Daily News Update, Feb. 20, 2008

School for Successful Ranching speakers bring added value

TSCRA's 2008 School for Successful Ranching will offer three educational tracks to cover all aspects of your unique cattle business. A special added value to this year's school is the wealth of knowledge each track's speakers will offer to help enhance the productivity of your operation.

Hailing from such well-known institutions such as Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas AgriLife Extension and Research, King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management, Welder Wildlife Foundation, and Oklahoma State University, each track provides ranchers valuable insight and knowledge from industry experts.

The first track of the School focuses on animal management and "the big four"-nutrition; breeding soundness; animal handling and health; and vaccination. The morning session features Dr. Joe Paschal, who will speak about cattle nutrition and grazing management, followed by Dr. Gary Williams, who will speak on strategies on optimizing reproductive performance in South Texas beef herds.

The mid-morning animal management track begins with Dr. Ron Gill, who will educate on how to teach your cattle to be handled easily, followed by a talk from Dr. Dan Posey, who will speak on herd health.

For the afternoon session, Dr. Joe Paschal will repeat his grazing management presentation, followed by Dr. Gary Williams' talk on optimizing reproductive performance, for those that missed it.

The second track highlights the business aspects of ranching; profits and protecting your investment through strategic planning, risk management, balanced scorecard, and enterprise analysis. It begins with Dr. Barry Dunn and Dr. Kim McCuistion from the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management, who will discuss strategic planning for ranches in dynamic times. Dr. Bill Thompson will also talk about the proper tools for risk management.

In the mid-morning business track, Matt Ethredge and Les Nunn from the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management will give a talk on using the balanced scorecard to measure success in ranching, and Dr. Larry Falconer will discuss cow-calf enterprise analysis.

For the afternoon section of the business track, Drs. Dunn and McCuistion will repeat their talk, followed by Dr. Larry Falconer, who will also repeat his cow-calf enterprise analysis presentation.

With a focus on range management, the third track begins with Dr. Allan McGinty who will speak about rangeland weed and brush control. Dr. C. Wayne Hanselka will also tell you all you need to know about herbicides.

Dr. Lynn Drawe begins the mid-morning section for the third track, speaking on making the right range management decisions in times of drought and flood. Dr. Robert Lyons will give a talk on what we're learning about grazing.

In the afternoon portion, Drs. McGinty and Hanselka will repeat their talks on herbicides.

On Saturday, the school offers information by the NRCS about high-tech land management, including information on how today's digital age is providing new tools in land management. Next is Dr. Derrell Peel, who will speak on market matters and other aspects of the cattle business, followed by Dave Delaney, general manager of King Ranch, who will offer his perspectives on successful stewardship.

The wide variety and quality of speakers at this year's school offers quite a bang for your buck at only $60 for TSCRA members and $100 for non-members. Included in the registration price are all reading materials, two free hot lunches, and free entry into the TSCRA Annual Trade Show.

With added value like that, you can't afford to miss out!

For more information, and to register, go to http://www.texascattleraisers.org/08School/school2008.htm or call 800/242-2820.