Writer: Robert Burns, 903-834-6191, rd-burns@tamu.edu
OVERTON – A workshop designed to help beef producers in Cherokee, Rusk and Smith counties fine tune their operations will be held April 19 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton.
“We feel this is going to be a quality educational event for producers at a low cost, thanks to our sponsors,” said Aaron Low, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent for Cherokee County. “This event will allow producers to see and review current and cutting edge research while visiting the Overton center.”
Registration for the workshop is $10, with a noon meal and break refreshments included. Registration may be paid at the door on the day of the event by cash or check. Low asked those who plan to attend to RSVP to his office at 903-683-5416 by April 16 to facilitate meal planning.
Those attending can earn three continuing education units for the renewal of their Texas Department of Agriculture private pesticide applicator’s licenses. One unit will be in the integrated pest management category, one in laws and regulations, and one general.
The workshop will begin with registration at 8 a.m., with a welcome by Dr. Charles Long, resident director of research at the Overton center. The workshop will adjourn at 3 p.m.
The four inside educational topics and their presenters will be: “Review of The National Beef Quality Audit,” Dr. Dan Hale, AgriLife Extension meat specialist, College Station; “Herbicide Updates and Sprayer Calibration Demonstration,” Darren Rozell, of the Rozell Sprayer Manufacturing Co., Tyler; “Fly Control: A Look at Current Research,” Dr. Sonja Swiger, AgriLIfe Extension livestock/veterinary entomology specialist, Stephenville; and an update from the Texas Beef Council during lunch.
After lunch, the workshop will move to outside research sites where Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists at the Overton center will review results of their recent work.
“We will tour the pasture-research area where they will see the long-term –1985-to-date — nutrient cycling study of Bermuda grass pastures over-seeded with either ryegrass and nitrogen or clover and no nitrogen, said Dr. Monte Rouquette, AgriLife Research scientist who specializes in forage quality and pasture utilization. “We will discuss stocking rates using cows and calves, animal performance, weaning weights, and costs per pound of calf gain. In addition, we will also show them Bermuda grass pastures sod-seeded with rye and ryegrass, and discussions will be targeted at the use of stocker cattle and potential costs of gain with use of nitrogen fertilizer.”
Dr. Gerald Smith said he will discuss using clovers, ryegrass and small grains in pasture systems.
“We will also tour Apache arrowleaf clover pastures and the ryegrass and small grain variety trials,” Smith said.
Dr. Ron Randel, AgriLife Research beef-cattle reproduction scientist, will talk “about residual feed intake and feed efficiency and how it affects reproduction in cattle, temperament and productivity.”
“I will also talk about prenatal stress and how it can affect the calves’ performance,” he said.
Sponsors of the program include AgriLife Extension, AgriLife Research, Rozell Sprayer Manufacturing Co., East Texas Seed, the Texas Beef Council and Red River Specialties Inc.
Directions to the Overton center can be found at http://overton.tamu.edu/info-maps-history/maps/ .
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