Kentucky Beef Network

Keeping Up With Kentucky Beef Network

Becky Thompson Director, Kentucky Beef Network

Here are some things going on with the Kentucky Beef Network this month.

Kentucky Livestock Marketing Association and the Kentucky Beef Council become sponsoring partners for BQCA Certification.

The Kentucky Beef Network and University of Kentucky are pleased to announce that the Kentucky Livestock Marketing Association and the Kentucky Beef Council will be sponsoring the enrollment costs for Beef Quality and Care Assurance (BQCA) certification through December 31, 2021. The Kentucky BQCA program takes national BQA practices one step further to provide a holistic program for Kentucky producers, by adding cattle handling and animal care component to the training models. Educational modules provide the best management practices for handling cattle and providing for their well-being, in addition to training on the core principles of BQA. The cost of BQCA enrollment is normally $5, however from March 1- December 31, 2021, the Kentucky Livestock Marketing Association and the Kentucky Beef Council will be sponsoring the enrollment costs, making it free for producers. Producers interested in taking advantage of this opportunity can visit www.kybeefnetwork. com for access to the online training platform or contact their county extension office for training opportunities.

Eden Shale Videos

When the Kentucky Beef Network assumed management responsibilities in 2013 for the University of Kentucky’s Eden Shale Farm in Owen County Kentucky, we transitioned it away from an intensive research farm into a Learning Center & Demonstration Farm for cattlemen. Make sure you check out our online blog for a page full of producer resources and our Youtube Channel for videos showing some of the practices we have put in place at Eden Shale.

KBN Webinars

KBN has been busy the last few months hosting webinars on marketing and profitability for your operations, below is an outline of some you may have missed and others that are coming up! Please visit www.kybeefnetwork.com/webinar for a link to each session recording and registration information.

*Steptoe & Johnson Webinar Series: Through our partnership with the law firm Steptoe & Johnson we discussed estate planning, insurance protections, fencing laws, and mitigating risk on your farm. *Kentucky Livestock Marketing Association Webinar Series: New ways to market cattle or understanding more about how cattlemen can influence the price of their calves are always an interest for cattlemen. To help address this issue in more depth KBN partnered with the Kentucky Livestock Marketing Association to host three sessions. Who is the Livestock Marketing Association and why should you sell at auctions? Questions to the Sale Block (Q&A Session with Stockyard Managers) Value Added Marketing Opportunities through your auction. *Pricing & Market Outlook Webinar: Dr. Kenny Burdine with the University of Kentucky discusses price discovery, a lookback at our 2020 markets and looking forward to 2021 markets.

*Cow Calf Profitability Conference: Our UK partners reformatted the conference into a webinar series including topics on, key profit drivers, managing for profit, bale grazing, controlling hay costs, and profitable stocking rates.

Get Social

Are you engaging with us online? We offer several resources online for your use: Kentucky Beef Network www.kybeefnetwork.com Eden Shale Farm www.edenshalefarm.com Certified Preconditioned for Health www.cph45.com University of Kentucky Forages http://forages.ca.uky.edu/ University of Kentucky Extension Publications http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs.asp

Ben Lloyd

Whitesville, KY (270) 993-1074 strridge@aol.com

KENTUCKY BEEF NETWORK FACILITATORS

Ron Shrout

Winchester, KY (606) 205-6143 ronshrout@bellsouth.net

Charles Embry

Cave City, KY (270) 646-5939 dale.embry@yahoo.com

Jeff Stephens

Ewing, KY (606) 782-7640 stephensbeef@gmail.com

Jacob Settles

Springfield, KY (859) 805-0724 jacob.settles4@yahoo.com

JOIN US AT EDEN SHALE FARM

FALL TOUR DATES: August 24 • September 15 • October 9 (Open House)

ALL DATES WILL OFFER THE SAME TOUR

Tour begins at 10AM EST. Please call the KCA office at (859) 278-0899 or email kbn@kycattle.org to reserve your spot for lunch. Reservations are capped at 100 participants per date.

245 Eden Shale Road Owenton KY 40359

Eden Shale Farm Update

Dan Miller Industry Coordinator, Kentucky Beef Network

Unlike most years, this year during the month of June we continued our work with the heifers in the paddocks. As you recall, these 32 heifers are part of a two year trial that is taking place in partnership with USDA and UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. We are working with Brittany Harlow (USDA-ARS) and Dr. Les Anderson (UK Animal Science) to manage the project. The purpose of this trial is to determine if pulverized clover, fed in free choice mineral, can have a positive impact on the heat stress in cattle due to toxic fescue. This study will take into consideration heat stress of the animals, hair coat and body condition scores, pregnancy rates, and average daily gains. The heifers have also been tagged with Cow Manager ear tags which will collect data about the animals, such as how much time is spent grazing, herd activity, and body temperature. Readers have been placed on the shade structures which capture the data when the heifers get within 110 feet, then shoot it to a laptop receiver which is located in an upstairs window of the farm house facing the paddocks. Not only does this collect tons of data, but Harrlow and Dr. Anderson can watch the data in real time on their smart phones. I don’t fully understand it, but I can assure you it is a powerful tool for accurate data collection. Per usual, the heifers were synchronized and exposed to one round of AI. The heifers were bred AI on May 21st. For this first breeding, the heifers were bred using sexed semen and we bred for all heifers. Then 19 days later Dr. Anderson pregnancy checked the heifers and anything that was open received another CIDR to be resynchronized for a second round of AI service. For the first round of AI we had a pregnancy rate of 53% using the sexed semen. The second round of AI took place on June 18th, and we used the heifer sexed semen on the second breeding as well. Assuming we get 50% of these heifers bred with this second AI service, the bull should only have to clean up about 6-7 heifers. Every trip through the chute the heifers get weighted, body condition scored, hair coat scored, blood sample collected, and ultra sounded for blood vessel dilation (effects of toxic fescue). After pre-breeding shots and two rounds of AI synchronization and breeding, these heifers have been through the chute more times at 18 months old than most cows will do in a lifetime.

Brittan Harlow and Tracy Hamilton (USDAARS) are also measuring mineral intake every week, and conducting vegetation counts in all the paddocks for each group of heifers. There are two control groups that are not on the clover mineral and two treatment groups that are on the clover mineral.

The heifers will be pregnancy checked at the end of the breeding season to determine conception rates, and all the data will be analysis to determine if the clover had an effect on reducing heat stress in the animals. This study will also be repeated next year to collect more repetition of the data. I will give updates in future articles as to the findings of this years work. In the mean time, you can follow along at www.edenshalefarm.com