January 8, 2004

Deadline for Feedlot School Approaching

The ninth annual North Dakota Feedlot School has been scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 27-28, 2004 at the Carrington Research Extension Center located 3.5 miles north of Carrington.

The school begins at 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday and continues until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Kurt Froelich, North Dakota State University Extension agent in Foster County.

The school will be limited to the first 20 individuals who register. The registration fee is $100 per person or $150 for two from the same operation. The fee includes all resource materials, breaks and meals.

The registration deadline is Friday, Jan. 9. To register or for more information about the school, contact the Foster County Office of the NDSU Extension Service at P.O. Box 80, Carrington, N.D. 58421 or call (701) 652-2581.

"North Dakota cattlemen pride themselves on producing some of the very best feeder cattle in the world," Froelich says. "But only 25,000 of the 980,000 feeder calves produced in North Dakota are finished in the state."

Grain and vegetable processing plants in the state offer an opportunity for cattle feeders to feed competitively priced feeds. These feeds, along with large quantities of forages and grain available in the state, provide a tremendous opportunity for the cattle feeding industry to grow, Froelich says.

Data from the Dakota Finishers Project show that feeding cattle in North Dakota is competitive with Kansas because cheaper grains more than offset a slightly reduced rate of gain attributed to colder weather.

The feedlot school will provide participants with in-depth training and hands on experience in feeding cattle, so feeders can take advantage of opportunities in North Dakota. Participants will also receive resource materials for use in making day-to-day management decisions.

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Source: Kurt Froelich, (701) 652-2581, kfroelic@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu