition of weaned calves, marketing and understanding seasonal price trends and potential influence on economics of preconditioning.
Three beef production workshops will be offered in Wednesday morning's Cattlemen's College. Dr. Todd Thrift, Extension specialist, will coordinate a live beef cattle management working demonstration. The workshop will focus on hands-on management practices for the beef quality assurance programs, vaccination procedures, bull fertility testing and cow herd vaccination and health management practices.
Dr. Chris Skaggs, associate professor and coordinator of the Texas A&M University livestock judging program, will provide a demonstration on live herd sire selection, ultrasound demonstration, and USDA feeder and slaughter grading training, including visual appraisal and performance data evaluation.
Dr. Larry Falconer, Extension economist, will coordinate the beef cattle performance and financial record management workshop. Producers will be provided with information on beef management record-keeping and financial-keeping software, and there will be demonstrations of the various types by academic and industry professionals.
Wednesday morning's Cattlemen's College program will also offer two beef production mini-symposiums. Dr. Buddy Faries, Extension veterinarian, and the Texas A&M University veterinarians, will train producers in a total herd health management program. Johne's disease will also be discussed.
Early course registration will continue until July 27 at $100 per person. Late registration and on-site registration is $120.
For further information or a registration form, go to the Beef Cattle Short Course Web site at http://animalscience-extension.-tamu.edu/beef/shortcourse.html orcontact Carrie Adams, Hollie Gambino, or Loretta Morse at (979) 845-3579 or (979) 845-6931.
