STOCKTON, Mo. — “The Missouri gold standard for heifer development is the Show-Me-SelectTM (SMS) Replacement Heifer Program,” says Patrick Davis MU Extension Livestock Field Specialist. MU Extension provides education on heifer development through the program and works with program participants to market bred heifers from the program at annual sales. In preparation for the upcoming May sale at Joplin Regional Stockyards MU Extension will be holding a program informational meeting on March 18th at the SW MU Research, Extension, and Education Center, 14538 State Rd H, Mount Vernon, MO 65712, at 7:00 p. m.
The SMS Replacement heifer program has over 25 years of history in educating cattle producers on heifer development strategies in the areas of management, reproduction, and genetics to create a reliable source of quality replacement heifers. Furthermore, this program works with marketing facilities in MO to market a portion of these bred heifers.
“As SW MO cattle herds rebuild following drought, heifer development will be an important part of the cattle industry,” says Davis. This may cause cattle producers to want to develop and market bred heifers to fill industry need and add value to their cattle operation.
Cattle producers in SW MO interested in participating in the SMS program for educational and bred heifer marketing purposes should attend this informational meeting which will discuss program requirements, MU Extension involvement, and answer questions related to the program. Also, new MU Extension state beef cattle reproduction and genetic specialists Dr. Thiago Martins and Dr. Jamie Courter will provide brief presentations on programming that they are doing with the program.
“A portion of the meeting will also be dedicated to planning the upcoming SW MO SMS sale on May 17th at 7 p. m. at Joplin Regional Stockyards near Carthage, MO,” says Davis. There will be a discussion on sale finances and advertising. Also, consigners will provide an estimate on the number of heifers they plan to sell and pick for sale order.
Davis encourages people selling heifers in the May 17th sale or interested in participating in the program to attend the meeting. If you plan to attend, please contact the Cedar County MU Extension Center by March 15th at (417) 276-3313 or Davis by email at [email protected].
