Released May 5, 2008

TWIN FALLS, Idaho —- Sales of cull animals comprise about 5 percent of a dairy’s income, but Jason Ahola, University of Idaho Extension beef specialist, estimates that figure could easily double if producers managed their cows for their eventual beef products as well as their milk products.

While a lot of dairy beef still goes to hamburger and bologna, Ahola says more than half is fabricated into high-value products like marinated steaks, roasts, deli roast beef, Philly steaks and fajitas. To help dairy producers capture more potential profits from these products, Ahola, Extension dairy specialist Mireille Chahine and other members of their University of Idaho dairy and beef Extension teams have released a new 16-page training guide, “Idaho Dairy Beef Quality Assurance,” in both Spanish and English.

Dairy BQA—a nationwide educational program for dairy owners, managers and laborers—emphasizes humane handling and management of dairy cattle to prevent lameness, bruising and injury; giving injections in the neck to avoid damaging valuable cuts of beef; following drug label guidelines to prevent drug residues and potential antibiotic resistance problems; implementing biosecurity plans to control infectious diseases within a herd, and well-timed culling to reduce the incidence of unmarketable “downer” cows.

Chahine, who translated the publication into Spanish with the assistance of visiting Bolivian veterinarian Omar Pozo, plans to distribute Spanish- and English-language versions to every Idaho dairy. Copies will also be available through Cooperative Extension’s national DAIReXNET Web site, www.extension.org/dairy+cattle, to which University of Idaho Extension faculty contribute. In addition, dairies can get copies by calling the Idaho BQA program at (208) 459-6365 in Caldwell or writing to beef@uidaho.edu.

“We think this is a way of bridging the language gap and involving everyone on the dairy,” Chahine said. “Yes, it’s important to produce quality milk, but it’s also important to produce quality beef.”

Idaho beef and dairy producers contributed financially to the publication’s development through the Idaho Beef Council’s $1-per-head checkoff program.

-30-

http://news.ag.uidaho.edu:591/News/FMPro?-db=AgNews&-lay=generic&-format=story.htm&NewStoryID=959&-find

Contacts: Mireille Chahine, (208) 736-3609, mchahine@uidaho.edu

Jason Ahola, (208) 459-6365, jahola@uidaho.edu

Marlene Fritz, (208) 364-6165, mfritz@uidaho.edu