Webinar highlights research project

     Iowa Beef Center’s Cow Systems Project, a research project to characterize three cow-calf production management systems across Iowa, will be the focus of a June 12 webinar sponsored by Iowa Farm Bureau.

     The webinar is set to begin at 1 p.m. and will include an overview of the project results. It was originally designed to identify costs, environmental impacts and best practices of three cow-calf systems: limited, traditional and extended grazed systems. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach beef specialists Denise Schwab and Erika Lundy will lead the webinar discussion.

     “The traditional or conventional system consists of pasture grazing during the growing season and winter feeding of harvested or purchased feed in either a lot or open area,” Schwab said. “The second is an extensive grazing system, which aims to have cows grazing most of the year with little supplemental feeds. The third system is a limited grazing system where most of the feed is harvested and cows are confined in a building or drylot for much of the time.”

     The research project included 28 Iowa producer cooperators with real data on production costs, forage quality, feeds and rations, as well as soil samples.

     “In the webinar, we will focus on some of the research findings, best management practices, keys to profitability in each system, as well as opportunities and challenges of the systems,” Lundy said. “We encourage participants to ask questions during the webinar.”

     The full results of the project can be found as Iowa Cow-calf Production – Exploring Different Management Systems on the Extension Store, https://store.extension.iastate.edu/. The publication can be downloaded at no cost as pdf documents in entirety and by individual chapter and appendix.

     See all webinar details, including information on testing your computer's ability to access the webinar site and preregistering, on the Iowa Farm Bureau website at https://tinyurl.com/iacowcalf. Preregistration is encouraged but not required. The webinar will be archived and available for later viewing on the Iowa Farm Bureau website.