Beef symposium arms producers with latest research

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Cattle producers attending the upcoming Saskatchewan Beef Symposium have a terrific opportunity to learn about issues and opportunities currently facing the beef industry, as well as those that are on the horizon.

The conference is being held February 7 and 8 in Saskatoon. It is co-sponsored by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, the University of Saskatchewan and the Western Beef Development Centre.

Dr. John McKinnon, a professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the U of S and the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Chair, is one of the conference organizers. He says the symposium’s steering committee has developed a program that will not only share leading-edge research on beef industry issues with producers, but will also assist them to incorporate new found best practices into their cattle operations.

“The four partners co-sponsoring the symposium are bodies that are charged with either conducting beef cattle research, or are in the extension field working with producers to help them adopt technology into their production practices,” McKinnon said. “So we’re working together to provide the latest findings to producers so that they can incorporate them into their operations, both for their own benefit and for the overall well being of the Saskatchewan beef industry.”

The symposium will discuss topics such as: Beef Production in the Information Age; Growing Saskatchewan’s Feeding Sector; Saskatchewan’s Competitive Advantage in the Cow-Calf Sector; and Grazing and Wintering Beef Cows.

“We’ve designed the symposium to accomplish two things. Our first goal is to get the most up-to-date research results out to producers. A second goal is to focus producers’ attention on areas of the industry that are active and growing, and have the possibility for expansion,” McKinnon said.

He noted that these two goals of research and expansion are intertwined throughout this year’s program, and cited the discussion on cow-calf operations as an example. “We think there’s a tremendous opportunity to grow Saskatchewan’s cow-calf sector. So we have a session that looks at the competitive advantages of the cow-calf sector. Then we follow that up with the latest research on grazing and winter management for beef cows that will help producers make the most of these opportunities.”

McKinnon also indicated that the conference focuses not only on issues producers encounter on their farms today, but also on those they are likely to face in the future. “Two major initiatives in the beef industry are age verification and electronic identification of animals,” he said. “Our very first session looks at the opportunities that tracing information on animals will provide to producers: how it will open new markets for them, and what technology is going to be available to accomplish this. So we think that session is very applicable to what producers will face in the next five years.”

While researchers and technical experts will be prominent on the symposium agenda, McKinnon noted that many of the conference speakers will actually be producers. In this manner, cattle producers can hear directly from their colleagues in the Saskatchewan beef industry who are putting these techniques and technologies into practice.

McKinnon feels the symposium will be valuable for anyone associated with the sector, be it cow-calf producers, producers integrated with forage operations, or backgrounding and finishing operations. “We think that all of these different aspects of the industry will be able to gain some information from this conference and be able to take something home that they can apply to their operations, and hopefully improve their economic competitiveness,” he noted.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Saskatchewan Beef Symposium can download the conference brochure from the Western Beef Development Centre website at www.wbdc.sk.ca, or contact Dr. John McKinnon at the U of S at (306) 966-4137.

For more information, contact:

Dr. John McKinnon, Professor, Department of Animal and Poultry Science
University of Saskatchewan
Phone: (306) 966-4137
E-mail: john.mckinnon@usask.ca