Straight from the Horses Mouth

Duane A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator, Webster County December 3, 2010 Edition December is here and that means the start of winter programming for UNL Extension across not only the South Central Area of Nebraska, but across the whole state. We will soon be coming out with the list of Winter-Spring events, but there are some coming up quickly that I thought I should highlight in this week’s column. Several offerings will come via webinars, some are face to face, and this year you have the chance to watch The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's 2010-2011 Beef Short-Course program on NET 2 in December and January. That’s right, you can watch these sessions from the comfort of your own homes. We used to meet at satellite capable sites like at the Webster County museum. This gives more leeway to those that want to participate, but do not want to make the trip in to town or get too far away from their homes and perhaps cows as we near calving. 2011 Beef Short-Course: "Staying Competitive in an Ever-Changing Beef Cow-Calf Industry", is the topic of this year’s 2010 UNL Beef Short-Course. Each session will be broadcast at 7 p.m on NET2 television. Please mark Dec. 16, Jan. 13, 20 and 27 on your calendars. Each presentation will end at 8 p.m. and be followed by a question and answer session. The short-course series is designed to help cow-calf producers remain competitive in an industry that is constantly changing. The target audiences for these programs are cow/calf producers, but anyone is welcome to watch them. You just need to tune in your TV to the NET 2 channel. Beef producers may want to keep this column on hand as it will give you information on each of the sessions. The cow-calf enterprise is a complex production system. For producers to be competitive, they need to integrate human, financial and feed resources in their operation. The first show is the Dec. 16 session which will focus on "Adding Value to the Cow/calf enterprise." Presenters during this session will be UNL Extension Beef Specialist, Dr. Rick Rasby; Nebraska Department of Agriculture's Lynn Gordon; beef producers Mark and Bonnie Wagner; and Midwest Microsystems' Tim Davis; and Dan Ellsworth from Destron Fearing. The session on Jan. 13 will cover "Working with Your Banker in Tough Economic Times: What to Include and how to Get Your Financial Portfolio Ready.” Two topics will be covered Jan. 20 with Dr. Rasby and Matt Spangler, UNL Extension beef cattle specialist who will team up on the subject "Optimum Cow Size: Matching Cow Size and Milk Production and Your Resources". The other topic is "Getting Your Bull's Battery Ready for the Breeding Season." The final session on Jan. 27 with Rick Funston, UNL Extension beef cattle reproductive physiologist, who will focus on "Managing Calving Interval and Its Impact on Profit Potential" along with "Estrous Synchronization Protocols for Beef Cows and Heifers." Dr. Kohl comes to Nebraska: Now let’s go from cows to economics. Back by popular demand is Dr. Dave Kohl, Professor Emeritis from Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech. He will speak on “Agriculture: What to Expect” from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at the Bruning Opera House in Bruning, NE on December 13th. If you haven’t heard Dr. Kohl you are in for a treat as he is a dynamic speaker and has a real command of what is going on in the world of economics and markets. He takes a futurist’s view of agriculture. It is definitely worth the time and travel to Bruning to take part in this seminar. Nebraska Ag Classic: The 6th annual Nebraska Ag Classic will be held December 14-16 in Kearney at the Ramada Inn. It’s a great opportunity to learn about the various commodity groups at their annual meetings on the 14th. The general sessions on the 15th and 16th include: Mark Gold (Top Third Marketing) Discussing Current Marketing Topics. Breakout Sessions including: Larry Kopsa, New Tax Issues; Mark Gold -Marketing follow-up and questions; Go Grain - Trading Techniques: Lessons with cash and futures market. The December 16 agenda includes: David Martosko, (Center for Consumer Freedom) who will be speaking about his efforts to "expose" the HSUS and their tactics/true agenda. After his talk he will moderate a panel who will give short presentations on their experiences with animal activists and how it has affected their state's agriculture. They will also touch on why Nebraska needs to be aware of the agendas of these activist groups and what we as a state can do to proactively defend our agriculture industry. Those on the panel include: Jack Fisher, Ohio Farm Bureau; Chad Gregory, United Egg Producers; and Craig Head, Nebraska Farm Bureau. The sessions will end with an update on national agriculture issues from Karen Ross, Undersecretary for the Secretary of Agriculture, USDA. For complete agendas and registration information go to: http://www.neagclassic.org/program.html. Cow/Calf College at MARC: While you are marking your calendar, please put down Tuesday, January 18 on your calendar for the annual Cow/Calf College Beef Seminar that will be held at the Meat Animal Research Center near Clay Center. The program always has good speakers and topics. Flyers and more information will be available in a couple of weeks. Registration and refreshments will be from 9:00 -9:45 am with the program starting at 10:00 am and finishing around 3:45 pm. Lunch is provided and registration is required by Friday, January 14. And we are just getting started!! The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the website at: www.webster.unl.edu/home