NDSU's Carrington Research Extension Center has scheduled its annual NDSU Feedlot School on Jan. 20-21, 2015.
This intensive course is for cattle producers, feeders, backgrounders, feed industry personnel, animal health-care suppliers and anyone else who is interested in learning more about feedlot production, nutrition, waste management and marketing.
"Cattle feeding is a very competitive business," says Karl Hoppe, area Extension livestock specialist at the center. "Making cattle feeding profitable is usually a result of doing many things right, not just one thing better. The Feedlot School helps identify the areas for improvement, ranging from feed bunk management to health, business planning and marketing."
The regional cattle experts who teach at the school provide a good overview of management for North Dakota feeders, and the outreach or interaction with the participants continues for years after the school, according to Hoppe.
Feedlot school topics will include:
- Why feed cattle in North Dakota
- Animal nutritional requirements
- Feed additives and growth promoter technologies
- Ration formulation
- Feed nutrient analysis and testing
- Livestock stewardship and beef quality assurance
- Facility management
- Disease diagnosis, treatments and health programs
- Manure and nutrient management
- Carcass quality and marketing on the grid
- Using market information for strategic planning
- Budgeting
- Custom feeding
The school also will include a commercial feedlot tour and a tour of the Research Extension Center's livestock facilities.
Instructors include faculty from NDSU's Department of Animal Sciences, and the Carrington and North Central Research Extension Centers, as well as others who have extensive experience working with northern Plains feedlots.
The registration fee is $130 per person or $175 for two people from the same operation.
All meals and a 3-inch, three-ring feedlot school binder are included in the registration. The deadline to register is Jan. 12. The fee does not include lodging.
Participants must make their own lodging arrangements. Lodging is available at the Chieftain Conference Center, 701-652-3131; Carrington Inn and Suites, 701-652-3982; or Cobblestone Inn, 701-652-3000.
For more information about the course or to register, contact Joel Lemer, an Extension agent in Foster County, at 701-652-2581 or joel.lemer@ndsu.edu.
The Carrington Research Extension Center is 3.5 miles north of Carrington on U.S. Highway 281.
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