River Valley Beef Cattle Conference To Focus On Efficiency
This year’s River Valley Beef Cattle Conference will focus on efficiency, presenting the latest recommendations
for cattle producers looking to keep costs down and profits up.
Division of Agriculture photo
This year’s River Valley Beef Cattle Conference will focus on efficiency, presenting the latest recommendations for cattle producers looking to keep costs down and profits up.
Division of Agriculture photo
TRACY COURAGE
MORRILTON, ARKANSAS
This year’s River Valley Beef Cattle Conference will focus on efficiency, presenting the latest recommendations for cattle producers looking to keep costs down and profits up.
The conference will be on Feb. 15 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the Conway County Fairgrounds, 901 E. Elm St. in Morrilton. Registration opens at 8:30 a.m.; the cost is $20 and includes a steak lunch.
The annual conference, hosted by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, brings together faculty, meat scientists, livestock economists and extension specialists to share research-based information to help producers plan and manage their operations.
Cattle producers from the River Valley area — Conway, Crawford, Faulkner, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Newton, Perry, Pope, Sebastian and Yell counties — are invited to attend.
“This year’s conference will focus on ways to be most efficient with production inputs in order to keep costs down to remain profitable,” said Bob Harper, Logan County extension staff chair.
“We aren’t expecting beef prices to keep up with input costs, so increased efficiency is a must.”
Many Arkansas producers are struggling with rising input costs — namely, increasing fertilizer prices, which are tied to increasing grain and fuel prices.
The conference also will address market trends, such as the continued popularity of freezer beef among consumers. “Freezer beef” refers to the purchase of all or part of a live animal for slaughter, rather than purchasing finished beef cuts at a grocery store, for example.
“The price spike of beef at the beginning of the pandemic seemed to really increase the demand for homegrown freezer beef,” Harper said.
The 2022 conference agenda includes:
8:30 a.m. – Registration
9 a.m. – Introductions and welcome: Kevin Van Pelt, Conway County extension agent
9:05 a.m. – Welcome: Farm Credit of Western Arkansas
9:10 a.m. – Freezer beef yields and questions, Dr. Janeal Yancey, University of Arkansas meat scientist
9:50 a.m. – Managing increased input costs in beef production, Dr. James Mitchell, livestock economist, UA System Division of Agriculture
10:35 a.m. – Break
10:50 a.m. Stretching your fertilizer: Matt Fryer, extension soil health instructor, UA System Division of Agriculture
11:30 – New herbicides/Perennial grass control, Dr. John Boyd, weed scientist and visiting assistant professor, UA System Division of Agriculture
12:15 p.m. Lunch and adjourn ∆
TRACY COURAGE: University of Arkansas