School for Successful Ranching set for March 23-24

FORT WORTH, Texas, December 21, 2006―Both novice and seasoned beef cattle producers can learn proven methods for “Running Your Ranch Like A Business” from renowned instructors at Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association’s 2007 School for Successful Ranching.
      The 13th annual school, scheduled for March 23-24 in conjunction with TSCRA’s 130th annual convention in Fort Worth, will feature presentations from staff of Texas Christian University’s Ranch Management Program and the Noble Foundation. Sponsors are Dow AgroSciences and Pfizer Animal Health.
      TCU’s Ranch Management program, based in Fort Worth, has been training some of the best ranch managers in the business since 1955. Alumni currently manage an estimated 7.7 million acres of land and 740,000 head of cattle around the world.
      The Noble Foundation’s Agricultural Division has been providing regional producers with consultation, education, research and demonstration services since 1945. The division serves 47 counties in Texas and Oklahoma within a 100-mile radius of the foundation’s headquarters in Ardmore Okla.
      School topics will include managing native pastures, business principles, bull selection, basic herd health and nutrition, fences and fenceline weaning, land fragmentation, managing improved pastures, adding market value to a calf crop and theft prevention tips. All presenters will participate in a wrap-up panel discussion on “How do you make this ranch run like a business?’” 
      Sessions will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, March 23 and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 24. CEU’s will be offered for the Texas Beef Quality Producer Program and the Society for Range Management.
         A $100 registration fee ($60 for TSCRA members) covers presentations and a hot lunch on both days. As a bonus, school participants will be admitted free to TSCRA’s 250-exhibit trade show on both days.
      Deadline for pre-registration is March 14, 2007. To register online go to www.texascattleraisers.org .For more information, call Mark Perrier at 1 (800) 242-7820, ext. 118 or e-mail mperrier@texascattleraisers.org . Onsite registration will be held from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Friday, March 23; classroom presentations begin at 8 a.m.:

Friday, March 23
8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
      Range and Pasture Management―Managing Native Pastures, presented by Kerry Cornelius, TCU Ranch Management. Includes principles of growth, reproduction and management of rangeland. Also, adjusting stocking rates, distribution of grazing, grazing methods and supporting practices.
      Basic Herd Health & Nutrition, presented by Eric Brast, TCU Ranch Management. Because you can’t manage what you don’t measure, this session will explore how to use records (production records, benchmarking records, etc.) to develop a business plan for your ranch. Also examines the various types of risk associated with ranching (production risk, market risk, basis risk, etc.)
10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
      Break
10:30 a.m. to noon ―Four concurrent sessions
      Bull Selection, presented by Chris Farley, TCU Ranch Management. What’s available to help you in selecting your next genetics, i.e., your bull power? Considers goals of the ranch, characteristics of the cow herd, establishing target markets, evaluating bull selection tools, economics of heritability, physical bull characteristics and determining bull value.
      Basic Herd Health & Nutrition, presented by Eric Brast, TCU Ranch Management. Rediscover how basic herd health and nutrition interact. Looks at basic herd heath programs for the cow herd and the calf crop, including what vaccinations to give and when. Plus, value-added practices in health and nutrition you can use at the cow-calf level to expand marketing opportunities for your calf crop.
      Fences and Fenceline Weaning, presented by Chuck Coffey, Noble Foundation. Learn about the cost, design and construction of fences. Also, using fences to manage grazing and a low-stress technique for weaning calves in their own familiar pasture.
      Land Fragmentation, presented by Dr. Neal Wilkins, Texas A&M University; Russell Stevens, Noble Foundation; and Scott Boyd, Noble Foundation. Describes land fragmentation trends, managing in a fragmenting landscape by negotiating good grazing leases with landowners, and how landowners with small acreages are banding together for wildlife management areas.
Noon to 1 p.m.
      Hot lunch provided.
1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
      Managing Improved Pastures, presented by Kerry Cornelius, TCU Ranch Management. Learn about utilizing fertilizer, stockpiled forage, limit grazing in improved pastures and how to manage thin stands, weeds and roots. Also covers mining of nutrients, stocking rates and costs of improved pastures.
      Business Principles (morning session repeated)
3 p.m. 
      TSCRA Trade Show opens

Saturday, March 24
8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
      Health, Nutrition and Adding Market Value To A Calf Crop, presented by Jeff Geider and Eric Brast, TCU Ranch Management. Who buys your calves and why? How do your calves perform for your customers? Why are these questions important to your animal husbandry duties? This session answers all these questions and shows how health and nutrition programs can enhance or hurt marketability.
      How to keep your cattle and equipment from being stolen, presented by TSCRA’s Law Enforcement Division. Special Rangers reveal how they solved some recent high-profile cases and describe the best ways to protect your property.
11 a.m. to noon
      Panel discussion and wrap up. A panel composed of all school speakers and moderated by John Merrill, sums up “How To Make Your Ranch Run Like a Business.”
Noon
      Lunch in the Trade Show

      TSCRA President Dick Sherron reminds producers that they don’t have to be a TSCRA Members to attend the school.
      “Don’t miss this school,” says Sherron. “Learning to run your ranch like a business will increase your personal profit opportunities. And producers who run their ranches like a business improve the profit potential for all of us!”

      Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association is a 129-year-old trade organization whose 14,300 members manage approximately 4.9 million cattle on 66.6 million acres of range and pasture land, primarily in Texas and Oklahoma.

TSCRA-30-2006