WEBSTER COUNTY BEEF WEIGH-IN JANUARY 30 & 31

The Webster County 4-H/FFA Beef weigh-ins will be held January 30 in Red Cloud and January 31 in Blue Hill. Exhibitors wanting to show market steers or market heifers at the Webster County Fair, Nebraska State Fair, and/or Ak-Sar-Ben must identify and weigh in their projects. The beef will be weighed in Red Cloud at the South Central Herd Health Services on Saturday, January 30 from 9:00 am till 11:30 am and in Blue Hill at the Blue Hill Livestock Sale Barn on Sunday, January 31 from 1:30 pm till 4:00 pm. The extension office asks that all exhibitors have your animals identified and tagged by that date if at all possible. Electronic Identification for all beef will be done at each weigh-in. This will be a second tag in addition to the 4-H/FFA tag. EID is voluntary, but highly suggested. They further request that if you put your tags in before weigh-in, that you reserve the one-third of the left ear closest to the head for the EID tag. 4-H tags and market beef affidavits are available from the Extension Office in Red Cloud. FFA tags and affidavits are available from agriculture education instructors including: Melissa Bonifas, at Blue Hill high school; Joe Strickland, at Red Cloud high school; and Dave Barnard at Superior. For those that cannot get the tags or affidavits prior to the weigh-in, they will be available at the weigh-in sites. 4-H exhibitors are reminded that if they intend on going on to State Fair or Ak-Sar-Ben, they must have their beef DNA sampled. There is a $6 per head charge for DNA samples. This will also be done at the weigh-in site for those that so desire. FFA requirements are somewhat different, for instance beef going on to State Fair must either have a Nose Print or EID tag plus their FFA tag. When in doubt, or not sure of their intentions, we suggest that exhibitors make sure their beef are EID’ed, and take a DNA sample (4-H) on your market beef to be on the safe side. Exhibitors do have until March 26 to DNA any beef animal that may go to State Fair or Ak-Sar-Ben. Please note that all other market livestock that may go to the Nebraska State Fair or Ak-Sar-Ben will need to be DNA sampled this year as well. There is a new addition this year. Each exhibitor will need to tell officials at weigh-in if the animal is for the “PB Breed Steer” competition, and also if it is “Bred & Fed” or “Bought & Fed”. There will be clarification on the “Bred & Fed” in this year’s fair-book. Basically that title will mean that – “You or your family owned the cow or heifer, which is the mother of the steer, at the time of the calf’s conception, and that it was born and fed on your farm or place of project care”. Officials will also need to know the place and date of birth of the market beef (Premise ID is ideal). It works best when exhibitors have that information ready for the sheet at weigh-in. In planning for market beef enterprise, exhibitors should try to match the size of the calf that they pick out to match their intent. If it is the intent to “dead-end” the calf at the county fair then exhibitors should figure from January 31 to July 13 for time on feed, which computes to 163 days. Figuring that you want to gain at least 2.5 lbs a day (2.2 is required) then assuming a county fair weight of 1300 lbs, then the biggest calf that you should weigh in on the January 30 or 31 weigh-in would be <900 pounds. If you figure 3 lb. per day ROG, then a 800 lb steer (today’s weight) would be your limit weight. If you plan to hit State Fair with the 1300 pound calf then you have 215 days to feed and at 2.5 #/day then your calf should not weigh much more than 750 on January 30. Incidentally Ak-Sar-ben is 236 days and with the same goal weight you could use a 700 lb. calf. The exhibitor should keep in mind his/her goal weight (most common is 1250-1350 pounds), expected average rate of gain, and the environment (both cold and hot) and the growth potential of their calf in making their decision, and then to keep a 2.2 average daily ROG for steers and 2.0 for heifers. Please contact Dewey Lienemann at the Webster County Extension office in Red Cloud at (402) 746-3417 or via his cell phone at (402) 469-0357 or email at dlienemann2@unl.edu for more information.