University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Educators have planned the 2009-2010 Beef Satellite Short Course entitled, “Staying Competitive in an Ever Changing Beef Cattle Industry”. Cattle producers are highly encouraged to attend as there will be multiple sessions covering many different topics! Producers will get to see the latest research findings from UNL and will get to determine if utilizing such practices will assist them in their cattle operations.

The series is scheduled to be held Monday evenings beginning at 7:00 p.m., on December 14 & 21, 2009 and January 11 & 18, 2010, at the Webster County Museum Exhibit Hall in Red Cloud. The sessions are presented over the satellite and will entail a question-answer session following the presentations. Each session should conclude around 9:00 p.m.

It is required to pre-register for the series in order to make arrangements and provide material for the sessions. A minimal fee will be charged for all sessions. Please contact the Webster County UNL Extension Office, 402-746-3417 or email at dlienemann2@unl.edu to register or for further questions.

The December 14, 2009 session is entitled, “Protein Supplementation: It’s More Than the Impact on the Cow.” The speaker for the evening will be Dr. Rick Funston, Beef Specialist on Beef Cattle Reproduction from the UNL West Central UNL Research Center.

The December 21, 2009 session will cover, “Herd Bio-security – Keeping TB and Trich Out of Your Herd” and will be presented by Dr. Richard Randle, UNL Extension Veterinarian.

On January 11, 2010, Dr. Chris Calkins, UNL Meat Scientist, will be presenting on, “What’s the Beef? – Impact on Feeding Distillers On Beef Quality & New Products On the Horizon.”

The final date, January 18, 2010, will entail a presentation on, “Indexes, SNP’s & DNA Testing – Understanding the Complicated Genetics and How It Applies To the Cow/Calf Producer,” by Dr. Matt Spangler, UNL Beef Specialist.

Other locations at which this short-course can be viewed along with the person & phone numbers to contact are as follows: Darci McGee - Nuckolls Co. @ 402-225-2381, Brent Plugge - Buffalo Co. @ 308-236-1235 and Tyler Williams - Phelps-Gosper @ 308-995-4222.