As 2013 approaches, cattlemen should mark those brand new calendars for the Southwest Beef Symposium, set for Jan. 15-16 at the Overton Hotel and Conference Center in Lubbock.
“This is the eighth year the Texas and New Mexico Extension agencies have collaborated on the annual event that alternates yearly between locations in West Texas and eastern New Mexico,” said Dr. Manny Encinias, New Mexico State University Extension livestock specialist at Clayton, N.M.
Encinias said the symposium will center around three educational sessions and a trade show.
Dr. Bruce Carpenter, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service livestock specialist at Fort Stockton, said the first day’s initial presentations will deal with the cost of doing business, with a special focus on the cost of commodities. This will be followed by presentations on how best to manage those costs at the ranch level.
The first day’s program will end with a rancher panel tasked with sharing what they and their organizations are doing to address the commodity input issue. The panel will include representatives from New Mexico’s Silver Spur Ranches (Bell and T.O.), B&H Herefords, and the Clavel Ranch as well as Texas’ 6666’s Ranch.
Carpenter said the Jan.18 program will cover a wide range of topics.
“The morning session will center on beef and food safety, starting with the National Beef Quality Audit,” he said. “Next, the question of antimicrobial resistance will be addressed and what the science says and what some of the potential regulatory impacts may be. Following this will be a discussion on new pre-harvest technologies to improve beef safety. The session will conclude with retail store presentations.
“Texas Kroger stores are implementing a new educational program for their meat market managers that’s aimed at helping them communicate factual information about beef production back to customers. United Texas LLC will also cover what they are seeing from the retail side in their stores.”
The afternoon’s final session will address rebuilding cattle herds following drought and will include discussions on replacement female options and management, biosecurity issues and new technologies in cattle reproduction.
For planning purposes, the individual preregistration fee of $70 is requested by Jan. 11. The fee includes a prime rib steak dinner, lunch, refreshments and a printed proceedings.
For more information, call Carpenter at 432-336-8585 or Encinias at 575-374-2566.
A schedule of events, speaker information, registration materials and lodging information is available here .
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