STOCKTON — MU Extension regional livestock and agriculture business specialists have put together a three-night online cattle management workshop series to educate cattle producers on various management and financial strategies for optimum performance of their cattle operation. “Management is key to profitability in a cattle operation,” says Patrick Davis, MU Extension Regional Livestock Field Specialist.
The workshop series will begin on Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. with a discussion of general winter cattle feeding management. Topics covered will include:
- cattle nutritional management including grazing management and supplementation strategies
- forage testing and understanding a forage test
- hay feeding strategies to reduce hay wastage
- economics of hay versus grazing and using winter annuals to improve the grazing season
- economics of cattle supplementation
The second night of the workshop series will be Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. with a discussion on winter cow-calf operation feeding management. Topics covered will include:
- feeding cows and calves through the winter
- weaning calf management including creep feeding and proper weaning time
- cow body condition score management
- identifying and culling cows to improve the herd and economics of the operation
- economics of weaned calves
- economics of raising versus purchasing replacement heifers
The final night of the workshop series will be Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. with a discussion on winter stocker cattle operation feeding management. Topics covered will include
- nutritional and grazing management for optimum gain
- supplementation strategies including discussion of hay and grain-based supplements as well as additives
- preconditioning and vaccination programs
- use of implant to improve performance
- economics of retaining calves after weaning or direct sale
The workshops are free to the public but registration is required to attend the workshops. You can sign up for each individual workshop or sign up for all three. Registration to attend the workshops needs to be done at https://extension2.missouri.edu/events/online-cattle-management-workshop-series one day prior to the workshop that you plan to attend. These workshops will be done on the ZOOM platform so once you register a ZOOM link will be provided so that you can attend the workshop. For any questions or issues related to registration contact Patrick Davis at [email protected] or by phone at (417) 955-0287.
