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Practical Beef Cattle Marketing and Management Educational Programs in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina

R. Curt Lacy

Summary

Evaluations from previous Southeast Beef Cattle Management and Marketing Schools were used to redesign these educational programs for producers in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Several changes were made including workshop format and content.

Following evaluation suggestions, workshops were condensed from 2 days to one day. The programs began with a discussion of the risks that producers face, a presentation on developing a marketing plan and then a beef cattle market outlook. To provide smaller and medium sized operations more practical marketing information, the use of futures and options to manage price risk was deemphasized. More time was spent on integrating marketing and management decisions such as seasonality of cattle prices, management practices that impact calf values, cull cow marketing considerations, group feeder cattle sales and considerations in exploring alternative markets such as grass-fed and natural beef. The day concluded with a presentation by USDA-AMS personnel discussing feeder cattle grades and how they affect prices.

Approximately 100 producers participated in four area beef cattle management and marketing workshops held in Alabama in South Carolina in 2008. Pre and post workshop test scores indicate that producers increased their knowledge in all areas by an average of 30%.

Another 1,000 plus producers, agribusiness people and educators attended 22 local and regional meetings in Georgia. Evaluations and comments indicate that all programs were very valuable and producers would like to receive more of this type of information.

All presentations and materials were presented in 3-ring binders and posted on the web.

Details

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