HERMITAGE, Mo. – University of Missouri Extension offers cattlemen a bus tour of cattle operations in Kansas and Oklahoma Aug. 6-9.
MU Extension livestock specialist Patrick Davis said the tour offers an opportunity to see several cattle operations to help them manage herds better, avoid disease conditions and make herds more profitable. Registration deadline is July 15, Davis said.
The offerings include:
- Neosho Valley Feeders. This is a small feedlot operation based in Parsons, Kan.
- Kansas State Southeast Research and Extension Center in Parsons, Kan. Jaymeylynn Farney assistant professor and beef systems extension specialist with Kansas State University will lead a discussion around K-State’s research and extension on beef cattle, and forage management.
- Southeast Kansas Genetics, Galesburg, Kan. Tour goers will learn about the cattle reproductive technologies business. SEK is home to one of the largest and most diverse semen inventories for beef cattle. Other topics include embryo transfer, pregnancy blood testing and disease testing.
- AGCO manufacturing. This Hesston, Kan., manufacturer offers Challenger, FENDT, GSI, Massey Ferguson combines, Valtra, Fella, Fuse, Gleaner, Sunflower and White planters. The six plants are located on 345 acres and feature robot welding. Much of the equipment is dedicated to hay equipment.
- Mushrush Red Angus Cattle’s main enterprise consists of 750 registered Red Angus Cows split evenly between spring and fall calving herds. Located in the heart of Kansas Flint Hills near Elmdale, the operation features about 8,000 acres of native tallgrass prairie. Four generations of the same family live and work on the farm.
- Pioneer Woman Mercantile in the heart of Osage County, Okla., offers shopping, a bakery and a restaurant.
- Langford Hereford, Okmulgee, Okla., has raised and sold registered Hereford cattle for 80 years. The ranch offers more than 600 bulls and 450 females for sale yearly.
- Dismukes Ranch, Checotah, Okla., is a seedstock breeder of registered Angus and Charolais cattle. Based on their website the cattle they raise are designed to meet the needs of the real world cattlemen. They say that they select cattle for their physical and phenotype traits primarily. To that extent when selecting cows and heifers, they put the highest value on udder quality, feet and fertility. Furthermore there website mentioned, “That if the cow doesn’t breed, milk, and raise a heavy calf they are culled from the herd.”
- Thorne Land and Cattle, Inc., Adair, Okla., offers Simmental/Angus, Maine-Anjou and a few Braunvieh cattle.
- Spur Angus Ranch, Vinita, Okla., is a registered seedstock Angus operation that began in the 1930s and converted its herd to Angus breed in the late 1950s. The ranch covers 15,000 acres and annually holds one of the United States’ top sales for Angus bulls and commercial females.
Registration for the tour is $375 per person and includes bus transportation and double occupancy hotel rooms. Meals during the trip are paid by the participants. Payment is payable by July 15 to MU Extension, Hickory County, 203 Cedar Street, Hermitage, MO 65668. For more information, contact MU Extension agronomy specialist Terry Halleran at 417–745–6767, livestock specialist Gene Schmitz at 660–438–5012 or Davis, 417–276–3313.
Click the link for a flyer: Hickory Cattlemens Bus Tour Brochure 2018 new
— University of Missouri Extension
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