’05 Missouri Beef Tour Aug. 27
Aug 24, 2005 10:10 AM
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Something for everyone. That familiar thought applies to the lineup of stops scheduled for the 2005 Missouri Beef Tour on Aug. 27, according to Rex Ricketts, coordinator of the University of Missouri Commercial Agriculture program, sponsor of the annual tour.
Topics featured include embryo transfers; artificial insemination; feeding cull cows; backgrounding steers; Northwest Missouri State University livestock programs for students; registered Charolais, Angus, and Salers cow herds; and a finish-cattle feeding operation.
The tour will start at 1 p.m. at Galaxy Beef, 21146 400th Street, Graham, Mo., said Amie Schleicher, MU regional Extension livestock specialist.
Four Nodaway County beef operations will host the annual beef tour, according to Schleicher, who led in arranging the tour. She had the help of Commercial Agriculture beef focus team members KC Olson, Vern Pierce, and Bob Larson; nutritionist, economist, and veterinarian, respectively.
“Galaxy Beef is passionate about developing a Black Angus herd that is unparalleled in terms of quality,” said Steve Miller, managing partner. Miller will give visitors details of that herd during the tour.
A stop at Maryville, Mo., will feature Roger Vest’s beef operation. He has a herd of 250 grade-Angus cows that are divided into four spring calving groups.
Jim Husz, farm manager at Northwest Missouri State University, will host the stop there. Andy Van Aernam, beef herdsman, also will be on hand.
“Our farm is primarily a laboratory and resource center used in student teaching,” Husz said. “Little research is carried out on the farm and visitors are sometimes surprised that this is the case.”
Eighty to 100 students are on the farm each semester completing course work for a degree in agriculture.
“We have a 140-cow beef herd made up of registered Angus and Charolais,” Van Aernam said. “Bulls are finished and sold locally as herd bulls. Most heifers are kept as herd replacements and cull steers and heifers are fed out and sold.”
A fourth stop features a cattle feeding operation maintained by Dr. David Frueh, owner and operator of the Maryville Veterinary Clinic, and Alan Stiens, a local livestock and crop farmer.
Stiens has a commercial beef herd of 200 cows and Frueh has 150 registered Salers cows in a herd he has maintained for the past 20 years. The two have been feeding cattle together for eight years.
Other tour speakers include members of the MU Commercial Agriculture beef focus team, a representative of Bentley Feedlot, and other cattle producers.
Final tour stop will be a beef dinner served at the Nodaway County Community Building. There will be no charge for the meal.
Additional information can be obtained from Schleicher by phone at 660-744-6231 or by email at SchleicherA@missouri.edu. Maps of the tour route will be available, and the tour will be well marked.
Sponsors of the ’05 Missouri Beef Tour include the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association; Missouri Beef Industry Council; local beef organizations, agribusinesses, and individuals; and University of Missouri Extension and the Commercial Agriculture program.
