Jim Schumacher Memorial Livestock Day Feb. 20

The Jim Schumacher Memorial Livestock Day will be held on Thursday, February 20, 2020 in the Great Northern Lodgeroom. Program will start with the lunch sponsored by the Malta Chamber Commerce and Agriculture. Thank you to the local veterinarians: Dr. Anne Johnson, Dr. Rick Levesque, and Dr. Patty and Dallas Maxwell for the support of this educational program.

11 a.m. - Condition of the cattle industry – Corbitt Wall is a native of eastern New Mexico and west Texas. He is a fourth-generation cattleman and has been a livestock auctioneer for 25 years. Corbitt grew up at his father’s side, taking delivery of country cattle purchases off New Mexico ranches and wheat pastures. They were also some of the first to order stocker calves from the Southeast, partnering with shippers from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida. Corbitt received a Bachelor’s degree in Ag-Business and Economics plus a Master’s degree in Agriculture from West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. Upon graduation, he started an 18-year career with the USDA’s Ag Marketing Service and carved a niche in feeder cattle market reporting as the author of the weekly National Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary. In 2014, Mr. Wall accepted a position with DV Auction as their Commercial Cattle Manager and Livestock Market Analyst. He currently resides in northwest Missouri with his three daughters, where they operate a small stocker cattle operation.

Lunch Sponsored by Malta Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture

1 p.m. - Beef basis, forecasting markets and cost of gain will be presented by Brett Crosby. Crosby owns and manages a cow-calf operation in northern Wyoming. He is also the president and co-owner of Custom Ag Solutions (CAS), an economic consulting firm specializing in research and outreach in the agriculture sector. Under Crosby's direction, CAS partnered with Kansas State University to design and develop BeefBasis.com, which forecasts feeder cattle basis and prices at livestock auctions in 25 different states. BeefBasis.com also provides hedging and pricing strategy analysis, as well as historical market data from every livestock auction in the country that reports to the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. These tools help cow/calf producers and backgrounders make decisions to keep them profitable.

Crosby earned an MBA from Brigham Young University. He and his wife, Desire, have four children and live on the family ranch in Cowley, Wyoming. He has been featured in numerous trade publications and has been a featured speaker at producer meetings all over the country.

2 p.m. - The importance of managing pregnant cattle and the implications of fetal programming for developing beef heifers will be discussed by Dr. Sanford, Montana State University Extension Beef Specialist. Reproduction is the single most important factor in ranch productivity and management of replacement beef heifers is one of the most costly to the operation. Uterine involution, continued growth of the first-calf cow and maintenance requirements, return to estrous, and lactation demands are key for herd stayability. Proper heifer development and postpartum management is vital to assisting valuable young beef females stay in our herd. Fetal programming research is lending light on how replacement heifer management occurs long before breeding, even as early as in-utero.

Dr. Sanford recently graduated with her doctorate in bovine reproductive physiology from the University of Florida and completed her master’s at Texas Tech University. Her extension goals are to develop programming that assist producers with management considerations, promotes practical assisted reproductive technologies for cow-calf production and bridge the gap between those in extension, research, industry and production.

3 p.m. - Alternative meats and alternative statistics: What do the data say? Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam is a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the field of Animal Genomics and Biotechnology in the Department of Animal Science at University of California, Davis. She received a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and both an MS in Animal Science, and a PhD in Genetics from UC Davis. Her publicly-funded research and outreach program focuses on the use of animal genomics and biotechnology in livestock production systems. Her program will be over the internet but Dr. Eenennaam will be available by phone for questions.