Responsible beef herd expansion: Is it in your future?

CHARITON — Is now a good time to expand your beef cow herd? Have you been thinking about how to optimize your production to capitalize on this record-high market?

The new Iowa Beef Center program, “Responsible Expansion of Iowa’s Cow Herd” might help provide answers to those questions.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach beef specialist Chris Clark will offer the same program at two locations in early April. The content will help producers think about both opportunity and risk regarding herd expansion.

The sessions at Moravia and Chariton also will include strategies to keep breeding females in the herd to increase profitability.

“We will go through an interactive exercise talking about cow appreciation and depreciation, and risk based on cow age and stage of production,” he said. “Then we will talk through some management practices to improve reproductive success and reduce replacement rate.”

Other discussion topics may include nutritional management of first-calf heifers, breeding strategies for yearling heifers, animal selection, and buying versus raising replacements.

The Iowa Beef Center team developed this program with producer success in mind, and Clark said one of the take-home messages is that the better we do at keeping females in the herd, the more profitable we are.

"It’s an interesting time in the beef industry,” Clark said.

“On one hand, we all would like to have as many females as possible producing calves right now. On the other hand, replacement females are really valuable. Simply put, can we afford to expand, and if we do, how do we make the most of that investment?”

Both programs will be 6-7:30 p.m. with refreshments provided at the Chariton site and a light meal provided at the Moravia site. They’re free and open to the public, and preregistration is requested to help ensure adequate supplies.

Session one will be April 1 at Lighthouse Church of Nazarene, 405 Myra Lane, Moravia. Call either ISU Extension and Outreach Appanoose County at 641-856-3885, ISU Extension and Outreach Monroe County at 641-932-5612, or ISU Extension and Outreach Davis County at 641-664-2730.

Session two will be April 2 at ISU Extension and Outreach Lucas County Office, 48293 Hy-Vee Road, Chariton. Call the Lucas County office at 641-774-2016 or email Mikenzy at mcbeaty@iastate.edu.

For more information about the program, contact Clark at 712-250-0070 or email at caclark@iastate.edu.