ERBES FARMS TO HOST KLA/K-STATE RANCH FIELD DAY

(TOPEKA) – Erbes Farms will host the final 2011 Kansas Livestock Association (KLA)/Kansas State University Ranch Management Field Day August 29. The farming and feeder cattle operation, located south of La Crosse in central Rush County, is owned and operated by Lawrence Erbes. Erbes purchases calves in the fall and winter through local auction markets and backgrounds the cattle at his farm’s headquarters. The cattle then are finished at a commercial feedyard in Western Kansas before being marketed through U.S. Premium Beef.
CattleFax Analyst Lance Zimmerman will start the event with a presentation on the trends and implications of higher market prices. Agriculture, and specifically the beef industry, is facing challenges with a new price structure for cattle, grazing land, hay, corn and other inputs. Zimmerman will discuss potential opportunities this scenario may present and provide an outlook for supplies, price trends and profit opportunities.
As production costs continue to increase, producers need strategies to cut costs and become more efficient. K-State Cow-Calf Specialist Robert Weaber will share information on the implications of cow size, lactation and other production factors for gaining efficiencies.
Another educational session will focus on using grain by-products in a cow-calf or stocker program. Wet distillers’ grains and other by-products may reduce costs for supplementing a cowherd or feeding young cattle in a backgrounding program, but storing and handling these feedstuffs presents challenges for farmers and ranchers. K-State Beef Systems Specialist Justin Waggoner will highlight new research indicating grass-based or small confinement operations may be able to take advantage of lower summer prices for wet distillers’ grains by storing it until feed is needed during the winter months.
Garden City cattleman Sam Hands and his family own and operate a commercial cowherd and custom feeding business. He will discuss how performance data is used when selecting genetics for his cowherd. In addition, Hands will explain how selecting for an efficient and profitable beef cow may also impact the feeding performance and carcass value of offspring.
The La Crosse field day will begin with registration at 3:30 p.m. and conclude with a free beef dinner at 7:00 p.m. All livestock producers and others involved in the business are invited to attend.
Erbes Farms is located one-half mile south of the La Crosse city limits on the east side of Highway 183. Directional signs will be posted.
La Crosse also is home to the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, Post Rock Museum, Nekoma Bank Museum and Rush County Historical Museum. These four attractions are contiguous and located off Highway 183 on the south side of La Crosse. Field day attendees are encouraged to visit these museums prior to the event.
Bayer Animal Health and the Farm Credit Associations of Kansas are sponsoring the field day. For more information, go to www.kla.org or call the KLA office at (785) 273-5115.
          KLA is a trade organization representing the business interests of independent beef producers at the state and national levels. Members of the association are involved in all segments of the livestock industry, including cow-calf production, backgrounding, cattle feeding, swine, dairy and sheep.