Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, [email protected]
Contacts: Stan Bevers, 940-552-9941, [email protected]
Marty New, 580-255-0546, [email protected]

WICHITA FALLS – The Cattle Trails Wheat and Stocker Cattle Conference July 26 will cover how producers can meet pricing challenges in 2016 and prepare for 2017.

The conference, sponsored by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the MPEC Event Center, 1000 Fifth St., Wichita Falls.

Registration is $25 per person and includes educational materials, a noon meal and refreshments.

The information will be directed at producers in Southwestern Oklahoma and the North and Rolling Plains regions of Texas, said Stan Bevers, AgriLife Extension agricultural economist at Vernon.

Bevers said important changes are coming to the way producers manage their cattle due to the Veterinary Feed Directive regulation from the Food and Drug Administration.

“This regulation becomes effective January 2017 and will require the producer to have a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship,” he said. “If a producer does not have a veterinarian, now is the time to begin finding one. Stocker cattle that will be purchased this fall could be covered under this regulation.”

The afternoon portion of the conference will focus on the specifics of the Veterinary Feed Directive and how a producer’s operation will change due to it.

Producers are encouraged to preregister by contacting their local AgriLife Extension county agent, their Oklahoma Cooperative Extension county educator or Allison Ha at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center near Vernon at 940-552-9941, ext. 225 or [email protected].

Speakers and their topics will include:

– Wheat Variety Update for the Southern Great Plains, Dr. Emi Kimura, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Vernon.

– Wheat and Cattle Market Outlooks: What’s Working and What’s Not, Bevers.

– Balancing the Scales: Efficiency, Profitability, Technology, Consumerism and the

Environment, Dr. Chris Richards, Oklahoma State Extension and research beef cattle nutrition specialist, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

– An Overview of the Veterinary Feed Directive: Facts and Fiction, Dr. Tom Hairgrove, AgriLife Extension program coordinator for livestock and food animal systems, College Station.

– Living with the Veterinary Feed Directive: How Will My Cattle Operation Change?, Dr. Ron Gill, AgriLife Extension livestock specialist, College Station.

Industry sponsors will have products on display during the event.

For more information, go to http://agrisk.tamu.edu.

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