Cornell Cooperative Extension

St. Lawrence County
Beef cattle at Polyface Farm, Va.
Image by Brian Johnson & Dane Kantner

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Spring Beef Week

  • Thursday, March 15, 2018, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Cornell Cooperative Extension is offering a beef producer’s meeting on Thursday, March 15 at the Extension Learning Farm, Canton.The meeting starts at 7:00 pm.Mike Baker, Cornell Beef Specialist, will talk about feeding out beef cattle for marketing direct to consumers or to buyers like JBS and Cargill.

Most beef farmers in the North Country have a cow-calf operation meaning they own the brood cows and market the calves born every year. The calves are sold to another farmer called a stocker or backgrounder that feeds those calves until they are about 800 pounds.Then they are sold to a feedlot operation and are finished.Finished cattle are ready to be processed and sold to consumers.Some farmers keep their cattle at their farm all the way until they are finished and then they direct market them to consumers as freezer beef or work with a commodity broker to sell a group of them.

Farmers in our area don’t have a lot of experience finishing cattle.Feeding the correct ration to grow them quickly and keep them healthy can be a challenge.Knowing when they have the right amount of finish is also a skill that develops over time.The big question is whether it is cost effective to finish your own cattle.All of these topics will be talked about at the meeting.

The meeting cost is $5.00 per person and open to everyone.Registration is not required but appreciated.  For more info or to register, contact the Extension Office at 315-379-9192 ext 227 or 237, email Betsy Hodge at bmf9@cornell.edu or online here.

The meeting location is 2043 State Highway 68, Canton, NY.Mike Baker will be available to do farm visits during the day.The same program will be offered in Franklin County on the 14th and Jefferson County on the 16th.


Fee

$5.00 per person

Learn More

https://pub.cce.cornell.edu/event_registration/main/events_landing.cfm?event=springbeefweek_240

Location

Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County
2043B State Highway 68
Canton, NY 13617

Last updated March 7, 2018