2007 KLA/K-State Ranch Management Field Days

 

 

August 16
Rafter B Outfitters
Brent Weinland
Russell Springs

 

CATTLE HANDLING FEATURED AT
RUSSELL SPRINGS


     More than 80 producers attending last week’s KLA/Kansas State University Ranch Management Field Day near Russell Springs found themselves thinking and acting like cattle during veterinarian Lynn Locatelli’s low-stress cattle handling demonstration. Locatelli herded participants through working facilities while explaining the Bud Williams method of cattle handling. She said understanding more about the inherent differences between cattle and people will help handlers override their unintentional tendency to act like a predator.   

     The event was hosted by Rafter B Outfitters, a cattle, crop and hunting business operated by Brent and Shelly Weinland. In addition to the cattle handling session, three other topics were presented at the Rafter B field day. 

     Ramona cattle producer Tracy Brunner, who served on the industry-wide checkoff task force and NCBA checkoff study group, presented the group’s recommendation to raise checkoff collections from $1 to $2 per head. He encouraged producers to continue providing KLA with input on the topic. 

     K-State beef cattle specialists Chris Reinhardt and Twig Marston spoke about effective storing and handling of distillers’ grains. Their recommendations included keeping dry distillers’ grains out of the elements and limiting the exposure of wet distillers’ to oxygen.

     Keith Harmony, a range scientist at K-State, led producers into the pasture for a discussion on identifying plant species. He said knowing what grasses and forbs exist on a range site is necessary before changes can be made in a grazing strategy to promote greater vegetative production.

      Bayer Animal Health and the Farm Credit Associations of Kansas sponsored the field day. More coverage from the Rafter B field day will appear in the October Kansas Stockman.


August 21
JMR Cattle Co.
Jim & Sally Reeves
Augusta

 

ULTRASOUND TECHNOLOGY HIGHLIGHTS TOPICS AT FIELD DAY

 

     Over 125 producers attending yesterday’s KLA/Kansas State University Ranch Management Field Day near Augusta heard the benefits of utilizing ultrasound for early pregnancy detection. The event was held at JMR Cattle Company, owned by Jim and Sally Reeves.

     Ultrasound commonly is used at JMR for sorting and marketing bred heifers, of which Reeves sells about 150 each year. The heifers are synchronized, placed in small groups and exposed to the bulls. He hires Yates Center veterinarian Darwin Deets to determine how far along the heifers are in the pregnancy cycle. Deets uses ultrasound and a specialized computer software program to “call” the age of the fetus during the first stage of pregnancy, allowing Reeves to market groups of heifers with narrow calving windows and sell open heifers earlier.

     Jill Barnhardt of IMI Global and KLA staff person Matt Teagarden helped producers make sense of cattle verification