|
April 21 Batesville Station Field Day Puts The Focus On Heifers
A field day April 21 at the Livestock and Forestry Research Station near Batesville will focus on heifers.
U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Mary Hightower
BATESVILLE, ARK.
The April 21 field day at the Livestock and Forestry Research Station near Batesville is putting the focus on heifers.
“More and more producers are keeping heifers for replacements to be sold,” said Don Hubbell, station director. “Some seedstock producers have realized extra income by developing their heifers, keeping what they need or want and selling the rest as bred heifers for an increased dollar amount over selling at weaning or selling as open females.”
That makes “management, health, selection and breeding decisions important players in having a successful heifer development program, which is our focus for this year’s field day,” he said.
There’s plenty at stake. Cattle and calves in Arkansas were a $415 million business in 2018, according to the Arkansas Agriculture Profile. (See: https://division.uaex.edu/docs/2019-AR-Ag-profile.pdf)
There is no cost to attend, but participants are asked to RSVP by Friday, April 17, to ensure the correct head count for lunch. The station, part of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, is located at 70 Experiment Station Drive, Batesville. To register, call (870) 793-7432.
This year’s program begins with registration at 9 a.m. The agenda will be:
• 9:15 a.m. – Welcome
• 9:30 a.m. – Health considerations for replacement heifers, Jeremy Powell, DVM and professor-animal science, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
• 10 a.m. – Nutritional management for replacement heifers, Shane Gadberry, professor-ruminant nutrition, Division of Agriculture
• 10:30 a.m. – Break
• 10:45 a.m. – Mineral supplementation for replacement heifers, Beth Kegley, professor-animal science, Division of Agriculture
• 11:15 a.m. – Epigenetics: How do they affect replacement heifer temperament? Brittni Littlejohn, post-doctoral associate, Mississippi State University
• 11: 45 a.m. – Lunch
• 12:30 p.m. – Relocate to the main working barn
• 12:45 p.m. – Physical Reproductive markers in replacement heifers, Charles Looney, professor-cattle improvement, Division of Agriculture
• 1:30 p.m. – Phenotype associated with productive replacement heifer selection, Bryan Kutz, instructor and extension youth/livestock specialist, and Brittni Littlejohn.
The April 21 field day is just one of the Division of Agriculture field days being offered throughout the spring and summer. The full field day schedule can be found here: https://aaes.uark.edu/events/. ∆
|
|