Released September 25, 2008
FARGO, N.D. -- North Dakota State University’s Carrington Research Extension Center is giving cattle producers an opportunity to learn some valuable information about their calves.
The center is conducting the feedout portion of the 10th annual Dakota Feeder Calf Show and Feedout, which is set for Saturday, Oct. 18, in Turtle Lake.
Cattle will be accepted before 11 a.m. that day and shown in Turtle Lake at the weighing station. Producers should preregister their calves.
Spring-born steer calves consigned to the feedout will be fed to market weight at the Carrington Research Extension Center’s feedlot.
“It’s important to know how well your cattle perform through the market chain,” says Karl Hoppe, Extension livestock specialist at the Carrington Research Extension Center. “This project will give producers information on how their calves perform in the feed yard and on the calves’ ultimate carcass value.”
The feedout also is a way for producers to explore opportunities for retaining ownership of cattle beyond the cow-calf phase of production, according to Hoppe.
“It’s a low-risk way of learning about these options by feeding only three or four calves instead of 100,” he says. “Also, cattle producers have used the feeding and carcass information to select bulls that will improve the feedlot value of their calves.”
During last year’s feedout, calves gained an average of 656 pounds in 197 days, with a total feeding cost of about 77.1 cents per pound of gain. The average sale weight was 1,308 pounds. The calves were fed with a market weight break-even point of $95.91 per hundredweight.
“It’s the variation between cattle that makes this project educational,” Hoppe says.
For the 2007-08 feedout, the average per-head profit or loss per consigner ranged from a profit of $66.87 to a loss of $117.05 after feeding expenses and calf value were deducted from slaughter value.
During the feedout, project staff will gather data on rate of gain, fed conversion and other characteristics. After calves are marketed, the staff will collect information on carcass weight, meat quality and value and provide it to entrants.
Producers will be assessed an entry fee of $15 per calf. Dakota Feeder Calf Show officials will present $2,500 in awards to producers at the end of the trial.
Also at this year’s calf show, Tom Noffsinger, a veterinarian from Benkelman, Neb., and an expert in cow “body language,” will speak on low-stress cattle-handling concepts from 9 a.m. to noon at the weighing station. He will show how cattle handlers’ attitude, behavior and actions determine how cattle react to handling.
In addition, he will demonstrate how to train a calf to lead to a halter from 2 to 4 p.m. This event will be particularly of interest to 4-H and FFA members wanting to learn a new technique for training calves to lead, Hoppe says. The demonstration is free of charge.
The NDSU Extension Service, Turtle Lake businesses, Boehringer Ingleheim, Fort Dodge Animal Health, Z Tags, Schering-Plough, Gooseneck Implements, Vita Ferm, Smart Lick Supplements, Green Glue and Pfizer Animal Health support the show and feedout.
For more information or to preregister calves, contact Hoppe at (701) 652-2951; Darwin Chesrown, Turtle Lake Farmers Union Oil, at (701) 448-2356; Teresa Presser, Bank of Turtle Lake, at (701) 448- 2323; or Pat Carpentier, McLean County Extension Service office, at (701) 462- 8541, ext. 208.
Cattle may be registered the day of the show, but the trial is limited to 170 head.
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http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/news/newsreleases/2008/sept-25-2008/dakota-feeder-calf-show-set-for-oct-18
Contacts: Karl Hoppe, (701) 652-2951, karl.hoppe@ndsu.edu
Ellen Crawford, (701) 231-5391, ellen.crawford@ndsu.edu
