“As central and southern Missouri cattle producers recovery from the drought proper operational management will be key to optimum profitability,” says Patrick Davis MU Extension Livestock Field Specialist. MU Extension ag field specialists are working together to hold the online MU Extension Forage and Livestock Hour meetings on the second and fourth Thursdays in September at noon. These meetings will provide education to cattle operations on cattle markets and culling strategies to help these operations make management decisions to promote optimum profitability.

“Understanding and adapting to the weather is important to the productivity of farming operations,” says Davis. Pat Guinan with MU Extension in the area of atmospheric sciences will provide a Missouri weather update at each of the September meetings.

“Understanding the future market outlook for the beef cattle industry is important in making beef cattle operational management decisions to promote optimum profitability,” says Davis. Wesley Tucker, MU Extension Ag Business Specialist, will discuss “Do I feed through the drought or sell cows now?” during the September 8 online MU Extension Forage-Livestock Hour meeting.

MU State Beef Cattle Nutrition Extension Specialist Eric Bailey will discuss cattle culling strategies to help cattle producers make management decisions to reduce herd size to deal with limited feed resources during the September 22 meeting. “Due to limited feed resources cattle producers may need to reduce herd size,” says Davis.

“These meetings are also an opportunity to answer your questions related to your forage and livestock farming operation,” Davis commented. If you have questions you can register in the forage and livestock section at https://ipm.missouri.edu/townhalls/. Upon registration your questions will be reviewed by an MU Extension Ag Specialist and answered either by email, phone or during the next meeting. Upon registration you will receive a ZOOM link to enter the meeting.

“An alternate way to observe the meetings is via YouTube Live,” Davis said. Go to https://www.youtube.com/user/MUIPM during the scheduled time and you will be able to watch the meetings live. Furthermore, you can view previous MU Extension Forage and Livestock Hour meetings at this site.

For more information or questions on these meetings visit the information website at https://tinyurl.com/42w9utff or contact Davis at davismp@missouri.edu or your local MU Extension Ag Specialist.